Personal Snapshot

I feel it’s important to give you a snapshot of my “gut” feelings about education prior to delving into a more formal discussion of theories. Informal interjections are the essence of blogs and they create a candid atmosphere amongst more structured material. This is what you should know. My heart flutters when I watch the Dead Poets Society. I love movies that depict the transformative teacher. I believe in the power of dedicated, compassionate pedagogy. I’m more apt to support liberal and progressive teaching approaches on the basis that extraordinary results can be achieved if the right teacher is putting things in to practice. Yet at the same time, I am hesitant to offer the teacher as a transformative individual as a solution to all the problems in education because I fear there are not enough teachers willing to employ the immense mental space and physical effort needed to truly transform the lives of students. To me, teaching is a profession in which people absolutely cannot only “give so much.” In my mind, it’s a “whatever it takes” sort of profession. You should also know that I spent last summer teaching Chinese students—students who have been raised in an educational environment quite different than mine and quite different than the one I believe will make this world a better place. I’m sure you will see the influence of this experience manifest itself at various points in my blog. Education is about empowerment. There is a difference between knowledge and wisdom. Education shouldn’t just be geared toward cultivating the former. And education shouldn’t be scared to openly admit its only logical purpose because it is often lost in theories and lesson plans. The quote on the left side under “about me” should give a pretty clear picture of what I mean. I suppose that’s a valid snapshot. From here, I will present the general premise of each tradition in an objective manner.