Gap Year

An extra post. What do you think of a "gap year" after college (click link to a Time article)? Other countries do this...does it help a person become more focused before deciding where and what they want to do in college?

A Jumble of Thoughts on Education Yesterday and Today

For this past week's class I read an article on Helen (Keller). As we all milled around our "cocktail party", introduced ourselves, and told our stories, we came to a realization. As my group talked about the chats we had, we realized that many of the "great Americans" had one thing in common: minimal education. Now, Helen actually did have extensive schooling with a tutor and in actual institutions, but Andrew Jackson, for example, had a lack of learning experiences. I connected it to the time period, and the fact that education was for "rich people." Indeed, most "common" people could not afford school, and so they attended a few years and then fell off the map. So, many of these great Americans we read about came from poor families who could not afford extensive education. Isn't it interesting how someone with that background could become president of the United States? Would our present day society allow a person with little education to be our president? It's an interesting question and concept. I would lean toward NO, but, that brings up other issues that point to me being biased. I acknowledge the fact that I believe most presidents should have a solid education, and that my thinking may be a little swayed. It in no way means, however, that I think people without an education are inferior. It's simply the state of our society, and the fact that many high profile jobs require higher education. You would think presidency would fall into that category.

What has become of our view on education? We believe that people should go on to attain Master Degrees and PhD's...and yet we still allow younger children to slip off the charts and careen toward adding to the dropout rate. So what are we missing here? I think that a lot of Americans have become lazy (which doesn't help our current economic state), and that includes teachers. It is not an easy job, and therefore lazy teachers should be weeded out. These teachers are doing our children a disservice. To tie into the related articles from this week, we must realize that children have the potential to be something great. All it requires is discipline and stamina on the teachers' part. The Americans we read about worked hard to get where they were, jumped many hurdles, and made names for themselves. Things have changed, though, and since education is viewed as the way to success, adults need to start paying better attention the all of their children. We are on a path of segregation and "tracking", so as to put low-functioning students on the low track and high-functioning students on the track to success. We are dictating which students should do what, when in reality, all students should be given equal opportunity and then choose where they want to go from there. I guess education hasn't changed much. Opportunity was awarded to those with money many years ago, and it still is today. It only makes sense that children without good resources become uninterested. Who wouldn't?

Should there be autonomy?

Yes. I do believe there should be some national standards within our country. I mean this in regards to the basic core subjects such as english, math, reading, writing, science. It seems that there are different expectations for each state, and therefore states are giving A's to students who would receive C's in another state. How does this make sense? How can this even track the education of the children of our country? If anything, it makes it tough to move to another state and expect to have the same competence as your neighbor! People may disagree with me, but I sometimes think the schooling of europeans and any other country is superior to ours, only because they have a set standard and stick to it. I understand that America wants its people to be free and able to do as they please, but when it comes to learning the basic knowledge needed to make it in society, how can we have varying standards across the country?

A national standard would, quite possibly, bring us together. We are the United States, but, not when it comes to education. Even as teachers, we can't go to another state without having to go through more testing to get licensed. Does this make sense? Wouldn't you think that your training in one state should be sufficient enough for another state? I could go on with the questions, but I'll refrain from becoming obnoxious. The bottom line is that, perhaps a touch of autonomy in this country would go a long way. Maybe all of our kids would catch up to those in Asian countries, who have a vigorous and concrete standard to hold up to.

Then again, I could completely change my mind about this in the future, so don't hold me to these ramblings. I think they sound good now, but maybe as I travel through this program I'll change my mind once again.

If any of this made sense, great. If not, I apologize!

Creating a Theory of Impact

So, I have been thinking about my "theory of impact" as a teacher. Why do I want to teach, and who do I want to influence? Do I even have a goal in mind? It's pretty demanding, this teaching thing, but that's what draws me to it. Why teach if you don't want to make a difference in an individual's life, or just society as a whole? I imagine many teachers do it mainly for the money (well...maybe not...). Okay, perhaps they are selfish and just see teaching as a job they need to wake up for every morning so as to pay the bills. Plus, who doesn't like summers off? Unfortunately, I believe many teachers fall into this category. This is a sad state of affairs indeed.

As of right now, I'm still working on forming my own theory of impact. I do have ideas, though, and I'm sure that over time they will vary and morph into more evolved realizations of who I want to be as a teacher. For now, I'll say that I would like to reach each child on an individual level. This will prove to be difficult, but if I take the time to know my students (regarding ethnic/family background, prior learning experiences, etc.) I know I'll be steering myself in a positive direction.  For me, teaching is mainly focusing on the development of children so they can someday fit into society. Children not only need to learn content, but social skills as well. A walking book-genuis won't make it in the real world; I want to offer these children the know-how to survive on a daily basis, make good choices, and choose paths that they are passionate about.

There's much more to think about in regards to this concept, but in closure for today, I'll say that my teaching focuses on sustaining attention to each child. They will determine our society one day, and I hope to help them along the way.