Reflection on Nel Nodding - Assignment Example

Education and Caring Advocacy (Nel Noddings) -18 September (word count – 347) The idea that caring must be practiced in education is a universalrule as it has been shown the children learn best in a caring environment that is conducive to learning but there are some impediments to its universal application. One of these is the poor selection of some teachers who do not care at all for students and only academic training is given focus but care is often forgotten (Provenzo 37). People are unique individuals and young children more so; it is not appropriate to standardize school curriculum.

Her ideas are both realistic and desirable because everybody is desirous of making learning an enjoyable activity for the kids but must be based on ethics and morality also (Noddings, “Caring: A Feminine Approach” 9). Teachers must go beyond the usual definition of caring making sure the kids learn all materials being taught but to really care in a relational manner too (Noddings, “Caring in Education” 1).To further illustrate the importance of a caring environment in the school context, it is now a fashionable trend to discuss some of the benefits and drawbacks of having helicopter parents (mothers and fathers who constantly hover over their kids, hence the terminology).

It has been found in recent studies that parents who constantly watch over the kids at all times is often counter-productive. The child becomes less active with the constant monitoring and may even shy away from certain activities they would have enjoyed otherwise if the parent is not always around and partly contributory to the growing child obesity epidemic (Melnick 1).The caring attitude among teachers and educators is especially needed when dealing with school children who have special needs and may require individual attention.

Care must be taken when dealing with these kids with disabilities (physical, psychological or otherwise) and teachers and caregivers are often guided by the best of intentions but end up doing wrong. Nel Noddings had emphasized this in her article where teachers are often graded based on the students performance but the students themselves were not asked how caring the teacher is. Works CitedMelnick, Meredith. “Back off, Mom. Parents who Hover Impede Kids Activity.” Time Magazine. 16 Sept. 2011. Web. 18 Sept. 2011.

Noddings, Nel. “A Morally Defensible Mission for Schools in the 21st Century.” Critical Issues in Education: An anthology of readings. Ed. Eugene F. Provenzo. Thousand Oaks, CA, USA: SAGE Publications, 2006. 37-48. Print. Noddings, Nel. Caring: A Feminine Approach to Ethics and Moral Education. Berkeley, CA, USA: University of California Press, 1984. Print. (a reprint in 2003).Noddings, Nel. “Caring in Education.” www.infed.org 2005. Web. 18 Sept. 2011.