How Educational Leaders Make Good Citizens

A Personal Philosophy of Education
Abstract
In sum, I believe the long-range impact that educational leadership should have on stakeholders and on the community includes providing young learners with the critical thinking skills they will need to succeed in the 21st century workplace as well as developing good citizens that actively participate in the political process. Today, the United States invests enormous sums in its public educational system, but these scarce taxpayer resources are being wasted without the positive long-range impact that effective leadership should have on stakeholders and on the community. Because effective leadership has been shown time and again to be inextricably associated with organizational performance, it is not surprising that there has been a growing body of scholarship devoted to this topic over the years. Drawing on this body of knowledge, it is possible to improve the effectiveness of educational leadership in a number of ways, including encouraging the involvement of parents in their children’s education and lobbying policymakers for additional classroom educators. The purpose of this paper is to explicate my personal leadership philosophy as it applies to education as well as a discussion concerning the rationale in support of this philosophy.
A PERSONAL LEADERSHIP PHILOSOPHY
My personal philosophy of leadership is that educational leaders can play a vitally important role in providing students with the critical thinking skills required in the 21st century workplace and to help them develop into good citizens that are actively engaged in the American political process. While many people view education as a lifelong enterprise, educational leaders today are confronted with a situation in which the timeframe for evaluating the adequacy of learning is clearly demarcated and the success of students is measured by metrics such as grade points averages and the percentage that graduate. Such metrics, though, fail to take into account the enormous differences that students bring to the classroom in terms of learning potential, language fluency, motivation and the infinite range of other factors that combine to determine how well young learners acquire skills and knowledge.
The purpose of this paper is to provide a description of my personal philosophy of educational leadership with respect to the need to help all students achieve the full potential, including developing the critical thinking skills that are needed to navigate the flood of information that is increasingly available to them, as well as the ability to effectively use information technology tools in this process. A description of this personal philosophy is provided below, followed by a summary of the research and key points in the conclusion.
Philosophy of Educational Leadership
In an era when simply memorizing multiplication tables or all of the state capitals is just so much rote learning given the ready availability of this type of information online, the question arises concerning what role educational leaders should play in shaping the curricular offerings and teaching strategies used in their schools. Certainly, educational leaders must conform to local, state and federal standards when making these types of decisions, but there are some legitimate and viable alternatives that are available that require careful decision making to identify optimal teaching strategies.
One of the overarching needs for students today is the ability to sort through the flood of information they confront each day and reach their own informed conclusions concerning what it all means. According to Erstad (2018), “Critical thinking skills allow you to make logical and informed decisions to the best of your ability” (para. 3). Moreover, critical thinking skills are needed in order for students to determine for themselves what they should do or believe. In this regard, Demirci and Ozyurek (2017) report that, “Critical thinking as the ability of the individual to make analytic and assessment-oriented conscious judgments and express these judgments to reach a decision as to that s/he shall do or believe” (p. 243).
A salient example of critical thinking skills among young learners is Santa Claus. Young people that have not developed these types of skills may sincerely believe that the Jolly Old Elf slides down their chimney or otherwise gains access to their home to leave the very Christmas presents they wanted. As Erstad (2018) points out, though, “A critical thinker, however, can quickly conclude that the existence of such a thing is probably unlikely” (para. 4). This is not to say, of course, that children should not believe in Santa, but it is to say that at some point they must be able to make their own decisions concerning whether such things are possible.
Certainly, parents play a fundamental role in helping inculcate these types of thinking skills in their children, but educational leaders can also help ensure that students learn how to develop and apply critical thinking skills. For instance, according to Tolman and McBrayer (2019), “It is through and by means of education that individuals can be provoked to reach beyond themselves in their intersubjective space. It is through and by means of education that they may become empowered to think” (p. 86). The term “provoked” is telling because learning how to think critically means stepping outside a comfort zone and acknowledging that there is more involved in education than the three Rs.
In addition, educational leaders also have an obligation to their communities to help young people become good citizens who are informed about important issues and become politically active during their adult lives. Although education leaders are increasingly under pressure to effect meaningful changes in their schools, one of the foundations of education is the need to help students become good citizens who recognize their responsibilities to the community and nation (Cushman, 2009). For instance, according to the definition provided by Black’s Law Dictionary (1990), a citizen is “one who, under the Constitution and laws of the United States, or of a particular state, is a member of the political community, owing allegiance and being entitled to the enjoyment of full civil rights” (p. 244). In sum, my philosophy of education extends beyond the provision of high quality curricular offerings to include the ability to think critically about them as well as the need to develop good citizens for the future. Clearly, this is a daunting enterprise but there are some strategies that can be used to facilitate these outcomes as discussed below.
5. Leadership Practice
Similar to other settings, being an effective leader in education means taking the initiative to pursue courses of action that are aligned with the desired outcome rather than merely muddling through the process in order to avoid making waves. Besides implementing coursework that can help young learners think critically, teachers must also challenge them to question the various perspectives they encounter rather than meekly accepting them at face value. This approach also applies to helping young people become good citizens, a need that has become especially pronounced as increasing number of public schools discontinue civic classes due to budget constraints (Litvinov, 2017). The desired outcome would be a generation of young learners who possess the critical thinking skills they need to achieve their full potential as well as becoming active members of the political process.
Relationships
Educational leaders wear a number of different “hats” that require different types of relationships. For example, Bowser and Hux (2014) point out that, [Educational leaders] have one head with all the normal sensory parts, but wear multiple hats as organizers, schedulers, arbitrators, chaperones, and disciplinarians. Their ‘hats’ include instruction, modeling, evaluating, and visioning” (p. 469). While there may be some overlap, each of these roles is discrete and may require different types of leadership styles in order to achieve the desired outcomes.
Diversity
The demographic composition of the United States has changed significantly in recent decades, and current projections indicate that some current minority groups will be in the majority by mid-century. These trends mean that educational leaders must ensure that curricular offerings are not only timely and relevant, they must also take into account cross-cultural differences in learning. In this regard, Blakesley (2011) emphasizes that, "Culture has a powerful influence on how and what people think about knowledge, learning, and education” (p. 5). This observation also means that the degree of parental involvement may vary significantly in diverse communities, so educational leaders must ensure that this need is clearly communicated to all stakeholders.
The Future of Educational Leadership
As if educational leaders’ plates were not full enough already, there is also a growing need for them to become expert in the technologies that are used in the schools today in order to serve as a source of guidance for educators and students alike. For example, Chan (2014) emphasizes that, “In response to the demand for technology integration into curriculum and instruction, K-12 school leaders need to be well prepared to serve as technologically savvy leaders for both teachers and students” (p. 82). While many if not most educational leaders today possess the requisite knowledge and skills for this purpose, innovations in technology continue to redefine the educational landscape, making the need for vigilance in identifying new opportunities for improvement paramount.
Conclusion
Although there is still a need to teach young people the three Rs, there is also a concomitant need to help them learn how to think about the issues that affect their lives in a critical fashion. In addition, my philosophy of education includes the need to encourage young people to become good citizens who are informed and politically active. In the final analysis, educational leadership is dynamic and what worked in the past may not work today or in the future. Therefore, educational leaders must “take the bull by the horns” and model the way for others seeking to help students achieve their full potential through the development of critical thinking skills and in becoming active members of the political community.
References
Black’s Law Dictionary. (1990). St. Paul, MN: West Publishing Company.
Blakesley, S. (2011, July). Defining educational leadership in Canada's Yukon Territory: "Hmmm, that's a good question ..." Canadian Journal of Education, 34(1), 4-7.
Bowser, A. & Hux, A. (2014, September). The roles of site-based mentors in educational leadership programs. College Student Journal, 48(3), 468-471.
Chan, T. C. (2014, March). Educational leadership: The research agenda. New Waves, 17(1), 1-4.
Cushman, K. (2009, December). Subjects, or citizens? High school students talk about investing in their schools: If we want to know what students think, Ms. Cushman suggests that we ask them. Phi Delta Kappan, 87(4), 316.
Demirci, F. & Ozyurek, C. (2017, December). The effects of using concept cartoons in astronomy subjects on critical thinking skills among seventh grade students. International Electronic Journal of Elementary Education, 10(2), 243.
Erstad, W. (2018, January 22). Six critical thinking skills you need to master now. Rasmussen College. Retrieved from https://www.rasmussen.edu/student-experience/college-life/critical-thinking-skills-to-master-now/.
Litvinov, A. (2017, March 16). Forgotten purpose: Civics education in public schools. NEA Today. Retrieved from http://neatoday.org/2017/03/16/civics-education-public-schools/.
Tolman, S. & McBrayer, J. (2019, Annual). Educational leadership doctoral faculty academic qualifications and practitioner experiences in Georgia. International Journal of Doctoral Studies, 14, 85-87.