Meaning of Education Essay Example for Free

Meaning of Education Essay Recently, a university professor wrote a letter to the editor of the local newspaper. He commented that people shouldnt put too much weight on the recently released trends in SRA scores of the states high school students. The professor went on to describe some of the unanswered questions about the nature and value of assessment. He mentioned that one of the problems with assessment was the ongoing disagreement on the very purpose of education. A few days later, a scathing response was printed from a community member who questioned whether the University really wanted someone on their staff who didnt even know the purpose of education. Clearly, this person assumed that his definition of education was shared by all. What is the meaning of education? Webster defines education as the process of educating or teaching (now thats really useful, isnt it? ) Educate is further defined as to develop the knowledge, skill, or character of Thus, from these definitions, we might assume that the purpose of education is to develop the knowledge, skill, or character of students. Unfortunately, this definition offers little unless we further define words such as develop, knowledge, and character. What is meant by knowledge? Is it a body of information that exists out there—apart from the human thought processes that developed it? If we look at the standards and benchmarks that have been developed by many states—or at E. D. Hirschs list of information needed for Cultural Literacy (1), we might assume this to be the definition of knowledge. However, there is considerable research leading others to believe that knowledge arises in the mind of an individual when that person interacts with an idea or experience. This is hardly a new argument. In ancient Greece, Socrates argued that education was about drawing out what was already within the student. (As many of you know, the word education comes from the Latin e-ducere meaning to lead out. ) At the same time, the Sophists, a group of itinerant teachers, promised to give students the necessary knowledge and skills to gain positions with the city-state. There is a dangerous tendency to assume that when people use the same words, they perceive a situation in the same way. This is rarely the case. Once one gets beyond a dictionary definition—a meaning that is often of little practical value—the meaning we assign to a word is a belief, not an absolute fact. Here are a couple of examples. â€Å"The central task of education is to implant a will and facility for learning; it should produce not learned but learning people. The truly human society is a learning society, where grandparents, parents, and children are students together. † ~Eric Hoffer â€Å"No one has yet realized the wealth of sympathy, the kindness and generosity hidden in the soul of a child. The effort of every true education should be to unlock that treasure. † ~Emma Goldman â€Å"The only purpose of education is to teach a student how to live his life-by developing his mind and equipping him to deal with reality. The training he needs is theoretical, i. e. , conceptual. He has to be taught to think, to understand, to integrate, to prove. He has to be taught the essentials of the knowledge discovered in the past-and he has to be equipped to acquire further knowledge by his own effort. † ~Ayn Rand â€Å"The aim of education should be to teach us rather how to think, than what to think—rather to improve our minds, so as to enable us to think for ourselves, than to load the memory with the thoughts of other men. † ~Bill Beattie â€Å"The one real object of education is to leave a man in the condition of continually asking questions. † ~Bishop Creighton â€Å"The central job of schools is to maximize the capacity of each student. † ~Carol Ann Tomlinson These quotations demonstrate the diversity of beliefs about the purpose of education. How would you complete the statement, The purpose of education is ? If you ask five of your fellow teachers to complete that sentence, it is likely that youll have five different statements. Some will place the focus on knowledge, some on the teacher, and others on the student. Yet peoples beliefs in the purpose of education lie at the heart of their teaching behaviors. Despite what the letter writer might have wished, there is no definition of education that is agreed upon by all, or even most, educators. The meanings they attach to the word are complex beliefs arising from their own values and experiences. To the extent that those beliefs differ, the experience of students in todays classrooms can never be the same. Worse, many educators have never been asked to state their beliefs—or even to reflect on what they believe. At the very least, teachers owe it to their students to bring their definitions into consciousness and examine them for validity. Purposes and Functions. To make matters more complicated, theorists have made a distinction between the purpose of education and the functions of education. (2) A purpose is the fundamental goal of the process—an end to be achieved. Functions are other outcomes that may occur as a natural result of the process— byproducts or consequences of schooling. For example, some teachers believe that the transmission of knowledge is the primary purpose of education, while the transfer of knowledge from school to the real world is something that happens naturally as a consequence of possessing that knowledge—a function of education. Because a purpose is an expressed goal, more effort is put into attaining it. Functions are assumed to occur without directed effort. For this reason its valuable to figure out which outcomes you consider a fundamental purpose of education. Which of the following do you actually include in your planning? Acquisition of information about the past and present: includes traditional disciplines such as literature, history, science, mathematics Formation of healthy social and/or formal relationships among and between students, teachers, others Capacity/ability to evaluate information and to predict future outcomes (decision-making) Capacity/ability to seek out alternative solutions and evaluate them (problem solving) Development of mental and physical skills: motor, thinking, communication, social, aesthetic Knowledge of moral practices and ethical standards acceptable by society/culture Capacity/ability to recognize and evaluate different points of view Respect: giving and receiving recognition as human beings Indoctrination into the culture Capacity/ability to live a fulfilling life Capacity/ability to earn a living: career education Sense of well-being: mental and physical health. Capacity/ability to be a good citizen Capacity/ability to think creatively Cultural appreciation: art, music, humanities Understanding of human relations and motivations Acquisition/clarification of values related to the physical environment Acquisition/clarification of personal values Self-realization/self-reflection: awareness of one’s abilities and goals Self-esteem/self-efficacy As Tom Peters reminds us, What gets measured, gets done. Regardless of the high sounding rhetoric about the development of the total child, it is the content of assessments that largely drives education. How is the capacity/ability to think creatively assessed in todays schools? To what extent is the typical student recognized and given respect? How often are students given the opportunity to recognize and evaluate different points of view when multiple choice tests require a single correct answer? Teachers who hold a more humanistic view of the purpose of education often experience stress because the meaning they assign to education differs greatly from the meaning assigned by society or their institution. It is clear in listening to the language of education that its primary focus is on knowledge and teaching rather than on the learner. Students are expected to conform to schools rather than schools serving the needs of students. Stopping to identify and agree upon a fundamental purpose or purposes of education is rare. One sees nebulous statements in school mission statements, but they are often of the â€Å"Mom, baseball, and apple pie† variety that offer little substance on which to build a school culture. Creating meaningful and lasting change in education is unlikely without revisiting this basic definition. At the very least, educators must be challenged to identify and reexamine their beliefs in the light of present knowledge. It is time for the focus of education to shift from whats out there—the curriculum, assessments, classroom arrangement, books, computers—to the fundamental assumptions about and definitions of education held by educators and policymakers. NASA did not send men to the moon by building on the chassis of a model T. In the same way, education cannot hope to move beyond its present state on the chassis of 18th century education.

public education :: essays research papers

The topic that I am going to be talking about in this essay is a very big and controversial issue. That is rather it is a good idea or bad to charter our failing public school system. So far it seems the non-chartering path is in the lead, but charting school is catching up fast. In this essay I’m going to summarize one article title The New School, by Chester E. Finn Jr. that supports the charter system. Also I will summarize an article title To Market, To Market, by Phyllis Vine who seem to strongly opposed the charting our public system. As far as my personal opinion goes, I believe charter schools are still in it’s infancy, we should give it more time to develop before we can actually decide rather charter school is a good idea or not. I would go into greater detail later in the essay.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Pro-charter article titled The New School, by Chester E. Finn Jr. who is the former assistant secretary of education believed and I quote â€Å"charter schools offer the benefits of both public and private schools and can revitalize urban education.† He started the article by stating that currently the charter systems enrolling about 170,000 students, with about twenty-nine school authorizing and allowing charter schools to be built and operated, states such as California, Michigan, Texas, Massachusetts. What is a charter school? Well, according to the article, it is â€Å"a public school with some of the most highly prized features of private schools.† The best part is it is offered to anyone who wishes to attend, with no additional cost to the parents, because it is pay for by the tax dollars. Out of all the charter school, many are owned and operated by local community and parents. But there are about two dozen that are operated and owned by t he Edison Project and the Educational Alternatives Inc. For some other firms instead of operating and owning the entire school, they target specific area, such as the furnishing, tutoring, and technology to name a few. According to this article the educational system in the United States is $300 billion enterprise. While Chester states maybe a reason for some firms to try to jump on board the chartering business. From Chester’s article he stated that in two years time he visited about sixty schools in fourteen states and interviewed few hundreds of those either worked or attended those schools.

In what ways can ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ be seen as a modern tragedy? Essay

The ways in which ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ by Tennessee Williams can be seen as a modern tragedy, or indeed as any tragedy is a subject of much contention. The answer lies in one’s interpretation of the characters in the context of the genre; the tragedy is made or discarded depending on whether the audience’s sympathy lies with Blanche or Stanley. In order to explore these interpretations one must define the features of modern tragedy as opposed to the ancient Aristotelian definition. The two share some features, such as the violation of the ‘natural order’ of social or personal relationships (i.e. Oedipus’ incestuous relationship with his mother), and the focus on a tragic hero’s fall from status, respect, and in classical tragedies from power and wealth. However, there are also stark differences in modern tragedy where (especially in Williams’ plays) the hero is more likely to be feminine. Although this is not exclusive to modern tragedies – in Sophocles’ ‘Antigone’ the protagonist is female – it is certainly a feature. Social issues are also treated more personally as the epic scale of civil unrest present in most Aristotelian tragedies is discarded in favor of a focus on a single family unit as a microcosm of social behaviour. As a result, the characters themselves become far more complex – a far cry from Aristotle’s theory that characters should merely serve to advance the tragic plot. Broadly speaking then, ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ certainly fits the prescriptions of a modern tragedy, not least as it contains several complex themes such as alienation, entrapment and the struggle between fantasy and reality. Written in 1947 soon after the Great Depression and a period of prohibition when the borders between social classes were becoming more blurred, these play on the very real threats of alcoholism and social decline. Blanche’s constant drinking becomes a symptom of her alienation from society, which was in turn caused by her estrangement from her late husband, Allen Grey. Stella asserts that Blanche â€Å"didn’t just love him but worshipped the ground he walked on† – a religious phrase that contrasts deeply with her later disgust of Grey’s homosexuality. For Williams, living as he did in the often deeply religious, homophobic south, Allen Grey’s suicide would have constituted a tragedy even when separated from the rest of the play. It certainly illustrates the close links that Williams draws between love, alienation and death; Grey’s separation from Blanche causes his death, which in turn leads to her own isolation. This isolation is further illustrated by the metaphor of light; Blanche constantly insists that the lights be dimmed â€Å"turn that over-light off!†, and even directly likens her love for Allen Grey to a â€Å"blinding light† – it is clear that the darkness is Blanche’s alienation, her punishment for driving him to suicide. Yet light also reveals Blanche’s struggle between fantasy and reality. She cannot bear to see herself in the harsh light of day – even â€Å"screams† during the final scene when Stanley rips the covering off the lamp, completely destroying Blanche’s already splintering fantasy world. This hysterical reaction demonstrates her dependence on the delusions of grandeur and romance that she only half-believes. Blanche is trapped by her own volition; a state echoed in many other of Williams’ tragedies including ‘The Glass Menagerie’, where the character of Amanda is similarly ensnared in a more glamorous past. The play also ascribes to another feature of modern tragedy; the focus on a very small, ordinary family unit as opposed to the monarchs in plays such as ‘Macbeth’ or ‘Hamlet’. It is clear that the clash of Stanley and Blanche is representative of a much bigger division between the old and the new America, and yet their placement in a tiny family setting emphasises their effect on the ‘ordinary American’ – Stella – who is caught in the crossfire of social differences. However merely dealing with these issues, as compelling as they are, only comprises a single aspect of the ways in which ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ can be seen as a modern tragedy. Indeed, for the play to be called a tragedy at all a defining feature must be covered, and that is the existence of a ‘tragic hero’ whose presence drives the action forward. Therefore, our understanding of ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ as a modern tragedy must to a large extent rely on whether we can interpret Blanche as Williams’ tragic heroine. She certainly bears a striking surface resemblance to the ancient tragic heroes in her evident fall from high to low, from Belle Reve to the Elysian Fields. This is made evident in her first entrance; her appearance is described as ‘incongruous’ and techniques such as the repetition of â€Å"Stella, oh Stella, Stella!† stress her hysterical inability to cope with her new surroundings. However even this is punctuated in the stage directions with â€Å"feverish vivacity† – suggesting a desperate or false behaviour at odds with the ancient definition of the tragic hero as an essentially noble character. This is emphasised later in the scene by the first suggestion of Blanche’s alcoholism as she â€Å"rushes† to the liquor closet â€Å"panting for breath†, and corroborated as evidence of her sordid affairs at the Hotel Flamingo is revealed. Indeed Blanche herself talks about the â€Å"rattle-trap streetcar† called Desire that â€Å"brought me here†, indicating that her downfall was caused by her own â€Å"brutal desire†. Yet if we do accept that Blanche has already completely fallen into poverty and alcoholism, then the play itself becomes the mere aftermath of a tragedy; the effect of a destroyed character upon her surroundings. Some critics would agree completely with this standpoint – indeed the director of the stage debut, Elia Kazan, portrayed Blanche as a â€Å"phony, corrupt, sick, destructive woman†Ãƒ ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ wrecking Stanley’s home who deserved – indeed needed – to be driven out. However, this view utterly destroys any tragic perception of ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ by necessitating a total support of Stanley’s actions (â€Å"This makes Stanley right!†)1 – leading to a ‘happy ending’ wherein the Kowalski’s can proceed happily with their lives. While this may have been a suitable presentation for the still largely patriarchal 1940’s, in modern productions a new outlook must be considered. It cannot be ignored that Stanley (however justifiably) incapacitates Blanche both mentally and emotionally as he destroys her refined persona – â€Å"There isn’t a goddam thing but imagination!† – until she is reduced to â€Å"inhuman cries†, constituting Blanche’s fall from sanity as the basis for a tragic fall from high to low, as opposed to any material loss. Although it is true that Blanche is less of a hero possessing a tragic flaw than an anti-hero with a single redeeming feature – in this case her doomed relationship with Allen Grey that has fuelled her desires ever since – practically all of Blanche’s flaws can be explained (if not excused) by her tragic experiences. Her deception of Mitch is the desperation of a woman alone in a patriarchal society whose only chance of security is to attract a husband. Her alcoholism is merely a further coping mechanism, and her constant bathing an attempt to cleanse herself of her sordid affairs. This is consolidated by her wish to be buried â€Å"into an ocean as blue as my first lover’s eyes†, the reference to water again suggesting her desire to be purified and return to the happier days of her youth. Blanche’s tragedy is therefore not merely her fall from status, but her inability to move on from her past. As Dale Carnegie said: â€Å"One of the most tragic things I know about human nature is that all of us tend to put off living. We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden over the horizon, instead of enjoying the roses that are blooming outside our windows today.†2 Yet despite all this evidence providing sympathy with Blanche, Williams seems determined to keep the balance of right and wrong utterly ambiguous. For example in Scene Eight, soon after Blanche’s extremely poignant line â€Å"candles burn out in little boys’ and girls’ eyes† – a clear reference to her past with Grey – she calls Stanley a â€Å"healthy Polack†. This ignorant, racist comment distances Blanche again, and Stanley’s reply â€Å"what I am is a one hundred percent American†, would have immediately re-endeared him to the audience, especially at a time of such social integration. It is this uncertainty as to who we should support – Blanche or Stanley – that really questions the existence of a tragic hero in ‘A Streetcar named Desire’. Even the alternative, as stated by C.W.E. Bigsby, that â€Å"the real hero of the play, therefore, is Stella, for she alone is prepared to offer the necessary comfort†3 is a flawed argument. Although Stella is the most sympathetic character, this is not synonymous with heroic as she is ultimately subdued by Stanley into forcing Blanche away; a far cry from offering her ‘the necessary comfort’. Unlike in Shakespearian tragedies such as ‘Othello’ where the enemy is clearly portrayed, Williams blurs the distinctions between right and wrong until the play more resembles the tragedies of Sophocles, which are essentially concerned with the crisis of right versus right leading to an outcome in which no-one wins. So, although critics such as Joseph Wood Krutch state that â€Å"Tragedy must have a hero if it is not to be merely an accusation against, instead of a justification of the world in which it occurs†4 this is not necessarily true. ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’, along with many other Tennessee Williams’ plays such as ‘The Glass Menagerie’ is tragic not because it details the fall of a hero, but precisely because it contains no hero at all. Modern tragedy is itself an accusation against a grey, mundane world of ordinary people, for whom the only escape is through self-delusion, alcohol, sex or madness. In this respect ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ becomes the ultimate example of modern tragedy as, after Blanche’s entire existence is shattered, the others merely resume their poker game. The entire play is built around this tragic indifference, both with the detached ending â€Å"This game is seven-card stud† and the very preface, where Williams foreshadows Blanche’s inevitable destruction with the words of Hart Crane, â€Å"And so it was that I entered the broken world.† Bibliography Williams, Tennessee. ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’, Pearson Education Limited 1995 (copyright Estate of the late Tennessee Williams 1947) Bigsby, Christopher W. E. ‘Tennessee Williams: Streetcar to Glory’, Harold Bloom Krutch, Joseph Wood. ‘The Tragic Fallacy’ 1929, in Tragedy: Vision and Form, Ed. Robert W. Corrigan, New York: Harper, 1981 Kazan, Elia. ‘Kazan on Directing’, Knopf Publishing Group, 2009 (copyright Frances Kazan) Carnegie, Dale. ‘How to Stop Worrying and Start Living’, Pocket Books; Revised edition, 1990 Aristotle. ‘Poetics’, Penguin Books Ltd, 1996 1 Kazan, Elia. ‘Kazan on Directing’, Knopf Publishing Group, 2009 (copyright Frances Kazan) 2 Carnegie, Dale. ‘How to Stop Worrying and Start Living’, Pocket Books; Revised edition, 1990 3 Bigsby, Christopher W. E. ‘Tennessee Williams: Streetcar to Glory’, Harold Bloom 4 Krutch, Joseph Wood. ‘The Tragic Fallacy’ 1929 in Tragedy: Vision and Form, Ed. Robert W. Corrigan, New York: Harper, 1981

When Should You Submit the FAFSA for College Aid

If youre applying to college in the United States, you should fill out the FAFSA, the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. At nearly all schools, the FAFSA is the basis for need-based financial aid awards. The state and federal submission dates for the FAFSA changed significantly in 2016. You can now apply in October rather than waiting until January. When and How to Fill Out the FAFSA The federal deadline for the FAFSA is June 30th, but you should apply much earlier than that. In order to receive the highest amount of aid, you should submit your Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) as soon as possible as of October 1st of the year before you will be attending college. This is because most colleges award some kinds of aid on a first-come, first-served basis. Colleges can and will check to see when you submitted your FAFSA and will award aid accordingly. In the past, many college applicants put off filling out the FAFSA until their families had completed their taxes since the form asks for tax information. However, this is not necessary because of the changes made to the FAFSA in 2016. You can now use your prior-prior year tax return when filling out the FAFSA. For example, if youre planning to enter college in the fall of 2018, you can fill out your FAFSA beginning October 1st of 2017 using your 2016 tax return. Before you sit down to fill out the application, make sure you have gathered all the documents youll need to answer all the FAFSA questions. This will make the process much more efficient and less frustrating. It is important to note that colleges that offer institutional aid often will require you to submit different forms in addition to the FAFSA. Be sure to check with your schools financial aid office to know exactly what kinds of aid are available and what you can do to receive them. If you receive any information requests from your college related to financial aid, make sure you respond as quickly as possible. This will help ensure that you get the maximum amount of financial aid and that you get it on time. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact your schools financial aid office. NOTE: When submitting the FAFSA, make sure you are submitting it for the right year. All too often, parents or students will run into problems after accidentally sending in the FAFSA for the wrong school year. Get started with your application at the FAFSA website. State Deadlines for the FAFSA Although the federal deadline for filing the FAFSA is June 30th, state deadlines are often much earlier than end of June, and students who put off filing the FAFSA may find that they are ineligible for many types of financial aid. The table below provides a sample of some state deadlines, but be sure to check with the FAFSA website to make sure you have the most up-to-date information. Sample FAFSA Deadlines State Deadlines Alaska Alaska Education Grants are awarded soon after October 1st. Awards are made until funds are depleted. Arkansas Academic Challenge and Higher Education Opportunity Grants have a June 1st deadline. California Many state programs have a March 2nd deadline. Connecticut For priority consideration, submit the FAFSA by February 15th. Delaware April 15th Florida May 15th Idaho March 1st deadline for the state's Opportunity Grant Illinois Submit the FAFSA as soon after October 1st as possible. Awards are made until funds are depleted. Indiana March 10th Kentucky As soon after October 1st as possible. Awards are made until funds are depleted. Maine May 1st Massachusetts May 1st Missouri February 1st for priority consideration. Applications accepted through April 2nd. North Carolina As soon after October 1st as possible. Awards are made until funds are depleted. South Carolina As soon after October 1st as possible. Awards are made until funds are depleted. Washington State As soon after October 1st as possible. Awards are made until funds are depleted. Other Sources for Financial Aid The FAFSA is essential for nearly all state, federal, and institutional financial aid awards. Keep in mind, however, that there are millions of dollars of college scholarship funds out there awarded by private organizations. Cappex is a reputable free service where you can get personalized scholarship matches from over $11 billion in awards. You can also browse through the many scholarship  here on ThoughtCo.