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We sometimes lose sight of why we have schools. Elementary
schools, secondary schools and institutions of higher
education are all such an ingrained part of our lives that
we don’t reflect on why they exist. Schools just are, and
we all expect to have them in our communities.
If pressed, most people would justify
the existence of schools in our society by citing schools’
role in passing to new generations the accumulated knowledge
and culture of our society. Others may cite preparation for
work as a reason for schools. If you want a good job and a
good income, you have to go to school. Preparation for work
and the passing of knowledge to the next generation are real
and legitimate reasons for the existence of schools.
But there is another reason for schools
that we don’t talk about very much. In the United States,
we believe people have the freedom to become whoever or
whatever they want. We don’t prescribe people’s futures. A
major function of schools, therefore, is to provide students
the opportunity to make of their lives whatever they desire.
As I see students in classes at the
beginning of the school year, I wonder what they will
become. As I see them in the halls, I try to guess what
future they have started to create for themselves. Knowing
that the school building is the place where students are
expected to choose the life they want to lead makes being in
the school day after day worthwhile for all of us involved
in education.
No where else in our society is it
expected that you will consciously decide what you believe,
where you fit in the world, what difference you will make in
the world and what impact you will have on the world. In no
other agency of our society do we expect such fundamental
choices.
A mathematics class gives students a
sense of order. A sociology class gives students a new
awareness of our interdependence. A science class gives an
understanding of the impact of our actions on the
environment. In all of these examples, students can decide,
and many do, that their new insights will change the
direction and focus of their lives. What they learn in
schools equips them to make good choices about their
futures. It is a privilege to provide our students such a
wonderful opportunity.
Dr. Andrew Keogh is the dean and
campus executive officer of UW-Marshfield/Wood County, a
freshmen-sophomore campus of the University of Wisconsin.
