Week Two

Tell your current perception of the education system that is most relevant to you. What is good about it? Bad? Who makes it up? What are its resources? What economic and social aspects impact it?

I would like to describe briefly about system thinking before I start discussing about current perception of the education system. A system is composed of more than two or more elements that function as a whole to attain a common goal. Bertalanffy (1968) stated, “Systems are characterized by synergy—the whole (system) is greater than the sum of its parts (elements), because the relationship among the elements adds value to the system.  An element is a necessary in a system but not self-sufficient component of a system. The system cannot achieve its goal without the element, and the element alone cannot replicate the function of a system.”

One of the great examples of a system is our life. Our life has the physical part-physical body, clothes, house, and other possessions. It has also the abstract elements such as beliefs, values, identity, etc. Biological organism, ecological niches, factories, organizations, families, nations, etc. are other examples of systems. Hollis (1997) described termite’s colony as an organic system where worker termites, soldier termites as parts have specific functions for survival of the colony (p.96). Similarly education is also a system where education institutions, students, teachers, parents, administrators, boards, etc. are parts of the whole education system. Learning system is one of the important systems in education system.

Public and private systems are two major systems in education system. My current perception of the education system that is most relevant to me is a public higher education system. Like other public higher education systems, this public higher education system consists of faculty, students, staff, academic administrators, alumni, parents, the board of regents, donors, and other stakeholders. This system is specialized in health science curricula. The UNT Health Science Center is one of the nation’s distinguished graduate academic health science centers, dedicated to education, research, patient care and service. One of the important parts of this system is patient. The system’s patient care center provides health care service to the community of Fort Worth and other parts of Texas.

The main resources of this system are members, infrastructures, departments, and external research grants etc. One of many good things about this system is its patient care service. Also, it involves in public health education, biomedical research, and other community services. Community also participates in fund raising and other political process to help growing the system. The recent good addition to this system is a mobile pediatric clinic that provide free health service for under-serve families in city of Fort Worth.

America’s public schools are the target of public criticism. There is a negative perception of public schools that leads to a decrease in public support. State demands for reducing funding, offer alternatives as private schools, and provide national tests to guarantee that teaching and learning are taking place. Like other public education systems in the state and throughout the nation, this system has also been negatively impacted by state budget cut due to economic recession for last several years. Members have not gotten any raise in their base salary. This has impacted the social and economic aspect of this system. The system is facing a turnover rate of more than 10% which is considered not good for the system. The administration has recognized negative feedbacks from its members and has taken some positive actions to earn the trust of its members. The system has been going through a major transformation since the new president joined a year ago. It has been reevaluating its social factors such as culture, values, and interest in accomplishing future new goals. The system’s new vision is to be the team of choice for education, discovery and health care, and mission is to create solutions for a healthier community.

References:

Bertalanffy, L. V. (1968). General system theory: Foundations, development, applications. New York: George Braziller.

Hollis, M. (1997). The Philosophy of Social Science. Cambridge University Press. London.