Introduction
In my mind, I picture a school where the students are respected and treated almost as equals to their teachers and administrators. Now, obviously, there must be a bit of hierarchy established. Otherwise, anarchy would ensue. However, that doesn’t mean you have to treat hem as though they are second-class citizens within the school. In my ideal school, students are treated as though they are the adults they are capable of becoming. This school would be very small in size, roughly a 10-1 student-teacher ratio. It would also likely be very expensive, and needless to say- private. The “pick your classes” theme and allowed independence of thought, would attract some great minds to come, I believe. Essentially I want to provide a space for free thought and intense exploration where students don’t feel bound to be what someone else tells them they must be. I found an article during my research that seemed to perfectly mirror my philosophy on how American schools have transitioned, and how I believe we will continue to transition. This article focuses on Chinese career education. Obviously, the US has never forced people into jobs in the same way the Chinese government has, but there has been strong coercing. I believe that we should be on par with China when it comes to careers and education. China is currently in a period that they call the “Career Counseling” period. Whereas before this they were in the “Career Education” stage. (Zhou, Li, Gao, 2016) I believe that in the US we are still in the Career Education stage and we must move to the Counseling stage and allow students to choose paths for themselves while simply advising them. We are simply still in the stage of coercing and pushing, counseling is different than this. Counseling is what I want to see.
Philosophy
My school will be focused on professional development and free learning. Students will have the utmost choice in how they choose their classes and path, with advice of course. I believe students are sometimes put too much into a bubble of what they MOST be and not what they could be. While I believe teachers are a special group, I also believe that all types of people have the potential to teach others and that people coming from experience in an industry may be able to teach from their experiences in a way that some who have been career educators may not. Also, I believe that educators do not give students the credit they deserve in the idea that students can think for themselves, and understand what they need and want to do with their lives (with advice.) Much like the story you told with 3 people doing push-ups. The students can choose however they want to get to those, how they choose to train. In this metaphor, the training is their classes, and the final push ups are their degree. Liberal arts would be an accurate description of the early years part of my school, while I believe focus learning would be an accurate description of the second half of learning in my school. While reading an article on reviving liberal learning, I realized that focus learning for the entirety of schooling could actually harm students. That is why, in the early stages students must learn the sciences, math, language arts, as well as philosophy and other Socratic disciplines. If students are not given the chance to learn, to experience, all of these different kinds of disciplines; how will they know what they want to learn? This is why we must allow them to first experience all kinds of learning, to allow them to see for themselves what they want to choose. To quote the same article mentioned above, “Undergraduates who forsake too many humanities courses fail to see an overarching reality: Over years and decades, leadership accrues to the man or woman who understands the human condition.” (Dunn 2016). While I believe this quote to be true, I believe it to be true for both humanities and sciences. Yet, I also believe that no man (or woman) can be forced into being a scholar of either, it must be an educated choice. That is the overarching theme of what I want this school to consist of, educated choices by bright young minds.
Ideal Staff
Teachers and staff will consist of people who have come from industries and transitioned to teaching. Obviously, some education background will be a requirement, but not the focus. Former business professionals and leaders will be the teachers, while the administrators will have a heavier educational background requirement. Much like that of a college where broadcast professors should come from a broadcast field, or science teachers having a background in a science field. (I.e., chemistry teachers will have worked as chemists for a company) These teachers should have a minimum of 5 years experience in their given field, as well as at least one-year training or teaching as well-attended educational seminars. Additionally, teachers who have participated in career education seminars would be perfect applicants A perfect example of these seminars, or ways to make teacher more business savvy, would be Lesson2Life. Lesson2Life is a seminar in which “participating teachers gain insight into today’s workforce so they can then teach students the skills and information necessary to be successful when they seek careers of their own.” (Merz, S., & Wiebke, K., 2015). This seems to be a perfect model for how I want my teachers to engage students. This seminar takes place over three days and “consists mostly of site visits or ‘learning exchanges’ to local businesses. Teachers tour facilities, participate in group activities, hear talks by business leaders, and engage in open-ended discussions about education and careers. At the end of the program, participants meet for a celebratory luncheon to discuss what they learned and how they plan to implement what they learned in their classrooms.” (Merz, S., & Wiebke, K., 2015). I believe this seminar would be vital to teachers in my ideal school, in addition to all schools across the nation.
Coursework
Early coursework will be that of basic 101 type classes, learning the basics. While later courses will be more career oriented. The students will choose each and every class they take. Early courses will be STEM-based until an advisor gives the go-ahead for students to choose their own classes. This will be a case-by-case basis. Business-minded students would be influenced to take business courses, but if they feel the need to take theater courses or math courses they may do so. All "homework" should be completable by the end of the school day, however, after school programs will be created to help those students who choose to take advantage of them.
Ideal Instruction
Career development and career specific instruction. Engagement will be very personal, small class sizes and personable educators will be of the utmost importance. I want the teachers to have personal relationships with their students, someone they would list as a reference on a job application.
Assessment
Assessment will be via a board of teachers the student has had. A portfolio of work should be presented at the end of each year by each student. The student will choose what they believe to be their best work in each class, then a board of teachers and administrators will give this student a single grade for the period (semester/year) based on their total performance. Additionally, each teacher will give a "subgrade" based on the totality of work in the given class that period.
Environment
The environment will be based on the teacher's choices. If a teacher feels professional dress and environment should be met, it will. If a teacher feels a more relaxed environment is necessary it will be. The environments could possibly even be separated by the class “type.” Essentially, I would like to run a college-like atmosphere. The campus would have separate buildings for the major disciplines, a separate building that would house rotating electives, and finally a main “greeting” building. These buildings will give the atmosphere of academia.
Conclusion
To conclude, my ideal school would consist of heavy career education where student choice and freedom is placed as the highest priority. Teachers would come from the professional world or have an extensive background in career education. The school would be for the best and brightest students with a strong support system behind them. These students would be treated as adults and expected to act like such. They would be assessed by their entire portfolio of work for a given period rather than the focus being on an assignment by assignment basis. All in all, my school's students would be exponentially more prepared for the “real world” than students coming from other schools.
References
DUNN, J. J. (2016). Reviving Liberal Education. America, 215(9), 22.
Goldstein, D. (2014). The teacher wars: A history of America's most embattled profession. New York: Doubleday.
Merz, S., & Wiebke, K. (2015). Business fills a gap between teacher and student. Phi Delta Kappan, 96(6), 33. doi:10.1177/0031721715575297
Parkay, F. W., & Stanford, B. H. (2016). Becoming a teacher (10th ed.). Boston: Pearson.
Zhou, X., Li, X., & Gao, Y. (2016). Career Guidance and Counseling in Shanghai, China: 1977 to 2015. Career Development Quarterly, 64(3), 203-215.
