Diane Ravitch and Disciplines

Diane Ravitch and Disciplines

In one of my journals I made reference to the idea that we often study subjects separate from each other. My experience as an undergrad showed me that we do learn about the world making reference to different disciplines. I thought of Immanuel Wallerstein author of World-Systems Analysis. He starts out his book by talking about the different disciplines and how this divide does not allow us to make sense of politics. “Part of the problem is that we have studied these phenomena in separate boxes to which we have given special names- politics, economics, the social structure, culture –without seeing that these boxes are constructs more of our imagination than reality”(Wallerstein pg. x). Diane Ravitch showed us what it was like to deal with politics and education, but how often do elementary teachers think about this as they go on planning an engaging day for their students. Like in any other profession I think about the fact that we are still restricted to all the rules and policies that we need to follow, and we rarely think of why.