Education Innovators and Real "Makers" of Public School

     When learning about people who have influenced public education in the United States over the past 100-plus years, it is pretty clear that there is a big difference between the "innovators" and the "makers".  The innovators throughout history worked very hard to overcome various obstacles in order to make improvements that would benefit the educational system and improve the learning environment for all students.  Innovation can be defined as the "introduction of a new idea that makes a change in anything established".  The education innovators of the past and present have recognized areas that needed improvement and took action to implement new ideas in order to produce a positive change.
    One person who I see as a great innovator in education is Deborah Meier.  She spent many years working to reform a school system in Harlem that continued to produce the lowest test scores in the district.  She founded several alternative schools based on a democratic community system where the teachers had a great deal of autonomy and the parents had a voice in what went on with their children.  Her philosophy created such a successful learning environment, that the students attained a 90% graduation rate with that same amount attending college (PBS 2011). 
     On the other end of the educational system spectrum you have the "makers", who basically used their wealth and power to mold the educational system into a socialistic machine designed to suit the needs of the elite few.  These were men such as Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, Henry Ford, and J.P. Morgan.  John Gatto mentions in his writings that a highly successful efficiency expert by the name of Frederick W. Taylor basically set the ball rolling for the American education system to become a servant to corporate and political management.  This type of system was controlled by large corporations, great universities, and government bureaus, and viewed students as a human resources- rather than as unique individuals. 
     As a future educator, I would love to be a "Deborah Meier".  I want my classroom environment to be one of learning and improving on an individual level, and to strongly encourage parents to be involved in their children's education.  As a parent myself, I feel that being involved with your children makes a huge difference.  I do not want to be involved in a "Frederick Taylor" system that is all about efficiency and molding students to be cogs in the wheel of big business.  I am a strong advocate of individualism and I most definitely want to become an innovator as opposed to a maker!

References:
PBS, 2001.  Innovators.  Retrieved from http://www.pbs.org/