How Do You Define "Best"?

EME5050 - Reading Reaction #1

The question, "Are we doing what is best for our students, or are we doing what is most convenient for us?" is a powerful question, and I do not take its answer lightly.  As I thought about how I would personally reply, my mind quickly became bombarded with all the different ways I thought other people would possibly reply.  Fortunately my own thoughts prevailed, and the following is my "best" shot at an answer to the question.

I had seen Fisch & McLeod's video, Did You Know before, but this time when I saw it again, it was still very compelling.  I don't know about other educators, but I find the task at hand of providing our students what they need to be successful in the 21st century pretty daunting.  This brings me back to the title of this post, and I have to again ask, "how should the word best be defined?" 

I realize by the brief explanation at the top of his blog, Dr. McLeod is using the word we to describe K-12 and postsecondary educators in his question.  As a thirty year educator with deep roots in a singular K-12 public school system, I am going to say that we as a whole are trying to provide our students with the bestwe can.  Everyone needs to realize that we are not acting alone and that much of what we are able to do for our students is not only influenced, but also at times dictated by others. When it comes to education, the term we needs to be all inclusive and refer to parents, teachers, school boards, state legislators and the federal government.  Along with the students in our country, we are all stakeholders in education.  Therefore, for the remainder of my post I hope you will perceive the word we as an inclusive term. education

"We need to provide the best education we can for our students."  That is a very powerful statement and I've actually used it many times myself.  What makes this statement so powerful is the word best.  So how should this word be defined?  I looked it up and I found that it can mean "of highest quality, excellence, or standing," and "most advantageous, suitable or desirable," (2011).  Since I shared my definition of we, I think I should also share my personal definition of the word best as it relates to education.  It may be a little hokey, but when I think of providing the best education we can for our students, I am reminded of one of my school district's early mission statements.  It is from 1981 which is the year I began teaching.  I wish I could find the exact statement to share, but I can't, so I'll just have to paraphrase.  In essence our school district pledged to provide all students with an education that would help them become happy and healthy productive citizens of society.  I know it wasn't that short, but that was the gist.  By today's standards that would not be a sufficient mission statement, and of course my district knows that, so it has evolved over the years.  I would like to share the 2011 Mission Statement of the School District of Clay County, Florida:

"Our mission is to work collaboratively with all stakeholders to provide a public education experience that is motivating, challenging and rewarding for all children.  We will increase student achievement by providing students with learning opportunities that are rigorous, relevant and transcend beyond the boundaries of the school walls.  We will ensure a working and learning environment built upon honesty, integrity and respect.  Through these values, we will maximize student potential and promote individual responsibility" (2011).

       
The point I am trying to make is that times have changed and so has education.  We are now living in the Digital Age of the 21st Century.  Yes, we still want to provide our students with an education that will help them be productive in their lives and in society, but today the best education possible encompasses so much more. This has clearly been emphasized throughout chapter one of our course textbook by its authors.  They thoroughly presented and explained the national and international organizations that currently support the use of technology by educators and students.  I am a member of the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) and I am very familiar with the National Educational Technology Standards (NETS) they have helped the National Council for Accreditation for Teacher Education (NCATE) develop for students, teachers, and administrators.  My definition of the word best as it relates to education therefore means to provide "the highest quality training that is the most advantageous and suitable for my students."  This was true back in 1981 and it is definitely true today.

In my realm of thinking I would never use the word convenient when referring to my job as an educator.  This same feeling is obviously shared by many of today's other educators.  I am going to answer the question posed by Dr. McLeod by saying that as an educator I have always tried to provide the best education I could for my students.  I'm not going to become Pollyanna and say that this is the case for all of the educators in my district, but I can honestly say I think it is true for the majority.  My hope is that all stakeholders in K-12 and postsecondary education will embrace the age in which we live and will do their best to provide their students with the best education possible.

References:

best.  2011.  In Dictionary.com.  Retrieved January 18, 2011, from
     http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/best

School District of Clay County, Florida Mission Statement.  2011.  Retrieved January 20, 2011 from
     http://www.clay.k12.fl.us/