Patricia Marshall

credo, i believe

My Statement of Philosophy

Mirroring the work force, our schools call upon students to report to class five days a week where teachers stand and command over rows of seated learners. Over time, these students move along a system defined by a hierarchy of numerical values. Instead of wages, students earn points to afford them opportunities for a higher education. This educational structure is intended to preserve content and to measure students’ contributions based on a consensus of knowledge and understanding.

Teaching content through subject matter has served to empower a large democratic middle class where uneven access to formal education has been left behind in a long gone era.   I believe our school system has been historically successful in advancing our nation’s need to educate many with a goal to build a literate workforce for competitive global production.  However, as students have benefited from this system and have entered the workforce, they have changed our society and have contributed to national and global progress while our schools struggle to define a new vision for a new generation of needs. Instead of looking ahead to establish goals for ongoing resiliency, our schools hold onto the successes that mirror industrial learning-a system centered on subject but not on student. 

I don’t believe students should be, simply, vessels of content.  Rather, as Camus teaches, students should use content as a catalyst to debate the purpose of common knowledge in the pursuit of new truths and unique solutions for age old problems. In other words, content is context for vision, but not creation of vision. I believe that there is fundamental purpose in the knowledge and skills within content that provides the scaffolding of independent thought. For example, an appreciation for art and cultures, the outcomes of history, lessons from ancient civilizations, reading for enduring meaning, writing with precision and possessing a numerical sense are all content and serve as the foundations for principles and establish structure for design in the development of ideas for progress.

At the root of my educational philosophy is the belief that the work of teachers is much more than passing the torch of content. Their important work is to instill within our students the importance of collaborating with others; comprehending that excellence and success are not achieved singularly, but through the collective influence of the community in which they live and from society at large.  In fact, the essence of learning comes from interacting and exchanging with others which inspires new perspectives to fuel creativity for new forms of progress. Thus, I believe our schools need to be resilient to the change that each new generation of student brings to the world; one that depends on the creative, communicative and collaborative nature of people. A school that is constructed around this belief would not emulate society, but design a structure that society would mirror.  

Finally, I entered teaching because I believe schools overlook the crux of their purpose. They have lost sight of people and have locked in on content.  Students' futures have been measured on the volume of content that he/she can retain. Teachers' careers have been measured on how much content they can deliver.  Learning has become centered on volume, speed and mass --how much can you learn, how fast can you learn and how many can learn. Our schools have forgotten that their mission is about people-inspiring people and being inspired by people to preserve the creativity, the good, and the resilience found within people.   My career started on this premise.

I came upon leadership, because I believe schools can be built and shaped with this concept as ethos to mission.  As a school leader, I believe it is my responsibility to anticipate the paradigm shifts in society and respond with an understanding and appreciation for the needs and challenges of the school and the people within. I value the importance of bringing together all the school’s stakeholders in valuing the hope and optimism of each new generation of student.  I believe this work is done by melding tradition and innovation to inspire a community to live by the school’s values in advancing excellence in teaching and real learning to ignite the spirit of human nature for ingenuity and innovation, discovery and entrepreneurialism- the qualities that encourage and sustain progress and leadership.