Be the Future
We will not address the problems in American education by searching for the one best system. Nor will we adequately address them through “best practices” or new models of reform. The challenge requires envisioning a whole new kind of public education. One led by a new generation of educators equipped with the innovation, imagination, and ethical commitment needed to face the challenges of our time. We embody this bold new vision at Loyola. We use it to prepare the next generation of young people for the challenges of their time. This re-envisioning of education is vital for the continuous development and revolution of our democratic public life. We are preparing the teachers and educational leaders who will make it happen.
Know Thyself to Know Others
The richest and most valuable learning in life is always rooted in human relationships. At its essence, education is the ever-increasing capacity for full participation in a culture and a society. This means education is based in the human bonds of social relationships and the connections with cultures. Building those bonds of human connection requires mutual understanding, self-awareness, and the development of consciousness. Understanding who we are, who we are becoming, and why, is the first step toward forging effective and meaningful relationships with students.
Frequently Question Answers
To be educated is not merely to be learned. Which is why we strive to develop educators with a greater sense of moral capacity and ethical agency. We develop leaders who practice discernment in their continuous questioning of the system, the status quo, and even ‘common sense’ itself. We develop teacher leaders who see beyond preconceived notions, overturn conventional wisdom, and effect real, lasting, meaningful change in the world and in their students’ lives. Because learning to teach is not enough, we teach to learn.
To Be is to Do
Merely possessing information is not knowledge. And merely acquiring knowledge is not education. To become educated is to know how to attain information, apply it as knowledge, and discern the best uses of both. Too many educators are not educating, because they rely too heavily on the simple routine of teaching and testing. Education is about encouraging participation, in the classroom as well as in the broader cultural life and social lives of students. The world does not need more pupils who merely score high on tests. It needs engaged, active explorers, thinkers, and creators. It needs doers.