Alexandra J Takeda
2.24.10
EDUG 401
Interviews and Reflective Summaries: Group C, part II
Schools and Communities in Partnership
Oakes and Lipton focus on the techniques for school and community partnership of Jane Addams, and Nel Noddings. These methods are referred to as “ethic of care” and “ethic of service” (Oakes and Lipton, pg. 399).
“Ethic of care” is when community members fully understand the conditions that are affecting them. “Ethic of service” involves community members focusing on finding prescribed benefits to ethics of care fosters competency in all members to serve their own needs. As a teacher, it is vital that one is open, caring, and respectful. They must acquire knowledge about all “experiences, meanings, and preferences of community members” (Oakes and Lipton, pg. 399). By interacting with community members in this way, the teacher is able to refrain from making judgments like that a student is incapable, uninvolved, or not caring, etc.
These methods can be extremely effective for teachers who use a child and community centered schooling teaching style because it allows the teacher to be sympathetic to all students as individuals and to adjust their individuality. In contrast however, as a strict essentialist teacher, one might want to treat all students equally with indifferent respect of their individual cultures. An essentialist teacher would want to focus their education techniques on educating students in their academics, rather than bringing the student’s culture into the classroom environement.
