My Philosophy of Education

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My Philosophy of Education

Personal mandatory and teacher education experiences have aided the development of five points essential to my philosophy of education. The first of these five points involves the use of sarcasm and fear in the classroom. The worst thing a teacher can do to their students is use fear and sarcasm as mechanisms to run the classroom. Any lessons that are taught using such methods are lost because the student is not learning for the benefit of learning. Instead, the student is learning for the grade and out of a fear of criticism from the teacher. Students should feel safe in the classrooms and schools they attend. If they do not feel safe and are not comfortable there, learning is stunted.

The second of these five points includes making lessons applicable to the student. Without the interest of the student, knowledge is only a bunch of useless facts. With interest and a love for the subject, knowledge and lessons have the potential to become life tools. To encourage life-long learning to take place, teachers need to help their students find the link from facts in a book to the dreams that they hold in their hearts. Throughout a mandatory education, subjects are introduced that students find that they love and those that they struggle with and want to give up on. Students should be taught in such a way that connects what they want in life to what needs to be learned. I also beleive that students should be continually told that everything that is done could be improved upon. These things together give students an interest in a variety of areas, as well as giving them the idea that they can improve upon even the supposed great things.

The third of these five points is that teachers should act more as a facilitator or guide in activities rather than a lecturer just giving facts that are supposed to be passively learned and retained. Personally, some of the most influential lessons learned in both mandatory and teacher education are ones that have included student thoughts from questions with guidance by a facilitator. By the teacher giving students the tools to discover their own thoughts, and allowing those thoughts to be voiced, the teacher is allowing students to make lessons personal. Teachers are also allowing those lessons to be molded in such a way that the individual can get the most benefit out of them. I believe that an emphasis should be placed on independent learning because people naturally want to learn. This is important because knowledge, in past practices, was forced on people because there was a belief that learning was not completely natural.

The fourth of these five points is that students should be exposed to a variety of core subjects during their mandatory education years. I believe these core subjects include mathematics, art, history, music, sciences, life skills (such classes like Home and Careers or First Year Experience), literature, language arts, and foreign languages and cultures. The deeper each of these areas are explored and linked personally by the student, the more influence these core subjects will influence the student’s future. A knowledge, understanding, and love for these areas create a well-rounded individual that will be prepared for whatever their plans are for the future. The more students have these core subjects available to take, the more students can discover about themselves and the world around them. In addition, the more understanding students have of these core subjects, the more prepared students will be for an independent life as adults.

The last of the five points concerns play and fun. Based on all the standards that are placed on schools and students today, it is still especially important to recognize and allow students to have fun. A growing belief is that play is a waste of time; that students are in school to work, not to have fun and play. What are not being recognized are the benefits of such playtime. Playing is a chance for students to discover the world around them, especially at a young age. It is also a chance for students to relax and gain social skills after sitting and learning for hours. The last thing that play does is allows the stress that may be building up in students by working hard in their classes to be let out. One of the main purposes of schools I believe is to help people become life-long learners. This is not possible if students tire of seven hours or more of straight work without a real chance to relax and have some fun. Such action only creates individuals who hate school and cannot wait to be done with it. These reasons also recognize the need that teachers must make lessons enjoyable, as well as interesting for the student. I believe that play is essential to the development and discovery of a person’s self and the world.

A philosophy of education will never be completely finished because one’s teacher education is never done. It will continue to develop throughout further education classes, through experiences in the classroom, through working with students, and through seeing what works and what needs work on in the classroom. I hope that my five basic beliefs will stay with me throughout my life. Looking back at my mandatory education, the lessons that I benefited most from followed either some or all of these five points.

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Rachel C. Bark
BARK2869@MAIL.PLATTSBURGH.EDU
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Last Updated On 12 September 2006