Who is the Educated Person?

As a future educator, we need to know what type of person we want coming out of our classroom. What does that person look like? What might they know? What can they do with that knowledge? What skills do they have? These are all questions we, as teachers, need to ask ourselves.

Now what do I believe? That's a good question. There is so many possibilities. At the beginning of this semester I wasn't even sure what this question meant. Did it mean physically who is the educated person (like thinking of an actual person when answering) or did it mean theoretically? Then my thought process went to questioning what I thought was an educated person. After reading multiple articles throughout this semester as well as listening and participating in the discussions that went along with these articles I think I figured out what I believe.

After reading "Letters to a Young Teacher" by Jonathan Kozol I came up with this educated person. The educated person has pride in their differences and imperfections in the school setting and they don't let it hold them back from their potential. They explore their own field of interests during independent instructional time and are always seeking to find new knowledge and grow in their learning. The educated person has a sense of self-worth and are able to express themselves without fear. They are someone who knows who they are and knows that they have the ability to share their truth with the world and can voice their opinion.

The educated person will be "creative entrepreneurs and problem solvers." (Ch. 8) They will be critical thinkers who question the world around them and who use their creativity to solve problems around them. They will explore the world with open minds and they will stay intrigued with the world. The educated person will have well-developed "life skills" that allow him or her to function in the world around them, but they will also have a wealth of creative and coherent ideas. The educated person needs to have the wisdom in conducting the everyday affairs of their life. The educated person is self-reliant and independent minded. It is someone who has good judgement and common sense but also someone who is well-read and can use the information they have learned to figure out and explore the world around them.