Reflection - What is School For?

 I have thought a lot over the past few years about the task of raising children and its ultimate goals. Increasingly, in a society and culture filled with wide-spread cynicism, mistrust, and apathy, yet also with inspiration, hope, and optimism, I keenly feel the impacts of education on all those around me. I think it is telling that my first thoughts when imagining the results of education are emotional. Although some might assume that secondary math is entirely content-based, I think it has an opportunity to help students grow into mature, thoughtful, creative people. 

I am reminded of a book (that I will admit I have not read) called All I really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten. The title does a lot of expository work by itself, but the central premise is that the key skills for navigating life are not the ability to factor a quadratic, but rather the ability to work well with others and exercise compassion. It is these qualities that I hope schooling can engender in students more than anything else.

In terms of society, it is undeniable that schooling has a profound impact on shaping the way we live. Without putting myself on any government watch lists, I will admit that I have some serious grievances with our current capitalist neocolonial way of living, both in how it impacts human rights as well as the rest of the environment. One of my great fears in entering the profession of teaching is that I will be compelled tacitly or otherwise to endorse this structure, so I appreciate the question allowing some freedom to imagine a different society. I consider myself generally to be a communitarian, which means that as an educator I must place value on cooperation and communication. The hierarchical nature of grading (especially percentage grades) is antithetical to my own social philosophy. I would have said the same of assessment, although I have learned to expand my definition of assessment through my 441 class to include things which I think are more constructive (generally formative assessment).