Excellence in Education :: essays research papers

The concept of duty in education is one that, on thesurface, seems to be unquestionable. After all, who would non accede that students within our schools should, in fact,excel? Certainly teachers, proves, and administrators canagree on probity as an aim to shoot for. Theinterpretation of the term "excellence" is, however, lessobvious. How do we regard excellence? Is it the collegebound student with a broad liberal arts education? Is it thestudent who graduates high school clever in a specifictrade? Many in the field of education cannot come to anagreement on how our schools can best achieve excellencefor and from our students. One of the many an(prenominal) authorities who have contributed a modelfor what schools should be is Robert L. Ebel. According toEbel, knowledge is the single most significant and mostimportant object in the education of children. In his article"What are schools for?" Ebel terminations "that schools are forlearning, and that what oug ht to be learned mostly is usefulknowledge" (3). He builds this declaration in answer totrends in education that focus upon other aspects oflearning in schools. Ebel states in the beginning of hisarticle, that he does not assume schools should be socialresearch agencies, unskilled facilities, adjustmentcenters, or custodial institutions. (3). While he does notdeny that our nation is currently wrestling with a drearyarray of social ailments, he does argue that the answer tosuch problems can or should lie within the jurisdiction ofour schools.In discussing educations mission to provide usefulknowledge, Ebel defines what he means by the wordknowledge "It is an integrated structure of relationshipsamong concepts and propositions" (5). Knowledge, theway Ebel describes it is not the same as information. Ebelstates that "knowledge is built out of information bythinking". Knowledge, according to Ebel, must beconstructed from information by each individual learner itcann ot be looked up, or given to students by a parent orteacher. " A student must earn the right to say I know byhis own thoughtful efforts to understand" (Ebel, 5). Theintellectual proficiencies many educators hope to teach are,like information, essentially useless to Ebel without aknowledge base on which to draw from.Ebel feels that a good teacher can "motivate, direct, and dish the learning process to great advantage". AlthoughEbel feels that good teachers are essential to providing a"favorable learning environment," he puts much of theaccountability for learning on the students themselves. Ebelfeels that teachers are there to facilitate students in theirlearning, not to coerce those who are indifferent andunmotivated and do not wish to learn, against their will.