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Influential Education

Elizabeth Engle

Calvin University
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Influential Education
Introduction

Each day, students discover new things about the world; they make connections between

themselves and others, and understand anew how history has shaped modernity. Small details and

grand discoveries are revealed to students in schools. However, this information acquired

oftentimes results in the “what’s this even for?” question. Though initially frustrating, any good

teacher must understand that this certainly is a good question; a question that motivates every

teacher who has daily interactions with students in a formal classroom setting. These interactive

educative moments will look different, depending on the teacher and externals will vary across the

globe. As a future educator, I take on the universal challenge to educate all students who enter my

classroom and to understand their stories so that I may best serve them. This semester has revealed

to me varying school structures, disciplines, pedagogical methods, policies, and much more, giving

me to tools needed to further uncover how I can articulate the sole purpose of education. This

paper will take a deeper dive into the raw purpose of education that includes critical factors

educators need to observe in order to justly ensure that the teaching influences and school

structures are implemented.

Prior Assumptions

I vividly recall my childhood memories that involve my frequent indoor recess choice of

“playing school” with my friends. Binder in hand and glasses slid down to the tip of my nose. We

handed out various worksheets and graded tests in fiery-red ink. Full of confidence, I knew I

wanted to be a teacher because I loved the logistics, preparation, and role I played as the head of

the classroom. As time progressed, my motives have changed, and throughout my time spent in

the Education Program at Calvin University (and college, for that matter), my ideas of what
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education looks like have moved beyond the red-pen grading mindset. I was challenged to think

more deeply about what education could look like, how my vision can be incorporated into my

own classroom, and what challenges must be overcome in order to fulfill the purpose of education.

However, and most importantly, I’ve developed my own understanding of what “education” is to

me. Is it about the worksheets, tests, red pens and wielding authority as a teacher? Or is there more

to education?

Through my courses at Calvin University, in-class discussions, personal prayer, and small

group correspondence, I have developed my own answers to these heavy, loaded, and complex

questions. My foundational insight is that education is first and last about a student community

where pupils learn together, with one another, and from one another in order to gain knowledge,

social interaction skills, and endless self-discoveries. The cohesion of a community like this is

powerful, and something that stirs my heart to take action to be a part of.

Carrying Out My Calling

While I will never teach and educate perfectly, I am committed to developing and carrying

out my calling as a teacher as best I can. This commitment is critical as the first step to live out

my vocation as an educator, inspirer, and influencer. I see education as a critical tool; its purpose

is to ready children for the path they have set before them—to problem solve, work through

disagreements, endure hard times, and to celebrate joyful times. I am committed to the challenge

to live out the purpose of education: to equip students with the necessary knowledge and skills in

order to flourish in society, and to make a contribution to our world and God’s kingdom.

My goal as a future educator is to collate many different pedagogical techniques and

approaches that have been taught to me. I will foster a safe community in my classroom, one in

which students collaborate with one another and with me, the teacher. I will welcome all students,
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regardless of any label, “baggage,” stories, dreams, or fears they bring into my learning

environment. I will create a community that accepts all members, agrees enthusiastically and

disagrees civilly. I want my classroom to be a place where students grow, find themselves, learn

respect and are respected, discover what sets their hearts on fire, and uncover the wondrous future

God has prepared for them. I want to be a teacher that walks with their students in the steps they

take on their life journey.

In order to accomplish these goals, an educator needs to step back and examine the different

factors and contexts at play that mold a classroom. This will not be easy, and cannot be done in

just one year of teaching, but rather, through a never-ending process of becoming better each and

every day I am a teacher; I will need to be a life-long learner. In my final education course, I

realized that discovering and uncovering the true purpose of education is much more involved than

a single response can encompass. It is necessary to look closely and critically at the communities

and societies students are engaged and contribute in. Additionally, a teacher needs to look at the

students themselves to understand them honestly. Next, it’s imperative to incorporate the students

with society in order to uncover how they best can work together. Finally, with all of this in play,

a teacher begins to develop a vision of education and articulate its raw purpose—for students

engaged in a community to learn together, with one another, and from one another in order to equip

students with the knowledge, social interaction skills, and self-discoveries to flourish down the

path they have set before them.

Recognizing Student Diversity

Undoubtedly, each of my students will come from different neighborhoods, families that

speak different languages, have different political views, have friends that are interested in

different activities, and each student will hold some sort of differing religious views. The key for
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me is to realize that my classroom is a diverse community. I recognize that many school structures

do not serve this purpose, and do not treat each student with the respect they deserve and require.

For example, Noguera (2003) wrote an essay about school disciplinary action: Schools, Prisons,

and Social Implications of Punishment: Rethinking Disciplinary Practice. In this essay, Noguera

discloses that school discipline and punishment are typically unjustly dispensed to students across

different races and socioeconomic statuses. Studies conclude that African American students,

along with Native American and Hispanic students, combined with students that come from

families of low economic status, are disciplined more. Compared to white students, these students

receive more harsh, frequent, and often unjust disciplinary measures. Noguera’s (2003) essay also

states that these disciplinary actions may not even be effective and, conversely, toke over the sole

intent of education since students are physically removed from classrooms. These findings are

difficult to ignore.

Diverse and differing communities are something that can be celebrated as a showcase of

God’s diversity, and often reflect a society as a whole that is diverse and unalike. God created each

one of His people with creativity, uniqueness, and intent. Having a diverse classroom enriches the

community and leads to greater success, both academically and socially, for all students. Students

learn how to respect one another and form relationships with one another, sometimes crossing

cultures. Looy & Bouma (2005) state that “our view that God is relational…God created us with

a deep need to express our humanity most fully in relationship…Gender also does not reflect a

straightforward division of humankind into two subspecies…We are called to celebrate diversity”

(pg. 176). These truths help us further my idea of the nature of being human, and articulate what

it means to be a human surrounded by other humans—regardless of gender, sex, or sexual

orientation. We are to love, connect, and celebrate how different each human has been created.
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These differences should not define us, but be an opportunity to learn how to treat each other with

respect and dignity; treating everyone as an image bearer of God.

Articulating a Good Society

While all students are, indeed, image bearers of God, that doesn’t necessarily dictate the

places they come from. When I individually think about the kind of community I want to foster in

my classroom someday, I need to keep in mind the kind of society my students come from. What

classifies as a society being “good?” How does education respond to different community

demographics? In order to integrate effective education with all society, it is necessary to define a

“good” society and explore what contributes to the society that is to be labeled as “good.”

In Journal 8, I author my own definition of a good society by stating that it includes diverse

groups of people with differing opinions—all people of different sorts that can engage in civil

discourse and all get along. Differing opinions emerge as students begin to learn and grow into

themselves and who they wish to become. The purpose of education involves bettering and

preparing students for the ways in which they will interact and contribute to society. A good society

does not necessarily mean that there are no differing opinions, interests, and beliefs, rather, a good

society takes those differences and celebrates them. People learn how to coexist with one another,

as Walzer (2009) affirms and says “The field of their co-existence is called ‘civil society’” (pg.

76). If all members of society accept and celebrate that everyone is different, a society is able to

be functional and civil, and evidently considered good.

While I define a good society, it is also important to integrate a Christian perspective into

the understanding of a good society and why is significant in this world. Another key factor of

creating a good, civil society is to incorporate justice as the Bible defines it. Seeing justice through

biblical eyes defines what it truly means to act justly. In my second journal, I recognize that the
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Lord has taken over my decisions and allows me to treat others as He would. Justice is proclaiming

to the poor, the widowed, the aliens and the oppressed that they are still worthy and deserving of

the love of Christ that lives in me. Acting justly is to act in the ways of the Lord, and live out the

calling that Jesus has instilled in my heart. This means to walk as Jesus walked, and respect others

just as He would. Wolterstorff (2008) expounds this idea and states how we can practice justice

by encouraging us to “Lay behind Jesus’ practices of showing no partiality as between those who

did and those who did not pass the Pharisees’ test for being holy and ritually clean” (pg. 131).

Although we do not literally administer the Pharisees’ test for holiness and ritual cleanliness, we

do administer our own tests, hypothetically, on how we view others and coexist with others in

society by modeling our own actions.

Another large component to achieve the goal of a good society is to prepare our students

to be able to engage in civil discourse; that is, to simply acknowledge the diverse opinion and

background present in each classroom. A large portion of the purpose of education is to ensure

that students are equipped and have encountered situations with others who do not agree with them

and have different interests. When students are faced with these situations in their school

experiences, they will gain the social skills and abilities to be in relationship with all and engage

in productive, civil discourse. As an educator, I can carry out this purpose by intentionally planning

time for productive discourse for my students to disagree with one another, learn from those who

have different ideas. It will model a Christ-like way, and I can do so by encouraging students to

engage in civil argumentation so that one day they will be a participant and flourish in a good

society.
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Viewing Students Holistically

Moreover, each student is able to diversify a classroom, no matter the identifying

characteristics, gender, height, sexual orientation, and aspirations they bring with them. Although

it is important to learn how we can act justly in a good society, acting justly also means that we

accept every student for all that they are. I am called as a Child of God to view all of His children

just as the Lord views me. As soon as my students walk into my classroom door, it is important to

look beyond those identifying characteristics and not let that define a student and what they have

to contribute to our classroom community. Acting fairly towards students is to look past those

characteristics, and look deep into their hearts. Since the Lord looks at the heart, I will also.

Viewing each student as stewards on earth that are responsible for the well-being of one another

is an argument I developed in my sixth journal, and still believe it is worthy of upholding.

Additionally, humans are more than the simple characteristics one may resort to listing when

defining one’s identity, but are defined by how they interact with one another, what they engage

in, how they love, care, respect and the way that we live in anticipation for the returning of Christ.

To be human is to live into all that God has commanded us to be, and do so until He comes again.

Students are not the labels that others give them, or even the labels they place upon themselves.

Students are not the track they are placed upon by school structures, and they are not defined by

the simple yet dominant one letter grade written upon the top of their test or on their report card.

Disruptions to Justice

Looking closer at the issues of labeling students, the unfortunate truth is that there are

schools that use tracking their student population and create very little “wiggle room” for students

to be placed in the best, most appropriate and just classroom setting. An example of how tracking

is personally affecting students is described in an article by Chambers and associates (2009) shocks
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readers, like myself, about the devastating effects of tracking at Highview High School. In the

article, a story about a teacher at Highview High School, Ms. Johnson, is noticing inequitable

opportunities for students as a result of tracking, and creating division within the school. As a

passionate and caring teacher, Ms. Johnson approaches the administration of the school to try and

make a change. Obvious divides are appearing in the hallways and how students are speaking of

themselves and their abilities. All of these feelings are due to the racial separation of students who

take AP classes or are in ‘normal’ classes and students in the Bridge program at Highview High

school.

I can’t help but think that all of these thoughts, feelings, and assumptions are made by

society. In the article, children are being placed on a track so early in their education, limiting them

to opportunities for growth. Students are being labeled these demeaning labels, but what about the

qualities they uphold regarding how hard they work and how they treat others? Those in the Bridge

program or on a different track than their students, who is to say that there is a better track than

another? As humans, and especially influential educators, it is our responsibility to treat all humans

with love, care and acceptance.

With labeling and tracking, these structures are doing all but loving, caring, and respecting

students. These structures need to be demolished and rethought. Students are not defined by their

academic abilities, and as educators, we need to learn how to look beyond that and into who

students really are as humans. Tracking students does not reflect the society that students will one

day be a part of and certainly does not treat students with the respect and justice they deserve. In

fact, tracking does the exact opposite of how the purpose of education is to gear students towards

engaging with others with differing abilities and altering opinions. Tracking is a school structure

and policy that does not uphold the purpose of education and rids students of their own personal
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identities, opportunities for growth, and intermingling with their peers to form diverse

communities that work together.

Students in Society

We must understand how students and the community work together in order to further

develop the purpose of education. The purpose of education is to ensure that students are equipped

to flourish in a good society, and contribute to making the society as good as it can be. To do so,

as a community and a society, we are responsible to be vulnerable with one another and crave the

best for everyone around us, because that is how God views all his people. God wants us to flourish

in his creation and depend on one another. Until He comes again, as humans, we are able to depend

and rely on one another, creation, and all that surrounds us to await His arrival. Relying on one

another and using each other as resources to attain our best society and best selves is exactly how

Jesus wished for His people to live. With this in mind, the purpose of education plays a crucial

role because there is no better place than a working classroom full of student learning, trying,

testing, questioning, practicing, and wondering than to learn how to interact justly and respectfully

with others in order to enhance the enrichment of all in society.

It is also vital that students learn to work together and learn from one another. I believe that

it’s easy for children to have the mindset of “I can do it all myself” or “I don’t need any help.”

They react in stubborn manners and are reluctant to accept help or even offer help to those in need.

However, through classroom interaction, learning from one another and providing assistance to

others is fundamental and provides immense and deep learning experiences rather than if students

were to attempt to tackle new ideas and concepts solely on their own.

Additionally, these interpersonal skills my students develop in my classroom will be skills

they can carry into their lives ahead of them—students will discover attributes about themselves,
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how they learn best, what excites them, and so on. Furthermore, students will practice social skills

while interacting with other students so that they will interact with others in their future

communities and societies. In a classroom centered on education preparing students for the journey

they have ahead of them, the teacher is not entirely in charge. In fact, the teacher should work

alongside students, as though the teacher is a student, and the students are able to place themselves

in a teacher role when applicable and appropriate. With this atmosphere in a classroom, students

learn to act justly, to treat one another with kindness and respect, and nurture the skills needed to

flourish in society.

Fulfilling the Purpose of Education

This kind of classroom learning is unique and unlike any “traditional” schooling that some

imagine—and how I pretended to play when I was a young girl playing school. In the classroom

that upholds the purpose of education, students work together in a cohesive community. This

means that no students are left behind, each student is able to interact with the material presented,

and students rely on one another to work through challenging tasks. even when the outcomes are

unexpected and disappointing. This classroom is centered on trust and reciprocity, and students

are allowed to trust the backbone of the classroom that supports them throughout not only the

school year, but the rest of their lives. Students work together and put in the effort just as much as

the teacher does so that all learn as a team. This classroom is open and communicative. No student

fears to hold feelings in, leave questions unanswered, or not to communicate feelings, or share

what they are experiencing outside the classroom. In this classroom students collaborate,

encourage one another, love one another, and demonstrate what it’s like to uphold and live out the

life of Christ.
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To develop a classroom as such, In The Little Book of Restorative Justice, Evans and

Vaandering (2016) state that teachers need to engage their students by demonstrating “caregiving

and empowerment that nurtures, feeds, guides, and supports” (pg. 13). In order to engage students

to learn, teachers are not supposed to stand up in front of the classroom and report answers,

administer tests, and determine the value students have. Instead, they are to provide them with the

support and encouragement they need, guide them along the path they are called to walk, and feed

them with the knowledge in order to do so. Teachers should restore the Godly nature the world

was before the Fall, and the Godly nature that students will embody after the coming of Christ.

To cultivate a fruitful classroom that truly embodies the purpose of education, a teacher

takes into consideration the backgrounds of each student and ensure that each student is treated

justly. It is imperative to remember that as an educator, I am a teacher who learns right alongside

with my students—I am not the dictator of the class. I will work with my students, not above them

or for them, but alongside them as they progress through the curricula. Most importantly, I view

myself not as teacher, but an influencer. I hope to be an influencer by sharing in the needs, hopes,

and struggles of my students with a compassionate heart. Martusewicz (2014) writes that in order

for experience and demonstrate in compassion, we need to share in other’s suffering. This takes

engaging an ethical relationship with the world by asking questions and basing decisions off the

well-being of others. By reading Martusewicz’s argument, I learned that suffering is key to

developing compassion—whether that be compassion towards one another or to creation. In order

to take care of creation, I need to practice empathy and love. Every day, I have the choice to

consciously make decisions that could alter the state of creation. Every day, because I am not my

own and because I am called to care for creation, I will do what I can do take the steps I am able

to take to care for creation just as Jesus would to create a good society. If God’s most precious is
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His people, it is my calling and duty to care for my students just as the Lord would. It is my calling

to consciously make small but deliberate, intentional choices each and every day to take the steps

into changing the way education is provided for students.

Integrating My Ethical Vision

So as to carry out this calling, I find myself relying on the one truth I know regarding my

entire life that I find in the first question and answer of the Heidelberg Catechism: “What is my

only comfort in life and in death?” The answer “That I am not my own, but belong, body and soul,

in life and in death, to my faithful savior, Jesus Christ.” I am not my own. This five-word sentence

has had an unbelievable impact on my life so far, and surprisingly shown me a deeper meaning in

the context of this course, Intellectual Foundations of Education—one that I never would have

recognized on my own. After I was challenged to think about my ethical vision and how my ethical

vision will soon play out into my classroom to uphold the purpose of education, I could not think

of a better way to articulate this vision than by this answer. Repeating this constantly in my head

as I wake up, go to school, attend my classes, eat a meal with friends, attend more class, engage

with others, go to swim practice, focus on my studies and prepare for the next day. I am not my

own. I belong to God. This world belongs to God. Every part of my life belongs to God, and

nothing will ever be able to shake that. As I strive to walk like Christ and learn more about him,

reminding myself that I am not my own is what orients my life on how it is to be lived. I am not

my own. I am a child of God. This is the standard that my life is to be built upon, and a vision for

me that is honest, fresh, and applicable to my daily standard practices.

With this, I am overjoyed to share this truth with my students. I am ecstatic to begin

uncovering each student’s story. I am nervous about the new trials I will be presented with as I

step into my role of being an educator. Education is a multi-dimensional process, as stated by

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Biesta (2015), for students to “learn something, that they learn it for a reason, and that they learn

it from someone” (pg. 76). However, a daily reminder to students and myself in every endeavor

that “we are not our own, but we belong to the Lord Jesus Christ” is a magnificent reminder as we

navigate the educational systems, policies, backgrounds, labels, and stories that each student

carries. We are not our own, and I am not the only “someone” that Biesta claims students can learn

from. How comforting, special, and uplifting to know that regardless of the test scores or standards

passed, there is nothing that pluck my students and me from the Lord’s hand and his plan.

Launching into Action

As I type this, I do so with a smile on my face because I imagine that a classroom, school,

educational system, and education grouped a whole would look a lot like Heaven. (Yes, I do think

there will be continuing education in heaven!) I imagine that it would be an inspiring, cohesive,

and vulnerable place. I imagine a place where each student has their own toolbox full of

personalized tools they need to learn. I picture students smiling, laughing, helping one another,

and encouraging those who are in need of it. I see the Lord’s doing, wholeheartedly, justly, and

deeply. I never thought that I would truly be able to live into a corporate mission statement

proposed by Calvin University, but as I conclude my semester and each class after another before

I am launched into student teaching, I now confidently say that I see how I am able to implement

such a similar vision into my own personal calling.

Concluding Thoughts

The purpose of education is not only to ensure that students pass standardized tests with a

98th percentile ranking, but also understand the whole of a student. The purpose of education is not

only to assign students a letter grade that will be a label in a transcript, but also to equip students

to think deeply and to act justly so that they are ready to conquer their own vocation that tugs on
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their hearts. The purpose of education is to ready students for the journeys they have been set

before them so that they may flourish. I pray that this purpose is taken on by all, and that all

educators may begin to think more deeply into what education truly is all about.

I wonder what would happen if the term “teacher” was replaced with the word

“influencer.” Isn’t that really what a teacher is? An influencer in a student’s life, making

remarkable impacts that some may never be aware of. I hope that I am able to be a friend,

influencer, and guide for every student that steps a foot into my classroom. But most of all, I hope

this reminder is an echo in my life from now on: I am not my own.

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References

Biesta, G. (2015). What is Education For? On Good Education, Teacher Judgement, and

Educational Professionalism. European Journal of Education, 50(1), 75-85.

Chambers, T. T. V., Huggins, K. S., & Scheurich, J. J. (2009). To Track or Not to Track. Journal

of Cases in Educational Leadership, 12(1), 38–50.

Evans, K., & Vaandering, D. (2016). The Little Book of Restorative Justice in Education:

Fostering Responsibility, Healing, and Hope in Schools. NY, NY: Good Books.

Looy, H., & Bouma, H. (2005). The Nature of Gender: Gender Identity in Persons Who Are

Intersexed or Transgendered. Journal of Psychology and Theology, 33(3), 166-178.

Martusewicz, D. (2014). Letting Our Hearts Break: On Facing the “Hidden Wound” of Human

Supremacy. Canadian Journal of Environmental Education, 31-44.

Noguera, P. A. (2003). Schools, Prisons, and Social Implications of Punishment: Rethinking

Disciplinary Practices. Theory Into Practice, 42(4), 341-350.

Walzer, M. (2009). What Is "The Good Society?". Winter, 74-78.

Wolterstorff, N. (2008). Chapter Five. Justice in the New Testament Gospels. Justice: Rights and

Wrongs, 115–131.