Great Educator

Dewey’s argument that social influences are the “great educator” and that schools are only a secondary agency is spot on.  Their family, neighborhood, friends, and media play a significant role in how a child feels about education and the world around them.  My own children are an example.  Both my husband and I are educators.  We have made our educational expectations very well known when it comes to our kids’ education.  We have high expectations for their grades as well as the level of education we wish for them to receive.  We have neighbors that don’t necessarily have the same expectations for their children.  They are not college educated, so education is not a priority for them. 

I also see how media has a huge impact on how students feel about education and social interactions.  Some musicians in the R&B/Rap genre make being a gangster sound fun and exciting to kids.  Violence is depicted in some of the songs as well as criminal activity.  Obviously not all of the songs in this genre fit this profile, but many do and they have a negative impact on students’ views. 

Because there are many influences that negatively impact how a student feels about school or their place in society, teachers must work that much harder to change their opinions.  I taught in a middle class suburban middle school.  Our students were at an incredibly impressionable age and most of the students that were in “honors” classes were college bound, but so were many of the students in “regulars” classes.  It was part of the society.  This is not the same in other areas of our county.  In urban middle schools, the social influence is much different.  College may not be a financial reality for many of them.  Their parents didn’t go to college, their cousins didn’t go to college, not did their siblings.  It was straight to the work force if they even finished high school. Teachers have a more difficult battle to fight to instill the importance of what is being taught and why it is important for their students to make school a priority when the rest of the neighborhood and sometimes families do not think that it is.  In rural areas I would think it would be much different that in a city or suburb.  Social influences would not be the same.  If it was a farming community, views of school by the community or family may be determined by the harvest schedule and the need for help in the fields.

Teachers have the task of going head to head with social influences that have a negative impact on students.  It is their job to iterate how important an education is and why.  Though social skills are in part the responsibility of the parent, if it isn’t being taught, it falls to the teacher to instill these skills in the children.  Teacher become more than a math teacher or English teacher, they become a mentor to help kids become better citizens.  Some may say that these skills should be taught at home, but the bottom line is:  If they aren’t being taught in the home, then who will teach them?  These students are the future of our communities (as cliché as that sounds.) 

            If there is no time during the school day, teachers can have a special time for students to come before or after school or during lunch.  These meetings could be small, intimate groups to discuss why education is important, that it is okay to be educated and successful, and to openly discuss current topics that the media or other people may be saying that are of interest.  This type of interaction with students fosters close relationships and shows them that you care about them and where they end up when they leave your doors each day.  By building a relationship with students, teachers become part of the social influences in students’ lives and can begin to counter the negativity that they may encounter daily at home or in the media.