In the article
School Culture, the author explains how there are four basic purposes served by public schools in America today:
- Intellectual
- Political and civic
- Economic
- Social
the author goes on to say that most public schools fulfill all four of these goals in some manner but most usually see only ONE of the purposes as primary and the others as secondary. Do you believe that the purposes listed above are accurate attributes to describe the purpose of today's American schools? Do you believe that each of these purposes are equally important or is one superior over another? If forced, what purpose would you choose as the most important.
I think the author is right to suggest that all four purposes are pivotal parts of an American school. The Intellectual purpose ensures that all students have a basic level of critical thinking, to allow them to effectively dissect messages from many media after they graduate and make good life choices. The Political and Civic purpose follows the original purpose for establishing mandatory education in America: creating an educated citizen base that can make informed decisions and contribute to the democratic republic. The Economic purpose is essential to help students understand how to manage their money and effectively keep themselves above the poverty line or avoid making bad monetary decisions. And, of course, the Social purpose is an essential part of the development of self-esteem as well as the instruction of how to create and maintain healthy relationships.
ReplyDeleteThese purposes are all inter-related, especially the first three. All students will have different goals in life; some will find happiness in wealth, some in power, some in relationships. The school's role is not to shape those goals but allow all students the basic resources to access them. As it is, I believe that all programs that work with children (not only schools, but also clubs, camps, sports, etc.) should teach students social skills, because it is very difficult to be successful in any way (emotionally or economically) without them. However, schools should also prepare students to address the intellectual and economic challenges they will face in later life. Additionally, the primary way of molding students into generous and caring adults -- with both empathy for those worse off than them and the inclination to donate to worthy causes -- is through education. That is a major part of the political and civic purpose of education, and it is a key part of a student's necessary skillset.
Like Melanie, I agree with the author that these four purposes are important to the American school system. All four are things that schools should be striving towards teaching their students. I also agree that, often, schools tend to focus on one or two and then try to fit the remaining purposes in where they can. Often, I think school's neglect the other purposes in favor of Intellect. It's a common thing nowadays to be looked at for how smart you are compared to others. It's how school is geared anymore. Between all the homework, the grades, the tests (both state testing and regular testing), students are placed on a scale that tells them how smart they are, and that relates to how students see themselves in comparison with other students. For example, in my high school, being in the top 10% of the grade was considered an amazing thing. It meant that you were far more intelligent than the other students around you. And some earned those spots in the top 10%. I remember feeling inadequate to some of those students because I wasn't in AP classes and I didn't get all A's, until I began to realize that intelligence wasn't something you could exactly measure and just because that person was smart in Math and I wasn't, it didn't mean they were better than me. But some of the other students in the top 10%? They didn't earn it, they didn't deserve it. They cheated their way up there by getting answers from friends instead of studying and bullying other students into doing their work for them. But because looking smart and intellectual is something we're taught we have to do in order to succeed in life, they had no problem, as long as they appeared to have the intelligence the school wanted them to have. So yes, I believe that schools have a tendency to place one of those purposes above the others, and I think most of the time they choose Intellectual as the one they want to call the most important because, like the article said, the Intellectual purpose is usually the one most parents care about and so the school decides it's the most important one as well.
ReplyDeleteIf I had to choose one that I thought was most important, I think I would have to choose Economic. When I think of Economic, I think back to a video that I think Yenny posted on here awhile back. The man narrating the video likened school to a factory, pumping you full of information and spitting you out like clockwork at the end of your 12 years, hoping that you're well off enough to survive in the world. And like the article said, some schools are just like factories, with the bells to signal the start and end of a shift. And I don't think that enough schools are trying to make learning feel less like a stressful job that you don't get paid for and more like a welcoming environment that you want to be at, like it should feel. And, going off of Melanie's post, Economic is also about teaching students how to survive in the world, especially monetarily. I can't tell you how many people I know, including myself, who struggle understanding the financial world. Anything I know about saving money and how to make my money work for me, like people like to say, I learned from my mother because my school didn't teach me that. They taught me plenty of math that I can't remember for the life of me, but nothing that I can actually apply in real life to help me survive when I'm on my own.
I believe that schools attempt to address these factors, but I completely agree with Ashley that schools seem to be most interested in "intellectual" especially considering the PAARC testing. I agree with the idea of schools being factories that are just pumping kids with information and I feel as though there is less room to harbor deeper insight into actually stimulating lessons because teachers need to focus on PAARC prep and making sure their kids can pass a test instead of them being able to know and appreciate cultural differences like we addresses today in class amongst other things.
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ReplyDeleteGreat Responses Girls! I agree, I believe many schools are most interested in the intellectual aspect of students during standardized testing like the PAARC.
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