“You are a leader. What difference will you make?” To me, even the meaning of this question has changed over the course of the semester, as I prepare to change my major into secondary education, with a focus in life sciences. As I move forward into this field, it brings with it a whole new scope of challenges that differ from nursing. The biggest problems I see with education begin with the lack of funding for education. Many schools are growing older and older, in great need of repairs throughout, and of updated books, technology, and other supplies. To fix these repairs and improve supplies is to create an optimal environment for learning and to be able to provide students with the materials they need to succeed. Today, there is so much focus on funding for our military, the war on drugs, and in trying to fix the economy that education seems to be left out, or underfunded. Don’t get me wrong, these are all great causes, and I’m not saying directly that funding should be cut in these areas. I just used these as examples to juxtapose the funding these areas get with the funding for education. To work to fix this problem, I believe that I, along with other groups of educators at the local, state, and national levels, will first have to continue to work to figure out how to best improve test scores while still promoting learning for our students, not simply teaching to the test, which I believe does students no good in the long run. If, as educators, we can improve testing scores while teaching our students valuable lessons, not just in our subjects, but in life as well, that will benefit them long after they leave our class, then the importance of education will grow in the public eye and be seen as something that both needs and deserve funding. At the same time, educators like myself will need to continue using our professional groups at all levels to present education in the best light possible, and to advocate for more funding for education at a political level. However, it seems as if the argument that test scores would improve if education had more funding is not enough to increase funding. I have to believe that it test scores, and student learning improved without a significant increase in funding initially, then education will be viewed as something that deserves more funding so that we can provide the best possible environment for our students. After all, education is the foundation for our own future leaders. Increasing funding for education would not only improve the educational environment and provide the materials our students need to succeed, but it could also solve other problems by increasing salaries for educators, who are cultivating future leaders, which could in turn draw more people to the field of the education as a career.
The situation that I experienced conflict between my own values and the values or beliefs of another group I belong to involved my church, St. Ignatius of Loyola in Cincinnati. I knew about this difference in beliefs previously, it just wasn’t talked about or focused on as much in the past. I discovered this difference at a Sunday mass during the priest’s homily. I had always known that the Catholic Church has been against homosexuality and criticized its practice. Personally, I believe that anyone, no matter their sexual orientation, gender identity, etc., has the right to feel however they want to feel and has the right to express themselves. On this particular occasion, our priest was not shy to talk about, as the church views it, “the evils of homosexuality,” and to talk about it quite vividly. Even to me and my family and friends around me, that do not identify as homosexual, it was uncomfortable to listen to. What disturbs me the most about this is the fact that, the way I see it, to use a colloquial phrase, love is love. It bothers me that the church seems to have so much hate towards two people, of any variety, that love each other, especially since the church has such strong, positive teachings on love. I understand part of the church’s stance on homosexuality, that being that homosexuality is not by itself procreative. However, in some states at least, they have the option of adoption to help build and support a human life. Also, Jesus’ only teachings related to the subject are all positively-centered around love. The irony to me is humorous, that a church that preaches so much on love, loving thy neighbor, and being accepting to others can have so much hate towards two people that love each other. I have tried to delve into this conflict by listening and presenting discussions to people within the church, specifically a very religious teacher of mine in high school. I discovered quickly that, for whatever reason, having this discussion is pointless, as church members and officials do not budge even a little bit on this issue. While this conflict bothers me a little bit, I try to simply hold to my personal belief, and not have it impact my faith or my involvement with the church.
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AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
April 2015
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