Before you choose which path you will follow, you must first choose a destination.
In our society, it is often taken as a given that we all have similar goals for education, but in reality, this is simply not true. You can prove to yourself it is not true by listening to people when they talk about how they have measured their educational success. "I always had good grades." "I really loved Math." "I had fun in sports." All of these value statements give insight into the perceived goals of education of the people who state them.
Schools must have common understanding about what their community thinks the goal of education should be, and in the absence of this common understanding, teachers must take the time to carefully articulate their own goals for their students. You cannot know what your best choices are to achieve your goals if you have not set any goals. You should not choose your instructional methods haphazardly, they too must match your goal.
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