What is the purpose of schooling? This is a question that every person in this nation should be asking themselves. Yet, even now when education is the hot topic and we hear daily some new debate or scandal in the sector, this question remains unspoken. To be fair, it's not difficult to infer President Obama or Arne Duncan's view of what schooling's purpose is. In "A Blueprint for Reform: The Reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act" the word "success" is mentioned over 40 times in the 41 page document. "Reward" is mentioned 34 times, "college" is said a whopping 64 times and "career" 52 times. In contrast, "critical thinking" is not said at all, nor is "question" , "inquiry", the word "love" or the phrase "love of learning". Independence, at least in the context of describing a student, is not mentioned either. "Equal" is mentioned twice, "citizen" is mentioned once. In this view, schooling in America for elementary and secondary students is all for the purpose of getting students to more schooling, or to a career. While continuing education is vital to us, it's useless unless students first develop a desire to go further and the love of learning that propels a person through life, despite whether or not they want to pursue a university degree. Higher-order thinking skills are not just for college students, but should be standard in every classroom and achieved with a curriculum where inquiry is encouraged and expected.
And then there's the success. What does that mean? If I decide my career will be to sell drugs or to be a hit man and I make a lot of money and accomplish the tasks of my job, I'm successful with what I'm doing, aren't I? While that's obviously not what President Obama and Mr. Duncan mean, my point is that we must be more specific about what we mean by success and what we expect of the young people of this country; and it must be more than simply getting into college or getting a job. Their purpose is purely an economic one. More students in college or careers = more $$ for the United States and more "success" and equality for our country. Sounds plausible, but I don't buy it. So what if we are making money if we don't know how to treat each other, if we don't enjoy learning, if we don't know the responsibilities and rights of our own citizenship.
Luckily the ESEA (formerly No Child Left Behind) wasn't popular with lawmakers but what is next and how can we, the outraged teachers, citizens, parents, and students do to get our education system back on track? I think it's as simple as starting to ask ourselves, what is the purpose of schooling and is my own school district or teaching style helping to accomplish it?
This question comes up much more rarely than one would expect, even in the places you would most expect it. I never experienced this question during my four years of undergraduate work at NYU, when I was studying to be a teacher. There were plenty of professors asking me why I wanted to teach, or what my philosophy of education was. These questions though, are quite different. The question regarding the purpose of schooling did not get asked until I entered Kay Merseth's class at Harvard's Graduate School of Education. I wasn't alone. It seemed that many of us had never even thought to ask ourselves this same pointed question! It turned out to be one of the most important questions I ever had to answer, and took my education in a direction of purpose and certainty of my own beliefs. Once I was able to articulate what I thought the purpose should be, I was able to see more clearly than ever how our current system of education was not fulfilling it.
I believe the purpose of schooling is to foster independent thinking and socially-just navigators of our democracy. This kind of vision though requires the infusion of inquiry in to the classroom, restructuring of the current education model of self-contained subjects to a more project-based curriculum, quality arts instruction for all students (not just the wealthy schools), student voice, community voice, and teacher voice welcomed into decision-making, the teaching of government and civics, and teachers who can inspire and motivate students to solve the real problems in our world. This practically goes without saying, but no, this stuff cannot be assessed with a multiple choice test and new measures would need to be created.
The collective brainpower and voice of Americans must be harnessed if the current economic-driven purpose of education is to be made problematic. It will take everyone's imagination to make the changes we envision and it can begin with asking yourself one question: What do you think the purpose of schooling should be?
