What is the Role of the School?

Lastly, what is the purpose of schools? What role do they place in society? What benefits are there to schools and what will the world look like without them?

After reading, "Letters to a Young Teacher," I came to the conclusion that the school should be involved in the community it is surrounded by. "There is no 'happiness index' for the children in our public schools--considering students joys and interests." Schools shouldn't just be there to measure how students are doing and instead should measure if they like going to school and learning. They should measure what students are interested in and what brings them joy. They shouldn't just measure how well they do on tests and how well they might "memorize" information. The school should hold up a sense of artistry and imaginative creativity and allow opportunities for students to learn about diversity from the past and compare it to what it is now.

Also when reading Dewey's Pedagogic Creed, there is a quote that says, "I believe that education, therefore, is a process of living and not a preparation for future living. I believe that the school must represent present life- life as real and vital to the child as that which he carries on in the home, in the neighborhood, or on the playground." There are a lot of times where we think of school as preparing us for the "real world" and life outside of school. However we are in the real world right now and we should look at education as preparing students for the present and their life right now. It is true that school will help us in the future, but we shouldn't look at it as we will only use it in the future. What we teach needs to be relevant to our students' lives in the present. Schools need to teach students what they need to interact in everyday life, not only to succeed in the future.

In the textbooks Chapter 8 I believe is discusses how the school along with the local church were at the heart of the community. Where would we be without schools and education? All occupations are possible because of teachers educating students. So the school should be in the center of the community, it just makes sense. Sadly this isn't really the case these days, but it was the case a few years ago where the school and church were what made up the heart of the community. When did we forget to value schools like this? Schools are vehicles for improving society. Schools are social institutions where students and teachers are equal participants in a community of living and learning (Ch. 1 in the text). Today schools have the responsibility of teaching the children of the world how to keep themselves healthy and safe, how to manage their anger, and how to get along with people of different faiths and backgrounds, in addition to math, science, history, and language arts. In all reality schools do even more than all of that! It almost seems impossible but it happens. Schools are such an important part of society and especially as teachers we should remember that.