It is the end of the school year. It always makes me sullen to know that my students, my cherished little minds for whom I've stayed up all night, planned challenging lessons and worried about unbeknownst to them, will no longer be mine. I will become their former... their past. It just reminds me that not so long from now I will become my own son's former teacher. Not because he will be in my class and pass on to the next teacher, but because he will grow up.
Albert Einstein once said, "Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school." Sure, everyone remembers their favorite teacher and year in school, but do they remember the lesson on silent e or hanging participles? No. When I think of what education means for Xavier, I can't help but wonder what his accrued knowledge will consist of. What kinds of skills will he have that his grandparents couldn't imagine having? What kinds of things will he learn that I couldn't imagine? What will be the lessons or things that he takes away from his 12+ years of formal schooling? Will he remember them when he is 40?
Moreover, what will he take away from his 18+ years of informal schooling? What is it that I want for my son to know when he's 18? What do I hope to have taught him? I could make a list miles long or fill a novel with small focused skills that will hopefully help him develop into the caring, respectful gentleman I hope he becomes. However, at the end of the day, my hope for him is the same as my students. I hope he develops into a conscious person who is considerate, knowledgeable, and empathic of the world and others around him as well as himself.
I don't believe this happens in school through a textbook. In fact, I can tell you that it doesn't. This happens through living everyday. Actually living, with eyes and minds open.
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