Anna Morgan Smiley

To Teach by William Ayers 

To Teach by William Ayers

As an 18-year-old still feeling fresh out of high school, it is intimidating to write a comprehensive statement about my personal educational philosophy. I feel that there is still much to be learned and that nothing I can say in this frazzled freshmen state can truly convey why I am so passionate about education and how I am going to use this passion when I teach. But, with the knowledge that my philosophy will never be labeled “perfect” but will remain in a state of constant revision as I grow and gain experience, I will attempt to write my beliefs about education as I feel them now.

I believe that the purpose of education is to create a better future.  It ideally creates a better future at the individual level by giving students knowledge that will make their lives better. It creates better future at social level by enabling social upward mobility. It creates a better future for the nation by raising a new generation with the knowledge that can move us forward.

As a teacher, I will have a certain level of responsibility to insure that the education I provide is fulfilling these purposes. I will try to teach in a way that will encourage lasting personal and intellectual growth, so that my students will be able to use what they’ve learned in my class to help them do better in the future. I will do this by putting emphasis on applying and discussing information, instead of assigning work that focuses on strict memorization, which often fades with time.

To insure that the education I will provide will fulfill its purpose of enabling upward social mobility, I will construct my class in a way that prevents my students’ success from being dependent upon the education level of their parents. Often times students fall behind because they have no one to read to them because their parents’ can’t read or because their parents are too busy trying to make ends meet, thus, often condemning them to the same educational and economic fate as their parents. To prevent this I will work one on one with those students falling behind, and commit myself to whatever educational techniques seems most appropriate. I will also politically advocate for educational policies that give students in poor performing districts access to better schools, because the poor schools and lack of choice are locking students into their social classes.