The Purpose Of Public Education

Public education in America began in the early to mid-19th century with the simple goal of “uniting the American population by instilling common moral and political values” (Spring, 2012, p. 5). Our country was founded by men who designed the constitution so that it could be amended to accommodate changing political and social climates. They believed in the ideology of the American dream which “holds out a vision of both individual success and the collective good of all” (Hochschild & Scovronick, 2004, p. 1). It is with this same ideology that our public schools were

Public schools provide a way for kids to perfect their interactive skills with other kids and teachers. It allows kids to interact with other children and acquire critical social skills that they will use as they grow up. It teaches kids teamwork and how to work with other people to solve problems. It also gives kids the opportunity to think outside the

In Kisautaq Lenona Okakok’s essay “Serving the Purpose of Education” she discusses the education dilemma in her borough of North Slope, Alaska, where many of the occupants are indigenous people of the Inupiat. Western education was thrust upon the Inupiat people of Alaska, changing the traditional way they taught their children. Okakok explains why and how The Board of Education for North Slope, Alaska took entire control of their education system after having Western education try to influence their way of teaching. The way the Inupiat teach is different from that of Western education, not only do they teach a different language (Inupiaq), they also need to teach a different curriculum that is better suited for the people of the North Slope compared to that of Western education. Okakok’s essay analyzes the way Western culture and teachings influenced her own culture, and how the Inupiat have taken control of their own education again while using considerable examples to defend her claims.

In chapter one, Joel Spring covers the topics of the history and political goals of public school. From the beginning of the public school education system politics seemed to have a hand inside public schools. Joel Spring mentions about the controversial goals of education. The main topic for this chapter seems to point towards the political approach to the goals of education. Now not all goals are bad but they do have an underlining that can spark a debate whether it is between the parents, students, teachers, or politicians. Goals such as subject matter, patriotism, should public schools override the objections of the parents over subject matter. A good quote from the book “American Education” is “Education goals are a product of what people believe schooling should do for the good of society.” With such a simple definition of what educational goals are ends up being much scrutinized. Everyone has an opinion sometimes they turn out to be great ideas and other times not.

The goals of public education revolve around three main areas that include; the political goals of schooling, the social goals of schooling, and the economic goals of schooling. These goals were placed with the idea that all children should receive public education whether you were poor or rich and schools focused on teaching about political views and the law to avoid conflicts. Schools were the focus of many hopes for political, social, and economic improvement.

Education is considered a right in most first world countries and compulsory public education has been in effect in the United States for over a century. So, why do governments have trouble assigning a purpose to public education and experiencing student growth across the board? How can schools change their approach in order to ensure that their students are ready to create their own opportunities? Scholar and politician Winston Churchill notes in his autobiography, My Early Life, “But now I pity undergraduates, when I see what frivolous lives many of them lead in the midst of precious fleeting opportunity. After all, a man’s Life must be nailed to a cross of either Thought or Action. Without work there is no play.” (p. 113) From this it can be concluded that Churchill believes the purpose of education is to teach students how to be active in their community along with the importance of judgement and choice, in order to further the success of their country.

Mass public schooling has traditionally proclaimed among its goals the following: (1) to help each student gain personal fulfillment and (2) to help create good citizens. The two goals they claim here are for the betterment of the individual and the other for society that have an odd relation with one another. These two goals are what put schools at tough ends. The schools do not want to limit the students’ individuality but also want to encourage conformity to allow for students to mingle with other students. The issue that causes most tension in schools is the strict scheduling students must follow which by allowing the students to choose several electoral courses in their schedules levitates. Individualism is also encouraged in the school system with allowing the students the freedom to represent themselves through their own clothing. These points will be further and thoroughly discussed through the remaining of this essay.

In most of the American secondary schools the four basic purposes are taught and enforced. Purposes such as intellectual, civic, economic, and social purposes can come in handy in our everyday lives if they are enforced in school.

It allows for them to do a variety of things and is important to anybody if they plan to do anything in life.

With many in government and communities believing that education is the key to create a strong and independent country, public schools were formed in the early years of the United States to provide a basic education for citizens. Over the years it has been reformed to fill the needs of a growing nation. However, we are now facing a need to not only satisfy the needs of a national economy, but a world economy. Unable to fill positions that demand a high education, many American industries have to branch out to other countries in search for employees. Unless America is able to raise the education

In Diane Ravitch Article she claims that the essentials of a good education is for public schools to keep away from the standard testing because if takes time away from students furthering their knowledge into learning, that not involves math or learning. Ravitch then continues into pointing that the public system doesn’t have the best educational learning system, which especially involves minorities like black and Latino students. Ravitch proceeds into say that those types of minorities haven’t had any progress, because of the low income neighborhoods they live in. While she argues that low- income communities don’t have the same resources as private schools. Ravitch is refuting privatized schools as the “answer” to bridging the gap between the educational scores of middle-class whites and low-income minorities.

The United States prides itself on its public education system making it a core value of many families. The level of education a person has will influence their career achievements. Americans expect their public system of education to provide a solid curriculum. Most of the people in the United States place their trust in the public school system in which they support through taxes. This trust although is contradicted by the public system of education’s current shape. Much of the schools in the United States are either deteriorating, or failing all together. The drawbacks of public education create an unhealthy environment for student learning.

Public school education is identical important and should be taken very seriously. It is the basis that leads to the future of everyone’s life. The people who begin to lay down the pathway for education are the teachers. Teachers in today’s public school system world are one of the utmost crucial people in America. They are the ones to encourage children to excel into their greatest self. Without teachers, society would face a drastic downfall. There would not be many professions around. There would not be any doctors to help save people’s lives there would not be any police officers to protect and serve, there would not be a president to lead this country. The public school education system as a whole is something that has been over

The education system in the US has been the cradle of many famous and talented people through the history; it worked for many years and will keep working for many years. Personally, my experience with education has been pleasant. Although I have been homeschooled since the age of 6, I’ve had an experience with public education. In the year 2015 I had the pleasure of enrolling in a public school on the south side of Chicago, Illinois. From my experience, I would say that the public education system contains its sides that seem wonderful; creating fun for the students while teaching some important concepts, giving students time to social, providing extracurricular activities etc. I specifically enjoyed how student were able to connect with teacher not only in classrooms but as friends also. That year was

I believe the purpose of education in America should be that we should support children in developing the skills, the knowledge, and supports, so that they can be successful and responsible members of society. This is not something that should just stop at a certain grade either, as mentioned in our text (Knight, 2008) “education is a lifelong process, we should constantly be striving to learn and make ourselves better that we were before. I am always looking at ways that I can improve my teaching. As a preschool teacher, I get students in the early part of their lives, I feel like early childhood is a very crucial time for students, it is the time where they are often times first learning appropriate social skills (listening skills focusing attention, following directions, peer interactions, etc.) All of these sills are part of what I think the main purpose of education should and are lifelong skills everyone should have.