On the first day of lecture, Professor Lisa Smulyan told us that Introduction to Education: Pedagogy and Power (Ed 14) is always full of students from different class years and majors, but “no matter what brought you here, this class will change the way you think of your past, present, and future education.” She said that she was sure that by the end of the class, we would all agree with her that every Swarthmore student should take Ed 14. Reflecting back on all the experiences and knowledge I gained from that class, I definitely agree!
In Ed 14, we read primary source material exploring the major themes of educational policy, theory, and practice, and then had lively class discussions about the past, present, and future of education, both in the US and around the world. The lectures and readings helped me to reconsider, and more deeply understand, my own educational experiences in the broad context of the US education system. In the fieldwork component of the class, each student observes in a K-12 classroom once a week for most of the semester. I observed a high school biology classroom at a local public high school and it really opened my eyes to nuances in my own education and challenges teachers face today. My peers truly were from all different majors and career paths, and I strongly believe that everyone would say it was a class that was well worth their while.
I asked three of my peers to share the different ways that Ed 14 impacted them…
“I intend to major in computer science and economics, but I signed up for Ed 14 because I tutor at the Chester Children’s Chorus, so I was interested to see if my tutoring methods were ‘pedagogically correct.’ I went into Ed 14 wanting to learn things about other people and education systems, but the class definitely encouraged us to reflect on our own education, past and present. For example, it made me more aware of the nuances in my classes, especially related to race, sexuality, and gender, and how those factors play into people’s confidence when they don’t understand something. For the final project, which is where we design our own curriculum, I was able to tie mine into my interest in computer science; I designed an “Intro to Python” course that was framed with concepts of critical pedagogy in mind. I think it was nice how that project encouraged us to think across disciplines.” – Felicia Yi, ‘26
“Right now, I plan to major in history and double minor in environmental studies and theater. I used the spring of my first year to explore some different interdisciplinary programs I knew I was interested in but didn’t know if I wanted to major in, and one of those courses was Ed 14. Coming out of high school, I was really passionate about music education and I wanted to see if that was a direction I wanted to continue in. I was really excited to do the fieldwork component of the course — real-life experience in K-12 classrooms to back up the pedagogical concepts we read about and discussed in class. You have some say in what classroom you are placed in, so I got placed in a middle school music class, which was a really fun part of every week. During lecture, we spent a lot of time diving into the theoretical basis of some pedagogical principles that most of us experience in our own education, but don’t tend to think about in an academic way. I thought it was really powerful to put a name to the experiences that had shaped my schooling.” – Elizabeth Culp, ‘26
“I am majoring in computer science and minoring in engineering. I signed up for Ed 14 because I needed a humanities and writing credit and my parents are both educators. I was really curious about whether Ed 14 would resonate with the things I’ve learned from them and experienced in my own education. My favorite topic was the hidden curriculum unit; I thought it was really interesting to explore the fact that not everything you learn in school comes directly from the content the teachers are sharing — it also comes from the structure of the environment that you live and learn in. It was also a really nice opportunity to reflect on the things I’ve internalized from my own schooling experiences. Something that really stuck with me from this course was how the people around me everyday at Swat come from, and are shaped by, so many different educational backgrounds. This course wasn’t at all related to my major, but I still really appreciated it because it definitely gave me a greater perspective on the Swarthmore community that I’m a part of.” – Kiara Abbey, ‘25
