Ism's and Philosophies

As an educator it is important for me to understand that I have my own beliefs and opinions that make up who I am as a person, but these characteristics will also make up who I am as a teacher. I need to discover and understand exactly what I believe in and learn how this will ultimately effect a classroom full of students that I am teaching. I do not want to push my beliefs on students, rather I want to implement my philosophies and ideas into my teaching methods in order to provide instruction the best way I know how. I think once a teacher completely understands what they stand for and believe in when it comes to life and education, that is really when they can become an effective teacher. As an educator you want to help and guide your students in to forming their own beliefs and philosophies through the knowledge they gain in your classroom and every other classroom they are a part of throughout their life. The certain philosophies and the different outlooks on life can really help to pin point what a person, and furthermore, a teacher is all about.

There were some philosophies out there that I didn’t exactly fit into, and weren’t really convinced by for the most part. I think everyone carries a piece of each philosophy with them, but one larger piece will greatly outweigh the rest. Idealism is really thinking outside of the box and beyond physical boundaries. An Idealist thinks of the world in terms of the abstract, they believe in thoughts and ideas, things that are not physical but mental. Education is closely related to spirituality and you better your knowledge to better your spiritual beliefs and find “Ultimate Truth”. I believe I think outside of the box, but not this far out. I do not think that spirituality and education should be so closely linked, but there can be a time and place for it within the confines of school. Idealist concepts are a little too far out for me to grasp and I can see why I do not fit into this category. I can also see why I did not fall into the category of a Realist. Realism is greatly influenced by the world and nature. I am a firm believer that our surroundings have a great impact on our lives and ways of thinking and can be a great inspiration at times, but I don’t think that it is everything. Understanding the material world is a very important aspect in the learning process, but it is only one aspect, and I feel like every aspect needs to be accounted for. I was very close to being a pragmatist, which focuses more on reality and the idea that everything in the world is subject to change. I can see how this relates to me because I see the world as a constantly changing and evolving thing, just as education should be. Education to me, means constantly learning and obtaining knowledge, where one can never learn it all.

Now, I did find that I was an existentialist. This philosophy clearly relates to me and my personality as a person and an educator. It is the philosophy I am most interested in and believe in. This is the most recent philosophy in which strongly emphasizes choice and where people must create the own meaning of their lives through the choices that they make. I completely agree with the concept of choice in this philosophy, because life is filled with choices, and that is the beauty of it. Just as life is filled with choices I think that education should be as well. Grades kindergarten through twelfth should allow students to explore what interests them and what their strengths and weaknesses are through a variety of different subjects. College is the place where things need to be narrowed down, so the sky should be the limit from elementary all the way up to high school. Choice can be overwhelming to students, but it also allows for self discovery and understanding.

The existentialist philosophy also mentions that how we view our past is a choice as well. Everyone had a choice in the past, and then once it has happened and locked in time there is still room for choice, the choice on how you want to view those past experiences. You have the choice to view them in a good light or in a bad light. I think this is a very powerful concept that should be embraced in school. Students need to know that even if they have or might make a mistake that it does not mean complete failure. Mistakes and not doing so well in school in the past can help students and teachers to build from and work with in order to create the ultimate learning experience in the present. Choice is a never ending wheel, and bad choices may seem bad at the time, but when you get beyond them you have the choice to redeem it by looking back at it in a good light and learning from it.

Existentialism also believes in individualized learning and I completely agree with this in the bigger perspective of education. I have heard that education in the future could involve individualized curriculum and instruction for all students, similar to IEP’s for students with special needs. I think that every single student has some kind of special need that needs to be discovered and catered to during their educational experience. Students would have the power to design their own paths in education, they would have the power of choice. It would mean a lot of work and evaluation of each and every student, but it could be such a powerful way to deliver knowledge. Constructivism, which is based around existentialism, encourages this individualized curriculum and instruction for all students because it believes that education should be based around what each individual student already knows and build from that. Constructivism is a very hands on and student centered approach to education. The reason why a school is a school is because students come there to learn, the whole purpose of school is to teach these students, so it only makes sense to make everything revolve around them in one way or another. Constructivism believes at looking at the big picture which would include the primary concepts in education. The teacher is there to encourage open ended questions and discussion in order for students to explore possibilities and different outlooks. Constructivism seems to be a very powerful approach to education in which I plan to embrace in my own pedagogy.

As for the educational pioneers and their philosophies, I agree with all of them to a certain extent. The reason why I say I agree with all of them to some degree is because philosophies on education had to start some where and you can see the similarities in these philosophers ideas, they took from one another and built their own opinions. Everyone builds from others ideas, you either agree with them and expand the ideas or you disagree and go in another direction. Reading these philosophies is like watching the formation of education take place. A lot of these ideas are out dated, but I can see today’s great ideas and opinions shining through in a lot of them as well. I think that even though these philosophies may be outdated they still are the backbone of education in which we have built from and expanded upon. I quite obviously agree with the philosophies that believe in an education for all, including women, the disabled, and people of color. Philosophers such as Wollstonecraft, Comenius, and DuBois believed in inclusion and equality. But I believe, for the most part, that these battles are already won so that they are not taken into consideration in todays approaches. I say for the most part because issues of race and sex are not much of a problem in education anymore as far as being included, some fights are still prevalent today but are very successful. What I need to focus on now that everyone is included in education, is how exactly to teach this wide variety of students day in and day out.

The educational pioneers that I do agree with are due to the fact that their ideas are still prevalent today, where they could still be applied and carried forth with due to the demands of education today. I believe Rousseau only where he believed that education should be centered around the child and not the subject, because this goes back to constructivism. Also, Pestalozzi emphasizes teaching to the “whole child”, meaning understanding their interests and personal lives. He believed that teachers and students should have a strong bond in order to create a comfortable learning environment which is so stressed upon today. I appreciate Forbel’s philosophy which centers around physical and verbal activities. I obviously agree with Mann’s ideas because they were the basis for forming the public school where an education is available to all children. I have yet to find a philosopher that states that school is a place for students to discover who they are and not to push them in any specific direction except forward. Dewey came the closest to believing in this where it is stated that “one should not regard education as a preparation for life, but rather as a process of living in itself”.

I have taken bits and pieces of some of the educational pioneers in order to determine what I believe to be important to my educational beliefs. There wasn’t one person’s beliefs that I completely agreed with one hundred percent, and I think it better to piece together different ideas in order to relate to my own. I think that is what education is all about as well, gathering bits and pieces to form and understand all knowledge being given to you. Teachers borrow from one another every day to build the best instruction for their students. I have formed my beliefs on education just as I will form instruction for students, by forming a well rounded outlook on the topic based on various ideas, input, and sources.