Standing Up For Education

Over the summer, a fellow classmate and I were able to attend a “She’s the First Summit”, which was a weekend long conference that featured different activists and two scholars, one from Ethiopia and the other from Guatemala, that She’s the First sponsors. Throughout the weekend we were constantly exposed to different views and beliefs that focused on the subject of education around the world. Speaking with the two STF scholars really opened my eyes to how unappreciative I am about being able to go to school every day. The opportunities I have been given, would be unfathomable to my family members that came before me.

In the establishment phase of a year 7 drama class, I would introduce this motto to summarise my classroom culture expectations. Each component of this motto aligns directly with CHSHS’s values of safety, respect and learning and provides a common language within the class to build upon. This is evident as “Stand up” encompasses the values of being brave and safe within the classroom, essential elements in developing a productive and positive drama classroom, practically adhering to CHSHS’s value of safety. Furthermore, the “Stand for” component regards the value of learning, encouraging students to believe in equal access for all to learning. Finally, to “Stand together” means for students

Amongst the many rich tales that are told throughout our culture and across the world, many can teach us wonderful things about life on this earth. The wisdom of people and lessons that have been learned are often passed along through stories to be taken to anyone willing to learn. Often these messages are overlooked or pushed aside when they really do deserve our full attention. In the hectic world that we live in today, it is hard to turn away from the loud media and listen to the humble teachers that try to bring us into the light of true knowledge. It is my hope that we will all eventually learn to look for those teachers and listen quietly and respectfully to them

School in America is a stuffed animal. Shot dead on arrival but preserved by elitist taxidermy, we cling to the fallacy that it is alive and well. If anyone who cared witnessed the totality of my high school (or middle or elementary, for that matter) career, they wouldn’t have let me graduate. Not only did I learn next to nothing, I barely did anything. Teachers were apparently satisfied with dull essays lacking insight, obviously BSed or copied homework, and intelligence-insulting lies I fed them to keep my 84% in their class. That was the game I played for all of middle and high school – see how long it takes them to notice that I’m a house of cards. Around the time I turned 17, however, I realized that no one was about to tell me to

Accommodations. Students with learning disabilities are one of the fastest growing disabilities populations entering into a university (Walker & Test, 2011). As this number increases, more focus is being placed on ensuring these students are successful. Self-determination skills have played a major part in the success of students with disabilities (Walker & Test, 2011). A component of self-determination is self-advocacy, which is defined by students taking care of their personal business on their own (Walker & Test, 2011). A part of self-advocacy is education students on their responsibilities and rights, and also teaching them how to request accommodations and modifications (Walker & Test, 2011). Self-advocacy is important for college age

Education is constantly changing. Every year, new curriculum is introduced into the minds of students and teachers alike. Along with new teaching techniques, new processes to increase teacher effectiveness are being implemented in every public school in America. Unfortunately, many of the new techniques and processes are not permanent solutions. Today, many problems face the Education system, stemming from the undervaluing of teachers in public schools. Primary and secondary school teachers are not valued as teachers anymore, rather than a commodity to babysit children, This problem stems from the absence of communication, and the lack of an objective teaching measurement tool. In this essay, these problems and sub-conflicts residing in the main issues will be analyzed, along with the solutions to these issues.

Learning should not be out of anyone’s reach. A college education should be provided for every child who wants it and this should be provided free of charge. It is morally wrong for students and their families to be forced to incur thousands of dollars of debt for an education. Right now college loan defaults are at the highest levels they have ever been.There is an entire generation that is starting out in life after college burdened with a very large amount of debt and a very small job market available after graduation. In President Obama’s 2015 State of the Union speech, he stated, “I want to spread that idea all across America, so that two years of college becomes as free and universal in America as high school is today. And I want to

“Stand up for what you believe in, even if it means standing alone,” this shows others how you are as a person. Sticking to what you believe is better than other people deciding for you. Go by what your hearts tell you, something my mother has always told me, each and every day. Knowing I stand for something or someone that I choose like defending someone, standing for what I believe in, or even reading something you find and agreeing what they are saying is the best thing in the world. Sticking with my choice I know I will always win.

Education is the conduit for social justice. It is imperative to recognize that we live in a system that allows tolerates for discrimination against our fellow humans based on race, class, gender as well as other privileges. Through learning how to read and write, students are given access to being able to fully participate in society. By developing critical thinking and reasoning, students gain the abilities and skills needed to fight against ongoing problems in society. Now more than ever is the need for discussion and ongoing action in order to dismantle these systematic injustices. I plan to lend my own abilities to right the wrongs that occur in our society by being an elementary school teacher. This profession will allow me to enable students to become active participants in their own communities as well as society as a whole.

Over the years, I have overcome challenges so as to attain my desired goals, I call them dreams. At each point of my life, these dreams have always seemed so far-fetched. I have battled fears and anxiety of the “what if”, but today, I put a smile on my face for every hurdle that has made me stronger and pushed me forward. I was born and raised in a small village in western part of Kenya in a polygamous family consisting of a total of 14; two moms, my dad, seven brothers and four sisters. We joked around that we could make a soccer team. My father was a farmer, my mother was a nurse, and my step-mum was a teacher. I was lucky that my parents valued education and they stretched themselves just so that we could attain a good education. At the time, girl education was not imperative at it is today in Africa. Society encouraged sending of boys to school, while girls lingered around homes helping with household duties with the hope that someday an educated boy would come along and marry them. I was fortunate, my father believed in much more for us. My parents believed we could be better, they pushed us hard and instilled determination and hard work in us. Today my siblings and I are very thankful because it they instilled in us the zeal to succeed.

Mallow Yousafzai once said, “I speak not for myself, but for those without a voice... those who have fought for their rights... their right to live in peace, their right to be treated with dignity, their right to equality of opportunity, their right to be educated.” This quotation means that education is a right every human being should have, many have been fighting for equality, peace and dignity, but their voices were never heard, but in today's society we are still fighting for equality, and the rights we should share today. This quotation relates to an equal education right because many females and males are unable to receive an education in many countries including the Middle East. Education is a basic human right that should be

Education is not just a right, it’s truly a blessing to be able to learn new things every day. We should be very thankful for the opportunity to get an education, while others are actually forced away from getting an education. The ability to expand your knowledge is something that nobody should ever take for granted.

After going through this class not only do I have a different view point on education as a whole but I also appreciate the education that I have been lucky enough to have. Yes, I have had days and maybe even weeks during my years of schooling where I have wanted to quit and never sit in a classroom again. However, after going through this class I wish I could go back and tell my younger self to appreciate all the opportunities my education has given me because not everyone has what I had as far as schooling. An education is so important and to realize that not everyone is able to go or not get a decent education makes me sad.

In Plato’s book The Republic he states “The object of education is to turn the eye which the soul already possesses to the light. The whole function of education is not to put knowledge into the soul, but to bring out the best things that are latent in the soul, and to do so by directing it to the right objects. The problem of education, then, is to give it the right surrounding” (Plato’s Republic, Book vii, 80). Education in the United States is still very much unequal and Hispanic and black children are not given the same quality of education as white children. Many factors contribute for Hispanic, children of color, and children of other countries like a lower economic status, parent’s involvement, and problems with the government not funding schools. Education is important because the knowledge absorbed enables an individual’s mind to grow, so they can contribute their talents into society’s continuous evolution and achieve justice.

The vast majority of reformist prescriptions is often reduced to rearranging parts of the curricula and, sometimes, in a glorious attempt at flights of imagination, to twiddling with the organizational structure of the school. We seem to forget that the curriculum is just a changing narrative, just like clay before it becomes a sculpture. It should not be an end in itself. But it is.