Not in anyway giving anyone permission to plagiarize or copy this and also not verifying the authenticity of any of the information. Also note that there are probably no sources listed and I am not one myself, so don't quote me. This is just some of my homework; thought it might be interesting to someone:
What is the purpose of school? Should schools transmit culture or change it? How would your view be different if you were a politician, a businessman, a teacher or a parent?
Abraham Lincoln is quoted as having said, “The philosophy of the school room in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next.” From this quote, one could infer that the purpose of school is to create voters and politicians with the knowledge and tools to guide our country in the proper direction in the future. This is essentially what I believe; the purpose of education is to create effective future citizens through a combination of knowledge and social reform.
I think that it is the responsibility of schools to fulfill, at least to some extent, both of the fundamental purposes of education that are listed in the book. It is important to transmit society’s knowledge and values for multiple reasons. Firstly, to set students up for success in America and a globalized world, it is important that they understand both our culture and the world’s. Because the students of today will be the voters and politicians of tomorrow, knowledge of history will be essential in avoiding the repetition of its mistakes. Additionally, creating intellectually and culturally aware students is one of the only reasonable solutions to many of the United States’, and the world’s, social problems. We can only hope to continue social improvement and prosperity in the future by creating future citizens who are aware of the problems and have the tools to come up with solutions.
Though everyone will have different ideas about the purpose of school, based on their own experiences and values, each person’s personal role in education will likely make a difference in their views. From the perspective of a politician, schools are a place that cost the government a lot of money and decisions about them can make or break constituents’ opinions. I doubt that most politicians really base their decisions on what they consider to be the purpose of schools. While politicians will be hesitant to upset voters, they are also under a lot of pressure from voters and other politicians to cut money from public institutions. Unfortunately, education is one of the institutions targeted first. So, if I were a politician, I assume that even my own views of the importance of education would be skewed by the pressure from all directions, as well as the desire to be re-elected.
As a businessperson, I would hope that schools will provide me with the type of workers that I desire in the future. This outlook is closest to purpose 1 (transmit cultural baton), but really kind of transcends both outlooks on the purpose of education. I think that most businesspeople are probably little concerned with their workers’ knowledge outside of the job and do not at all care about the type of societal reform that purpose 2 discusses. As a businessperson, I guess it would be most beneficial to me, so I would most support schools that create solid work-ethics, good employee habits, and people who can work well in groups.
From the perspective of most teachers, I think that the goal of education is to transmit the information. While many teachers do hope to enable students to positively change society, it seems that the average teacher is primarily concerned with transferring the subject’s knowledge to students. This is probably because of their interest in their subject, as well as the pressure of standardized tests and teacher evaluations. From the standpoint of a prospective teacher, I can see how fulfilling both purposes of school might be important to me, but the first purpose might take priority for job security and other reasons.
As a parent, I really hope that schools are able to reform, or reconstruct, society. I feel confident that I can instill the necessary knowledge and values in my own child by spending time with her, being an active part of her life, and creating a love of books and knowledge. I am not depending on the public school system to make my child a good person or a culturally knowledgeable person; I can handle that. Personally, I would much rather that schools prepare students to understand and tackle the important issues of society than to just have a lot of passed-down information. While it seems like purpose 2 depends on the implication of purpose 1, the end-goals are very different.
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