What is the purpose of schools?
In the video 'The common schools 1770-1890" schooling was described as having to shape each and every individual of their young lives. School is a place where we have fought important battles including the practice of democracy itself. American system of public schools is one of the most nations most significant and still unfinished movements. By the time of the revolutionary war vast majority of Americans were educated just enough to be able to read newspapers and figure out taxes. However, many believed that schools played a critical role. Noah Webster was often called the 'school master' of America, he believed that there was a need to be a national history where we could feel that we had a unified culture. Thomas Jefferson had stated that in democracy the people had to vote and choose their rulers, and without education how would the people be educated enough through reading and writing to be able to choose a ruler and understand what they are promoting. The survival of democracy depended on educating Americans. In 1778, he drafter a proposal to guarantee three years of public schooling for all children.
So, what is the purpose of schools?
The purpose of schools are most importantly to gain an education that provides development to people. Schools have drastically have changed over decades, an example of that would be how schools then were very segregated by race and socioeconomic status. Schools are very important and always have been. If you didn't have an education that meant you didn't know how to read or write and couldn't offer anything. Now, education is highly encouraged due to more jobs only hiring people that hold degrees. If you go to a job interview more than likely they will ask what was the highest level of education did you achieve. Schooling is to prepare you academically, for future jobs, mindset development, and having social interaction with peers and adults. The main reason to attend school is to be able to gain skills/education that we will need in our futures. Education helps us develop our thinking processes and point of views to help us build our opinions. The ones who get educated are more likely to have higher incomes, and more opportunities for themselves. A society that has high rates of education is less likely to have crime reports due to social interaction and mindset development. Without education our country would not be where we are at currently.
Hi Bri! I enjoyed reading your blog post about the purpose of schools. A sentence that caught my attention is where you mention that, "Schools are very important and always have been." Going off of that and the information that I have gain about this topic, is that yes! schools started to become important in society but it was not always placed on top of the to do list. According to "A History of Education in the U.S" by Dan Krutka, he mentions that "Back in the day, states did not do much to set up educational systems at first because they thought they didn't needed it and did not want to pay for it." Following up with this statement he also mentions that, "States then started requiring students to attend these public schools with compulsory attendance laws by 1931 states had systems of education and by 1918 every state did." By integrating these two quotes by Dan Krutka, we can see that the importance of schools was more of a slow process than a concrete decision. Due to people having lack of resources back in the day, education was not a big priority to parents or even the government. That's why it is very important for those who can vote to be involved in elections, and encouraging parents to be involved in their child's education, so we as a community can see the change that we have always wanted.
ReplyDeleteHello Bri, one of your reasons for what is the purpose of schools that I strongly agree with is to be able to gain skills/education that we will need in our futures. There are so many life skills that should be taught in schools and are suppose to benefit the students once they leave the only school they have ever known. It is important for society have to be capable of basic survival skills.
ReplyDeleteHi Bri! I agree with your statements on schooling especially with higher education. It is very crucial these days to have a college education, and as the years go on, it seems more standard to get a job after college vs after high school. It is becoming more common that jobs are looking for people with with an associates or bachelors degree as opposed to just a standard high school diploma. The ones who do go through with educating themselves tend to be better equipped for their jobs (due to studying it for years) and they do tend to get paid more since they had that opportunity and the time to better themselves educationally.
ReplyDeleteSchool allows us to become prepared for the world in terms of knowledge based functions, but there are also key components to life that may be overlooked in school, and this could be for a number of reasons. Is it lack of time? lack of organization? In addition to what we do learn in school, it would also be great to continue growing in a way that helps students become set up for not only academic success but also success in everyday life, such as teaching kids about budgeting, and credit scores, and leasing agreements. All of these things will come up in day to day life and I feel like we should start implementing this things since we are growing more along the years in society and education.
DeleteHi Bri! I completely agree with your point that schools provides children an opportunity to acquire skills that will benefit them throughout the remainder of their lives. School does not only equip students a proficiency in reading, writing, mathematics, science, and social studies, it also helps to strengthen interpersonal and intrapersonal skills. Building empathy, teaching responsibility, fostering mutual respect, and creating a sense of purpose and source of motivation are all valuable benefits that can be experienced in the education system if students are provided hardworking, dedicated and passionate educators.
ReplyDelete-Naomi Clark (it is not giving me the option to post using my name for some reason)