Thinking Freely

Education today seems to mainly be about stressing a “core curriculum” of information — math, writing, some simple computer skills, history, and maybe a foreign language. Extracurricular activities end up on the chopping block in many schools on the drive to achieve higher test scores in what has been considered to be the core educational purpose of the public school system, mainly to produce workers for corporate life. We live in a democracy where the average citizen is expected to have some level of understanding of the issues on which they are expected to vote. I don’t think our current educational system does much in the way of addressing this — there are a few rounds of “history”, maybe a civics class, and then out the door you go into the college of your choice, where you’re intensively focused on your chosen career subject. It is an admitted fact that there is an intimate relationship between democracy and education. In a democracy, education is given primacy, for it is pre-requisite for survival and success. Similarly, education fosters a democratic temper in the minds of people. Democratic values like liberty, equality, justice, dignity of individual, co-operation, sharing of responsibility etc. are applied to education to make it more effective, meaningful, relevant and useful. Many people believe that education is the key to success. That college is the only way to make money in today’s society. And that the best way to have success is to attain a master’s degree because a bachelor’s degree is “like a High School Degree”. Rose promotes the words “Democratic Imagination” because it should be the way for children to learn. That they should be able to think and learn freely. Rose writes “Stephanie gives the crabs a bit longer… many are just learning to write… write their observation as best they can, and she will help them develop what they write.” This is an excellent way to teach a class, because Stephanie is teaching her students to think freely and write whatever they want. This is the way classrooms should be taught, to let students think freely and act on their own opinions.