Emily Drake

EDUC 275
Final Paper
Education is said to help improve our society, as the students in
school now will one day be the leaders o our society! "hrou#hout the
years, education has evolved! "he sub$ects tau#ht aren%t all e&actly the
same, and they may not be in the uture! "he teachin# style has also
developed with time and so have the e&istin# orders within school!
What was, is and should be the purpose of schooling in the
United States?
'n the past, the purpose o schoolin# was to make a better
society, but there is a di(erence between what was once thou#ht to be
a better society and how it is viewed today! 'n the past, it was to make
people more democratic and involved with votin# and societal
decisions! )tudents weren%t bein# prepared to take on careers that
would help them or the society, but were bein# prepared to simply be a
member o an already e&istin# society!
'nstead o simply preparin# students to be members o the
society, currently, the purpose o schoolin# is to educate students to
help better the society! )tudents are bein# tau#ht classes that will help
them prepare to be a part o those who help make political decisions
with the society! *s ' said in my +rst paper, ,the purpose o schoolin# is
not $ust to teach students thin#s they will be usin#, but also to #ive
them the chance to try di(erent thin#s to +nd what +eld they want to
pursue later in lie-!
'n the uture, the purpose o schoolin# should continue to help
students better the society by preparin# them to simply be a part o it
and to help them +nd what career path in society best suits them!
.hen doin# so, the purpose should be to ensure that this actually
happens rather than $ust teachin# students sub$ects and #ivin# them a
#rade on it then movin# on to the ne&t bunch o students whether they
pass or ail! 'n addition to this, the purpose o schoolin# should also be
to keep students motivated and respectul! *s discussed in the Code o
Ethics, teachers should have a commitment to their students /0E*,
21223! "hese codes sae#uard that the teacher will help keep the
student motivated and workin# towards his or her #oal! Currently, '
don%t think this is a purpose within schoolin#! 't may be a #oal or
e&pected o students, but some students need their schools to have it
as a purpose alon#side educatin# the students! 4ookin# at what
happened with *rapahoe 5i#h )chool yesterday, it is obvious that the
purpose o schoolin# does not include motivation or respectulness!
.hile ' did not know this student personally, ' know the school because
' went to hi#h school there or all our years, and ' know many o the
students who were around him! "his school in particular had rules
about respectulness, but did not enorce it as a purpose! .hen a
student who e&cels and seems to be motivated until one day does an
action like this, it is di6cult to see how the purpose was to keep him
motivated and ready to meet his ne&t scholastic challen#e in lie! 'n
the uture, the purpose o schoolin# should not be simply to educate
our students, but to prepare them or ,real lie- hardships and to teach
them that there are plenty o ways and reasons to stay motivated and
work throu#h any problem in lie!
What is your role as a future teacher in fulflling that purpose?
*s a uture educator, ' need to be sure that ' cater to each one o
my student%s needs! For e&ample, not every student learns the same
way! 7ardner%s 8ultiple 'ntelli#ences #ives ei#ht di(erent
,intelli#ences- which are ei#ht ways that students can learn /5uerta,
21193! "his theory e&plains how each student has a di(erent method
that works best or them to absorb knowled#e! Currently most
classrooms throu#h hi#h school have students sittin# at desks or tables
listenin# to the teacher lecture and then they do assi#nments and ask
:uestions as needed! 'n order to help students stay motivated while
learnin# the sub$ect ' end up teachin#, ' hope to #ive them a test at the
be#innin# o the year to determine what type o learnin# style works
best or them! *ter doin# so, ' will alter my lesson plans or the
year;semester to assist in #ivin# each student the best chance at a
#ood #rade in my class and actually learnin# the material! *lso, as we
learned throu#h <ohn P! 8iller, the best classroom settin# is a 5olistic
Curriculum /8iller, 211=3! "his is where there is a balance ound
between students teachin# themselves, teachin# each other, and the
teacher teachin# the students! *s a teacher, especially an En#lish
teacher, ' will #ive students the chance to teach themselves throu#h
readin#, teach each other throu#h discussions and pro$ects, and teach
them mysel throu#h the knowled#e they have not yet e&pressed! '
also hope to learn with my students as they may teach me thin#s ' had
not yet thou#ht o! *s ' said in my +rst paper, ' would like to #ive
students the chance to see how En#lish classes will relate to their
uture career paths what ever they may be throu#h class discussions
and pro$ects! Finally, ' am dual ma$orin# and #ettin# my psycholo#y
de#ree so that ' can understand how to keep my students motivated
or the ne&t step in the classroom and in their lives!
How does schooling continue the existing order?
)choolin# continues the environmental order by encoura#in#
students to be more environmentally riendly! )tudents are encoura#ed
to recycle their bottles and papers they no lon#er need! >ten times,
teachers use recycled slips o paper cut into pieces or mini :ui??es or
homework checks and other thin#s like that in order to save paper to
be more environmentally riendly!
* lot o schools are continuin# cultural order by currently
practicin# what is reerred to as Cultural 7enocide! "his is eliminatin#
cultures within the school system /)prin#, 212@3! .hat ' think is
happenin# is not :uite to this e&treme! 8any schools are not
attemptin# to destroy these cultures, but are i#norin# the act that
they are currently a part o the same culture that is the United )tates,
a meltin# pot! Currently, the cultural order within the United )tates is
to be o one culture, an *merican culture and many school systems are
essentially encoura#in# this by e&pressin# only an *merican culture
within their classrooms!
)chools are continuin# social orders by acceptin# students o
both #enders and all se&ual orientation! Policies a#ainst bullyin# help
to ensure that students can be socially open re#ardin# the way they
chose to dress /so lon# as it ollows the dress code3, the people they
chose to han# out with, and what classes they chose to take! *lso,
many schools allow or allA#irls and allAboys classes i students eel
more socially comortable in them!
Currently, politics is not a hu#e part o school! Political order is
continued in schools today because there are policies like the 0o Child
4et Behind act that have been put in place! Political order is combined
with the economic order currently because students are re:uired to
take standardi?ed tests, implemented by the #overnment, in order to
receive +nancial aid or the public school! "he amount o money #iven
to the school #reatly depends on how well the students do on the
standardi?ed tests, #ivin# more money to schools who do better on the
tests! Economic and political orders continue in schools also because
they are tau#ht or one year at each hi#h school, but that is only a
small amount o time to learn about such lar#e orders!
How can schooling transform the existing order?
"o transorm the environmental order, schools could o(er an
optional class tau#ht by someone who already works there about the
environment! "his class could teach the students about the
environment and then how their actions a(ect it!
'n order to transorm the problem o only reco#ni?in# an
*merican culture, school systems need to do what some are and
acknowled#e other cultures in classes! "he perect place to transorm
this order is in social studies classes! .hen talkin# about di(erent
countries% histories, talk about their cultures as well! 'n )panish
classes, teach about di(erent )panish cultures! "he simple way to
transorm this order is to $ust teach students that there are other
cultures in the world, in the country, and even in their home town!
*lthou#h the Baby C story was written in 2972, it helps to show
how schools can transorm social order /7ould, 29723! )chools can help
transorm social order by #ivin# the option or di(erent #enders to try
out or #enderAspeci+c sports! For e&ample, schools could allow more
#irls to try out or ootball! *nd schools with ballet and other dance
teams could allow more boys to try out or that! ' at an early a#e,
school systems and parents teach their children that activities are not
#ender speci+c, then students would be more socially acceptin# when
someone does somethin# ,out o the norm- like be a male cheerleader
or even chose to be with someone the same #ender as them!
'n order to transorm political orders, the standardi?ed tests
should be removed or altered to ensure that students #et the best
education possible to help with their utures, not so that they can mark
the correct bubbles on e&ams! Furthermore, as discussed by *nne C!
4ewis, political orders should +nd an e(ective way to implement a
national standards movement /4ewis, 29953! Puttin# in national
standards would allow students to transer rom one school to another,
one state to another, and not have to play catch up or classes that are
now below their level because in their previous school, they were the
ne&t step!
,'n the 211DA15 school year, =@ cents out o every dollar spent
on education is estimated to come rom the state and local levels /D5!E
percent rom state unds and @7!2 percent rom local #overnments3-
/*rchived, 21173! .ith this, we can see that undin# #reatly comes
rom the #overnment! 'n order to transorm the economic order,
schools should be able to chose where their undin# #oes because they
know best where that money is needed most! *lso, schools should
teach more than one or two classes about economic orders to better
prepare students or later in lie!
)o, the purpose o schoolin# should be to encoura#e student%s
knowled#e o e&istin# orders in order to keep them motivated and
prepared or lie!
Sources Cited
F*rchivedG 21 Fact *bout HA22 Education Fundin#!F *rchivedG 21 Fact
*bout HA22 Education Fundin#! U) Department o Education, 21
>ct! 2117! .eb! 22 Dec! 212@!
7ould, 4ouis! CG * Fabulous ChildIs )tory! 2117! Print!
5uerta, 7race! Educational FoundationsG Diverse 5istories, Diverse
Perspectives! BostonG 5ou#hton 8iJin, 2119! Print!
4ewis, *nne! *n >verview o the )tandards 8ovement! 2995! Print!
8iller, <ohn! F"he 5olistic CurriculumG "he .hat and "he .hy!F "rans!
*rray "he 5olistic Curriculum! ! 2nd ed! "orontoG 211=! @A2D!
Print!
0E*! Code o Ethics! 0ational Education *ssociation, 2122! Print!
)prin#, <oel! Deculturali?ation and the )tru##le or E:ualityG * Brie
5istory o the Education o Dominated Cultures in the United
)tates! )eventh ed! 0ew KorkG 8c7rawA5ill, 212@! Print!