Here is my third post in a series of brief personal philosophical statements stemming from my graduate course final. This writing deals with ontology (the study of what it means to be. . . a human, a man, a teacher, a citizen, etc). Though not religious in nature, my discussion below on education and being a teacher is one I feel all can benefit from or should at least consider. What is the role of our public schools and their teachers today? My thoughts on this trend away from the current educational approaches by governments and educational leaders alike. I fear the day when my approach no longer has a place in the public schools. I’d love to hear what you think:
Philosophy Position #3: To be a teacher means to provide opportunities for success for my students.
I emphasize the word “opportunities” here, as I don’t believe whether or not they decide to pursue that success is up to me. I can lead a horse to water, but I can’t make him drink. Metaphorically speaking, it’s my job to bring the horse to the water, explain just how good the water is, describe it’s nutritional benefits over the course of their lifetime, and maybe even splash some on them. Being a teacher means splashing in the water myself, drinking fully from it, and attempting to convince the horse just how thirsty they are. My job is to show them the way to success and make it as attractive as possible over and over and over again. It’s each student’s individual choice to go experience it.
Schools (like mine) love to flood their mission statements with phrases such as “ensure learning for all.” I’m a little too realistic for that. I can’t “ensure” anything. Nor should I. Kids have to own their knowledge, own their skills, and own their education. They have to have something invested in it in order for it to matter. If they don’t, perhaps we are irreparably weakening our democracy. Schools today are struggling because they are working harder than the students to get them to pass. Schools fear student failure more than students do. I refuse to join that camp. I will challenge students and teach them what they don’t want to know but need to. I will bring the learning to them. I just can’t make them take it.
Philosophy Position #3: To be a teacher means to provide opportunities for success for my students.
I emphasize the word “opportunities” here, as I don’t believe whether or not they decide to pursue that success is up to me. I can lead a horse to water, but I can’t make him drink. Metaphorically speaking, it’s my job to bring the horse to the water, explain just how good the water is, describe it’s nutritional benefits over the course of their lifetime, and maybe even splash some on them. Being a teacher means splashing in the water myself, drinking fully from it, and attempting to convince the horse just how thirsty they are. My job is to show them the way to success and make it as attractive as possible over and over and over again. It’s each student’s individual choice to go experience it.
Schools (like mine) love to flood their mission statements with phrases such as “ensure learning for all.” I’m a little too realistic for that. I can’t “ensure” anything. Nor should I. Kids have to own their knowledge, own their skills, and own their education. They have to have something invested in it in order for it to matter. If they don’t, perhaps we are irreparably weakening our democracy. Schools today are struggling because they are working harder than the students to get them to pass. Schools fear student failure more than students do. I refuse to join that camp. I will challenge students and teach them what they don’t want to know but need to. I will bring the learning to them. I just can’t make them take it.
No comments:
Post a Comment