Four Basic Purposes of School

What should our schools be trying to do?Ms. Burke

Article Review

•Your Name•Source•Date of the Article•Summary•Your Opinion/reflection statement

Book Study

•Monday book study• List your name and book number on the

sheet.•Due Monday “August.”

What Should Our Schools Be Trying To Do?

•This question can rip apart if residents have strongly conflicting views.

•Citizens have strongly argued this topic for centuries.

What do we want for our children in school?•Most communities in the U.S. prioritize

the following categories:• a. Intellectual Purposes• b. Political and Civic Purpose• c. Economic Purposes• d. Social Purposes

Intellectual Purposes

•One longstanding purpose of schools has been to foster intellectual development.

•Academic learning is the priority.•Believe that schools should develop

reason, through intellectual pursuits. Rationality, or ability to know, think, and reason is the priority.

•EX: St. John’s College studies “the Great Books.”

Political and Civic Purposes

•People who believe that students should learn to govern themselves.

•Students are prepared to lead their political and civic lives.

•“Next in importance to freedom and justice is popular education, without which neither freedom or justice can properly be maintained.”

• James A. Garfield

Economic Purpose

•Schools provide the means for students to educate themselves so that students may obtain the skills that they need to get a job.

Social Purpose

•Students learn the social skills necessary to work well with others, and act appropriately in social situations.

•Also includes social manners such as punctuality, meeting commitments on time, and developing healthy habits.

Quote Activity..

•Each table will be given a quote from noted educational reformists and leaders in our community…read the quote and see if you can determine the priority of the author.

• a, Intellectual Purposes• b. Political and Civic Purpose• c. Economic Purposes• d. Social Purposes

Journal

List the four purposes in the order that you would prioritize them. Explain your rationale.

This document will be included in your portfolio.

It should be written in standard essay form.

http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/lesson_images/lesson963/Rubric.pdf