My Philosophy of Education
Allie Malmstrom
Rebecca Berger
EDU 125
16 March 2007
Each teacher has his own personal teaching style
that has been developed over his years of experience. Some prefer
to teach to textbooks and exams while others would rather give the
students a say in their learning process. Teaching preferences
come from teachers’ own experiences as students, teachers that
they have admired, and even some research that they have done on
teaching strategies. I think that it would be rare to find a
teacher who strictly follows one of the well known philosophies.
My views on teaching are relatively mixed, taking in what I think are
the stronger parts of the educational process.
The goal of education should be much more complex
than the basic philosophies claim. I do not think that it should
be solely on learning basic skills of the core subjects, or mainly to
give children an understanding of responsibility, or to solve
society’s problems to make the world a better place. The
goal of education should be a mixture of these philosophies. Each
of them makes a strong statement that is important for children and
adults to learn. Much like those of the progressivism
philosophy, my goal is for education to allow for students to become
well rounded: do well in their subjects, be respectful, take
responsibility, and to be able to realize their capabilities in school,
in the career world, and in society. The best teachers that
I have ever had were able to give their students responsibility and
respect while teaching basics and allowing their students to
comfortably engage in the classroom discussions. In my high
school English classes, I felt that every student’s opinion was
just as important as the teachers, and I am relieved to experience that
again in my college years.
Education is imperative for everyone to have, but
there is much disagreement on what are the most important things to
teach. In my opinion, there should be a healthy mixture of what
is being taught in schools. Personally, I think that there should
be some progressivism and some essentialism. I am able to find
the importance in the core subjects such as mathematics and science and
also can see why some standardized testing is helpful. SATs allow
for colleges and universities to compare students on, what can be
considered, an even plain. Unfortunately, these national
standardized tests are not always fair and are often considered to be
biased to certain races and cultures. Tests given by states, such
as the MEAs, make it so the state can see how some schools measure up
to others. I do not, however, think that curriculum should be
based around these tests and that standardized tests are
overrated. I think that they are a good attempt to see where some
students are compared to others, but I do not think they are good
indicators of one’s mental ability. Someone may know the
material, but still may perform poorly on the test. I saw this scenario
happen a lot with people in my school and reflected in some of my own
test scores. Curriculum should incorporate students’
interests on top of the core subjects. If someone wants to study
a topic of particular interest to him, then he should be able to.
Teachers should not stand at the front of the
classroom all day. They should maneuver around the classroom and
through the students. In my experience, if a teacher simply stays
in one spot, then I quickly lose interest in what is going on.
Also, I find myself intimidated and scared to ask too many
questions. This stance makes it seem as if the teacher is the
most important person in the classroom; however, there would be no need
for classrooms if the students were not there. The focus on
teachers and the subjects that they teach is one part of essentialism
that I do not favor.
I agree with the progressive educational approach
when it comes to students’ roles in the classroom. They
should be actively involved and be comfortable enough to ask and answer
questions. I think that children should have freedom in their
education, but, unlike existentialists, I still feel that they need
structure, especially in the elementary years. From what I have
seen, students often take their freedom for granted and they do not use
their time wisely. There needs to be a balance so that students
receive assistance and motivation from their teachers, but also take on
responsibility for their selves.
It is very important to have mutual respect. I
have always found it difficult to respect someone who failed to show me
the same respect, even when I was young. Just because students
are younger in age does not mean that they do not deserve to be treated
as an equal. I had an experience where I was disrespected by an
educational technician and by a guidance counselor and no longer could
show them respect. However, unlike the existential philosophy, I
think that children need some structure to complement the respect that
they deserve to receive. I would love to say that children should
have unlimited freedom, but I know that some children can not handle
being respected as an equal and that they need some sort of direction
to follow.
Anything and everything dealing with education can
be controversial in one way or another. Not everyone can agree on
ways to teach or what to teach, but I think that it is important to
realize that we need to take the children’s needs into
consideration. We, as teachers, have to consider what our
students actually need compared to what we want them to need because
that is what is important. We teach for the children so we should
focus our attention on their needs not what the state says they should
need. Students need more voice in their education; I know that
that I appreciate being able to concentrate my classes according to my
interests and to my hopes for the future. I believe that shared
responsibility between the teacher and students is the best way to
thoroughly educate students and to keep them engaged in the education
process.