To what extent should teachers impose their knowledge on their students and how much should they leave for the students to interpret? And how just is it for the education system to decide on what is appropriate knowledge for all students to learn? Does the one-size-fits-all curriculum best for all students?
I realize that students come to school from different backgrounds and perspectives. They may have different methods and different ways of thinking that may be just as right as any course that a teacher proposes. The way a teacher proposes the subject matter is inherently biased. Just as the course material has a selective bias, the choice of content focus is as well. This surely can’t be in the best interest of all students.
While being in this teacher education program, the courses have forced me to question my own biases that I was not cognizant of. I try my best to take in different knowledge, continue to explore different ways of thinking and be open to different perspectives that students may bring to the classroom. I see this as a life-long process to always improve.
Resource
Osborne, K. (2008). Education and schooling: A relationship that can never be taken for granted. In D. Coulter & J.R. Wiens (Eds.), Why do we educate? Renewing the conversation (vol. 1, pp. 21-41). Boston: Blackwell. doi: 10.1111/j.1744-7984.2008.00128.x
Osborne states in this paper that schools have traditionally promoted youth to be exactly like one another. Schools did little to education and more to train the youth into social norms. They were designed to socialize, train, and even indoctrinate the young. However, in the modern age of liberal education, the goal should not be to give students the answers but to lead them to the question, inquire and discover on their own. Education is to expand students’ horizons and reveal new experiences to them.
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