We posed this question to a handful of different people.These people have differing world views, are from different generations and have different types of careers. After analyzing their answers we were able to see the way their world views and generational beliefs impacted their answer.
"If you were in charge of America’s education, what would the purpose of education be?"
"If you were in charge of America’s education, what would the purpose of education be?"
Male; 24 years of age
This response comes from a person whose wants to create successful students. Successful, according to this person, is finishing education prepared for the workforce. Rather than a focus upon quantity of knowledge, this person stresses quality. Considering this person's age they were in school during No Child Left Behind and the push of standardized testing. It is clear that NCLB and the focus on standards impacted their view of what is really important in education; quality and ability to use knowledge in a work environment.
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"If I were in charge of America’s education, its purpose would be to properly prepare students to function in society in a positive manner. Throughout the child’s school career they would learn skills valuable to their society. Their education would not be weighed heavily on what and how much they know but rather if they can make it into the working force into whatever field they desire or whatever field they could obtain and not be lacking in any skills that should fundamentally be known".
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Female, 40 years of age
"I believe the purpose of education is to give every child the tools they need to make a living for themselves. For most kids, that means basic reading, math, science and geography. For other kids it means offering high level classes to challenge them to be ready for college, for special needs kids it is to get them to be as independently functioning as they can be".
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This woman is in her 40's and is a Gen X-er. She comes from the belief that students need to be given the tools to be successful in the real world. Gen X-ers are known to be self-reliant which is what she wants for students in the future.
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Male, 46 years of age
This person believes that family comes first in educating their children. Being a generation Xer, he was raised during a time where latch key kids were common and divorce rates rocketed. This exposure to broken families has caused a sensitivity to the formation of the family and the role of importance that they play in a child’s education.This person is also very aware of the rights of students, wanting to focus on every individual versus teaching towards the majority.
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"Families are the first educators and hold the primary responsibility for teaching their children. States are the agency tasked with financing, designing and implementing education for the children within each state. If I was "in charge of America's education" I would seek the inform states about best practices; to monitor the civil rights of children of each State in regards to the Titled programs; and to provide funding to States/Local Education Agencies to provide compensatory education as needed for children with identified conditions that prevent them from equitably accessing education (I.e. poverty). I would seek to empower the teaching profession in a variety of ways including the institution of programs that recognize outstanding and heroic programs and teachers. I would seek to strengthen the American family as the primary educators, and then to empower States and LEAs to develop and adopt fiscal policy, code, and curriculum appropriate for each State and LEA".
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Male, 23 years of age
"If I was in charge of the United States' educational system, I would aim for the country to emphasize more "specific-education" rather than the exclusive "general-education" we have now. Our job is to give our children the ability to thrive, and the current state of the educational system is not geared toward doing that, rather it is attempting to make our children adept at everything, which is just not feasible or realistic. The purpose of education should be to create confident, trustworthy, cooperative, and functioning members of society. We need to promote the path which sets our students on the road to success in whatever sector of the workforce which interests them, not to try and make them masters of every content area. This way, we will have better teachers, more effective schools, and happier students".
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This person is a millennial that lived through No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and the standardized testing that came with it. He sees that standardized testing has not been helpful in the past and will not be helpful in the future. He expects that successful students are people that will be successful in a desired workforce. He does not think there is a point to content that will not be used in the workplace.
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Female, 76 years of age
As someone who taught for multiple generations, she saw the interests and interactions of students change over time. Her overall concern is the learner and her philosophy aligns with that of an essentialist. Her desire is to prepare students for the world outside of school through career exploration and the exploration of the world.
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"As cliche as it sounds, first to create life-long learners...whether that means the academic or the career path. Education should prepare...and that I mean in a very literal sense. There needs to be more connection between the school and the professional world. Beginning in ninth grade, there should be career exploration and exploration of the world. Many graduate without any knowledge of either. Give students as much hands on as possible".
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Female, 25 years of Age
"The purpose of education should always be to learn about topics that effect our communities and the world. If you can't connect a lesson back to a current event, then students won't remember it. Education should broaden someone's mindset so that they seek to understand first, not assume or jump to conclusions. Education should be the foundation for success in a career field that will bring good to a community. I was always good at school, but I never felt like I truly leaned anything or was excited about learning until I had professors and teachers who approached lessons from a social justice perspective. Of course there are the foundational pieces like grammar, spelling, basic math skills, etc. Those can be tied in at various points. Overall, education should leave you with a better understanding of society and leaves you with more questions in an effort to improve things in your community".
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This person is focused on connecting learning to the community; learning needs to be relevant and applicable. This person, who was also impacted by NCLB during her education, does not see learning as receiving certain scores. Learning is defined as applying the knowledge to social situations. She endured an education that had her memorize information, and she did not consider it learning. As a result she defines learning as something that challenges one to make a difference.
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Female, 49 years of age
This woman is a Generation X-er and learned to be independent on her own. She wants students to be able to decide on what their beliefs are after having learned about what is available in the world. For her, education should give students the tools and information necessary for creating their personal worldview.
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"The purpose would be to expose children to ideas and philosophies; religions and beliefs from all parts of the world and all walks of life. It would also be to teach them the skills needed to become independent, self-reliant adults".
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Male, 53 YEARS OF AGE
"There will always have to be the basic sciences, but not in depth like we do now for the lower education grades (k-12). If you like it, then you can go to college and study it. Also, I would focus more on practical life learning such as communications
(I think that we are terrible at this). Courtesy, respect and basic human behavior. So, not much studying of stupid [irrelevant] stuff. Just what you need to be a decent human being and to be good to your neighbor. That’s all, simple really". |
His perspective about the function of schooling demonstrates a desire to return to character training and development. Schooling should not require all students to learn all curricular content, but only be required if it catches the students’ interest and he or she wants to pursue it. Every student should learn basic human behavior since that is of more importance that school subjects.
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