From: Dakota Hudelson
Columbus
What is the purpose of public education?
Philosophers have grappled with this question for decades, asking themselves what role public education should have in society. American educational philosopher John Dewey believed that the purpose of education is to prepare students to live pragmatically and immediately in their current environment. George Counts, on the other hand, saw education as a way to prepare students to live as part of a society. Educator and philosopher Mortimore Adler stated that education should develop citizenship in children, help children reach their full human potential, and to prepare students for the workforce. There are countless opinions as to what the purpose of public education should be.
In Indiana, it is our state legislature that determines the overall direction and purpose of public education. The question then must be asked: What does the Indiana Legislature believe is the purpose of public education?
In our last legislative session, lawmakers passed a bill that will require teachers to acquire 15 Professional Growth Points in career and workforce development as part of renewing their licenses on a PGP plan. According to multiple lawmakers, the purpose of this is to ensure that educators know the economic needs of their local communities and are encouraging students to fulfill those needs. Though this might seem inconsequential to some, or maybe even a good thing, it reveals a lot about the mindset of our state legislature when it comes to education.
If business leaders are finding that some of their applicants don’t have the skills desired, who is to blame? If you ask the state legislature, it would appear as though educators are at fault. The businesses themselves can’t be expected to provide job training — this should be the job of teachers! When businesses fail to attract enough workers to fully staff their workplace, should they raise wages and provide more attractive benefits in order to secure new workers? According to our state legislature, the answer is "no," educators should be expected to guide students to those jobs for them. Our legislators seem to believe that the purpose of education is to meet the needs of business leaders.
I do not believe that the purpose of education is to train little worker bees for the private market. I believe the purpose of public education is to help every child reach their full human potential, which may or may not involve a job. It is insulting to educators everywhere to expect them to do the job of the private market and use our schools to prop up struggling businesses. I hope our local lawmakers will heed the call of educators across the state and remove this ridiculous requirement so teachers can focus their professional development on pedagogy, social/emotional learning and preparing students to reach their full human potential.
