Purpose of Education

“The primary goal of every educator in the state of Alabama must, at all times, be to provide and environment in which all students can learn. In order to accomplish that goal, educators must value the worth and dignity of every person, must have a devotion to excellence in all matters, must actively support the pursuit of knowledge, and must fully participate in the nurturance of democratic citizenry.” The previous statement is the introduction to the Alabama Educator Code of Ethics; this code is to provide teachers with standards they are to follow at all times as a professional educator to protect the health and safety of themselves and their students.
There are nine basic principles/standards the Alabama Code of Ethics is based on. These principles are as follows: 1) professional conduct, 2) trustworthiness, 3) unlawful acts, 4) teacher/student relationships, 5) alcohol, drug, and tobacco use or possession, 6) public funds and property, 7) remunerative conduct, 8) maintenance of confidentiality, and 9) abandonment of contract. The first standard, professional conduct means, “an educator should demonstrate conduct that follows generally recognized professional standards.” The second standard, trustworthiness, says “an educator should exemplify honest and integrity in the course of professional practice.” The third standard, unlawful acts, states “an educator should abide by federal, state, and local laws and statutes.” The fourth standard, teacher/student relationships, says “an educator should always maintain a professional relationship with all students, both in and outside the classroom.” The fifth standard, alcohol, drug, and tobacco use or possession, states an educator should refrain from the use of alcohol and/or tobacco during the course of professional practice and should never use illegal or unauthorized drugs.” The sixth standard, public funds and property, says an educator entrusted with public funds and property should honor that trust with a high level of honesty, accuracy, and responsibility.” The seventh standard, remunerative conduct, states “an educator should maintain integrity with students, colleagues, parents, patrons, or businesses when accepting gifts, gratuities, favors, and additional compensation.” The eighth standard, maintenance of confidentiality, states “an educator should comply with state and federal laws and local school board policies relating to confidentiality of student and personal records, standardized test material, and other information covered by confidentiality agreements.” The ninth standard, abandonment of contract, says “an educator should fulfill all of the terms and obligations detailed in the contract with the local board of education or educational agency for the duration of the contract.” All of these standards are in place to protect teachers and students and to provide basic rules that every teacher should abide by to have a safe environment for their students.
Though the Alabama Code of Ethics has many rules to follow, it allows for a more democratic and fair environment for the students in Alabama. Educators are the people in charge of advocating for their students but too many teachers do not do this now because they get stuck back in the historical context of white racism and they believe they are doing what it best, when in reality they may be hurting the character or their students. Being an advocate does not just mean taking up for your students, it means much more than this. Advocation is not just for white students. Many teachers hid behind the color line in schools or just pretend that it does not exist, but it does exist; too many people act they do not see color when it is right in their face. Teachers must be the ones who push for educational freedom for their students in aspects other than the white dominant cultural teachings; there should be culturally relevant curriculum and practices in order to be fair to all students and to produce an atmosphere where the students feel comfortable and free to think critically.
One problem that has been present in education is that students are just being schooled but not getting an education. Students are being taught to live a normal life based on white standards but are not being taught how to think about ideas outside the box. The children go to school and “go through the motions” everyday but are not receiving the in depth education they deserve. Education is the basis of our futures, if we are not educating children properly based on a fair curriculum then would we not be robbing children of their future?
Students should be able to express themselves through their education; it should be a freeing process. School should not be a place where children dread going everyday, they should be excited about coming to school and expressing who they are through their education. There are many ways students can express themselves, through music, poetry, and art they can truly show what they are feeling and what they want to represent. Dancing is also a great way for children to use education as a practice of freedom, because it allows them to put emotion into their dancing and showcase their abilities. The artistic side is not the only way education can be used as a practice of freedom however; students can use things such as sports, student government programs, and extra curricular activities to express who they are as individuals. Too often, students are taught to act like robots and not show their individual personalities at school, but it is so important for children to not lose who they are in their education because they can be empowered by channeling their own inner strength and could be great leaders for their school and community. Violet Harris states in her article “African American Concepts of Literacy,” parents “want schools than can inoculate specific world views or ideology, often on that promotes patriotism, adherence to family values, and allegiance to industrial capitalism, they want to prepare their children to enter post-secondary education institutions and eventually high status and well paying jobs.” All parents, no matter the color, mostly want the same thing for their child, which is success; they want their children to have an education system that allows them to go to school and train them to be a proper member of society. Bell Hooks discussed, in her article “Teaching to Transgress,” how education began to change with racial integration and children were no longer taught to think critically; she said “it was a struggle to remain the right to be an independent thinker” when she was in college. Hooks viewed education as an enabling process, but too often educators are seen “enacting rituals of control” in their classrooms, which takes away education as being enabling. The problem with training children to be proper members of society is students are expected to conform to the normative white standard where they are expected to act white in order to succeed. I think the Alabama Code of Ethic would be a great thing if all teachers abided to its standards and would quit expecting children to leave who they are as individuals at home and let them show their individualistic ideals at school, making the children conform is only hurting them. When I was observing a middle school teacher this semester I saw the children in her class were allowed to be who they are and they respected their teacher for letting them do so, it was great seeing a teacher who did not force them to conform to societal norms, but let them use education as a passageway to achieve their highest potential. Allowing them the freedom to express themselves through their education can greatly enhance their education and make the children love learning as much as they should.
African Americans, along with other ethnicities, have worked hard to get to where they have come within society; they have always been forced to either adhere to white normative standards or be subject to rejection for being different, but their self-activity has allowed them to over come the countries bias ways. It is still very hard for ethnic groups, other than whites, to be able to rise to their full potential because of the societal views that everyone should act the same and look the same, but I have seen through observation this semester that the problem is starting to get better. Because of the self-activity of each ethnic group, we able to see progress; in an article by Guadalupe San Miguel called “From the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo to Hopwood: The Educational Plight and Struggle of Mexican Americans in the Southwest,” it is shown how Mexican Americans worked against Americanization processes to fight for their own cultural practices. America tried taking away the language of Mexican Americans to make them speak English only, but they resisted this attempt at destroying the rightful language. The Mexican Americans were on a quest for educational equality, the struggle will most likely continue but through their own determination they have come a long way and continue to fight for their educational freedom and equality.
The schooling has to stop so that the education process can begin. As discussed throughout this paper, children are being forced to give up who they are as individuals and conform to societal white norms; in order for education to be a practice of freedom we must allow the children to express their individual qualities through their education. The most important factor in problem with education not being a practice of freedom is the educators. When educators start allowing students to represent their own cultural beliefs instead of the societal norms, we will begin to see great progress. Teachers have to advocate for their students in all aspects of education and push for educational equality for all. The best thing for teachers to do, is to follow all the principles and standards of the Alabama Code of Ethics for all children and treat them all with the same dignity and respect to allow them to prosper from the education process, this is the purpose of education!