Education:

Where Do We Go From Here

By Josh George
Final Paper

The first time I answered the umbrella questions of this course at the beginning of the
semester I plainly saw schooling as a method of better ones self. I considered the purpose of
school and teaching as method of placing our students on a path of sustainability as well as
teaching children and young adults the fundamentals of social interaction. This time around I felt
that my perceptions and ideals of schooling changed from rather general generic thoughts to a
more specific outline of what the problems and why their problems. Even my own beliefs on
what schooling and curriculums should look like changed during the course this class. Im not
racist or a white supremacist but I would have never thought to incorporate a multicultural
curriculum because its not the norm when most teachers teach. Now that Ive taken the
course, I've created better understanding for the importance of not only reaching out to your
ethnic students but incorporating multicultural lesson plans to help negate any white privilege
as well as letting them feel comfortable in the classroom. Overall, my thoughts and philosophy
of teaching has changed a whole lot but instead of being broad and vague, Im able to discuss
them with specifics.

Education and schooling have been an integral part of human civilization for hundreds of
years and much like time past, good educations are hard to come by without wealth and prestige.
While much of the classes taught are much different than our past but the same fundamental
principles are the same. Schooling in the United States is some of the best the world has to offer
but there are always those troubling aspects of so many of the schools we have today. As a
student looking to become a teacher, it is necessary to understand that despite maybe having a
privileged schooling experience with exceptional teachers in modern environments, many
students nationwide dont receive that same support. Unfortunately it boils down to the fact that
funding means everything when it comes to the prosperity and ability to succeed. As teachers, it
will be our job to work through conflicts that occur like that and always put our students first and
educate them in a matter that will push them to succeed but also want to succeed. However,
because of the issue of educational funding most of the time, the teachers and students are seen
last on the totem pole of authority and despite being the ones count, the most are neglected. This
is seen in a diagram in Huertas book showing the progression from Federal Governments to the
State and local governments, further down with the districts. At last, you make it to the bottom
and the last three are Schools/Principles, Teachers, Students (Huerta, 110). Tom Balchak our
guest speaker discussed this and how he has been on able to see this latter from three
perspectives. He noted that he was obviously a student, then a teacher for most of his career, and
after retiring how he began volunteering with the Board of Education for the greater Fort Collins
community. He made a significant point to display how little say teachers have beyond their
classroom. Additionally, how important it was to be actively involved in the politics that
surround schooling to help flip the chart around and have consider the students and teachers

more (Balchak, notes). Regardless, it is up to the teachers to do everything in their power to do

what they can to reach out to their students and make a difference.
Historically the purpose of schooling was to gain prestige and honor over the
incompetent and ignorance of the lower class. While it also served other purposes such as
educating their men to be skillful in battle or to be able to follow the stars. Over time, it came to
be a staple and even mandate for children to attend school in the United States. While the
fundamentals such as arithmetic, language arts, and social studies (such as history of philosophy)
never really changed as time went on it became necessary to create well-rounded students. A
growing issue specifically in US is how schoolings overly strong ties to politics and our
economy are skewing the purpose of schooling. As John Goodlad points out, More than in most
European countries, US education policy has tied schooling directly to the nations economic
health, (Goodlad, 37). The purpose of schooling should be centered around the students and
creating the necessary building blocks to further ones education as well as aid in creating a
productive member of society. Students need to be the center because while teachers lectures
maybe very educational, the student learns just as much or more from their environment. As a
teacher, your goal and purpose should be to guide and aid them in the learning process and stay
away from the, monological pedagogy in which the teacher is presumed to have the monopoly
on knowledge and expertise, (Fernandez-Balboa, 172). Not to mention, teachers should engage
in dialogical pedagogy as well as their own curriculum so that critical thinking is factored in but
because it also would allow teachers to teach relevant material. Instead of having to always
answer, where in life am I going to need to know this or regurgitating information for
standardized tests, its essential to provide the students with useful and interesting lessons. No
student wants to hear you lecture every day, it gets old, which ultimately goes against the

purpose of schooling itself by neglecting the needs of the students. In order to fulfill your duty
and purpose as a teacher its imperative to keep the students focused and wanting to succeed by
keeping the classroom fresh and less monotonous.
My role as a future teacher in terms of fulfilling this purpose will be to do my best to
make a curriculum that satisfies school and state requirement as well as keeping it relevant and
interesting. To fulfill that purpose as a teacher, I will need to make sure to include a an adequate
mix of classroom discussions with lectures as well as looking to guide and aid the students
toward knowledge rather than shoving it down their throats. It will also be necessary to
introduce a multicultural view into teaching to help those of privilege and those of not to better
understand each other and shying away from stereotypes. The United States because of its
extensively racial history students today are still feeling that impacts and it is necessary to break
these barriers for students so that can be well-rounded. As Joel Spring illustrates in his book on
struggle for equality for students in school how these skeletons in the United States closet in a
post-racial society as he calls are still haunting our students. He notes that, The Legacy of
these discriminatory laws and judicial rulings continue to have an educational impact on a
significant portion of the American population, (Spring, 1). Teachers must acknowledge this as
a concern and take steps toward equality in the classroom. Luckily, as history as my focus it will
be easier than others to encompass a wide range of multiethnic content and perspectives. When
students are young, its easier to embody these accepting traits rather than the more common
stereotyping view of others. Its also imperative for all students to feel comfortable among their
peers in order to a student-centered classroom. James Banks embodies this beautifully as he
illustrates the power of multicultural curriculum. When people view their culture from the point
of view of another culture, they are able to understand their own culture more fully, to see how it

is unique and distinct from other cultures, and to understand better how it relates to and interacts
with other cultures, (Banks, 226). As a future teacher in order to fulfill the purpose of schooling
I will have to integrate a curriculum that allows comfortable stress-free classroom discussions,
keep a good mix of dialogical and monological pedagogy, and guide in the right path of success
rather than coercing my student to succeed.
Schooling has a way of continuing the existing order in our society whether it is cultural,
political, economic, and the environmental because it takes courage and independent thinking by
teachers to go against the norms already set in place. It also has to do with the pressures placed
by federal, state, and local standards to be able to perform well on standardized tests. This burden
on schools and teachers can continue the existing order of the politics and educations reliance on
the economic health. Anne Lewis has strong words and feelings toward this issue of standards
and standardized test saying that when used properly can be useful but as she notes there is a fine
line. For the past half-century, the standards represented in texts and tests have reflected the
commercial market for dumbed-down resources to a greater degree than they have reflected
any public consensus on what teachers should teach and students should learn, (Lewis, 77).
Schools are in this ditch that every time the almost make it out they just slide back down in the
sense that most schools receive a majority of their funds based on the success of the students on
standardized test. Its a backwards system that rewards achieving schools but then turns their
backs on the schools that are in need of the real help. This cycle makes the continuation of the
existing order a terribly difficult system to break and transform into something suitable. With the
constraints set by the standards, it limits the teachers to very little multicultural references in the
curriculum.

In order to transform the existing order of schooling the major factor that needs to be
changed is the abandonment of the less efficient school. While rewarding the schools that do
exceedingly well makes sense but it doesnt make sense to neglect the kids struggling in the less
sufficient schools. Those kids dont deserve a lesser education just because of where their home
is located, their socio-economic status, or schools inability provide all the materials necessary for
their students to be able to succeed. Its a vicious system so much so that even teachers get the
short end of the stick because they liable to be fired if test scores arent high enough which
pushes some teachers to only teach to the tests, which ignores the true point of being a teacher. If
you teach to the tests not only will the students lack the critical thinking that is so essential to
knowledge but also only teaches the students to absorb and regurgitate without doing much
actual thinking. Darling-Hammond points out that integration of personalization, academic and
personal success for all students is impossible within the current confines. He also notes that, It
sets in stone the already strong but silly notion that standardized test scores are all that matter in
schooling. It puts a standardized test gun to the head of every child, every educator, and every
parent in the nation, (Darling-Hammond, 230). Schooling must go beyond tests and exams
because its purpose is to help students prepare for life and its obstacles. With critical thinking
skills, social skills, as well as knowledge gained in the learning process a student will be
prepared for the realities of life and get through them.
Schooling has changed so much over the past centuries with its ups and downs.
Unfortunately, for the United States we are in a rut between our economic woes as well as acts
like No Child Left Behind that put further strain on schools and their faculty. As future teachers,
we need to come into this situation prepared to change things up and make the students the
priority again. Weve gone on so long trying to fix our educational system and the politics behind

it that they are slowly creeping too far in. Schooling is about the children of our future; I feel that
with much more careful planning, and less generalization, an act like No Child Left Behind
would make the system better. It could even help our nation but at this moment, it lacks the
necessary components needed for it to be even feasible on a nationwide basis.

Works Cited
Balchak, Tom. "Educational Guest Speaker." Lecture. April 19, 2012.
Banks, James A., and Cherry A. McGee. Banks. "Approaches to Multicultural Curriculum
Reform." Multicultural Education: Issues and Perspectives. Boston: Allyn and Bacon,
1993. 225-46. Print.
Darling-Hammond, Linda. "Race, Inequality and Educational Accountability: The Irony of 'No
Child Left Behind'" Race Ethnicity and Education 10.3 (2007): 245-60. Print.
Fernandez-Balboa, Juan-Miguel, and James P. Marshall. "Dialogical Pedagogy in Teacher
Education: Toward an Education for Democracy." Journal of Teacher Education45.3
(1994): 172-82. Print.
Goodlad, John I. "Kudzu, Rabbits, and School Reform." Phi Delta Kappan 1 Sept. 2002: 35-51.
Print.
Huerta, Grace. "Teaching English Language Learners." Educational Foundations: Diverse
Histories, Diverse Perspectives. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 2009. 240-61. Print.
Lewis, Anne C. "An Overview of the Standards Movement." Phi Delta Kappan 1 June 1995: 7581. Print.
Spring, Joel H. Deculturalization and the Struggle for Equality. Boston (Mass.): McGraw-Hill
Higher Education, 2010. Print.