Molly Zwisler

Woodward
EDUC 275
8 November 2012
Inquiry Project
Throughout history education and educational philosophies have continuously been
changing due to social issues, economic issues, and political issues that change the future of
education. Today society has a mix of people whom have experienced these educational
changes and thus believe multiple different viewpoints of how the education system should
work and function for students. But through the interviews and observations I conducted, I
have come to the conclusion that regardless the difference in beliefs of education, people
still believe in most of the same basic principles of education; students should be able to
learn without fear of being discriminated against, students should have resources that will
allow them to succeed, and that schools should be giving students not just an education but
a set of tools that will help them succeed throughout their life.
I conducted my observation at Dakota Ridge High School in Littleton, Colorado. I
spent the day observing Keary Sullivan. She is about 35 years old and teaches world
history, AP European history, and is the Student Government sponsor. She spent the day
lecturing her AP students about the Enlightenment Movement in Europe. Through these
observations, Keary can be classified as an essentialist and an existentialist in her teaching
style (Huerta, 43). She gave students personal outlines of her lecture so that they would
have the names properly spelled and there would be no confusion in what she would be
discussing for the remainder of the class period. Students knew exactly what they were
going to learn about and knew in the exact order. This is an aspect of essentialism because
she gave the students all of the extra information that is not really vital but is helpful in
their learning, so that they could simply just focus on their learning of the information
being given to them orally. Throughout her lecture, Keary asked students questions that
recalled on their previous learning, this forced students to continuously be responsible for
their knowledge and individual education. She encouraged students to exercise freedom
of choice and accountability (Huerta, 43). Throughout the school day, she continuously
kept an open dialogue with her students. This relates to the idea of dialogical pedagogy
and how students and teachers need to have an open dialogue in order to get the most out
of their education. Keary constantly related the curriculum to current topics that the
students could easily relate to and would help with recognition (At one point she connected
the philosophers John Locke and Thomas Hobbes to the comic Calvin and Hobbes). This
allowed students to connect with topics that might not necessarily close to them. Keary
seemed to have an equal amount of time explaining the purpose of the lesson, instructing
the students, and creating a relationship with her students. After this, I interviewed Keary
and was shocked at the similarities between her beliefs of education and my community
members beliefs.
As an involved community member, Mark is a 53-year-old man who has not always
found an importance in education. He grew up not necessarily finding the importance in
going to school. He described it as Going through a process going through the motions
Lots of rote learning. He believes that the purpose of schooling is to give students the
skills they need to be lifetime learners. This relates to the idea of Holistic Curriculum and
when I mentioned the idea of this Mark agreed with the idea that education should be in
alignment with the fundamental realities of nature (Miller, 4). The article Holistic
Curriculum: The Content describes how a holistic education would include balance,
inclusion, and connection. This philosophy seems to align with Marks ideas about
education, as he believes that education should be connected with the rest of the students
life. Mark struggled with Mathematics and English in his school experience and never
really felt like there was any support for him in those subjects. He works as a produce
manager at a local King Soopers, so he does not feel as though he uses any sort of his
education in his work, because when he went to school he felt that they did not focus on the
student as a complete person, but on teaching students the curriculum.
Marks belief lies with the education system is progressing forward to a system that
students will go to school for a certain amount of time but then will be placed in a
vocational school in order to learn a trade or will continue their education in preparation
for college. He believes this because of the vast amount of information schools have on
how students learn and what is best for students. Mark believes that students have many
resources that he did not have, that help students succeed more than ever.
But, Mark still seems skeptical of the education system. He understands the fact that
it is hard to meet the individual needs of each student, but he also thinks that some schools
should be trying harder, especially when a school has a very diverse population. Marks
major concern about the education system now is that standards are being lowered and
students are not being pushed to better themselves and their education. This goes back to
Marks idea that students need to be taught to be a complete person and not simply a
student learning but a student being an educated individual. Mark hopes that the
education system will continue to grow and strengthen as it should, so that as society
grows and changes, and students grow and change, the education system will be able to
cater to the needs of their students.
As mentioned before Keary believes in similar educational philosophies. Keary
believed that purpose of schools were to give students a toolbox that would allow them to
succeed the rest of their life. She went on to explain how people need a certain set of tools
in order to keep growing in their life. She brought up the idea of Maslows Hierarchy of
Needs. The hierarchy of needs describes that the next level of happiness cannot be
achieved until a lesser need is achieved. Keary described this in relation to a student; a
student cannot think critically until they have something to critically think about, and they
cannot learn about something until they have learned the basics of reading and writing.
Keary explained how her experience in the classroom has changed how she first began
teaching. She explained how the students she is teaching now are facing a whole different
set of standards than when she began teaching eight years ago. She explained how
students are expected to receive good grades, participate in an extracurricular activity (if
not more), and most also hold a job. So she explained how she has a whole other set of
adversity she has to think about in regards to how she teaches her students.
The article The Prism of Gender explains how societal pressure determines what
stigma is associated with being masculine or feminine; and how that affects how males and
females are treated. In her interview, Keary explained how this idea relates to a broader
spectrum of students today. In regards to race, Keary teaches upwards of 20 different
races and has to be tolerant and knowledgeable of each in order to give them the best
education possible. Keary explained how she has to deal with her students perceptions of
other students and how often that is what come in between students and their education;
other students. Keary then went on to explain, how although students are facing all of
these distractions and obstacles, school leaders are actively and continuously trying to
meet the needs of all learners. She described how impressed she was with the amount of
intervention, the amount of programs, and the amount of time being dedicated to helping
all students and all types of learners.
Kearys main concern regarding the future of education was similar to Marks, in
that they both believed that standards will be reduced and students will not be pushed as
much to succeed. She does not want to see students standard of learning decreased
because superiors do not want to work in order to meet the needs of all students. Keary
differed from Mark though in that she believed another main concern for the future of
education was the prominence of standardized testing in the curriculum. As an educator,
she is afraid that if certain things do not change, a schools curriculum will lie completely
around standardized testing and this will be bad for the students. Keary hopes that all of
the hard work and effort that school officials and school administrators are working
toward will pay off and there will be reward in the end.
Through my observation of Kearys classroom, her interview, and my interview with
Mark I have learned that people all want the same goal for education, the disagreement
stems on how to get their. Most people believe in giving a student not only an education,
but also a set of skills that they will be able to use for the remainder of their life. Both
Keary and Mark put into perspective what older people thought of the education system, as
sometimes it seems the people making decisions do no understand the current education
system and how students learn. People only want the best for students as it seems that
people really do understand that they are the future of America, and that we cannot pass
students off but have to push them to be better and do better. The education system in
America may not be perfect, but at least people are willing to work to move forward.
Works Cited
Fernandez-Balboa, Juan-Miguel, and James Marshall. "Dialogical Pedagogy in Teacher
Education: Toward an Education for Democracy." Journal of Teacher Education 3rd ser.
45 (1994): 24-34. Print.
Huerta, Grace. Educational Foundations: Diverse Histories, Diverse Perspectives. Boston:
Houghton Milton, n.d. Print.
"Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs." Chart. N.p.: n.p., n.d. N. pag. Print.
Miller, John P. "Holisitic Curriculum: The Why and the What." The Holistic Curriculum.
Toronto, Ont.: OISE, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, 1988. N. pag. Print.
Spade, Joan Z., and Catherine G. Valentine. "The Prism of Gender." The Kaleidoscope of
Gender: Prisms, Patterns, and Possibiliites. 2nd ed. N.p.: Sage, n.d. N. pag. Print.