CMC Retreat: Discussion on Education

For those unfamiliar with The Posse Foundation, it is a national organization that awards scholarships to students who demonstrate merit and leadership in public high schools. On CMC’s campus there are a number of Posse scholars, myself included, who bring a diverse range of perspectives to the school. Posse annually hosts a weekend where Posse scholars invite Professors and fellow peers to attend a three-day retreat at a site near Lake Arrowhead. This event is meant to discuss a social concern that is relevant to our lives as students. Thus, 60 CMC students came together on February 6th to address the following education-related questions posed by Posse:

“Is education the great equalizer or the great divider? Is it about conformity or does is give you freedom? Is education about having salient knowledge or social capital?”

Among the diverse crowd of articulate, insightful individuals, I found that there were no concrete, irrevocable truths. Some people based their opinions on personal experience and others provided contextual evidence from political and social events to support their arguments.

A hot topic right now, it is no surprise that education was the basis for our discussion this past weekend at the CMC Posse Retreat. The New York Times has recently featured several articles regarding the economic stimulus bill and what it means for increased budgets for schools across America. As the Obama administration aims to drastically increase federal spending for schools, many are eager to see what changes will be made to improve education in our country.

In terms of our discussion at the retreat, the wide variety of different perspectives prevented us from reaching a general consensus. I gathered, however, that the purpose of the weekend was not to find answers or to decide what education should be. Instead, the retreat was meant to be an opportunity for us to think, reflect, and digest the great questions that are pressing even the most influential minds in America at this very moment.