Growing up in a family of teachers, I learned early to appreciate the value of lending one’s self to society in this profession. While it may not be the shortest path to wealth and success, as defined by the media to which most students are so finely attuned, I believe that teaching is, in and of itself, a successful path and worth pursuing. The good that I bring to society by providing a consistent role model to young people – that there are other legitimate ways to be defined as a “success” without choosing sports, a career in the spotlight, or other alternatives that may appear to be shortcuts to success – far outweighs the lure of fame and riches, which, let’s face it, are a long-shot for most to even dream of obtaining.

I recall one of my professors at Morehouse, who never once compromised in his insistence on excellence. No excuse was ever good enough to give anything less than my very best effort. Anything from homework to test scores – there were no unimportant assignments in his class – he demanded the best out of me at every turn. While taking his class was not a cake-walk and I loathed him at the time, looking back, I actually learned more and grew more as an individual from the high standards he set, and hope to encourage the same sort of growth and the pride that results from it through leveling with my students and setting realistic expectations for them to meet.

I am not becoming a teacher so I can be every kids’ best friend – I want to shape and mold them into their own success stories – but I aim to make myself available on a personal level as well, as a mentor and as a point of connection, to help students survive the bureaucracy of high school. If just learning the mechanics of calculus was enough, administrators would have removed the human element a long time ago and let students learn solely from computers or videos. No, a personal connection can make all the difference in the world between a story of success and failure. While I will set the bar high, I will be there to encourage kids every step of the way to reach for it, and be there to congratulate them when they do, confident that they had it in them all along.

Some students make it through school out of their own drive and ambition, but the vast majority of students need the extra motivation through a teacher they know and trust. I believe morality is learned at home, but that there is an important social component of public school that cannot be ignored. While my parents taught me how to behave, public school gave me an arena to exercise those morals and values and compare them to the peers around me. In the case of students with poor home lives, whose parents perhaps did not take the time to instill a sense of morals and virtue, public school teachers provide at least a safety net to exhibit proper behavior for them to imitate.

While I feel that free, public education does promote democracy by instilling literacy and an understanding of the fundamentals of government for all, I believe teachers should present a spread of information and views from which students can choose what to adopt as their own (or stimulate thought enough for them to develop their own views).  I would apply the same policy on religion – I believe there is a time and a place, especially within the contexts of American History and other historical biographies, to expose students to different religious ideology and history, but believe it should be fact-based and as equally spread as possible so that the student has an appreciation of the full spectrum of organized religion and how it has influenced learning and human development. It would be a mistake to take it out altogether but misleading and restricting to their world view to focus in on one sole religion as correct, or even dominant.

I can honestly say when I look back I have fond memories of my years in the American school system. There were injustices, some of which I was more aware of than others, but overall, I am a better person today for having gone through the school system and taken out what I needed. I look forward to giving back one day and making my own contribution to many students’ success stories, hopefully correcting some of the inequities that were not effectively addressed in my time. I plan to do this by giving every student the respect and attention they deserve and making the most customized, concentrated effort to see that each student masters the class material and can be proud of themselves in the end.

The study of American public education has allowed me to gain insight on some of the major issues and criticisms of both past and present times. Such criticisms may help to shape the future of American public schools and hopefully enhance the overall system including new and better reform movements. One of the most important aspects of my teaching philosophy is that of educational equality, treating each student with the same respect and not stereotyping students based on their ethnicity. Many of American public schools are designed based on the value of diversity, one of America's most essential qualities based on democracy. Promoting democracy in our public schools was one of the most significant ideals developed from our founding fathers. They believed public schools would allow all children to learn together all in the same place and would bring several different cultures together.