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Chase Stiles

EDU150 Schools in Society

Ed Philosophy Part 2

Dr. Johnson

12 December 2016
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Schools and Society has helped shape, change, and solidify my educational philosophy.

Upon entering this course, the purpose of education was very simple to me; to learn. Although I

have learned that education goes far beyond the classroom. Education changes lives. Throughout

the course, I have asked myself, how will I change the world of teaching? Schools and Society

has taught me how I will do so.

In becoming an early childhood teacher, I will strive for exceeding mediocrity. My

objectives are to facilitate the acquisition of lifelong learning, and to prepare students for their

future academic endeavors. I believe that working with this age group is crucial to laying the

foundation of childrens futures. In educating younger generations, the world will grow to

become a higher educated place for generations to come. Choosing to become an early childhood

educator is accepting the challenge of making a difference in every childs life that crosses over

that threshold, into my classroom.

In order to meet these objectives, I will challenge my students in order for them to meet

their full potential. I want every student, no matter their level, to develop for the betterment of

themselves and the community. Throughout this course I have learned that racial backgrounds,

socioeconomic status, and the achievement gap has nearly divided the world of education to

many individuals. This controversy must change. Achievement gaps must shrink, racial

discrimination must stop, and stereotypes must come to a halt. It will be hard to change this in

the world of education, but I can start by changing the policies, rules and expectations within my

own classroom. It is not realistic to change the way education has formed, but it can start

somewhere. I am taking on that challenge. It will take many steps, big and small, to make

changes. In order to start this change, my classroom will be built around an excessive amount of
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group work. Each person has the ability to change and broaden view points and work

collaboratively. As mentioned before, I believe in preparing students for their future academic

endeavors, and nearly every job has to acquire the ability to work with people. Allowing children

to get an early head start with group work, will work to strengthen those social skills at an early

age. By strengthening the collaboration to work with others, my students will have the chance to

see an array of personalities, opinions, mindsets, and different life backgrounds. Every child and

human being brings a different story to the table. I think it is important to know these stories and

to build from these stories. Schools and Society has allowed me to enhance my acceptance

within myself and my community. My goal is to reach this goal with my own students. By

allowing them to work with people that are different from themselves, they will learn to accept

diversity. It is a shame, but diversity is what has put gaps in relationships and has changed the

world of education. My classroom will be a community. My community, will accept everyone.

Throughout the course, we have studied the achievement gap and what has made this gap

become larger within the recent past. As someone who is entering the world of education, I will

make an effort and actively work to try and stop the achievement gap from expanding. How will

I do that? The achievement gap has widened due to standardized testing. These tests need to end.

Individually, I do not have the power to stop standardized testing. Although, I do have the power

and the right to voice my opinion to the world of education. Standardized tests are meant to raise

learning standards and make education more equitable by assessing every student nationwide on

the same test (What's Wrong With Standardized Tests?" 2012). These tests are neither fair nor

objective; they are an unreliable measure of student performance, and are exacerbating the

manifestation of social inequality (Chin, 2015). According to the movie, Tested, students that
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come from a higher socioeconomic background tend to have higher scores on these tests because

they have the financial ability to provide a tutor and instructor on how to take the test. Therefore,

more middle to upper class privileged white children are being accepted stereotyped into being

the smarter children, which causes racial and discrimination issues among the schools, thereby

widening the achievement gap.

I understand not everyone comes from a stable financial ability, although this does not

have to reflect their educational achievement. Choosing to enter this world of teaching, I am

obligated to make this difference. It is not fair and I will fight for these children and my future

students. I do not tolerate racial discrimination. I do not tolerate stereotypes. I do not tolerate

socioeconomics playing a role in the quality of education. Every child deserves the same

education; sick or healthy, poor or rich, Hispanic or white. EVERY child in the United States of

America deserves a quality education. I feel strongly about this, and I will fight until there is a

change.

I was fortunate enough in my personal experience to reach very high potential thus far. I

was given an incredible support system outside of the classroom, but more importantly what

went on in the classroom was even stronger. I have had teachers that have changed who I am and

the path that I have taken. Teachers that get involved in your life can highly contribute to every

part of your life and direct you in paths that will help you succeed and be the best individual that

you can be. I have had teachers that have showed patience, motivation, and energy put forth in

the classroom to better my education. In particular, one teacher as changed who I am for the rest

of my life; Mrs. Pumphrey. I struggled with anxiety all my childhood and hated school, although

upon entering fourth grade my view of education has changed entirely, and for the rest of my life
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I will thank Mrs. Pumphrey for that. It was the first time in all my life I have felt accepted into a

classroom and have fit in. I was accepted for who I was and felt equal among the rest of my

students, and this effect has made me want to do the same to my future students. I believe every

child is equal, no matter their exceptionalities. Each child will learn differently, behave

differently, perform differently, and feel differently, although every child deserves the equal

chance to get the needs that they need provided. The way Mrs. Pumphrey made me feel given

my exceptionality is a feeling, I strive to make every child I ever teach have. For a lot of

children, their education and the classroom provides an escape. When I entered Mrs. Pumphreys

classroom every day, I felt as if I had entered a safe zone. I was surrounded by someone who I

knew cared for me and my education. Mrs. Pumphrey has had such an influence on my

education, that nearly fifteen years later, I still keep in touch with her. I feel as though Mrs.

Pumphrey has been with me throughout my education and knows my strengths and weaknesses

the most and I chose her to write my college recommendation letter. Now how is it that a fourth

grade teacher writes my college recommendation later? Well Mrs. Pumphrey was the individual

that motivated me throughout my education and was a strong influence for me to even attend

college. I had a teacher that I not only appreciated, but had an equal appreciation for me. I will

uphold the ideals of solidarity within my classroom. To me, solidarity is having a mutual respect

student to teacher, and teacher to student. Within the community of my classroom my students

will be granted equal respect from me as they have for me. Solidarity is very important because a

teacher does not sit on a higher pedestal than a student. Both the teacher and the student have

something to learn from each other, therefor a mutual respect provides an expansion to lifelong

learning.
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According to Linda Cliatt-Wayman, if nobody told you they love you today, remember I

do, reflects how her attitude is portrayed to her students every day. (Cliatt-Wayman, 2015). It is

very important to make the children in your class feel appreciated day in and day out. Student

learning will become a success if students feel important, loved, and cared about. When students

feel like their education is worthy and they are cared about individually they develop more

motivation to better themselves and impress their teachers. Within my classroom, I will

emphasize that education can change the lives of my students. In becoming an early childhood

educator, I find the importance in informing the students on the importance of education.

Education can become a safe zone to many students and become an escape route in a difficult life

situation. Talking about my educational career will be very important sharing to my students. I

believe informing the children about higher education and college at a young age provides them

a long term goal and allows them to feel informed on their potential futures. By the time I

become a trained educator, I hope to see the percentages of students continuing their education to

college growing. I wish to see the dropout rates in college to decrease. I believe discussing the

option of college and talking about my amazing experience at Saint Josephs can help influence

the decision that my students can have.

Becoming an early childhood educator and teaching young minds will not be easy. It is

full of challenges, frustrations, and responsibility. However, it is a task that is full of excitement,

joy, and reward. I believe every student has the ability to strengthen their learning and strive for

success if given the right opportunity. It is my goal and my passion to give my students the most

amazing opportunities that I can give them. I will be the teacher that establishes change within

the future generations and values my students education to the highest degree. I really cannot

wait for this exciting journey.

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References

1. TESTED. Dir. Curtis Chin. TestedFilm. Tested, 2015. Web. 1 Dec. 201
2. "What's Wrong With Standardized Tests?" What's Wrong With Standardized Tests? |

FairTest. FairTest, 22 May 2012. Web. 01 Dec. 2016.

3. Bast, Morton. "When a School Is Not a School: Linda Cliatt-Wayman at TEDWomen

2015." TED Blog. TEDBLOG, 08 June 2015. Web. 12 Dec. 2016.