What does it mean to educate the whole child?

What does it mean to educate the whole child : Critique and summary

A society that exercise democracy should have schools that provides more to students - schools that teaches not only the basic skills or plainly academics but also teaching things that a child should learn in to become a good citizen of that society

In the case of public schools in the United States today , they are under pressure . They have to show that every student is provided with thorough and efficient education through their test scores . As stated by No Child

Left Behind (NCLB , they also consider it as one of their goals . Aside from that , they also want to educate many of the inner city and minority children . However , there are a lot of criticisms about NCLB as an institution

Critics say that it has an unattainable goal undesirable methods of motivating its students overdependence on standardized examinations demoralizing effects and influences of corruption on the administration , teachers , and students . Moreover , NCLB is having problems on addressing Educational Leadership . They still have to consider the aims of education , know how to serve the society , and most importantly know how to educate the whole child

The aims of education are not standard or universal . It changes in every society through time . However , it should be clear that education should provide not only proficiency in mathematics and reading but also provides the knowledge in other aspects that a whole child should learn Though , this idea is being argued by some people . They believe that there should be other institutions held responsible for these non-academic aspects . These people , according to Noddings , are not considering the history of education . If we will trace it , we would be able to know that public schools were established for academic instruction as well as for moral and social reasons . Another thing is that education thinkers came about with multiple aims of education

The author of this article suggested happiness to be another aim in educating the whole child . Prior to this , great thinkers have associated this proposed aim to effective social relationships basically or starting with the family . One purpose of this aim is to make classrooms as happy places for the children

Reviewing the aims of education guides the people concerned on instructional decisions . It also makes them open minded and reminds them the importance of having a curriculum , objectives in learning appropriate methods of teaching , etc . More importantly , it also emphasizes that students are also whole persons . Thus , the development of the children must be a great concern for schools . They need holistic treatment as demanded by massive human problems of the society

In a democratic society , schools are established not only to serve individuals but also the larger society . Thus , graduate students should not only possess academic intelligence but also a sound character . This could be made possible by having additional activities like art exhibits , sports fest , plays , or simply relating the basic academic lessons to real life situations . This is...