Philogging #3 - Equal Educational Opportunity

The term ‘equal educational opportunity’ as defined in our text on pg. 159 as “students would receive different kinds of education, but all students would have ‘equal opportunity’ to receive the education appropriate to them”.  My definition however is very different.  I think I would be more along the lines of Aristotle and Mann.  When I hear the term ‘equal educational opportunity’ I think of non discriminatory practices.  All students have the opportunity to receive an education regardless of race, color, gender, ethnicity, location, socio-economic status, etc.  Similarly to the current definition is today of ‘equal opportunity’ in the workplace. Quite a difference don’t you think?

My goal in teaching is to assist each student to achieve their potential in all aspects… to be the best student and person they can be specifically in the educational arena.  So to put it concisely, my educational goals would be to educate children in the basic tenents of learning, to present the material in interesting ways, and to come alongside each child and help them perform to their personal best.  How will I attain those goals?  I would implement traditional and constructivist methods.  I think that if you present information in a variety of ways (traditional ways) that target the learning styles of students, the student will learn the subject matter, for instance, lecture followed by worksheets, having them explain it to each other, and using manipulatives.  Constructivist (or hands-on/project learning) approaches will serve to cement the information in a real way while remaining interesting to the student.  By blending methods and using multiple ways to present the material, I will hopefully catch all the students preferred learning styles as well as give the students an understanding of how the material applies to their life.  Why keep traditional methods?  If we just use constructivist methods and never show the children the traditional way of presenting the information, when they get to a standardized test (as we know they will) the student will not know how to answer the problem.  Until we move away from testing as we know it, we need to make sure our students are knowledgeable in the testing practices that will be used.   I think that by presenting the information in class in different ways (essentially modifying instruction for different learning styles) differences in the students’ backgrounds and skill levels will become a non-issue.

When it comes to using strategies and methods that ‘ensure’ students’ performing in an advanced level, I am not sure.  I personally do not believe you can ‘ensure’ a student performing at an advanced level.  No matter how well a teacher presents information, it is a student’s choice whether they will perform at an advanced level.  Teachers cannot be responsible for everything.  Now, that being said, I do feel if a teacher has high expectations, and has the support of the parents and administration, a student will end up achieving at a higher academic level without even realizing it.  My son was in an inclusion kindergarten class.  His teacher had previously taught the inclusion 1^st and the inclusion 2^nd grade classes.  She knew what was expected at higher levels and thus told us parents she would ‘push’ our students as far as she could.  My son was learning things in kindergarten that would not even be introduced until 1^st or 2^nd grade.  I appreciated her high expectations of herself and her class.

Overall, I believe each child has a right to a good education, regardless of who they are and where they live.  How well they do, in part, is in the hands of the teachers.  They way you present the material and what you expect of a child (with the support of parents and administration) can be the determining factor to their success.