Goal Statement
PhD Program in Early Childhood Education
My pursuit of a PhD program at George Mason University is predicated on how the work towards a doctoral degree will enable to attain three specific goals outlined here:
Professional goal: obtain a faculty position in early childhood education.
Philosophical goal: work to improve the academic achievement, and, through that, the life chances of children from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Intellectual goal: clarify the relative efficacy of micro versus macro-level disadvantage.
My professional ambition since early childhood has been to pursue a faculty position at a reputable university, where I would conduct research on issues related to early childhood education. I have always felt that my very nature as a curious person who always wanted to read and discover explanations of various phenomena, dovetailed perfectly with an academic career; growing up in a family where we had numerous relatives and family friends who were academics, made it easy to come to such conclusion. I must admit that I also appreciated the stature that academics have, which is reflected in the fact that society seemed to always hold them in high esteem.
This early curiosity about a career in academia was whetted when, right after my first degree at the University of Cape Coast (in Ghana), I was offered a position as a teaching assistant in the university's Department of Primary Education. Young as I was, that position gave me an early birds eye view on the profession I had presumed to be interested in. The experience only consolidated my goal, because I saw at close quarters the interactions between faculty and students, and the impact that good faculty had on the lives and thinking of students. When it came, I seized the opportunity to pursue a Masters of Education degree in Curriculum and Instruction (with an emphasis on Early Childhood Education) at the Pennsylvania State University. There as a graduate student, I gained an even greater appreciation of the importance and influence of research, as I watched our faculty's involvement in impactful research that changed many life trajectories. I wrote my thesis on "Designing Safe Playgrounds for Children"; it was a thoroughly exciting experience that made me realize how much a life's work in the field can improve the lives of others. As fate would have it, I could not continue on to pursue a PhD because of financial circumstances. Nevertheless, as I look back on the time teaching since I completed my master's program, I fully recognize that those years have made me even better prepared to engage this life's dream; the practical experiences in the classroom, and with students, put flesh to what might otherwise have been a merely theoretical engagement of the issues.
Philosophically, my life's goal is to work to improve the academic achievement and, through that the life chances of children from disadvantage backgrounds. Growing up in Ghana, poverty was just a few feet away, and as I grew up, there was this burden, almost of guilt, about why so many had so little: kids with one school uniform who had to wash it everyday; many who could not afford to buy notebooks, let alone textbooks; and children who had to walk miles to schools, only to be congregated in rooms with as many as 80 classmates, and just one teacher.
These were but a few concerns that occupied my mind before I crossed the great Atlantic. You can imagine my utter shock upon reaching America, where I found stark relative disadvantages with regard to access and quality- and perhaps particularly in cities - even if the absolute level of poverty was not as severe as in Ghana. Of course, this was not as evident in graduate school in serene State College, Pennsylvania. However, after arriving in Bowie, Maryland as, first, a pre-kindergarten and then subsequently a kindergarten teacher (and Grade Level Chairperson) my appreciation of the fundamental inequities that seemed to subsequently place a glass ceiling on the achievements of children from minority and/or underprivileged backgrounds sharpened.
Beyond access and economic privilege, I started to notice the influence of other factors such as parental support, parental educational level, etc. on children's educational achievement. After teaching for a few years I returned to academia much better equipped, and with an improved grasp of issues, to conduct research that can make a meaningful impact on the lives of children, and particularly the underprivileged.
Intellectually, I crave this return to the academic space it will enable me sort through competing hypothesis that currently fascinate me. One example stems from observations from my time as a teacher at Glenn Dale Elementary School, in Prince George's County, Maryland. I have contemplated whether structural or macro-level disadvantage trumps micro-level problems; in that regard, I ask how we might disentangle the confounding effects of coming from a poor neighborhood from those of being poor (or coming from poor home).
My research on George Mason University suggest that the College of Education and Human Development will be an idle crucible for me to be immersed in to further develop my academic self in order to attain my goals. I consider the work of Dr. Susan Burns and Dr. Coleen Vesely to be very exemplary and I can only benefit from the assets and resources that the department has, to improve my analytical thinking, my understanding of theory and methods, and my research skills. The fact that George Mason is also situated so proximately to the urban environment means that I will retain the opportunity to conduct research in urban poor contexts. I strongly believe that a PhD from George Mason will parachute my research to the point where I can make contributions that others will also consider noteworthy.
PhD Program in Early Childhood Education
My pursuit of a PhD program at George Mason University is predicated on how the work towards a doctoral degree will enable to attain three specific goals outlined here:
Professional goal: obtain a faculty position in early childhood education.
Philosophical goal: work to improve the academic achievement, and, through that, the life chances of children from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Intellectual goal: clarify the relative efficacy of micro versus macro-level disadvantage.
My professional ambition since early childhood has been to pursue a faculty position at a reputable university, where I would conduct research on issues related to early childhood education. I have always felt that my very nature as a curious person who always wanted to read and discover explanations of various phenomena, dovetailed perfectly with an academic career; growing up in a family where we had numerous relatives and family friends who were academics, made it easy to come to such conclusion. I must admit that I also appreciated the stature that academics have, which is reflected in the fact that society seemed to always hold them in high esteem.
This early curiosity about a career in academia was whetted when, right after my first degree at the University of Cape Coast (in Ghana), I was offered a position as a teaching assistant in the university's Department of Primary Education. Young as I was, that position gave me an early birds eye view on the profession I had presumed to be interested in. The experience only consolidated my goal, because I saw at close quarters the interactions between faculty and students, and the impact that good faculty had on the lives and thinking of students. When it came, I seized the opportunity to pursue a Masters of Education degree in Curriculum and Instruction (with an emphasis on Early Childhood Education) at the Pennsylvania State University. There as a graduate student, I gained an even greater appreciation of the importance and influence of research, as I watched our faculty's involvement in impactful research that changed many life trajectories. I wrote my thesis on "Designing Safe Playgrounds for Children"; it was a thoroughly exciting experience that made me realize how much a life's work in the field can improve the lives of others. As fate would have it, I could not continue on to pursue a PhD because of financial circumstances. Nevertheless, as I look back on the time teaching since I completed my master's program, I fully recognize that those years have made me even better prepared to engage this life's dream; the practical experiences in the classroom, and with students, put flesh to what might otherwise have been a merely theoretical engagement of the issues.
Philosophically, my life's goal is to work to improve the academic achievement and, through that the life chances of children from disadvantage backgrounds. Growing up in Ghana, poverty was just a few feet away, and as I grew up, there was this burden, almost of guilt, about why so many had so little: kids with one school uniform who had to wash it everyday; many who could not afford to buy notebooks, let alone textbooks; and children who had to walk miles to schools, only to be congregated in rooms with as many as 80 classmates, and just one teacher.
These were but a few concerns that occupied my mind before I crossed the great Atlantic. You can imagine my utter shock upon reaching America, where I found stark relative disadvantages with regard to access and quality- and perhaps particularly in cities - even if the absolute level of poverty was not as severe as in Ghana. Of course, this was not as evident in graduate school in serene State College, Pennsylvania. However, after arriving in Bowie, Maryland as, first, a pre-kindergarten and then subsequently a kindergarten teacher (and Grade Level Chairperson) my appreciation of the fundamental inequities that seemed to subsequently place a glass ceiling on the achievements of children from minority and/or underprivileged backgrounds sharpened.
Beyond access and economic privilege, I started to notice the influence of other factors such as parental support, parental educational level, etc. on children's educational achievement. After teaching for a few years I returned to academia much better equipped, and with an improved grasp of issues, to conduct research that can make a meaningful impact on the lives of children, and particularly the underprivileged.
Intellectually, I crave this return to the academic space it will enable me sort through competing hypothesis that currently fascinate me. One example stems from observations from my time as a teacher at Glenn Dale Elementary School, in Prince George's County, Maryland. I have contemplated whether structural or macro-level disadvantage trumps micro-level problems; in that regard, I ask how we might disentangle the confounding effects of coming from a poor neighborhood from those of being poor (or coming from poor home).
My research on George Mason University suggest that the College of Education and Human Development will be an idle crucible for me to be immersed in to further develop my academic self in order to attain my goals. I consider the work of Dr. Susan Burns and Dr. Coleen Vesely to be very exemplary and I can only benefit from the assets and resources that the department has, to improve my analytical thinking, my understanding of theory and methods, and my research skills. The fact that George Mason is also situated so proximately to the urban environment means that I will retain the opportunity to conduct research in urban poor contexts. I strongly believe that a PhD from George Mason will parachute my research to the point where I can make contributions that others will also consider noteworthy.