Professional/Philosophy Statement

By: John Carelli EDU 5160 School Culture, Settings, & Systems in the 21st Century Professor: Dr. Mark D. Beatham 09/29/2012

Without a narrative, life has no meaning. Without meaning, learning has no purpose. Without a purpose, schools are houses of detention, not attention. Neil Postman

Throughout my professional preparation(s) in becoming a successful educator, I have reencountered as well as, been introduced to new educational purposes within the public school system that I believe to be essential to academic development within students. Nationwide, increasing numbers of school districts have been losing sight of educational purposes or perhaps defining them in ways that do not relate to students as well as, parents and other tax payers who have invested interests in what is occurring within these academic institutions. Without rhyme and reasoning, it is difficult to find a reason to rhyme, and this type of perspective is occurring at an increasing rate, which is deterring students from taking advantage of their education, while pushing parents and administrators farther from the essence of education within our nations schools. The previous quote by Neil Postman parallels this idea while stimulating my thought processes, allowing me to ask myself two very important questions. What is teaching to me and what kind of learning environment do I want to commit to when I become a teacher? As I seek to answer these questions, my professional philosophy will be established in the concluding paragraphs of this statement. In no way do I want to become a figurehead in these houses of detention and I will strive to enlighten and free students minds instead of entrapping them in a system that has long forgotten the people it was designed to serve. The first couple narratives that have had the most profound impact on my life are that of Judeo-Christian descent and inductive science. I favor Postmans description of how the founding fathers of science (e.g. Descartes, Bacon, Galileo, and Newton, etc.) considered their narratives as an extension of the Judeo-Christian God, therefore being an extension of religion itself (Postman, 1996). My faith in God accompanied with my faith in science, allows me to serve both of these narratives in the most willing of ways. The morals instilled in me were a direct result of my religious background that science alone couldnt provide. It gave me my first ordered perspective and a belief system that attempted to explain the world around me in its entire context. As I progressed throughout my academic career, the god of science was bestowed upon me and became the second most important narrative in my life. It provided me with a wealth of knowledge and depth of understanding of the natural world around me that my Judeo-Christian God has created. To clarify my faith in God, I dont necessarily believe the old testament or any other written religion word for word, but I do believe in its essence and the idea that we are created in the body of God since Homo sapiens (human species) are in fact, the most evolutionary complex animals this world has hosted thus far. Throughout my life, I have recognized the fact that my god of science conflicts with my God of religion often, and I refuse to be ignorant to the horrible historical events that have occurred in the names of God and science. After all, it was used to manipulate and persecute nations to benefit other civilizations

that can be considered more advanced in both religion and science. Still, this God gave me the gift of thought and the gift of conscience, whereas the god of science as of lately, has played the role of devils advocate on an increasing level. It can be used to benefit or destroy humanity, especially when its successor technology came into the scene. The god of science has two sides, a better and a worse half, and this serves as the reason why I continue to serve my original God. It keeps my narrative of science in check, which allows me to remain humble while keeping my personal integrity intact. The combinations of these two narratives weigh heavy on my thought process and belief system. Collectively, they allow me to be a good person and to share my compassions with the rest of humanity and will further guide me to become successful teacher. My subject discipline in biology comprises a large proportion of the narrative of inductive science. It provides rationalizations and explanations about the natural world around me, while attempting to explain the parts of the universe humanity has yet to probe. Past, present, and future contexts are studied and concluded upon using measurable answers in the form of quantified data, which is then used to support or negate qualitative theories or explanations. Experimental conditions and results are typically replicated in a laboratory environment, which further provides concrete evidence and validity to any predecessors research results. Biology and inductive science in its entirety have given rise to the most technologically advanced civilizations this world has come to know. They have been used in both the most ethical and atrocious manners that shaped the globalized world in so many ways. It was a driving force behind World War II and the Nazism that Postman speaks of in regards to religious persecution of millions of people. They were used to build the atomic bombs that reduced Hiroshima and Nagasaki to rubble as well as, other horrific experiments performed on military personnel and members of civilian populations. They have also provided advancements in the field of medicine, which has improved the overall quality of life in developed nations like America; yet, biology serves another important role in the narrative described by Postman as public education. This narrative is a collaboration of gods that work simultaneously with each other and can be used to change the circumstances that affect the public education system throughout America in a more positive manner. On pages 61-62 of The End of Education, Postman (1996) described them as followed: They offer, I believe, moral guidance, a sense of continuity, explanations of the past, clarity to the present, and hope for the future. They come as close to a sense of transcendence as I can imagine within the context of public schooling. Like that of the god of science, Postmans concept of public education accounts for the past, present, and future endeavors that we as a society must take in order to fix a fractured system built on skewed perspectives. The 5 narratives or gods Postman speaks of are: the spaceship Earth, the fallen angel, the American experiment, the law of diversity, and the word

weavers/world makers. I believe I serve all of these gods to some degree since they are all intertwined in a delicate web that blankets our public education system. The first narrative Postman describes in the second half of his book that I personally serve and aspire to instill in students is the spaceship Earth. I truly believe that Earth is a fragile system comprised of cultural and biological diversity. Subject disciplines such as biology, ecology, chemistry, and anthropology, established a sense of order of the things around me, while molding my ethics and perspective on the world and all of its inhabitants. I feel this narrative has the power to unify all beings through the acknowledgment that we all make up and contribute to this experience called life, and our actions guided by our ethics and perspectives affect this vessel both directly and indirectly. Postman states that a sense of responsibility for the planet is born from a sense of responsibility for ones own neighborhood and this is one critical aspect of the spaceship Earth that I can relate to (Postman, 1996). If someone contributes to his or her community, a developed interest might occur, further maintaining the health and beauty in the respective location. Collectively, this perspective or ideology can perpetuate and seep into the communities around us as well as future generations to come. The fallen angel is another important god that I knowingly serve. Although the human brain is the most advanced organ in the central nervous system of any animal known to exist, it is still imperfect in many ways. The fact that Postmans meaning of angel is that we have the potential to correct our mistakes if and only if, we can continue living our lives without dogmatism and foolish pride; provided that we accept our cosmic status as an error-prone species is a great idea that I personally relate to (Postman, 1996). I agree that knowledge accumulates through honest encounters between reality and the imperfect thought processes that occur in our minds. In this narrative, the fallen means that are inferences are likely to be incorrect or wrong. Again, the angel means that we have the power to correct these mistakes once we purge ourselves of ignorance, which I believe is critical to human development. Past teachers instilled this in me by allowing their students to critically analyze theories, ideologies, and opinions found within assigned textbooks. This aspect of public education awakened my mind and taught me how to become an active participant in what Postman calls the Great Conversation. Another important narrative that I have been serving since I first entered the public education system is that of the American experiment. I truly believe that the story of America can be considered a continuous experiment that has many question marks. Nationalismpatriotism was instilled in me at a young age but my concept of civic duties became plagued with skepticism somewhere along the way. I think my patriotism was renewed when my brother made the decision to serve this nation in the armed forces. I began to question past doctrines such as The Bill of Rights and The American Constitution more than ever before. In some ways, I feel that my personal inquiry has ultimately contributed to this ongoing narrative of democracy or what Postman calls The American Experiment. For example, Postman states, The American Constitution is not a catechism, but instead a hypothesis (Postman, 1996). Through

my personal hypotheses, I was able to participate in this discussion by using my own life experiences in relation to the democratic processes that occur on daily basis. As an educator, I can only hope to inspire student to the same like my teachers did when I was sitting on the other side of the classroom. The law of diversity is a narrative that I blindly served at a young age, but became more aware of as I grew older and more mature. My modern beliefs and practices resulted from the multicultural nature of public education that took place in and outside of classroom instruction. Thanks to teachers showing me how to make connections across cultures, I was able to acknowledge and overcome my personal prejudice that derived from my ethnocentrism. It promoted cultural tolerance and made me feel like I belonged to something greater than my own cultural ethnicity. Finally, the last narrative or god I serve is that of the word weavers/the world makers. As a future biology teacher, I know that I will play vital role in presenting students with a language that is more often than not, packaged and forced into their minds in a totalitarian manner that will most likely push them away from their education. It happened to me in some classes and in others it did not. Ironically, I received and retained more from those classes that allowed me to question disciplinary concepts and terminology, which gave me a better understanding of the origins of such classes I once struggled in such as chemistry. Postman acknowledges the urgency for us to free our minds from the tyranny of definitions (Postman, 1996) and I couldnt agree more. If we as students and teachers can identify and break this classical example of what not to do in the public education system, then maybe we will gain more depth in understanding the sciences and human arts that are encountered throughout public schooling. The big picture of public education that I can make sense of, is that students and teachers must work together in order to shatter the confines of a system that is regulated by policy makers who never taught a class one day of their life. By allowing students to identify and question the material they are given in a critical manner, we are allowing them to participate in sophisticated democratic processes that can ultimately encourage students to take an active role in the education system that dictates most of their lives. This ideology can promote citizenship and a sense of nationalism this country has yet to see. Students and teachers would become more enthusiastic about their respective subject content by incorporating personal experiences into the classroom in order to provide clarity, unity, and understanding in an otherwise empty shell I consider public education. It is important to recognize that the public education system is increasingly serving a new narrative called consumer ship. This capitalistic principle takes away students individuality by statistically placing them into groups based on age, gender, religion, and culture. It takes away from the vary foundation we as educators strive to build in every one of our students. As far as I am concerned, this narrative caters to the aristocratic policy makers and administrators who only stress the importance of summative results. The essence of education is further manipulated into

some socio-economic experiment that I believe to inhibit student thought processes, while placing unfair-biased constraints on both educators and pupils. Therefore, students benefit the least from these unjust circumstances, followed by family members and the tax payers. Following these three groups, teachers who refuse to conform to such a god will benefit the least as well. What will make a fulfilling teaching profession for me comes down to one simple event that occurred in my life when I was student who displayed discontent with my personal identity, which further deterred me from my education. I want to become that same teacher who pulled my head out of my arms and opened my eyes to the beauty in the ugly side of life and vice versa. I want to be that teacher that can inspire every one of his students to obtain a truth that exceeds the confines of the public education system. I feel that my passion to uphold the integrity that education was once founded on will make my class worthwhile to students. Being compassionate to their personal experiences accompanied with genuine enthusiasm towards the subject content I will be teaching will make students eager to participate in my class. I want to establish confidence in my students that their minds are just as beautiful as the historical figures we read about in the textbooks. I want my students to think, to dream, and speak aloud their perspectives in a respectful manner that contributes to a positive learning environment, where no one should fear any kind of rejection. I want to establish a sense of belonging in my students by allowing them to acknowledge the fact that we are unified by our diversity. I want my students to feel as much as they think and know within the subject of biology. On page 19 of Teaching Human Beings, McKowen (1999) described learning as followed: If learning doesnt embody the intensity of pleasure that can be felt on a smaller scale in a barroom puzzle, it is not true learning but mere accumulation of data. Learning is always that flash of discovery, the synapse in which two things fuse Emotion is central to learning. What makes my purpose public is the simple fact that I am not only participating in my dream profession, but also, I am here to serve my students with the utmost intensity. I want to perform my civic duties by becoming an educator who constantly seeks to better my understanding of the world surrounding my students. The public should pay for these purposes since they are intended to serve them just as much as the students within the education system. I want to contribute to society by becoming a positive role model that students can look up to and converse with on a multitude of academic levels. I want the public to know that through my classroom instruction, students will be able to do more than simple science experiments. They will able to contribute to society through the knowledge and insight gained from promoting a deeper understanding of written language and personal interactions with each other on group and individual levels. In order to do so, I must develop my students dispositions such as patience, tolerance, organization, and cognitive thought processes that allow them to make rational decisions in the real world. These critical aspects will structure student development and will allow many of them to actively participate and contribute to the public in ways the taxpayer has yet to see. There is a big reform occurring in public education and by teaching children how to

work within it instead of conforming to it, they will knowingly and happily participate in many civic duties that we all are upheld to as American citizens.

Sources

McKowen, C. (1999). Teaching Human Beings: The Role of Language in Education. Pennsylvania: Laurel Mountain Press. Postman, N. (1996). The End of Education: Redefining the Valley of School. New York: Vintage Books.