I extol the following 6 considerations, which reflect my beliefs regarding what the formalized process of education should embody to protect it from going astray.
1. Schools should be orientated to better society and serve society’s needs.
2. The Needs of Education are Diverse. There is no one size fits all system.
3. Schooling must be aligned with a student’s education.
4. Students covet what they see; product of environment.
5. Educators have a privileged position of power and trust.
6. We will always need more; Resource Management is Key.
- Schools should be orientated to better society and serve society’s needs.
Schools are supposed to provide an earnest and sober step taken on the way to adulthood for the purposes of preparing students for membership in society and the world of work. A plausible outcome if educators develop not only the intellect of their students, but their character as well. Educators should be expected to care for the general well-being of their students and nurture their social-emotional growth. Moreover, students need to be exposed to the ethical frameworks that they are expected to embody and be held accountable to as citizens.
Whereas the core curriculum, intended to educate the mind, should be subject to change based on my holistic beliefs of education being founded on both the vision of society and on correcting the damages seen in society. Therefore, educators must engage in career long learning in order to adapt to the evolving needs of their practice as required by society.
- The Needs of Education are Diverse. There is no one size fits all system.
Although educational standards are converging on an international level, no two nations have exactly the same education system, yet are arriving at the same point through different means. Every nation, region, community, school and class is unique and there is no educational cookie cutter that can encompass all of society’s needs.
Just as a specific school’s electives and after-school programs are tied to the desires of the community and the needs of the student body. There is neither a set curriculum nor one way to teach specific course content to a particular student body. A particular curriculum must be defined according to the external pressures put on it. Therefore educators must collaborate with peers, administration and the community while referring to the mandated curriculum standards in determining what is in the best interest for the student body as a whole.
Education is much more than the content of a curriculum. A curriculum’s content serves as a mere vessel in which an education is received. A curriculum is exalted through a variety of modalities and literacies that are based on the specific frameworks, processes, concepts and ideologies of the content being taught and is intended to promote critical thinking, reflection, inquiry and lifelong learning.
- Schooling must be aligned with a student’s education.
Winston Churchill once said that school interrupted his education. A reference to what is left when we have forgotten most of the facts that we have learned—traditional schooling. This is why, as educators, it is our duty to make schooling more impactful—social, holistic, realistic and long term.
Education is not a way of life for a select few, but for the masses, regardless of an individual’s lifestyle. A person simply cannot afford to ever stop learning due to the variety of new and different situations that emerge at each and every stage of a person’s life. Life poses many challenges that need to be overcome by a person’s ingenuity grounded in their ability to recognize important information available to them and converting it into knowledge that is applicable to their current situation—the fundamental skills that are taught in school.
Students need to know that education does not strictly occur in a classroom or in a school between the time of 9-3 and that it definitely does not cease to exist upon graduation. Schooling represents but one avenue, a formalized process that should bean integral part of a person’s education if aligned with the experiences found in everyday life.
- Students covet what they see; product of environment.
Educators must assume the role of a mentor, scaffold befitting behavior and lead by example since people are a product of their environment. Educators must be cognizant of the particular environment being fostered both in their school and classroom. Educators must be proactive in the establishment of an appropriate environment due to the vulnerable nature of their students; long term involuntary exposure to school (k-12) and being in a stage of development.
- Educators have a privileged position of power and trust.
Educators are public servants who must understand, respect and support the role of parents and the community in the education of students. In doing so, educators must place the interests of the public over individual interests.
Educators must act in an appropriate and ethical way as demanded by their profession, which includes the expectations of the ministry of education that grants educators their power and autonomy and the parents who trust that their children are being cared for socially, emotionally, physically and intellectually.
- We will always need more; Resource Management is Key.
Although money is an important resource that would aid in overcoming many of the problems faced by education, there is not enough money to be had that could tackle the diversity required by our education system to better encapsulate society’s needs.
For the education system in our mind’s eye to be brought to fruition will require better utilization of our human resources and understanding of the barriers that obstruct our way.
