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S
This course is
c o-sponsored
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by the Department of Sociology and Anthropology
and the Faculty of Education. It may be taken for credit in either department.
EDUCATION 487-4 or SOCIOLOGY & ANTHROPOLOGY 460-4
THE POLITICS OF READING AND WRITING
SUMMER SESSION 1981
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COURSE DIRECTORS:
Tuesday ?
Friday,'8:30 - 12:20
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George Martel], and Satu Repo
This course attempts both an historical and analytical understanding of the
development of the Canadian school system. We will examine the current priorities
of government educational policy and the resistance which has arisen to that
Policy. The course is centered on our school curriculum (hidden and not so
hidden) and on a movement to create an alternative to it, focused particularly
on working class children.
At the core of the curriculum discussion we will examine the meaning of literacy
and what is necessary to teach working class children to read and write. A more
complete outline of the course is available from Allan Luke, Faculty of Education,
2914344 or 2980312.
Topics to be covered in the course include:
- streaming
sys
tems in Toronto and Vancouver schools.
- the development of provincial government educational policy
from pioneer times to the present.
- resistance to government educational policy.
- the development of a Canadian Working Class curriculum.
- comparative analysis of reading texts used in Canadian schools.
- Paulo Freire's approach to literacy and its application in Canadian schools.
- the historical development of working class education.
- discussion of the present situation in Vancouver schools for
the development and implementation of a working class curriculum.
Required Texts:
Connor, Ralph. Glengarry Schooldays. McClelland and Stewart.
Grove, Phillip. Fruits of the Earth. McClelland and Stewart.
Dewdney, Selwyn. Wind Without Rain. McClelland and Stewart.
Lind, Loren. The Learning Machine. Anansi.
Ashton-Warner, Sylvia. Teacher. Bantam,
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note: these texts are
inexpensive paperbacks.
Kohl, Herb. 36 Children. Signet.
Repo, Satu. What's a Friend. Lorimer.
Repo, Satu. Marco and Michaela. Lorimer.
Additional handouts will be provided in class. Several films, including Start
from Nina, Rose's House, and Parliament Street will be scheduled. Also, various
guest presentations by representatives of the B.C.T.F. and Vancouver School Board
will be included.
Course Requirements: An extended writing project in the development of working class
curriculum will