Main Aspects of Education: An Argument for Experience, Curiosity, and Commitment

Aristotle said, “Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all.” What does it really mean to be educated? Many people thought that they knew what education meant, even I felt confident in myself to define education. However, the ideas discussed in class really made me question my definition of education. My definition has changed within the past few weeks as I discovered more about education. I am here to present my definition of education; with the lack of resources, one can still become educated by learning the unknown and putting your knowledge to good use.

I could start off my story by talking about my life with my family and parents. They are the most important thing to me because they have helped me grow and become who I am throughout the years. They gave me the things that I needed to develop as a person and they still gave me everything that I need to become something great in the future. No matter what I choose to do in the future, I know they will always be by my side helping me through both good and bad situations that life has to offer. I have one younger sister who I would give my life to if it came down to it. I wouldn’t be the brother I am today without her. My parents have given me my basic needs like food, clothes, and my health, a place to live, water, and above all love and support. Amid all those needs they have given me, perchance the most important value that me and my family appreciates which is education. We are all told at one point in our life or another, “that we can be whatever we want to be and to set our goals high, and never give up.”

• using songs, chants, and stories that emphasize the counting sequence, both forward and backwards and from different points within the sequence, and that focus on the tricky teens when the students are ready;

Currently, I am responsible for managing the science instructional programs and personnel in a chartered middle school. As a supervisor for the department, I develop/source curriculum materials for teachers and collaborate with them to plan and implement instructional lessons daily. I manage the financial resources for the department and constantly monitor the teaching practices that will impact our organizational goal and vision.

As for me, education is not only teaching knowledge, but also inspire students to better develop themselves and cultivate their potential. Therefore, I would like to choose the General Stream in my future study. What attract me most in General Steam is that students are allowed to study various kinds of courses in different educational fields, which means I can fully study education in a more systematical way. I believe that with extensive learning, I can acquire solid knowledge about education theories and then analyze education issues from different perspectives.

In Chapter 3 of Exploring Education, it focuses on the history of education. The chapter outlines the history of the educational system in the U.S., they started in the colonial period to modern times. They highlight major education reform throughout history. At the end of the chapter there were two articles at the end titled “Popular Schooling” by Lawrence A. Cremin and “Capital Accumulation, Class Conflict, and Educational Change” by Samuel Bowles and Herbert Gintis. They both gave a historical look on how schools were and what they are today.

After graduation, I plan to go to graduate school for education. I plan to teach at inner city schools or in an impoverished country. My goal as a teacher would to serve, love, and lead my kids. I would help lead kids into a better life. I would strive to be a role model and give hope to the kids. I would use my education as a teacher to help serve, love, and lead children..

“If we teach today’s students as we taught yesterday’s we rob them of tomorrow.” John Dewey once spoke this quote to remind his audience that if we keep teaching new generations the same curriculum as we did 30 years ago, our knowledge would never expand or grow. It would simply stay the same. Education is one of the most important tools that is applied to help us young adults succeed, it also teaches us the importance of life and helps us face the challenges in life. I would like to succeed and go through the schooling of a Secondary Education teacher and teach 8th grade English so I teach my students as well as I was taught in school. With that said, knowledge is gained through education that helps enables an individual's’ potential to be the best that they can be. The role of teaching and what has been taught in school has played a huge role in many people's lives in the past generation.

I believe helping students learn and grow is my purpose in life. Education helps prepare students for the real world. When students become young adults, they can help contribute to society by having a job and giving back to their community. Education is a vital part of each individual's life, we need to look to the education team in finding ways to make education better. Each team member has a role to play. The role of the student is to attend school and learn new information that they can apply to their lives. Teachers are responsible for meeting the needs of every learner and ensuring continual growth for students. A paraprofessional, an assistant to the teacher and students, forms a bond with the education team to carry out the task of educating the students. The community plays a major role in education by providing resources and support for the

This week, the author sat down with a seventh grade special education student to gain insight on how he feels about his learning and overall educational experience. The student’s name is Nate, and he has an Individualized Education Program (IEP) with goals in the areas of reading, writing, math, and behavior, and he has been diagnosed with ADHD. Nate was a new student to the district in August and was adopted within the last year. Since the teacher-student relationship was newly developing, the author staged the interview in a very informal manner. The student and teacher sat across the table from each other and simply chatted back and forth. The author also presented the interview to the student as an opportunity for the teacher to get to know him better since he was new to the district.

     Have you ever had a teacher you really enjoyed? Why did you enjoy him? For most people it is because the teacher interacted with the student and made them feel involved in the learning process. As Carl Jung puts it: “One looks back with appreciation to the brilliant teachers, but with gratitude to those who touched our human feelings. The curriculum is so much necessary raw material, but warmth is the vital element for the growing plant and for the soul of the child.” (para. 249).

The purpose of education is to help children learn core subject skills and mature into independent learners with responsibility and become leaders. Bruner cited in Driscoll (2005) focuses on “complex ideas and proposes that develop in children, as a function of an interaction within their environment and personal growth experiences” (Driscoll, 2005, p. 229). Bruner focus on how children interact with their environment, and personal experiences. For example, children like to initiate solving problems and conflicts about things in the classroom, like computers, bulletin boards, and textbooks.

I cannot write this essay without reference to study of my own experienced and my daughter’s- placed in the harsh environment of the government schooling system and its observations of the stark belief systems of “the child to fit the system” and not “the system to fit the child” with reference to the what education should be about. This means different things to different people. To some this means a teacher teaching and passive learning taking place, the outcome is expected at the end of each year that each child has to achieve the same outcome and is graded accordingly.

“The goal of education is not to increase the amount of knowledge but to create the possibilities for a child to invent and discover, to create men who are capable of doing new things,” stated by Jean Piaget. Education serves many purposes; it helps a child open their eyes to the world, it provides curiosity and determination for a young adult, and it can provide middle age adults and elders with a spark of belonging and hope. To be able to achieve these purposes, the process of education must start at a young age. Singing the ABC’s to an infant, reading to a toddler, encouraging writing and math skills are a few steps towards all the possibilities a person could have in life.

Non-formal education is one such pathway. Characterised by a high degree of flexibility and openness to change and innovation in its organisation, pedagogy and delivery modes, nonformal education caters to diverse and context-specific learning needs of children, young people and adults worldwide.