Purpose of Life and Schooling
The film delved into the world of competitive, even exclusive schooling and the need to always be better, do more, and be perfect. Students in the film spoke about health issues, self-esteem issues, suicides in their communities and their feeling of overwhelming gloom. What was it all for?
However, my close friends and I found ourselves perplexed by the film. It seemed, number one, that the film really focused on a small elite minority of communities where access to exclusive everything is the norm. Number two, even though the question of "What's the purpose of all this, anyway?" can be heard in classrooms across the nation, the film didn't attack this most critical of demands in education -- nay -- in life. Why was this question not tackled head-on in the film? Why did the panel after the film not make this a focus for discussion seeing that a lot of the students in the audience -- a majority being AP students, still wondered, "What's the point?"
Khadigah, one of my close friends and community development partner instigated a conversation that got me wondering: What did I see as the purpose of schooling when I was a student? And why did I love it, even with a workload that would keep me up at night?
We had our hypothesis. To us, as Muslims who had to in adolescence really define who we were as a religious minority in America, purpose became an early priority. We needed to know and be able to articulate who we were, what we stood for and why we did or didn't do things that in no way fit into the norm of mainstream America. Since our purpose as people had been defined by our religion, families, and our cultural upbringing, school was just another place to learn--and hang out with friends. No pressure. Furthermore, our particular community was one where the immigrating families brought with them their own educational values. These values which although held learning in high esteem (particularly learning the faith), did not value formal schooling, especially for females. Thus, success in schooling was a bonus if we happened to excel, but in no way did it define us as "successful" individuals.
The purpose of schooling for us then wasn't tied to our self-esteem.
Unfortunately, I feel today that external factors are becoming the sole definers of a generation of children. What you do, what you accomplish, who you beat and how much you make are the indicators of status today, not who you are, what you stand for or how you serve the greater good. In order for someone to be seen as a winner, there has to be a loser, and parents want their kids to make losers of a lot of other kids. As first-generation formal school-goers, in our families and communities, Khadigah and I didn't feel at all in competition with others; we didn't hate school or loathe doing pages of math homework. We were also not expected to go to Ivy League schools. Both of our mothers were illiterate and our fathers at work, so the pressure to be great at school--that wasn't coming from anyone.
It wasn't until college, after Khadigah and I both become more involved with religious community work and started our studies in education, that we started to see how knowledge was critical in the fight against injustices around the world. Our religion continued to define the purpose behind our actions and our "success" became how we served God by how we served the needs of our fellow human beings. Consequently, learning about the inequalities within education, we naturally expanded our life purpose to include our work. How do we define our purpose of education? To create citizens who will pursue social justice for all ethically, purposefully, and confidently.
In short, if people have not defined for their lives a sense of purpose, how could they define a purpose for their work? If life is a race to nowhere, then school is most definitely a gloomy bend on that trail.
Although religion has defined my sense of purpose in life and work, this doesn't have to be the case. But a purpose MUST be defined before educators mindlessly mold the minds of others. Martin Luther King Jr. said it best (and said it secularly):
Posted in Philosophy of EducationSocial Justice on Jan 11, 2011 - 09:25 PM
Purpose. It's a word that has been thrown around in conversations I've been in or observed for weeks now. It became most pronounced lately after viewing the movie, Race to Nowhere ; a film directed by Vicki H. Abeles, a mother concerned with the pace of her children's schooling.The film delved into the world of competitive, even exclusive schooling and the need to always be better, do more, and be perfect. Students in the film spoke about health issues, self-esteem issues, suicides in their communities and their feeling of overwhelming gloom. What was it all for?
However, my close friends and I found ourselves perplexed by the film. It seemed, number one, that the film really focused on a small elite minority of communities where access to exclusive everything is the norm. Number two, even though the question of "What's the purpose of all this, anyway?" can be heard in classrooms across the nation, the film didn't attack this most critical of demands in education -- nay -- in life. Why was this question not tackled head-on in the film? Why did the panel after the film not make this a focus for discussion seeing that a lot of the students in the audience -- a majority being AP students, still wondered, "What's the point?"
Khadigah, one of my close friends and community development partner instigated a conversation that got me wondering: What did I see as the purpose of schooling when I was a student? And why did I love it, even with a workload that would keep me up at night?
We had our hypothesis. To us, as Muslims who had to in adolescence really define who we were as a religious minority in America, purpose became an early priority. We needed to know and be able to articulate who we were, what we stood for and why we did or didn't do things that in no way fit into the norm of mainstream America. Since our purpose as people had been defined by our religion, families, and our cultural upbringing, school was just another place to learn--and hang out with friends. No pressure. Furthermore, our particular community was one where the immigrating families brought with them their own educational values. These values which although held learning in high esteem (particularly learning the faith), did not value formal schooling, especially for females. Thus, success in schooling was a bonus if we happened to excel, but in no way did it define us as "successful" individuals.
The purpose of schooling for us then wasn't tied to our self-esteem.
Unfortunately, I feel today that external factors are becoming the sole definers of a generation of children. What you do, what you accomplish, who you beat and how much you make are the indicators of status today, not who you are, what you stand for or how you serve the greater good. In order for someone to be seen as a winner, there has to be a loser, and parents want their kids to make losers of a lot of other kids. As first-generation formal school-goers, in our families and communities, Khadigah and I didn't feel at all in competition with others; we didn't hate school or loathe doing pages of math homework. We were also not expected to go to Ivy League schools. Both of our mothers were illiterate and our fathers at work, so the pressure to be great at school--that wasn't coming from anyone.
It wasn't until college, after Khadigah and I both become more involved with religious community work and started our studies in education, that we started to see how knowledge was critical in the fight against injustices around the world. Our religion continued to define the purpose behind our actions and our "success" became how we served God by how we served the needs of our fellow human beings. Consequently, learning about the inequalities within education, we naturally expanded our life purpose to include our work. How do we define our purpose of education? To create citizens who will pursue social justice for all ethically, purposefully, and confidently.
In short, if people have not defined for their lives a sense of purpose, how could they define a purpose for their work? If life is a race to nowhere, then school is most definitely a gloomy bend on that trail.
Although religion has defined my sense of purpose in life and work, this doesn't have to be the case. But a purpose MUST be defined before educators mindlessly mold the minds of others. Martin Luther King Jr. said it best (and said it secularly):
The function of education, therefore, is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. But education which stops with efficiency may prove the greatest menace to society. The most dangerous criminal may be the man gifted with reason, but with no morals...We must remember that intelligence is not enough. Intelligence plus character--that is the goal of true education. The complete education gives one not only power of concentration, but worthy objectives upon which to concentrate.
If we are not careful, our colleges will produce a group of close-minded, unscientific, illogical propagandists, consumed with immoral acts. Be careful, "brethren!" Be careful, teachers!
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success,
purpose,
pressure,
martin luther king,
expectations,
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