The Importance Of Education In Education

I am a valuable person, I have dignity and worth, and what I do makes a difference. These words are regularly repeated by teachers and students alike at Assumption High School, a private all-girls college preparatory school in Louisville, Kentucky that illustrates an ideal environment for the growth of young women. Students are undoubtedly empowered through their education in ways that transcend academics. Messages boosting confidence and self-worth are woven throughout the curriculum and programming. The primary focus of the education of adolescents should be about more than just achievement; it can potentially play a powerful role in mental and social development. Therefore, all-female schools that emphasize the development of young girls are a powerful option to consider in closing the gender achievement gap.

I was born and raised in a developing country in Africa where there are limited opportunities for education, particularly for women. Although my country is plagued by a variety of fatal diseases and parasites, most notably malaria, treatment facilities lack basic medical supplies and skilled healthcare providers. Due to poverty, most people have limited access to life-saving care, especially those in rural areas who don’t even have medical access. This shortage of resources and proficient personnel render the population vulnerable to infectious diseases.

Experience and Education Empowering To be empowered is to be more confident in, and more aware of oneself. To be empowered is to have a more complete understanding of what one must accomplish in order to live more fully. It is to grow in self-knowledge. It is to grow in self-awareness.

“ 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.

veys their drive to acquire an education as well as their work ethic; therefore, this being a main reason why colleges should continue to use standardized testing and view their academic excellence.

“When we think about what it is to be ‘connected,’ we think about memory. We think about history. We think about storytelling. All of these words that we hear—‘literacy,’ ‘inclusion,’ ‘diversity’—those are all words for connection . We need that sense of connection. We need to live in a global sense.” This is one of many important quotes from personal hero Miriam Wright Edelman. Founder and president of the Children's Defense Fund and an advocate for all children and their families regardless of race or culture, Marian Wright Edelman, goes on to say, “we must always refill and ensure there is a critical mass of leaders and activists committed to nonviolence and racial and economic justice who will keep seeding and building transforming movements.” (Siegel, 1995) Transforming movement has been taking place in the area of professional education or development, however, honoring the learning from our educational system through the anthropological lens creates the best environment possible for school cultures and in turn, our society.

Arguably teaching is one of the most powerful careers offered to the public today. The impact educators have on their students is insurmountable, possibly lasting the child’s entire lifetime. This is why educators should be dedicated to being a positive impact on the child’s life, and creating a safe classroom environment. Educators can successfully do this if they are aware of the developmental, behavioral and social needs of their students, fully comprehend the impacts of trauma and poverty as well as use differentiation strategies to support the needs of these students.

Ever since I can remember I’ve never been the best test taker. The subject I’ve struggled the most in for all of my life has been math. In junior high, especially seventh grade I didn’t have the greatest teacher in the world. That was definitely the year I had the most trouble, so when high school came around and our test scores were the deciding factor on whether we graduate or not I knew I had a lot of work to do.

What is the goal of the United States’ K-12 education system in the 21st century? While it may be worded in a variety of ways, it is well known that the main goal is essentially to equip our students with the skills necessary to succeed on their own after K-12 education. However, many of today’s high school graduates are not experiencing the achievement of this goal. In order for success after K-12 education to happen the students must possess the intrinsic motivation for overcoming obstacles, and the confidence in their ability to do so. With much of education involving a right and wrong answer it is easy for students to feel like they can either succeed or fail. In contrast, education through the arts with a design thinking approach allows students to have a learning experience where the best solution to a problem is not given to them, but rather found by them throughout the design process. This process gives students the opportunity to learn from their mistakes, gain confidence in their ideas, and develop a motivation that comes from within. Thus, through design thinking pedagogy and the integration of the arts with other disciplines, as seen in STEAM curriculums, educators are able to facilitate this type of learning experience and therefore better equip students with the tools for success.

With an astounding 14% of students in the United States being eligible for special education under IDEA, there has been greater regulation of educational services and identification of legal rights than ever before. (National Center for Education Statistics) IDEA, or the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, was an amendment to the Education for All Handicapped Children Act that in essence changed the name of the law, but maintained the purpose of ensuring that all those with disabilities have the right to a free and appropriate public education. One of the many requirements of IDEA is the development of an IEP, or Individualized Education Program, for each student in special education. (Hallahan et al.) In light of the prevalence of special education in the United States, it is essential that all educators, not just special educators, be aware of the purpose, elements, and process of creating an IEP.

George Mombiot pulls few punches when talking about the modern educational system and its pitfalls. In Monbiot’s eyes it is a “defying dehumanising system” (2017, para 7) that inevitably leads to the end of creativity and natural, child-like curiosities; both are things Monbiot believes should be focused on and encouraged, a point that many people agree with, but few have acted on. There are schools and individuals making significant strides in changing the way curriculum is administered, but a large-scale implementation seems like a long way off. Bigger issues remain regarding the fundamentals of our current system that need to be addressed before we try and move on from it. We can not simply abandon the basics in favour of specialized education; we need to find a balance.

Classrooms today are diverse and multicultural, and children bring different forms of Englishes into the classroom, such as Spanglish, Chinglish, or Singlish (Crystal, 2013). Therefore, many students are bilingual, whereby they speak their birth language at home and Standard English at school (Ewing, Callow & Rushton, 2016). Most often, aboriginal children from remote communities learn Aboriginal English at home and have a range of experiences based on cultural and family believes (Loanne & Muir, 2017). Furthermore, bi-directional relationships and past experiences such as culture, family, geographic or socio-economic status (SES) all influence students' learning and development (Ewing, 2013; Gardner, 2017d; O'Donnell et al., 2016). Therefore, teachers need to use a two-way learning approach in the classroom to link all students' cultural heritage and home language to literacy. Equally, curriculum needs to be culturally cohesive to help bridge the learning gap amongst the students (Ewing, 2013; Thomson, 2002). Furthermore, the classroom Discourse needs to make students feel they belong, which helps build students' self-confidence, self-efficiency, and self-identity (Green, 2006; Malaguzzi, 1993). Teachers must ensure language used, class tasks and textual resources are relevant and diverse to meet the diverse range of learners in the class. For example, teachers introducing a wide variety of texts, magazines, images with a variety of dialects and sociolects help make

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

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.

Education has often been regarded as a source of freedom for America’s Black students. Maxims such as “Education is the key to success” and “Education is the passport to the future” all support the idea that with education comes freedom. But at times, the universal American K-12 education doesn’t grant these forms of freedom for its Black and Brown students. This is primarily due to the fact that minority students are not being taught the importance of education in the pursuit of intellectual, economic, and professional freedom. Black students, especially in low-income communities, are still struggling to develop the skills necessary to succeed in society. The education system needs to better prepare its Black students by developing