The primary role of
our educational system has always been to prepare students for
success within the society in which they live, however the tools
needed in order to obtain such successful skills continues to
change as society changes. There have been times in history when
public education concentrated its efforts on the basic task of
teaching children the basic skills of reading, writing, and
arithmetic. The schedule most public schools continue to follow
today exemplifies that set up to accommodate the needs of an
agricultural society: educating the children during the winter
months, and taking a break during the summer crop season.
Concentrated efforts to prepare the student for the society in
which he or she was living caused changes in curriculum as the
world passed through the Industrial Age. Preparing students for
manual labor became important for successful participation in
one's community, and therefore the educational system infused
programs beyond the basic skills previously taught. Educational
curriculum continues to change in our current entrance into the
technological Information Age, as we prepare students to
problem-solve, to seek out information, and discover the ways in
which they can gather information for lifelong learning.
One can deduce from the historical path education has taken on
society that the main purpose of education is to prepare
students for successful living within the society they are
living. Most students today are products of two working parents,
which has caused the educational system to take on an additional
role of being a third parent in a sense. Like a parent, we
monitor students' successes, their health, and individual
obstacles children need to hurdle. While the purpose of
education remains the same, the means by which we get students
to the proper level of preparation has changed dramatically.
The role of a teacher today is a
complicated one. In order to provide a quality education to his
or her pupils, the teacher needs to be nurturing, intuitive,
supportive, and skilled in the ways in which learning takes
place within the classroom. Students come to the classroom with
a large variety of backgrounds and learning styles. The world in
which they live has provided them with highly interactive
stimulus from which to gather background knowledge. Some
students can learn successfully "the old-fashioned way" of
reading, absorbing, and applying. Many more students, however,
need a variety of delivery methods in order to gain success in
comprehending new concepts.
In order for a teacher to be successful in the
classroom, the student needs to achieve success in learning.
I believe in the John Dewey philosophy that all
children want to learn and enjoy learning. The problem
arises when the child finds an abundance of frustration that
causes eventual despair. While this statement might
seemingly place all the responsibility on the educator, if one
accepts the Dewey philosophy, one will also understand that
defiance and underachievement are the direct results of a
child's poor team of resources. This is not to say that
every child will find success given the right teacher, though
the implication is that the most talented of teachers can
perhaps make a substantial difference in the child's likelihood
of success. Sometimes a child comes to the school with
such a wretched basket of hurdles that the school is not
equipped with enough tools to offer the child complete success.
Our job is to do the very best we possibly can in helping each
and every child, and pray that our resources are abundant enough
to offer the child lessons to live successfully by.
When I
was a young child, I remember the pain of being incredibly shy,
while also wanting so much to actively participate in the
learning process. My elementary schooling experience was
wonderfully nurturing, and the respect I gained for my teachers
in the process caused me to hold the profession of being an
educator in high regard. I want to be a person who makes a
difference in children's lives. I believe I have the
skills necessary for fostering learning in our children through
methods of motivation and delivery. I do my very best to
make learning a fun experience for my students, while
incorporating the societal rewards for respectful behavior in
the process. I have found success in teaching, and I
attribute that success to my desire to do my job well, and to my
true love of children and care for their well-being.
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