This course invites participants to explore the dynamic relationship between public education systems and human development. Focusing on North Carolina, participants examine key features of the state’s public-school landscape, including current strengths as well as persistent challenges: teacher compensation, school funding structures and opportunity gaps shaped by inequitable resource distribution. Through this exploration, the course considers how policy decisions, accountability systems, and reform efforts shape the daily experiences of students and educators.
At the same time, participants engage in structured reflection on their own educational journeys, examining how their academic and social experiences in school have influenced their identities, aspirations, and sense of belonging. Using tools such as “roses and thorns” and guided narrative reflection, participants will consider the role of relationships, support systems, and learning environments in their personal development.
By connecting these “out there” systemic perspectives with “in here” personal insights, the course encourages participants to critically examine existing approaches to school improvement and reimagine what more human-centered, equitable, and joyful educational experiences might look like. Ultimately, the course aims to support participants in developing a more integrated understanding of schools—not only as institutions shaped by policy and funding, but as spaces that profoundly shape who we become—and to consider their own potential role in creating more just and life-giving educational environments.
Robert W. Smith is a retired faculty member in the Watson College of Education at UNCW. His areas of research and interest include high school reform and supporting innovation in K-12 schools. He is the co-creator of the Teaching with Joy Network.
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