What Are The Societal Goals 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

In Chapter 1 of Spring, the author discusses the goals of public education and whether or not those goals have been met. The chapter is divided into sections. These sections include Political Goals of Schooling, Censorship & American Political Values, Courts & Political Values, and Political Values & State & National Curriculum Standards. Each section the author makes a claim about public education.

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.

Public education is a fundamental part of society and the responsibility of our communities, local and state governments, to invest in the education of our youth. Yet, the contrasts between a child’s education is greatly dependent on the wealth of the family and neighborhood. Kozol said,

Teaching higher order thinking skills is not a recent need. It is apparent that students, at all levels of education, are lagging in problem-solving and thinking skills. Fragmentation of thinking skills, however, may be the result of critical thinking courses and texts. Every course, especially in content subjects, students should be taught to think logically, analyze and compare, question and evaluate.

There are many controversies that American public education system does more harm than good. In “Against School” by John Taylor Gatto and “Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work” by Jean Anyon, explains how school education destructively impacts us. Gatto states his experience as a public school teacher and why he “just can't-do it anymore”. He was tired how the schooling was programmed. He argues how school system are affecting students to be more like “childlike” citizens. Also, Anyon demonstrates her research on how there are many different kinds of education depending what “class” you were. She informs us that there is an inequality in “Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work”. She tells us that this difference in

The idea of education has advanced throughout history, constantly shifting by societal ideals and human evolvement. This change is especially prominent during the 1800s and continues to alter to this very day with education policies. Public education first began during the Industrial Revolution. During this crucial time in history, many children were required to get an education in order to learn the trades of the growing economy and business as opposed to getting hurt in from hazardous machinery. These skills were limited reading, writing, and math. Ultimately, from this concept, public education was founded and from then, our society has grown into a well-educated community in which every individual has a role into making an impressive,

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.

       Public schools have discovered the importance of critical thinking, many people are trying to teach children how to do it. The problem is that very few teachers know how to do. Robert Sternberg, an early advocate of critical thinking in teaching,

Public education is a good that is privileged to everyone in the United States. While education may seem extensive and unnecessary, especially to youth, achieving an education has benefitted people through the history of the U.S., which in turn benefits the U.S.’s welfare. When Thomas Jefferson advocated the opening of public schools in the early 1800s, his plan was only half fulfilled; only wealthy communities could afford public schools (Watson 2). This remained true until the early to mid 1900s, where schooling became accessible for all, regardless of skill level or income. Since the mid 1950s, the U.S. has made tremendous leaps in not only technology, but also in the stabilization of the government and economy; these successes can be attributed to education. If that privilege to learning was no longer given, the U.S.’s development would be lost.

In today’s current school systems, the question of whether or not schools are correctly teaching students the right curriculum is coming up for debate. In the Article,"Teaching Critical Thinking by Marcia Clemmitt, she goes into extensive research of the U.S. Department of Education’s crisis of standardized testing. Most learning activities include standardized testing which lacks many students to express creative and critical thinking. Critical thinking is defined as the examination and evaluation of ideas, events and arguments in their contexts which introduces students to interrogate assumptions and identifying biases (Clemmitt)Pure critical thinking involves investigating a text more than just memorizing, but to apply theirself in other ways of techniques, meaning schools should stimulate more analytical methods of teaching. This would not only free students from a sheltered test culture,but will allow students to think in a deeper,more passionate way than before.

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.

According to Supon, one of the fundamental purposes of teaching critical thinking is to enhance the abilities of students to become critical thinkers. Corporate leaders, educational researchers, employers, and parents have continually pushed teachers to assist their students in the development of critical thinking ability. Critical thinking is a skill that ?involved not only knowledge of content by also concept formation and analysis, reasoning and drawing conclusions, recognizing and avoiding contradiction, and other essential cognitive activities? (Supon, 1998).

When defining the term “critical thinking” it can seem overwhelming and daunting, especially for young learners. In laments terms, you are teaching your student how to think for him or herself when it comes to problem solving. Instead of giving the student the answer, you give them the tools to discover the answer him/herself. Critical thinking is an important component of any classroom. No matter the age group, these skills stay with a child for the rest of his or her life. As a teacher, it is important to understand what critical thinking pertains to and how to structure part of your lesson plan around developing critical thinking skills.