为什么教育?
我在理查森长大, TX, 达拉斯北部的一个城市, 上了一所公立学校，我从二年级开始和朋友们一起步行上学. It was a school embedded into the community, with sufficient resources, and a friendly staff. 约3rd grade, my parents started talking about placing me in a private school. 当我问他们为什么, they explained that the school’s emphasis on standardized testing, 这是由德克萨斯州规定的, 会冲淡我的教育——当我提前完成作业时，我就会归档文件，给老师装订讲义, and 在 free reading time I was often asked to read with students who were struggling. While I denied their criticisms of my beloved elementary school, I 可以n’t help but notice the faults and flaws that abounded within the classroom. While ultimately I ended up at a private, 达拉斯的男女合校, 他们的评论和我从儿时的朋友那里获得的公立学校的亲身经历激发了我对教育的批判性思考:为什么有些学生比其他人受到更好的教育? How do you quantify student success? What does critically thinking look like?
我在皇冠体育的第一年, 我决定选修《皇冠体育官网》，希望能找到这些棘手问题的答案. 然而, after a few weeks of intense course readings and dynamic discussions, I found myself with more questions than answers! 我很快发现了隐藏在美国教育表面之下的层层复杂性，并被不平等的制度所吸引, that contribute to the challenges of public education, 以及老师和学校的辛勤工作，这些都指向了学校的希望. 下个学期, 我参加了“全民教育”课程，每周花4个小时和不伦瑞克初中的一名中学生一起学习. 一个眼睛明亮的, 七年级女孩, she embodied the dichotomies and challenges we read about and discussed in class. 我和她的关系丰富和复杂了我对中学生如何在课堂上学习和看待自己的理解.
With a couple semesters of education under my belt, a professor of mine encouraged me to pursue a summer internship in the education field. 在她的支持和忠告下, 大三前的那个夏天，我在华盛顿儿童保护基金会做了一名教育政策研究实习生.C. 实习期间, I attended hearings on Capitol Hill, lobbied for early childhood education legislation, and researched important issues surrounding school equity. My research focused predominantly on disproportionality in school discipline, 学校拨款的差异, and the implication of Common Core for poor children and children of color. 这次经历成为多丽丝·桑托罗的城市教育课程的完美跳板, 我现在就读的学校.
While I do not know what the future holds, I know it must touch education in some way. I hope to teach, work on education policy, or act as a social worker in schools. Although schools are not sufficient to solve for systemic inequality, they are necessary. Through my coursework and conversations with education professors, I’ve come to learn what the state of education in the U.S. looks like, as well as imagine what it 可以 be.
