Bradley
Harpham
Oh Captain, My Captain
Inspired by the work of C.S. Lewis, I believe that there are two ways in which “the human machine” (myself and my students included) can go wrong:
One is when we drift apart from each other, or else collide with each other and do one another damage- by cheating, bullying, prejudice, or other forms of dissonance. The second is when things go wrong inside of ourselves, for example, when our different faculties, values, and morals interfere with one another or are missing altogether. My students and I, then, can be seen as a fleet of ships all sailing in formation. But our voyage will only be successful if, in the first place, our ships do not collide, and second, if each ship is seaworthy and has her engines in good working order.
In fact, you cannot have either of these two things without the other. If our ships keep on having collisions, they will not remain seaworthy very long. On the other hand, if our steering gears are dysfunctional, we will not be able to avoid collisions. These two elements are fairly obvious, but I often encourage my students to envisage the most important piece of information: where our fleet is trying to get to.
By this I mean that character education is just as important as academics in my classroom. Education plays a vital role in our society as a great equalizer as it provides anyone with the opportunity to contribute to the progress of humanity. Therefore, I strive each day to help prepare my students to face the unforeseen challenges of the open ocean that lie ahead of them after leaving school. After all, they may be safe with me in the harbour for a few years, but this is not what ships are built for…