The role of a school

What is the role of a good school?

I think that there is no one role of any school, let alone a good one. Schools are takes with one of the most difficult jobs--also most crucial jobs--in existence. A good school and a bad school should play the same roles in their students lives, the difference exists in the effectiveness with which they fulfill their roles and complete their goals.

Firstly, the primary role of a school is not necessarily to teach, but to lead its students to information that they can use in facilitated conversations to broaden the students' understanding and perception of the information they have found. And maybe not teaching was the wrong thing to say, because context for the conversations on the greater topics are necessary; I'd never quite appreciate James Baldwin if I didn't understand his syntax and vocabulary.

Secondly, schools are a place for children to better understand and more fluidly discover themselves. To fully realize that goal, kids need to feel comfortable in their school and with their teachers. This also inherently means that some schools are good for certain individuals and less fitting for others, because there is no one mold to fit all kids into it.

In this way integration comes into play. Was Central a good school for the Little Rock 9? Some may say yes, but in my opinion there were better institutions that could have fit them more effectively. To go to school in such a hostile learning environment and expect to absorb information and make yourself vulnerable enough to speak and involve yourself in a class discussion that, in many cases, you were not welcome is not, to me, conducive to learning.

So the role of any good school is to create a comfortable and stable learning environment for children to explore their interests with guidance from teaches who can act as moderators and clarifiers in class discussion that students have the opportunity to control. But with this, there are caveats to each school because, again, all children are different learners, making for unique, effective school environments for each.

Kyle Tildon

12^th grade, The Park School