The Importance Of Education In Education

Letter 8, question 2: Why should an educator know the concrete world where their students live? Why does Freire use the expressive term “concrete” when describing the environment where students live?

I used to work with children with IDD, doing in home school building. I think that children with learning disabilities can be mainstreamed with standard classes and should not be at certain times of their schooling process. I feel it is a great idea to have separate classes and allow the child with a IDD additional consideration, such as due date modifications and extra time on test. I feel it is important to give children growing up what they need in order succeed in the world, and giving that child extra time to grasp and learn information can work out for the best. I strongly feel, the only time that children with a learning disability should be mainstreamed with a standard class, if they are showing tremendous progress in remedial classes and displays that they can uphold the same responsibilities as the other children in the standard class. It is not a smart thing to just mainstream these two types of classes together, because it runs the risk of creating other issues in their lives and academic failures, it needs to be a smooth transition from one type of learning to the next.

“Give me a minute,” that is all it takes to save a person’s life. Annually, stress kills approximately 110 million people, which is equivalent to seven deaths every two seconds. In a manner of seconds we could save plentiful lives. Compare to other countries, the United States stand in the medium to high range of stress and only stands 20th place out of 35 industrialized countries for education. Countries like Finland, Japan, and South Korea stand in the top rank of the world for their education and still continue to improve exponentially, while the United States isn’t trying as hard enough. The reasons behind it is the tremendous amount of homework, the pressure of standardized testing and the requirements they have abide to. This undesirable education system hinders the students with stress and affects their test score, which causes the United States to be in 20th place. The students desire for an education that will benefit them and changing in criteria such as limited standardized testing, lessen the tremendous amount of homework and changing the schedule.

Throughout my educational years, I have always had a competitive mindset due to soccer which I believe has played a role in my struggles with literacy. I always had to be the first person in my class to finish my assignments. Whether it was a test, a quiz, or just a daily assignment, I was always the first to finish. By doing this, it caused me to rush through my assignments and not give the time and effort needed to do it right or even figure out if I really liked a book or story. This was most prevalent in my english classes. English was never my strongest subject. I found that I had not been particularly passionate about reading or writing, so the papers I produced were never at their full potential. I would rush through those assignments even faster, making sure I would not have to endure the pain of reading and writing for any longer time than I had to. I would much rather have been outside playing soccer with my teammates.

Why do you want to go into special ed. / inclusive/ general ed./ teach in your content area?

Society has defined a single method that will potentially enable people to land a high paying job they may enjoy. This method consists of students going to a university straight out of high school. Ken Robinson has essentially claimed that the “misconception of education in high schools have taken a turn towards a mechanical process instead of a human system.” (Robinson) In this case, it provides the opportunity for a more diverse system that incorporates a broad and flexible curriculum. High schools must turn creativity in a standardization instead of an option. This would allow people to awaken their personal creativity skills and apply them to jobs and everyday life once out of school. This will benefit high schools because the dropout rate may decrease since students are developing skills through creative work being done. The Neoliberal Arts claimed that education is changing and it’s not for the better, “College is seldom about thinking and learning anymore.” (Neoliberal) This may be because career focus is based on money over learning, which some colleges strive more towards. The Neoliberal Arts article also mentioned STEM education and whether or not it is following its responsibilities. It seems this particular education is only focusing on the Technology/Engineering aspect and not the Math/Science. This can be related to the 60% dropout rating that Ken Robinson’s TED TALK stated since math and science classroom may not be emphasized as much as it needs to be.

An educator's preparation and schooling are vital factors in establishing the way they teach, their habits, and approaches regarding education. In a sense, “teaching is an intentional and moral activity: it is undertaken for a purpose and is validated by reference to educational goals and social principles as well as to operational efficacy (Alexander 517).” In order for educators to positive resources for students in a varied specialized system, they must be properly trained in those systems which they are to repurpose. Learning just one method would leave gaps in the educator’s knowledge, negatively affecting their pupils. For educators to properly navigate the system of multiple educational perspectives they must be exposed to plethora of different approaches to education. One such exposure can be accomplished through the use of Student-Teaching abroad programs that are offered by different universities worldwide. Overwhelmingly, in the past, those who participate in these programs do not go on to pursue a career in education. This translates as a waste of the resource that can drive education in a positive direction. In effort to salvage a seemingly failing initiative, high level universities engaged in developing international student teacher training programs (Quezada 458).

Throughout the years, there have been many concerns over the state of the American educational system regarding the academic performance of students. In addition, there have been other issues regarding education that need to be addressed; a few examples question the heavier involvement from the U.S. Federal Government and segregation amongst students. During my time volunteering at the Knox County Museum of Education, I’ve learned about the history of Knox County schools and have gained valuable insight on some of these pressing matters that have been affecting our community. As time unfolds, few realize the importance of educational systems and how they play a key role in early childhood development. Through research, we can gain a better understanding of how society functions because it is closely linked with our educational system.

Education is a basic human right (“Primary and Secondary Education”). It is crucial for alleviating poverty, creating equality between different genders and races, improving health, maintaining peace, producing stability (Primary and Secondary Education). Every single person has the right and the responsibility to be educated so our world can grow and become more successful. The skills and knowledge learned in the classroom are not only helpful for counting and reading, but also in personal growth, people skills, and common sense. Education is crucial for a country's economy and poverty rate. In developed and developing nations, education has many differences in attendance, quality of teaching, content of curriculum, and post-primary education.

Education has always been a cornerstone of American society. However, the current educational system of the US as many issues. First, most public schools hardly teach many important subjects such as personal finance, entrepreneurship, and coding (Gerber). Furthermore, many schools are required to teach students about pointless material such as Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Qin Shihuangdi, and Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter. Second, in subjects such math and science, America lags behind most developed countries due to many teachers teaching a subject based off a particular standardized test such as the End of Course/Grade assessment (Chou). Therefore, the issues of low test scores in comparison to other developed nations and teaching students the wrong material in the American educational system need to be addressed.

The association between birth spacing and formal education in the context of age at marriage is complex. The length of time a girl remains in formal school reduces her time spent in marriage during her reproductive life, and in turn shortens her window of childbearing years. Furthermore, by forcefully removing girls from school at an early age they are unable to receive the proper information and knowledge involving sexual and reproductive rights and health (Myers & Harvey 2011; Jain & Kurz 2007). Often under pressure from her husband, family, and society to prove her fertility, girls tend to have more frequent, poorly spaced births when married young compared to their adult married counterparts (Nour 2006). Benga et al. (2013) found that in rural communities in southern Ethiopia short birth intervals were almost twice as likely for mothers who had no formal education compared to their educated counterparts. Similarly a different study in Ethiopia by Hailu and Gulte (2016) found that women who had no formal education were three times more likely to experience short birth intervals when compared to their educated counterparts. This is in line with a study from northern Iran that found the length of birth interval significantly increased when women have a higher level of education (Hajian-Tilaki et al 2009). The length of inter-birth intervals studied in Tanzania was related to the maternal level of educational attainment such that as the level of education increase,

Being an educator at any level in the school system is very important for advancing the youth. Being a high school educator is extremely important in that many teachers at this level of education have to prepare the students for adulthood and the real world. Being an effective high school educator includes incorporating the multitude of the learning styles that the students have, along with the different styles of teaching and the most effective ways of delivering the material to the students, how to keep classroom control, and finally how to keep certain situations from escalating through assertive discipline.

“ Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid” ( Einstein). Grading students based on subjects that they struggle in is like judging a fish based on its ability to climb a tree: completely unfair. The American school system has turned a blind eye to the millions of different personalities and talents that a student body has to offer. Since the establishment of the American high school, students have been forced to be scheduled in courses that they are not only struggling in, but are also forced to take classes that they find entirely uninteresting. The American high school has failed many students who are not academically inclined, and in order to establish success for everyone, the education system must be reconstructed to include hands on experiences and functional skill instruction.

Throughout the last 50 decades or so, the world has advanced beyond our imaginations. With new technology being created every day, our minds never cease to disappoint us. However, although we have advanced in our industry, the school system in many developed countries have stayed static. The education systems we currently have were built with the intention of being useful during the industrial age. For a few countries, that stretches as far back as the 18th century. Yes, there have been small alterations made throughout the years but the principal idea of our education system has not changed for a mere 200 years. So, what is that goal exactly? To produce future factory workers.

With more education in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, children will be better prepared for challenges they will face in their lives. If kids are more educated in STEM, then they become outstanding citizens in their communities, and across their countries. Researchers have conducted many experiments about people interested and educated in STEM, and compared them to people not as intrigued or experienced. The data collected leads to numerous amounts of behavioral and intellectual skills, however, one stands out in particular that all citizens should be aware of. People who excel in STEM, those who make things, and those that are inspired by science, typically are better at problem solving, they have better social skills, and they are more likely to make a difference in the world.