Social Reconstruction Ideology

Constant reconstruction of society to eliminate what is considered undesirable. This

Aims: reconstruction happens via the school curriculum. Educators build social, political,
economic, and cultural educational programs seeking ot indoctrinate new students.
Viewed not as children but as bundles of potential. Education is used to develop the
potential thereby creating a member of the good society. Children are meaning-
Child:
makers who construct meaning from what they have learned to influence society
positively.
Learning should enable students to deal with everyday life real problems. Learning
Learning: should occur so real-life experiences happen in school, so they student can construct
meaning and apply meaning to their overall ideas of reality
Two methods used to teach students to reconstruct society and themselves
 Discussion – students use language to construct meaning. Discussion allows
Teaching:
for reexamination of knowledge and reconstructing knowledge based on newly
arrived meaning
  Experience – reconstructing appropriate experiences in a school setting to
provide the appropriate experiences so meaning can occur
No such thing as absolute truth. The group determines the truth. Knowledge and
Knowledge: truth constructed from social interactions for social, political, economic, or cultural
purposes.
Only valid assessments are real life circumstances that allow the student to practice
constructing the future good society. Curricula evaluated via student performance
Evaluation: outside of school. Student learning only test-able in their everyday life outside of
school as they work to reconstruct self and society considering the future good
society.

The Social Reconstruction Ideology (SR) is not represented in the TEKS or the Texas Accountability

Ratings System that I have experienced. I believe the TEKS avoid this ideology because it

essentially creates free thinkers who would want to change society as it is today. Currently TEKS

seeks to maintain the status quo in education and society. TEKS are written where there is an expert
delivering information then grading how well that information is received. This is a complete

antithesis to the beliefs of the SR. While reading this ideology some aspects made me nervous, but

as I have allowed myself to sit with the information it does have merit. TEKS and the Texas

Accountability Ratings System support a belief in the absolute truth; and, that truth can be measured

via evaluation. SRs completely disagree with this idea. SRs seek to create experiences more than

practice algebraic problems. The SR’s use of algebra is more real world. SRs would create

situations where students had to figure out how to deduce the answer given the available

information. Mainly SRs seek to create thinkers who are concerned with society while TEKS and

the ratings system seek to create learners who learn for self and are evaluated based on how well the

individual learned the information.