Can schools really reform society?

The topic of discussion that I selected for this week is called: Can schools really reform society? “As the article states, it is not uncommon to hear people say that schools are the best way to transform society, but is this really true?”

First, society can be defined as an organized group of people that is associated together for religious, benevolent, cultural, scientific, political or other purposes. The common purpose of school is to make the world a better place and to equip students with the essential skills that they will need to move onto the next stage of their lives, whatever that stage may be. On the other hand, the goals of schools and its educational purpose is to help "build a better more equitable society through reforms in schools organization, curriculum, instruction and in technology.”

In my opinion, times have changed. Education has become the business. I think that our society is helping to reform schools simply due to the fact that culture, diversity and social justice is so ever changing these days. In our society, we have so many different issues and circumstances that do not allow anything else to surface but the problems itself. There is no denying that there are flaws in our current educational system. Teachers and administrators have somehow become the scapegoat for a system that they did not develop, nor implement.

In previous instances of school reform, policymakers saw schools as serving the economy and protecting the nation. Today, “the actions of the current reformers are seeking to insure that the poor and minority students that are trapped in failing schools would be able to have equal opportunity, have the experience of going to college, preparing them for college and for better jobs and not aiming graduates to fight for a more equitable society.”

To me, assumptions can be misleading. As valuable as children are, it is difficult to understand why many Americans continue to make assumptions instead of searching for a deeper understanding and a solution to the problem of reform.

Reference

Strauss, V. (2012, October 10).Can schools really reform society? The Washington Post. Retrieved from http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2012/10/10/can-schools-really-reform-society/?print=1