This week in SPED 310 was a big learning experience for me. I have really learned a lot about different people and places around the world and I have learned a lot about our judicial system as well.
The video about mental institutions in Serbia was incredible to me. How is this still happening? At first, I felt the urge to judge the parents who put their children in these awful places. What kind of heartless people would do this to their own children? They would just cast them aside because of their disabilities? Then, as the video progressed, I got to see parents who had children in these institutions. These parents really thought that this would be the best option for their children. Maybe for some people with disabilities in Serbia this is the best option, given family circumstance. The parents were much more loving than I had given them credit for, and they thought of their children every day. I realized that this is part of the culture in Serbia--it is shameful to have children with disabilities, and "putting them away" is a perfectly normal and acceptable option.
While I clearly do not agree with this philosophy, it is helpful for me to understand it. It has taken us, citizens of the United States, years and years and years to get to where we are now in regards to people with disabilities. We still have a ways to go. People need to continue to stand up and fight for their rights as human beings for things to continue to change.
I also got to look at my educational philosophy. I found a couple of different papers that I have written about my educational philosophy over the years. What sticks out to me is how little I knew and understood about teaching when I was first starting out in my program. My ideas are broad, and truth be told, they do not really say much of anything. That is because I did not know anything! I still don't know everything about teaching, and let's be real, I never will, but I love that my philosophy can continue to deepen and expand with experiences.
The biggest thing that I have learned this week is how important it is to love others. There are so many people in the world with different backgrounds, abilities, and experiences. We can learn something from everyone that we come in contact with! So much of the time, at least for me, I am caught up in judging others for whatever reason, and I forget to just stop and love them! I can see now that I have missed out on so many incredible experiences because I haven't loved someone the way that the Savior would. This is something that I am striving to work on now. We can learn so much from one another if we will only give everyone a chance!
I love how you thought to ask questions while you were watching and coming to understand the Serbia videos. This is such a powerful way to learn and understand something. Also through telling the questions you had and you answers to them I was able to understand your train of thought and how you think about things. It gave me great insight to who you are as a person. I also have found my philosophy to be something of continual growth just as you found it to be. I think that this is something that will continue on for as long as you are willing to learn and try new things as an educator. I also really appreciated your overall theme of not judging others. I agree with you that judgment can lead to no love. As we become teachers the judgement needs to stop and we need to open our arms and love. Thank you for your insights!
ReplyDeleteI love how out of this weeks lessons, you learned to love others for who they are. In summary, that is basically what this week was about. It is so hard to not judge others, like you said, but do we like to be judged? Everyone deserves the chance to live and enjoy life. Nobody should be locked up in an institution like that. My first educational philosophy was very broad too. it's crazy how much your beliefs and philosophies can change so quick. My new philosophy paper isn't anything like my old. I think that it is important for us to realize that change in our philosophies is ok. Really great thoughts Lucy!
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