Thank you so much for having this conversation. I recently completed student teaching and the teacher ed program. For one of my classes, I wrote out my philosophy of education that I had compiled from many blog posts that I really enjoyed. As I have been polishing up my digital portfolio to get ready for job interviews, I recently went back to my phil. of ed. and realized just how varied and meandering it is. Maybe it is because I am just starting out and I have so much that I want to accomplish in teaching, but after this new perspective, I think I have included way too much. So thank you for challenging me to keep the focus on what is truly important.

(And, I assume we’re talking about public education, because private education has so much more flexibility to produce different outcomes based on what those who supply the money want.)

In public education, we will never please every taxpayer, nor should we try. It is our responsibility to use all the tools available to us to provide the best possible learning environment for the greatest number of students.

The difficulty with the simplistic perspective is that teachers are not in total control of the learning that is done. We can not force learning upon anyone. We can supply information, encourage collaboration, provide guidance, motivate, inspire, stimulate, and make connections for our students so that they want to learn. We can teach in ways that we know to be effective because of our knowledge of pedagogy and human development. But we can not force the learning (or the good citizenship that follows) to take place.

So really the ultimate goal of public education is to do everything in our power to ensure that all students receive the guidance and support necessary to achieve their greatest potential.

Here’s a link to more of my thoughts on this critically important topic. Learning to teach

And because learning is the thing, but there’d be many fewer chances to learn if we didn’t communicate.

But you understand, the kind of society we live in wouldn’t pay a dime for schools if “learning” was the goal. “We” are really not interested in that at all.

Thanks for this thought provoking post!

I’ve been struggling with the same question and the same feeling that we’re not yet united behind a common goal. And my belief is that if parents and teachers unite their passion for kids behind a common purpose, we could be a force to be reckoned with in the creation of educational change – but what is that common purpose?

I like your focus on learning because it includes, by implication, two things:
1) empowered students – because in order to focus on learning, I believe we have to listen to what our students tells us about how they learn best and how they want to learn
2) diversification – again, in order to provide learning for every child, we have to pay attention to their learning styles and needs, not just how we want to teach them, or how we deliver content to them. What we put out (teach) can be different from what students receive (learn) – and focusing on learning would require us to look at what’s received and why?

Ultimately, I want success for each of my children, not just the ones that fit the “system” as it now exists. And it pains me to see everyone working so hard and caring so much – and still struggling to find the ways to reach all children (without burning out).

Right now, excellence happens in spite of the system, not because of the system. We have to flip that on its head – and that takes making change – and that means we have to have a common goal…

I’m so glad that this conversation is going on because it’s important to our children. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and adding your perspective!

Heidi