Running Head: INQUIRY PROJECT

Inquiry Project
Katelyn Cool

Colorado State University

The Purpose of Schooling in the United Sates
EDUC 275
Instructor: Elizabeth Pike

Due: November 18, 2015

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Introduction:
The community member I chose to interview is one of my moms good family
friends she used to work with when she lived in Michigan. Mr. Andrea' Young is an
ordained youth minister in Detroit, Michigan. He is different from me in the sense that
he is 56 years old, male, African American, an extremely religious and active Christian,
and spent some years of his life in poverty, living in one of the poorest neighborhoods in
Detroit. He was born and attended elementary school in Southern California until his
parents were divorced and he and his mom and five siblings moved back to her
hometown in Detroit, where poverty struck them relatively hard. This is where he
attended middle school and high school and then worked full time at an Olgas Restaurant
in order to pay himself through ministry school (Personal Communication, November 7,
2015). The educator I chose to interview is Mrs. Joy Decker, a 35-year-old, white female,
a Colorado State University graduate, and a sixth grade English teacher at Preston Middle
School in Fort Collins, Colorado. As different as they may seem, they have similar views,
which I have used to create the following thesis statement: The primary purpose of
schooling in the United States is to educate ALL students and equip them with the
knowledge and skills in basic mathematics, English, and social studies contents, along
with community values to help them succeed and become good, active members of
society.
Part I - Community Member Interview
Due to the fact that Mr. Young is in Michigan, our interview took place over email
threads. When I first asked him about it, he was thrilled, humbled, and honored that I
would choose him, but when he read the questions he had a little bit of trouble and
needed extra help and simpler wording. This was no problem for me at all, but I almost
felt as if I was patronizing him, or that I shouldnt have chosen him, but in the end his

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responses were just as well written and sufficient as my observed educators were. It is
really remarkable to note that he overcame most of the Myths of the Culture of
Poverty (Gorski, 2008, 33-36). However, one thing Mr. Young had made very clear
from the beginning was that despite the fact he never experienced any racism in his
schooling he experienced it everywhere else (Personal Communication, November 7,
2015). I thought it was interesting that he experienced more individual racism and
societal racism, yet never experienced any sort of institutional racism (Scheurich &
Young, 1997).
Part II Educator Observation & Interview
I stayed in Mrs. Deckers sixth-grade English class for four class periods to
investigate her role in the classroom regarding three different types of activities. Out of
the four hours I was observing, time spent on management, relationship building, and
instruction was somewhat equally distributed, as follows:

Activity Types - Overall Time Spent

Management

Relationship Building

Instruction

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Preston Middle School has approximately 2,000 sixth through eighth grade
students, it is a fairly new school with a lot of new and advanced technology, and it is
predominately white. Mrs. Deckers classes consist of 64 sixth graders co-taught by two
teachers with 32 on one side and 32 on the other; out of the four hours I was there I only
saw 3 kids who were not white in the large classroom. At the beginning of each class,
Mrs. Decker would spend about 10 minutes passing back graded assignments and
materials for the upcoming class period while students were silently reading; addressing
off-task students by thanking those who were doing what they were supposed to, letting
them know that silent reading means a noise level of zero rather than whatever the
current noise level was, and asking the class what they were supposed to be doing. After
these first ten minutes, all students came together near a smart board in the middle of the
two sided classroom to go over learning targets, while Mrs. Decker and her co-teacher,
Ms. Lauren Newman (Student Teacher), modeled what the days assignment were going
to look like; they called this their launch. The students then split back up and got into
their table groups of 5 to 6 students and did the assignment together. I think this sort-of
workshop method is very beneficial because Mrs. Decker is facilitating the learning, but
it is mostly student driven and inquiry based, rather than lecture based. For the remainder
of the class, while students were working together, Mrs. Decker walked around,
occasionally sat down and worked with groups, and kept them on-task by addressing off
task students away from their peers and asking them what they need to be successful.
Both of these strategies represent her management, but also how she builds relationships
with her students and shows how much she truly cares about their success. At the end of
each class period Mrs. Decker closed with I noticed statements and expressed how
well students did and let them know what she was proud of and what behaviors
disappointed her I think this is extremely powerful because it helps her build even more

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on those relationships, while also reinforcing her expectations and whether they were met
or not. In terms of gender acknowledgement, it was pretty fair but always leaned slightly
towards one or the other. Mrs. Decker seemed to make it a goal that if she called on a
student of one gender then the next person she would call on would most likely of the
opposite gender, unless only one gender had their hands raised. See figure below:

Gender Acknowledgement
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
Female Acknowledgement
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Period 2
Period 3

Male Acknowledgement

Period 4

Period 5

Part III - Compare & Contrast of Interviews

Both of the people I interviewed for this project were extremely different from
each other, yet I was still able to find some pretty close similarities. For instance, the first
question: in your opinion, what is the primary purpose of schools? Mrs. Decker talked
about the purpose of school as educat[ing] ALL students and equip[ing] them with the
knowledge, skills, and community values to help them succeed and become good, active
members of society (Personal Communication, November 5, 2015). And while Mr.
Young didnt necessarily incorporate the part about creating high-functioning community
members, he still talked about educating all students in basic mathematics, English, and
social studies (Personal Communication, November 7, 2015).

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One difference I came across while analyzing the two interviews was with the
second question, about their schooling experiences. Mrs. Deckers question was how her
experience in the classroom aligned with her initial expectations of teaching, and her
response revolved around technology and the needs of her students. She discussed how
classrooms are no longer just lecture/note-taking based and how teachers are less often
seen as all-knowing experts. She also stated, 21st century classrooms are more
student-centered and teacher-facilitated. Furthermore, according to her, todays
classrooms are more inquiry based rather than lecture based, and they are more inclusive
and innovative, all of which I was able to see during my observation of her classroom
(Personal Communication, November 5, 2015). However, even though this may not be a
problem at Preston Middle School or in Mrs. Deckers classroom, the advancement of
technology can also be a problem to impoverished students that cannot afford it or do not
have access to it outside of school (Stevens, 1987). Mr. Youngs question was simply
about his experience in school, and in contrast to Mrs. Decker, his response was centered
on race. He commented that his experience in school was seemingly one sided. And
what [he meant] by that is that it was predominantly black in Detroit, Michigan, but when
[he] was in California, born and raised through [his] kindergarten an elementary years it
was more culturally and ethnically friendly. I found this interesting because typically I
would think that there would be more animosity towards African Americans in his
hometown in Southern California as opposed to in Detroit. Wanting to know more, I
asked if he would be willing to elaborate. He responded that his middle schools/high
schools were in very poor neighborhoods and that [his] teachers didnt seem to care as
much about academics because they knew most students would end up dropping out
anyways because of family issues, or gang involvement (Personal Communication,
November 7, 2015). I found this extremely sad, but I think it is extremely common in

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poverty stricken neighborhoods. Still, Mrs. Decker had nothing of this nature in her
response, most likely because she is white and/or might be from a much wealthier area,
which lends to the idea of privilege.
The third question was, when you think about the wide range and various needs of
the varying abilities, socio-economic/ethnic groups, races, gender, sexual identity,
religions, languages, and individual learning styles, how well do schools meet the needs
of all learners? This question also generated differing responses. Mr. Young wasnt quite
sure how to answer this question and told me he would need extra time to dissect it,
which was perfectly fine with me. Once he got back to me, he discussed how all of his
needs were met in both Southern California and in Detroit. While he was in California his
teachers made sure he had what he needed to be successful in the classroom and on
standardized tests but didnt really have a personal connection with him, and in Detroit
his schooling was less focused on academic success and was more focused on survival
needs with all of his teachers making sure he and his classmates knew where their next
meal was coming from and that they had a safe place to sleep that night (Personal
Communication, November 7, 2015). This refers back to chapter one in Nieto and Bode
when they are discussing equal education and equitable education, and I think it is very
valuable that Mr. Young had an equitable education where his individual needs were met
and he had the same opportunity as other non-impoverished students to graduate high
school and then go on to get a ministry degree (Nieto & Bode, 1992). Mrs. Decker
responded with I dont think any schools meet all the needs of all students perfectly. I
think the schools that do this best are the ones that are continuously improving their own
practices to better meet student needs (Personal Communication, November 5, 2015).
Once again, Mr. Youngs responses are so raw and emotional, while Mrs. Deckers are
much more technical. However, they both acknowledged the fact that no schools are

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perfect at achieving the goal of meeting everyones needs, whether it is through their
academics, their relationships with students, or their needs at home.
With the final question, I asked both of them what their hopes and concerns about
the future of education in the United States are. In the future, Mr. Young wrote, he
would like to see schools K through 12 to be fun for kids, and for the higher learning
college days, more professionally driven for people looking to be more diverse and
growth both economically and socially (Personal Communication, November 7, 2015).
Mrs. Deckers hopes for and concerns about the future of education in the United States
include the hopes that schools, teachers, and educational policies continue to grow and
change based on the needs of the learners and the changing worldthat public education
continues to support ALL learners of every background and ability level[and] that the
focus continues to be on growth of learners, not just proficiency on a grade-level
standardized test (Personal Communication, November 5, 2015). Once again, seemingly
different responses, but they still incorporated similar themes.
Conclusion:
In conclusion, while both of my interviewees are extremely different from on
another, they both have similar views about the purpose of schooling, as well as with the
other questions. Furthermore, they both have similar hopes for the future of education,
including: diversity, engagement, improvement and growth, and looking beyond
performance on standardized tests. I feel like this interview and observation process will
be extremely beneficial to me as a future educator because I observed effective
techniques on how to manage a classroom, on how to instruct, and on how build
relationships with my future students. I also think my community member interview was
valuable because it really opened my eyes to the fact that no matter where students stand
on the diversity wheel in terms of race, ethnicity, gender, physical abilities or qualities,

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sexual orientation, income, background, or religious beliefs, ALL students have the right
to an education and they all have potential to become amazing people and do
extraordinary things (Johnson, 2006).

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Reference Page
Gorski, P. (2008). The Myth of the "Culture of Poverty" Educational Leadership, 33-36.

Johnson, A. (2006). Privilege, Oppression, and Difference. In Privilege, Power, and

Difference (2nd ed., p. 15). Boston, Mass.: McGraw-Hill.

Nieto, S., & Bode, P. (1992). Understanding the Sociopolitical Context of Schooling. In
Affirming diversity: The sociopolitical context of multicultural education
(Sixth ed., pp. 9-12). New York: Longman

Scheurich, J., & Young, M. (1997). Coloring Epistemologies: Are Our Research
Epistemologies Racially Biased? Educational Researcher, 26(4), 4-16.

Stevens, E. (1987). Readings on Ideology: The Classroom and the Curriculum. In Justice,
ideology, and education: An introduction to the social foundations of
education.

New York: Random House.

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Observation Notes

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