Boundries for teaching

I came across an article on education and the "Identity and Schooling: Some Lessons for the Economics of Education". The article claims that students desire to fit into social labels, and that those social labels create the "supply and demand" for schools. The article also makes the claim that a person "gains utility when his/her actions and the actions of others enhance their self-image." I have a serious problem with both of these statements, because it not only suggests that schools have a certain quota of stereotypes to fill - and please correct me if I am interpreting this second statement wrong - but the idea of utility in the article seems to be saying that a person is only useful when they are fueling their self-image.


 I don't think that schooling should be viewed this way, it is not our jobs as educators to label, divide, and judge our students. They are called students because they are people in the context of learning, which is how we should view them, as learners - not as classifications. I think a lot of schools overstep their boundaries by trying to educate people past their curriculum and educationally based topics, which I guess comes down to the division of parenting and teaching - we can only teach so much in the classroom. The article mentions some schools that also teach school behaviors and principals. I think as educators, yes, we should teach common social norms, things that every citizen should know, things like respecting others property, respecting personal space, common manners, but it is not our jobs to draw a thick line between what is right and wrong. There are so many different religions, cultures, and views within students that you may just end up making prejudices that get in the way of your REAL curriculum by trying to teach a moral code. I think you should still uphold your own morals for yourself (and maybe as a subliminal example in the classroom) but not expect them of everyone.



On a side note, I've noticed that Journal articles are very guilty of frequent run-on sentences. It is annoying sometimes that they have to be written so formally and stuffy to sound "educated" when really they are just limiting their audiences to who has the patience and attention span to read them. I don't think being a good writer means using big words and sounding complex, it means communicating your ideas successfully.


http://ehis.ebscohost.com.cowles-proxy.drake.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=5&hid=103&sid=f4da6c82-af52-48a2-9fef-390f762d4edf%40sessionmgr110