Final Reflection
It was clear from the first day of the trip that we were all going to learn and experience a lot over the course of the two week course; however, what we were supposed to do with that new wealth of knowledge, besides personal enrichment, was somewhat unclear. However, as I sit here 18 days after the trip the charge is clear. I am supposed to use what I learned to affect change. Whether it be lead a on the topic of stratification in the Deep South or use it to write a national education policy once my PhD is conferred. In short, the course encouraged me to continue to seek knowledge and then use that knowledge to spark a revolution within the circles in which I’m a member.
“I believe that education is the fundamental method of social progress and reform. All reforms which rest simply upon the law, or the threatening of certain penalties, or upon changes in mechanical or outward arrangements, are transitory and futile…. But through education society can formulate its own purposes, can organize its own means and resources, and thus shape itself with definiteness and economy in the direction in which it wishes to move…. Education thus conceived marks the most perfect and intimate union of science and art conceivable in human experience.” – John Dewey