What is the Purpose of Public Education in a Democracy?

It was very difficult for me to answer this question the first week of class without getting information from the readings for the week. I can now state without even looking at a text that the purpose of public education in a democracy is to help foster the mentality in everyone that we have to be inclusive citizens. My explanation for this is simple: There is no reason to discriminate or show hatred toward any individual that we come in contact with because we should be respectful to everyone. Our educational system is similar to any sales, management, or retail system, it is a dog-eat-dog world! This mentality has caused a lot of damage to the children who interact with these professionals. They learn an “exclusive” train of thought, which means that they learn how to categorize individuals and not interact with children who are not “similar” or in the same category.
Through my experiences in this course, I have realized that this mentality not only affects how children act in an educational setting but also how the educators interact. We cannot simply point fingers and state that a certain educator is not doing their job because we do not know the complete details or the “behind the scene” information. There are many educators who are treated in such a disrespectful manner by their authorities and then turn into the “I don’t care” professor who does not want anything to do with the children in the classroom. These educators are belittled at meetings or ignored when they have opinions on ways to improve the system. I have learned to view the educational as a full spectrum and not just through an ignorant and biased view point. I now believe that I will be a more efficient and successful educator because of my new definition of the purpose of public education in a democracy.

Self-Assessment

I think that this semester was the most challenging one that I have had throughout my college career but I still believe that I achieved a lot of good things throughout it. Looking back, I began college at the age of 17; dropped out 2 semesters in because I didn’t know what I wanted to do in life; went to community college 1 ½ years later and received my Associate’s Degree in Management at the age of 22; took another year and a half hiatus and then decided to pursue my Bachelor’s at Montclair State University. I am currently 25 years old and a father of two beautiful children. My belief before taking this course was that I had to work and support my children by following the systematic approach to the world. I quickly realized that this mentality would not get me anywhere and am thankful for the chance to endure the challenges of this course.
I believe that I stood up to the challenges of reading, understanding, and analyzing all of the material that was presented throughout the semester. Some of the readings were very intense but I felt a type of reward when I went to class and learned deeper knowledge from the information in the readings that I attained. The time spent at Arts High School was also a great eye opening experience. This was my first time student teaching and I was able to see the entire spectrum of the educational system (i.e., administration, student/teacher interaction, lesson plans). The inquiry project was a great jump-start for future projects that I was planning on working on. My plan (which has actually already begun) is to create a non-profit organization that will bring Arts programs to the children of Jersey City while at the same time building their character and exposing them to a more positive lifestyle and new visions of life. I was motivated by this class because it made me realize the different point-of-view’s that there are for each and every topic. I also learned to be a more justice-oriented citizen and get up and active in my community. Overall, I believe that I have a stronger character because of this class and am glad that I took it very seriously.