What is the Purpose of Public Education in a Democracy?

When I first entered this class I had no idea what to expect. I knew that I would be completing fieldwork, but the idea of public purposes of education, schooling and democracy was foreign to me. Through the last 14 weeks I have come to understand what is meant by this course title. I believe that the purpose of public education in a democracy is to educate our students to be well-rounded and respectful citizens. Public Education should be an equal opportunity for all of the members of this democracy to grow and develop while acquiring knowledge that will help them do so.

Now that I have had a sort of behind the scenes look at teaching I have come to understand the different corruptions and restrictions that effect out public school system. The things that I have learned about different schools, our government and current teachers has only made my motivation for being a teacher grow stronger. Through this class I have begun to develop a goal for my classroom and myself. I feel that this class has opened my eyes and helped me to understand the true importance of becoming a teacher.

Two Things That I wish i had known before I applied to the Teacher Education Program..

Foremost I wish I had known are the purpose that lie within public education, and how democracy in the classroom is related to it. When I sat down to write the essay for entry into the program, I had no idea how democracy could even be related into the classroom, at that point I had never even thought about democracy in the classroom, or any strategies for teaching it. So when I was faced with “Understand principles of democracy and plan and carry out instruction that promotes democratic values and communication in the classroom” (Portrait of a Teacher) as the topic for my entry essay I had no idea where to even begin.

The second thing that would have been important to me before I applied to the Teacher Education Program is, real life experience in a classroom with students, and what is like to be looked at as a teacher. I knew that I wanted to teach but, I did not have any experience in the field, which would have been helpful before I went through the application process just to find out I did not want to be a teacher.

Summary Of Project Findings

The following are pieces from my inquiry paper, so far all is going well and I am learning a lot.

• Art has always been a controversial subject. So when faced with a question of whether or not to include art in the academic curriculum people automatically turn their heads. Of course if you can not draw, or sing this would scare you, but what if their was evidence to support that art education could boost a students academic achievement? Could you get the non-artist to support it then?

• “ In the mid-1970’s, Eisner (1974) called for the evaluation of arts programs. As a result, a growing body of evidence suggests that art education positively affects aspects of living and learning beyond the intrinsic values of the arts themselves” (Smithrim, 2005, p. 110).

• During my time at Arts High I was to lucky enough to ask an English teacher his thoughts regarding the arts and academic achievement. I asked him "Do you feel that the incorporation of Arts into your classroom boosts academic achievement?" His response was "It may not boost academic achievement directly, but it definitely assists in student engagement. Since we are a performing arts school, students, for the most part, are interested in “the arts”. Incorporating the Arts into our lessons is a “best” practice and allows our students to use their creative abilities in the “academic “ classroom. The domino effect is that the more they use their strengths the better they perform(hopefully!)"(Jason Denard Arts High).

Inquiry Question, what I have found, and how it is shaping my understanding of public education.

Our Inquiry Questions is, what is the impact that the Arts have on Academic Achievement? I have found that some of my articles tell me that the arts do have a positive impact on academic achievement, while others are still uncertain. So my resources are very diverse and don’t really point me in one direction. Even though there is evidence to point to the fact that arts do effect academic achievement, there are a lot of factors that are still open to debate.

The way that this is shaping my understanding of public education is that it is making me realize all the different variables that I am going to be faced with not only as a teacher but also as an art teacher. As much as I would love to hear that art will effect my students in their other academic classes, I’m not sure if there will ever be evidence to back this up. There are a lot of people who are entirely against the arts and will argue against them until the end. I am finding that public education is even more controversial then I had originally thought.