Though I do not usually open any of my writing with another’s words, this Nelson Mandela quote has stuck with me since I first heard it after graduating high school: “Education is the most powerful weapon we can use to change the world” (2003). I have held this in my mind since hearing it and as I have sought ways to better our world, it has time and again led to the path of an educator.
I firmly believe that a well-rounded education geared towards life-long learning, empathy, and critical thinking is the most effective tool for positive change available to us. This is because such an education provides the inspiration, empowerment, creativity, socialization, and multitude of skills necessary to affect the changes we seek to better both our students’ individual lives, and humanity as a whole. It is in this sense that I believe that curricula should be as broad, diverse, inclusive, and flexible as possible, so that as many as possible may gain from all the benefits this sort of education can provide.
Firstly, I believe a well-rounded education goes beyond the sciences, history, reading, writing, and arithmetic that most may associate with their learning experiences. Education is the transmission of knowledge and skills across generations so that society may be continually reforming or growing. Dewey describes this saying: “With the renewal of physical existence goes in the case of human beings, the re-creation of beliefs, ideals, hopes, happiness, misery, and practice. The continuity of any experience through renewing of the social group, is a literal fact. Education, in its broadest sense, is the means of this social continuity of life” (2012, p. 229). So education is this essential transmission of all these aspects of humanity, but what does that mean for the individual? As Brameld puts it, “the average student must be educated to the limits of his ability” (1967, p. 3). This is because Education is a gateway into an individual discovering their aptitudes, potential, interests, likes, dislikes, and desires for themselves, their community, and the world at large. How is one to know how they would like to spend their future time, effort, and money without first being exposed to at least part of the breadth of what humanity has to offer? As such, I feel it is my role as an educator to expose students, not just to the dominant basics of traditional education but to the many voices, perspectives, insights, and opportunities available to them. As a Secondary English Language Arts, and History Educator I see this as a ripe opportunity for inspiration, as both these specializations offer a multitude of all these elements to be explored in nearly any given content, topic, or theme. It from this exploration that I can also guide students to develop the necessary tools to continue learning.
The best instrument for this continual self-actualized judgment and reasoning is a solid foundation of critical thinking skills, as well as being instilled with the proclivity to use them as effectively and often as possible. As such, I find myself very much aligned with Brameld and Friere’ Social Reconstructionism and Critical Pedagogy schools of thought respectively. By that, I specifically mean that through an education emphasizing the shaping of a critical thinking life-long-learner, there will be a positive social response in the form of increased awareness, social justice, empathy, and equity on each individual basis (Bremald, 1967)(Freire, 1999)(Freire, 2001). It is only through reasoning that human beings can hope to seek these responses. Without actively taking in as much content and context as possible; deconstructing it all for intent and underlying meaning; and then constructing our own rational decisions in regards to the doctrinal issue at hand, we would simply be left to the influences and indoctrinations of those who would see our beliefs made useful or profitable. Rare are the forces that govern a society being so altruistic that they should be blindly followed, so it is the parents, educators, and schools prerogatives to instill as much critical thinking in each generation for the sake of creating autonomous individuals capable of engaging in a democratic society actively seeking social progress.
I believe that, as Bremald says, “Schools are agents for social change.” (1967, p. 3), and as such they can be tools for good, or something less than, so it is up to a school’s teachers to act for the sake of the individual and social betterment. Through the teacher’s relationships with their students, hope is created for the future (Freire, 1999, p. 69), and that is what I wish to instill in every single one of the wide-range of students I educate, a meaningful hope for their own future as well as society’s as a whole. A method to really foster this sense of hope beyond Freire’s or Bremald’s concentration on creating the autonomous democratically participating individual, is Greene’s concept of imagination. Without being able to see a positive outcome or alternate perspective in the minds-eye, how could one dare to be hopeful? This is particularly poignant to my ideals regarding Language Arts Education where I cherish not only the form and function of language, but the expression and creativity most of all. These features are nearly impossible without a sense of imagination, yet we rarely ask students to imagine at the secondary level. Imagination is something I feel we far too often relegate to the world of childish things, and dismiss in an air of fantastical nonsense. However, what Greene shows, and I believe, is the practical nature of imagination. That it can be an essential skill for seeing solutions and alternate perspectives to alleviate many of school’s, work’s, and most importantly, life’s problems (Greene, 2003). By encouraging students to imagine realistic ideals, and alternative outlooks to their problems I believe that I am further enriching their individual problem solving skills, which if maintained will prove invaluable in their future lives. This outlook is important for an educator to posses and model as well, in that it if we cannot imagine a better tomorrow for our students, how are we to expect them to create it?
Empathy is the essence of a moral world, as well as upstanding citizen and whole individual. In order to engrain this in those we teach, we must first demonstrate it to them. This must come from a place not just of “natural” caring for those we love or respect, but from an “ethical” empathy, because caring about your fellow beings is the right thing to do (Noddings, 1984, p. 17-18). Egrossment, according to Noddings, is the first step towards empathy, so we must put ourselves in to our students’ shoes, so to speak, in order to gain understanding. It is only through all this that we can begin to model the importance of doing the same to others, anything else is merely explaining empathy as a admirable virtue.
This interrelationship of student and teacher interaction is a common thread throughout most if not all of my education influences. The 21st century teacher should not be some automaton espousing the ‘do as I say not as I do,’ rote, authoritarian with no humility, but rather a guide to assist students in triangulating their individuality, and the skills to always be learning. Transformative learning can only happen through an authentic exchange of ideas, and in order for that exchange to truly be meaningful there must be respect between both conversing parties. Through my teaching I hope to not just inspire students with the breadth of diverse literary voices, empower their own voices and identity, or enable their creativity, but actually create whole well-rounded individuals that care for their fellow man and are equipped with the tools to better their lives, and those they affect.
References
Brameld, T. (1967). Education as Power. New York: Holt, Rinehart, And Winston Inc.
Dewey, J. (2012). “Democracy and education” (selection)” in Cahn, S. M. (Ed.), Classic and Contemporary Readings in the Philosophy of Education. 2nd Edition. New York & Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 228-265.
Freire, P. (2012). “Pedagogy of the oppressed” (selection)” in Cahn, S. M. (Ed.), Classic and Contemporary Readings in the Philosophy of Education. 2nd Edition. New York & Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 379-386.
Freire, P. (2001). The Paulo Freire Reader. Freire A. M. A. & Macedo D. (Eds.) New York: Continuum International Publishing Group.
Greene, M. (2003). Teaching as possibility: A light in dark times,” in The Jossey-Bass Education Series, The Jossey-Bass Reader on teaching, pp. 62-73.
Greene, M. (2003). Teaching as possibility: A light in dark times,” in The Jossey-Bass Education Series, The Jossey-Bass Reader on teaching, pp. 62-73.
A View to Thrill 