Week #3

What “Counts” as Educational Policy? Notes toward a New Paradigm 

Jean Anyon 

Reflection:

    After reading Anyon's, What Counts" as Educational Policy, it brought me to realize how I have taken my education for granted. Rather than focusing solely on in-school factors like curriculum, testing, and teacher performance, Anyon argues that real reform must include housing, employment, transportation, and healthcare policy. Anyon's argument is something that really stuck out to me because I originally grew up in a lower-class area in Rhode Island. The summer going into third grade, I had moved to an upper-class town in Massachusetts. While this area was way out of our budget, my uncle was kind enough to rent out his apartment for us, allowing me to go to a great school system.

    Unfortunately, this is a lot of students' realities that get ignored every day in many urban communities, where systemic poverty and segregation shape every aspect of life, including education. Schools in these areas are not isolated institutions—they are part of a larger ecosystem of inequality. Throughout my years at both public and private schools, I have seen a majority of my public school friends struggle to stabilize school, work, family, and friends. While no one wants to live like this, it is the reality of many people that most of the time goes unnoticed. 

I gave ChatGPT a rundown of Anyon's writing and asked it to create an image based on Anyon's views. I liked this image because it shows all of the factors that get you into different school systems.

     My biggest takeaway from this reading is that Jean Anyon argues that educational policy must be redefined. It is not just about schools, but also about the social and economic structures that determine students’ lives outside the classroom. Not many people realize that the school system their kids attend could affect their whole future.