The purpose of schooling
I once spent a semester tracing my family's history of schooling to make a zine, at the risk of self-plagiarism I'll attach a copy for you to peruse. My family has a complicated (but rather short) history with school, my great-grandfather dropped out of the second grade, his son finished high school and eventually college, and my dad now has a bachelor's and master's degree. Despite what were likely learning difficulties my grandfather was able to attend school and go and radically change the course of his children and grandchildren's lives. Thanks to the public school system in Eastern Kentucky (and him faking being drafted but that's not what's important here), my grandfather was able to send his son to school eventually culminating in my dad obtaining a degree in engineering. In only a generation the level of education in my family increased from my great-grandfather not being able to read and write to my dad designing bridges and other public infrastructure. Public schooling in the US should strive to provide all students with a quality education regardless of their identities in order to prepare them for their next steps.
While I can simply say that, I want to talk about what makes a quality education. Quality education cannot be obtained if a student hasn't eaten over the weekend, and comes to school on Monday hungry. Quality education cannot be obtained if a student is worried about whether or not they will have somewhere to sleep that night. Quality education cannot be obtained if a students learning or social needs are being ignored. I could go on and on, of course, this only adds to the confusion and difficulty of balancing a school's obligation to give students information and training and providing valuable social safety nets.
So do you think that what we should fix first is the way that the lower class people are treated and should be better taken care of and then move on to fixing the education system? Or do you think that fixing the education system how help improve the lower class citizen treatment?
ReplyDeleteHi Mallory! I like that you included your family's education history and the zine (very impressive). I also found it interesting that you included that the education in your family has increased from your great-grandfather not obtaining an education, to your dad being educated and successful. It just shows what a quality education can do for a person in their life. I agree with your second paragraph about what makes a quality education, however, I feel as though it is beyond what public schools can do. If a student has not eaten over the weekend, it is true that they are not going to be prepared to learn and participate in learning on Monday, but what can the school do? Perhaps every school needs to provide a way to make sure students are fed a quality breakfast in the morning, and lunch. In a perfect world it would be provided for free for those who cannot afford it, but then that brings up the issue of schools not having that kind of money to spend. I do agree that there needs to be a change in how public schools can provide for their students, I'm just not sure how it will be obtained. Thank you for sharing your thoughts, your post really has me thinking!
ReplyDeleteHi Mallory!! I enjoyed reading about how the education in your own family has increased. I think public schools try to do their best, but not every student is going to have a positive home life to help them motivate their education. There is only so much the school can do for children with their lives at home. It doesn’t mean it can’t be done though, the schools should definitely try to make that change from each kid having breakfast to payment plans every family can afford whether it’s school lunches , school supplies or clubs they might want to participate in. Overall loved your blog post.
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