The Increased Demand On Education.

Thinking back over many of our readings, particularly the chapter(s) in Tinkering Toward Utopia, I began to think about progress and regress of schooling and our role as teachers in it. Tyack and Cuban alluded to this but it seems to me that progress and regress are very subjective. Given all of the responsibilities and demands the public and society as a whole place on teachers and the educational system, it is no wonder that many people think our current educational system is failing. The educational system is responsible for shaping a new society, for “unleashing America’s creative genius to invent…the best schools in the world…to achieve a quantum leap in learning”, to create individuals that are able to compete on a global level, and the list goes on. This places a huge responsibility on the teacher to prepare a student(s) to be even one of these things let alone all of them. Not only are they expected to create individuals, in some ways they are expected to “raise” them. If the parents are not “stepping up to the plate”, it seems the teachers must step in and pick up the slack for the eight or so hours the student is in school. Considering all of the outside influences children are exposed to today and the influences in years to come, teachers have a more difficult job than ever. So can we really say that education is not progressing? Perhaps what has changed is society’s perception not the actual system itself. Also what might have changed are the demands society places on education. The demands on education seem to be more stringent today. In many cases, whether a student succeeds in school or in life for that matter seems to fall more on the shoulders of the educational system and its teachers than on the individual students or their families. I know our system has its flaws, but given the circumstances I would say our system is doing more progressing than regressing by meeting the increased demands placed on teachers and the education system.