The Zen of a Healthy Info-Diet

The Zen of a Healthy Info-Diet by Downer-Shojgreen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Public schools are better than private schools.

My first info diet inclusion is the site Education Votes (http://educationvotes.nea.org) This site and its affiliates fight for public schools when compared to private schools. They make the point that there is no need to pay to go to school, students can develop greater social skills, public schools have a very welcoming environment, students develop better intellectual abilities, and that public schools provide the potential to bring together any number of young students no matter his or her social standing or lifestyle. The points of view I mentioned are the ones that push my thinking and vision on how schools should be. 

Schools should not be ran like businesses.

Sites I visit, like Edutopia, Ed Week, and others I belong to mention address this particular topic. My second info diet inclusion comes from http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org, the blog post “The Best Posts & Articles Explaining Why Schools Should Not Be Run Like Businesses,” and others. These blogs contributors focussed on this topic. Several points where made, like schools of choice work by waiting for low-income customers to approach them rather than going to them, these schools ignore fundamental desire of parents in under-served areas. Others mentioned that schools are a community and communal responsibility and business fall short at this. Public educators collaborate with one another, share information about the students, and share what they have learned about successful methods. 

Unions are good for schools.

For my last info diet inclusion I found the following sites supporting teachers unions, the Chicago Teachers Union (http://www.ctunet.com), and Teacher Solidarity (http://www.teachersolidarity.com). What they mentioned focused on how teachers unions are the only major educational players still focusing on advancing school equity by leveling the playing field, how teachers unions fight to protect teachers’ First Amendment rights, allowing them to advocate for children and schools without facing retaliation, how schools with unionized teachers often produce higher achieving students, how unions help improve teachers, and how unions focus on student and teacher safety. 

 Zen focusses attention to the attainment of enlightenment and the personal expression of direct insight, and to the absorption and use of knowledge. I understood this more as I reflect on the topic of Public schools are better than private schools, I believe that the points made by these sites, when defending public schools, are extremely valid and cannot be dismissed. As a matter of fact, it would be fantastic if private schools can adapt some of the characteristics of public schools for the betterment of students. Next, while thinking about the subject that schools should not be ran like businesses, I agree that the singular approach that proponents of this view present is flawed. Some of the points made in these blogs seriously need to be considered and enforced. Lastly, when looking into the argument stating that Unions are good for schools, I could not deny some of their points, and furthermore, this info diet research has helped me understand the history and commitment unions represent to education. In conclusion, during this process I discovered that my bias extends from past experiences. That some of my bad experiences are strong enough to curtail my view of the world. Speaking for myself, I have to admit and recognize that it is not hard to find valid points to other peoples view if I am willing to listen to their argument. Typically, no one likes to admit that they are wrong, or that the other point of view could be correct. I would like to belief that at this point in my life I am educated enough to admit when I’m wrong, stubborn, narrow minded, and when someone is wright.