Educational Philosophy Essay

Growing up in the Clayton County Public School system I’ve always thought that I was
being taught the best education. That was until I made it to high school. When I stepped foot in
into my very first high school’s halls I remember thinking “It’s only going up from here,” but I
was sadly mistaking. I quickly found out that although education was a priority it took a backseat
to making sure everyone’s behavior was in tip-top shape. Random dress code stops and
behavioral norms being forced down our throats became a normal thing. After I moved schools
because of me being a magnet student I thought it would be better. I thought we would get back
focusing on education. Once again I was let down. The thirst my school had for behavioral
alignment was sickening. It was like a beautiful jail. Pretty on the outside and hell on the inside.
Behavior matrices were being plastered on every wall, little pocket sized matrices being passed
out in every lunch, and constantly being reminded that “they do not tolerate behavior issues.” At
this point I feel like we were taught more about staying in line and following directions then we
were about our different core subjects.

Now I am not saying that public school systems are all that bad but they do have their
flaws. One being outdated teaching methods. There is nothing wrong with a seasoned teacher. In
fact, it’s a hard job being a teacher especially for that long but a lot of those teachers are stuck in
their same old teaching ways. Living in the 21st century the world is constantly changing. This
includes the way in which we learn. If the teaching style doesn’t change these kids will be
doomed to fail. Also, at the same time the curriculum is changing. That means just because you
taught a subject a certain way back then and it worked doesn’t mean it will work now, but some
of those seasoned teachers either don’t want to learn a new way or they don’t know how to go
about finding a new way. Another thing that could be fixed is the inconsiderate amount of
homework. Stanford studies show that “in counties like Japan, Denmark, and the Czech Republic
little homework was assigned and students outperformed students in counties with large amounts
of homework such as Greece, Thailand, and Iran.” This is proof that we don’t need all that
homework to prove our mastering of the material. Maybe a little self-check from time to time but
not four essays, problems 1-30, and read a whole novel by the next class period for homework.

As stated before, no school system is perfect but we can always strive for it. One way to
do that is to increase the parental involvement. A school is only as strong as its parents. When
you get parents involved schools tend to start to see positive changes in the kids and just in the
school environment in general. Also, we need to incorporate more creative learning. Creative
learning is just a fun fresh way for kids to retain the information they’ve learned, because how
many times has a child learned something and then maybe a week later they’ve forgotten the
information? Too many is the answer. We also need to find the balance between discipline and
education because they aren’t one in the same and I think that’s where we go wrong. We should
give a set of rules make sure they’re followed but not make that the focus of every school day.
We go to a school. Not a jail.

All in all, the way our public school systems are now has to change. We have to improve
it for the sake of the generations to come. Without change history will repeat itself. Yes, it is
cliché but teamwork makes the dream work. We should spend time in the areas that actually need
improvement instead of worrying about catching kids in a hall sweep. I believe that if we can
incorporate new styles of teaching into the curriculum then we can begin to move our learning
into the 21st century. We can help make our schools a safe haven for learning again. Only you can
prevent misappropriation of education.