Running head: Signature Essay 1

Erin Woodson

TED 602

Signature Essay

Professor Lukasik

May 4, 2018
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When I entered the field of education, I always imagined what my classroom would be

like and how I would influence the children in my classrooms. I never truly considered all of the

factors outside of my control, and the control of my students, that would affect what happens in

the classroom. With beginning my career, I am now aware of the social, political, and economic

influences of the outside world. The new insight that I have about these influences has affected

my education philosophy by causing me to be confused about my actual purpose in education.

Before becoming a teacher, I believed that the teacher’s purpose was to educate all students to

their best ability provide resources to aide in their success. Now that I have been in the classroom

and am aware of different influences, I believe that the teacher’s purpose is minimal while the

classroom is in place to advance political agendas, influence social beliefs, and recreate

economic statuses within communities.

Since the establishment of public education, there have been political influences

determining the goal of the education system and method used to obtain those goals. Like I

stated in my week one essay: Jefferson and Mann proposed public education to identify

democratic leadership, and instill a common political lead in all students (Spring 2016).

Knowing that the foundation of the education system was to push political agendas makes me

question, as an educator, what the United States means by “education”. I begin to wonder if the

purpose is simply to create law abiding citizens who do not challenge the thinking of those who

hold high political offices in this country. If this is the case, I have to ask myself whether I truly

believe in American education. I wonder if I truly believe in the goal of our nation’s education

and if I should work to help reach that goal. If I find that I do choose to help reach that goal, I

then have to ask what that would mean for my own beliefs in the classroom. If I do not
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understand the political objectives at any given time, can I truly “educate” students while

following them?

Along with the advancement of political agendas, one intention of the classroom is to

influence social beliefs among children. The issue with this goal is that American society looks

different to the different cultures that make up that society. Since this country’s founding, there

have been many different cultures affected by it’s systems. Although this is a known fact, the

social beliefs that are to be taught in the classroom did not always represent the many cultures

and communities they affect. According to Spring(2016), “European American culture is the

dominant culture of public schools” ( p. 258). Because of this, reforms such as cultural diversity,

and inclusion have been implemented. Whether teachers agree with the reforms or not, they have

greatly impacted classrooms around the nation; and mine will be no different. Realizing that I

was culturally different than every other student in my college classes was starling; but realizing

that not one of them know anything about my culture that wasn’t negative portrayed in the media

was heartbreaking. Although this experience was disappointing, it has truly shaped the way I

plan to teach in my classroom. We cannot successfully educate students about their society when

we do not teach them about the different people who make up their society.

Along with cultural differences, we need to recognize and include different communities.

This includes the many different learning communities that contribute to our society. For far too

long students, and later adults, were being isolated from classrooms because of different learning

disabilities. This isolation extended into their adult lives and seems to be a direct result of

isolated classrooms. In my classroom, and hopefully in all through Inclusion, students with

special learning abilities will be fully included into all activities, groups, and projects. Of course

there may situations where they cannot be a part of those activities, however, I will never make
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that decision for them. Stealing the words from Mr. Shufford, “I love inclusion because it makes

my job that much more meaningful when I can teach a concept and all of my students understand

it whether they have a disability or not” (Shufford, Personal Communication, 2018). Although

these aren’t my exact words, they capture my ideas and feelings perfectly. I am a supporter of

inclusion because it may make lesson planning more difficult, or a longer process, but it truly

benefits all of our students and that is part of my job as a teacher. With the incorporation of

cultural diversity and inclusion, we will make progress in positively influencing social beliefs, as

opposed to prolonging the noninclusive society that we have seen.

Despite our public education system’s progress with inclusion and cultural diversity, we

have continuously been guilty of using the economic status of students to determine their quality

of education. According to Spring(2016), “ …investment in education will improve the quality

of workers and, consequently, increase the wealth of the community” (p. 143). This is the

contention of human capital theorists and it has proven true in our country for generations.

Although we know this to be true, there has been no change the funding for different schools and

yet we still claim to offer equality of opportunity. This will never be the case when some schools

have more resources, technology, and more experiences teachers and they are therefore

considered “better”. The kids who live in the wealthier communities go to better schools that

have more resources. Personally, I grew up in a community far from wealthy, and therefore went

to schools that were not even considered to be good. When I was in the 4th grade, my mother

pulled me out of the district because she could see the difference between the education my

siblings and I were receiving and the education my cousins, whose parents were more successful

than my mother, were receiving. This was a good move for my siblings and me, but what about

the kids who stayed in that district? Not being able to confidently answer this question is why I
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entered education to begin with. My mission is to provide the best education I can to students in

any community I teach in. However, in my short career, I have realized that due to things out of

my control, I will never be able to truly provide the same quality of education to students from

wealthier neighborhoods and students from poorer neighborhoods.

Taking into consideration the different goals of public education, I don’t know that I will

ever be able to truly fulfill those goals and uphold my own values at the same time. For example,

when I began my career, I taught at an urban school where ninety- eight percent of students

qualified for free or reduced lunch. After issues with the school’s operation, I moved to a new

school where not nearly as many students qualified for free or reduced lunch. The issue with this

came when I realized truly how much more access there was to resources at my new school.

While I was happy to have that access, I could not help but wonder if this difference was the

reason that my old kids were not excelling on tests like my new students. This idea haunts me

daily, and it is the very reason that I have questioned my true role as a classroom teacher. In that

position, will I truly have the power to make the changes that need to be made to our entire

education system?