My First Thoughts

Defining “Education” in class made me pause for a moment.  At first it was difficult.  First because I have many thoughts/opinions it’s hard to give a broad answer.  Second, having been in the public and private education system and guiding both my own children and the ones I’ve taught through pieces of it has me focused more on navigation and in the moment teaching and planning for small pieces instead of always looking at the big picture.  Having multiple children has taught me that not all kids are the same, not all needs are the same, and what works for one will not work for them all.  This makes it difficult to find the right place for each child, the right approach, the right environment.  And “right” is a constantly changing idea.  The question then becomes how can a system be provided to a constantly changing population of children with different needs and abilities?  Having choices in styles of schools and environments is a beginning.  Do we then have to begin pigeon holing at an early age where our kids to school?  What about availability? 

In our small group we said education is unique to the individual.  That resonates with me.  Education needs to provide children with the opportunity to be the person they would like to become.

I’ve always been a proponent of setting a high standard that is available to all.  Provide as many opportunities to learn a varied array of subjects, ideas, philosophies, and people.  I believe, right now, that education is about providing choices.  If a child can be exposed to many areas, then the choices he will have will be greater because they will know that that choice either exists or have the background to be able to pursue that choice.  Right now, I think education is about providing choices and about children taking advantage of the opportunity to learn things that will give them choices.  If we begin at an early age to pinhole them or “sort” them, we are doing them a great disservice. 

For now, I have to say that Education is a changing idea.  It is as unique as the children who are learning.  It needs to adjust to the changing population and the growth of that population.  Maybe the building blocks stay the same (like learning to speak and read) but as the world evolves, so does/should Education.