What is the Purpose of Education: An Analysis of Oregon's State-Level Education Policy
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Date
2020-09-24
Authors
Laxton, Kevin
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Journal ISSN
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Publisher
University of Oregon
Abstract
Education is often criticized as being in need of reform. Educators, policy makers, students, and all manner of education stakeholders offer suggestions for how to ‘fix’ the education system. In order to fix something, though, the workings and intended purposes of that thing must first be understood (e.g., how the thing is supposed to work). This is as true of education systems as it is of any other sort of system. To that end, this study sought to determine what the purpose of the education system is in Oregon. In order to determine what the purpose of Kindergarten through grade 12 (K12) education is in Oregon, a new theoretical framework was tested within the context of the Oregon Revised Statutes (ORS) that govern Oregon’s education system. The framework for this study was based on prior research from theorists critical of education systems and proposes that the purpose of education could be to (a) advance individuals, (b) improve individuals, (c) improve society, or (d) sustain education. Through the analyses for this study, this framework was discovered to manifest in Oregon as the following five purposes of education: (a) empower historically underserved populations of students, (b) provide students with skills, (c) prepare individuals for their future, (d) positively impact society, and (e) provide childcare. This study includes a discussion of these five purposes and implications for education leaders, policymakers, and future studies. This study concludes by exploring how such purposes could be applied in the current context of a global pandemic.
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Keywords
Education, Oregon, Policy, Purpose, Statute