PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION 14 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION BY MARGARET

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Philosophy of Education 14





Philosophy of Education

By Margaret Cimino

06/08/09
















Introduction:

In this paper I will present the basic principles which compose my philosophy of education. I will do this by addressing the following four beliefs: that the aim of education is to prepare the pupil for the requirements of the future; that the nature of learning is such that people learn best through an engaging process of education which has applications to real life; that the role of the educator is to engage students early, to ensure that learning is regarded as an act of play, and that this learning should be scaled to the level of the learner; finally, that society should use it's regulatory powers to ensure that its citizens receive equal access to a quality education at the elementary level. I will defend each of the preceding claims in the pages that follow with reference to various literary sources as well as those personal experiences which have helped me to discover and become convicted of each of these claims.

The aims of education:

The aim of education is to prepare the pupil for the requirements of the future. John Dewey states in Democracy and Education, “ If education is growth, it must progressively realize present possibilities, and thus make individuals better fitted to cope with later requirements. Growing is not something which is completed in odd moments; it is a continuous leading into the future. If the environment, in school and out, supplies conditions which utilize adequately the present capacities of the immature, the future which grows out of the present is surely taken care of. The mistake is not in attaching importance to preparation for the future need, but in making the mainspring of present effort. Because the needs of preparation for a continually developing life is great, it is imperative that every energy should be bent to make the present experience as rich and significant as possible.” (Page 56) By this Dewey means that if education is a process of accumulative maturation, it must continuously recognize opportunities in the present to prepare students for requirements they will face later in life. Growth does not occur through a series of unrelated instances, but is a process of sequential development through time. If a child's environment, both in and out of school, engages the child's full capacities, then the preparation for future, which depends upon the present lessons, will itself be provided for within the present environment. It is not a mistake to emphasize the importance of preparing learners for the future; rather it is a mistake to neglect the significance of present learning in relation to the future. Because growth towards the future is imperative, it is necessary that the education in the present be as rich and fertile for the future as it can possibly be. Therefore, the most effective education is the one that keeps in mind the aim of using the present to prepare for and condition the student for the future.

I've seen the value of past education through present circumstances that I could not have anticipated in the past on more occasions that I can recall. My understanding of arithmetic, which I learned in elementary school, is a skill I use daily and one which has enabled me to quickly grasp concepts in more advanced areas of math such as algebra or trigonometry, to give merely one example. Past lessons given towards preparing for the future have in fact been used in the future, and have allowed me to accomplish that which is required of me.

How people learn:

People learn best through an engaging process of education that has application to real life. Dewey states that "...education is not an affair of 'telling' and being told, but an active and constructive process...Not that the use of language as an educational resource should lessen; but that its use should be more vital and fruitful by having its normal connection with shared activities." (Page 38) Dewey means that the process of education should not merely consist of listening to instruction, but should also be the engagement of acquired knowledge and skills in the context of the activities in which an exercise or reliance on such knowledge would be typical. He does not mean to disparage the use of lecture and instruction as instruments for learning, but to encourage further engagement of active, applicable, and social methods of learning that may be employed in order to enhance the educational experience. Learning cannot be purely abstract because the world in which that learning is meant to prepare students is not itself abstract. The world consists of concrete realities. The more students can see the "normal connection" of their knowledge to the shared activities in which that knowledge would be one day employed, the better.

Engaging learning requires that language-based education be supplemented with "applied-education." It is possible with language to artificially isolate various points of learning that are not, in actual practice, quite so isolated and distinct. In a meteorology classroom, it is possible to talk solely about thunderstorms; whereas in the working field, any meteorologist would say that it's equally important to remember that thunderstorms inevitably produce other phenomena x, y, and z. If done improperly, language can isolate principles to the point that students are never given the opportunity to see how the variables of the real-world system interact with one another. Formulaic, rote memorization is useful in only a very narrow sense; specifically, it is useful only in those circumstances which match the conditions considered in the particular lecture or chapter in which the student has been trained. What is required beyond those is that students learn to see the various patterns instantiated in the world under their myriad forms. Students will learn to identify the pertinent factors of the circumstances in which they are well-versed and they can begin to predict how these factors will relate to one another. In doing this, they will be capable of anticipating what might lie behind or ahead. Students will be more trained to identity and competently engage those circumstances in which they have not been made well-versed or familiar.

Thus, Dewey writes: "In learning an action, instead of having it given readymade, one of necessity learns to vary its factors, to make varied combinations of them, according to change of circumstances. A possibility of continuing progress is opened up by the fact that in learning one act, methods are developed good for use in other situations. Still more important is the fact that the human being acquires a habit of learning. He learns to learn." (Page 45) Instead of being given a generic abstract formula that can be applied to certain situation, students must be aware of the various elements and combinations of elements that can affect the results of that limited formula. They must be able to adapt the formula accordingly to their circumstances. In doing this students are not merely rote learners, but are adapting their learning to the many situations in which they may find themselves in the course of their lives. They develop a tendency to learn as every new situation provides a new opportunity for lessons, correcting and complementing their existing knowledge-base. By learning the pattern, or method, of things, students can begin to construct an architectural skeleton of the world. They come to expect certain kinds of facts, variables, implications, and in doing this, learn to learn: no longer relying on spoon-fed facts, but capable reasoners with the ability to derive insights of their own.

In learning the Spanish language during high school, I found it much easier to understand and learn the language when my learning consisted of multiple channels rather than through pure instruction and lecture. I was unable to memorize new words, or construct sentences by simply listening and writing out exercises. I had to engage in the practical application of the language in order to truly understand its content. This included conversing with native speakers, reading newspapers rather than just the text books, and actually engaging in the hispanic culture through controlled immersion: celebrating holidays, sharing meals, and participating in their religious ceremonies. This process of learning was more than a matter of reading and taking tests, it was a matter of applying my lessons to the situations in which they are naturally employed in the course of life. A word that has one meaning in the textbook may have several nuanced meanings on the street. Due to my extended learning, I knew more than just the formal spanish language, I understood the language and the culture in which it is employed. I found that the more applicable the language became, the easier it was to understand and use.

While it is among the most valuable educational tools, an over-dependance on language-based learning can run the risk of defeating the purpose of education altogether. Mastering the language of a lesson, being able to write or recite it, is not the same as understanding and being able to apply it. To learn solely trough language is to learn in a vacuum, because the world for which education is meant to prepare students is not only one of vocabulary and syntax. It is complex and dynamic. Learning to learn, acquiring the ability to develop insight for oneself in the midst of the world's flux, is valuable.

The role of the educator

At the elementary level, the role of the educator is to engage the student early in life and to ensure that this early exposure to learning is regarded as an act of play rather than one of labor. In The Republic, Socrates emphasizes the importance of developing values at a young age. “Don't you know that the beginning is the most important part of every work and that this is especially so with anything young and tender. For at that stage it's most plastic....” (377b) Here, Socrates questions his audience, asking whether or not they know that the beginning is always the most important time for development. This is true no less in the case of human children, as they are themselves young and vulnerable to the influences of their environment. It is during this initial period that children are most malleable. They will shape in this period values, beliefs, and habits that will effect them for the rest of their lives. Thus, during this time it is important to develop the desire for knowledge and education because this will be the attitude that will be retained throughout the rest of the student's life.

Early exposure to learning is not the only duty of the educator. “All the preparatory education required...must be put before them as children, and the instruction must not be given the aspect of a compulsion to learn...don't use force in training the children in their studies, but rather play.” (536e) While Socrates argues that the foundations for education must be presented to learners early on in childhood, he also argues that instruction in the elementary subjects must not be done under the threat of force. Instead of teachers compelling their students to learn, students should be enticed voluntarily through play.

Socrates demonstrates this belief himself through the use imaginative play to educate his audience in their creation of the just city, which is filled with poetic images, abstract and creative thinking. He once proclaims when the conversation is getting too intense, “'I forgot,' [he] said, 'that we were playing...” (536c), so as not to lose the interest of his pupils in the process. By doing this, Socrates exemplifies the method of teaching that he advocates for others to use. He is reminding the students, by reminding himself, that in learning they are always engaged in an act of play.

I had a teacher in elementary school that introduced me to books and instilled a love for learning that remains with me today. In reading, performing an activity I enjoy, I am constantly being exposed to new subjects and ideas from which I acquire new knowledge. My sister does not share this love of books nor learning, and had never developed this attachment as a child. Thus reading has never been fun for her, nor a form of play, and thus learning through reading is not as engaging for her as it is for me.

The educator ought to work with students at their own level, keeping in mind that children ought to be dealt with as children rather than as something which they are not. In Emile, Rousseau states: “When one is not in a hurry to instruct, one is not in a hurry to demand and takes one's time so as to demand nothing except opportunely...But when a giddy preceptor, not knowing how to go about it, makes him promise this or that at every instant, without distinction, selectivity, or moderation, the child, bored, overburdened with all these promises, neglects them, forgets them, finally despises them, and regarding them as so many vain formulas, makes a game out of making them and breaking them.” (P.103) Rousseau states that when one is not in a hurry to teach, one will not make demands of pupils to learn within an inflexible time frame, which allows students to learn at their own pace, and thus effectively internalize the points of the lessons. He continues to imply that when one is in a hurry to teach, one demands an equal commitment to all work at all times. When one is too eager, and unaware of the correct approach, one will force a child to make promises to complete the work even when they are not yet ready of benefiting from it. The child will become bored of completing such tasks and will eventually neglect the work itself, forgetting about it, and in the end despising it for its apparent uselessness. The child will then seek to rebel against this method by making a game of cheating or otherwise manipulating the results of the exercises. “For us who give our pupils only lessons in practice and who prefer that they be good rather than learned – we do not exact the truth from them lest they disguise it, and we make them give no promises that they would be tempted not to keep." (P. 102) Teachers who expect and assign work that needs to only be completed rather than to be learned, create students who are only concerned with following rules than than becoming informed. Thus teachers place themselves and their students into the impossible situation of having to either avoid the problem by not drawing attention to the fact that their students are not comprehending their lessons, or else force the students to pretend to understand those things which they do not. This is one of the ways in which a failure to teach students at their own level creates a disconnect between what is possible and what is expected.

"Take the opposite of the practiced path, and you will almost always do well. Since what is wanted is not to make a child out of a child, but a doctor out of a child, fathers and masters can never soon enough scold, correct, reprimand, flatter, threaten, promise, instruct, talk reason. Do better: be reasonable." (P. 94) Thus, it seems Rousseau states that it is better to go against what has been ingrained as the proper form of education, which aims to too hastily prepare students for their futures; which entails scolding and reprimanding them when mistakes are made; which threatens poor grades when work is not completed in the allotted times; which overly flatters students when work is done and delivers excessive guarantees in regards to future prospects; lectures and instructions as to how life should be; which generally reasons above a child's capacity. Instead of this inefficient, and even destructive model, Rousseau suggests that it is important to remember that at this stage, the goal is still to make a child out of the child rather than to ignore childhood altogether or to skip over it somehow. Embrace it and be reasonable with mistakes, ignorance, games, and spontaneity, as these are each to be expected from children at their stage of development.

In my time as a teacher's assistant in a first grade classroom, I've experienced firsthand the benefit of embracing childhood. Although the teacher has set goals and created activities to be completed for each day, often the students become side-tracked by their natures. Rather than forcing them to sit at their desk and reprimanding them for the sway in sentiment, the teacher engages the students in their discussion of the topic at hand even though it may postpone the completion of their assignment. Though the children have not necessarily obeyed they have been allowed to express themselves and and in doing so have learned something new which is of interest to them and still relevant to their development.

As a student myself, I know the burden of attempting to fit too much material into one's curriculum. In my high school history class, an entirely new topic was covered in the classroom each week, supplemented by an extensive study guide for completion at home. Too often, rather than exploring the topic, I've been forced to complete the assignment, with answers just sufficient enough to obtain the "A" though not enough to develop a robust understanding of the material. I would finish each week with another stack of papers to demonstrate my effort, but little acquired information to demonstrate my education.

As was emphasized by Rousseau throughout Emile, forcing learning too quickly through useless tasks teaches children to obey, but not to learn. It is important to remember that children are still children, and that the emphasis at this time should be to develop children as children, rather than to forget what they are and treat them as something else.

The relationship between school and society

Society should use its regulatory powers to ensure that its citizens receive equal access to education at the elementary level. W.E.B. DuBois states “Necessary as are laws against lynching and race segregation, we should put more money, effort, and breath in perfecting the Negro elementary school than in anything else, and not pause nor think of pausing until every Negro child between five and fifteen is getting at last nine months a year, five hours a day, five days in the week, in a modern school room, with the best trained teachers, under principals selected for training and executive ability, and serving with teachers during efficiency and good behavior; and with the school under the control of those whose children are educated there. Until this is done and so far as it is not done the bulk of university endowment is being wasted and high schools strive partially in vain.” (Page 108) In this he states that as important as it is to have laws against murder and the degradation of a specific race, it is equally important to perfect the Negro elementary schools by means of energetic endorsements. This effort should not be let up until every negro child between 5-15 years old is getting at least nine months a year, five hours a day, five days a week, in an up-to-date, well equipped classroom; with teachers that are proven to be the best in their field, under principles who specifically skilled in the area of training and executing authority and management and who exercise their authority with efficiency and a high moral example. This must all be done under the control of parents who have a vested interest in the success of the school by way of interest in the success of their children. Without a meaningful education in the early years of their lives, working to improve universities and high schools will be a wasted effort. Society should use its power to ensure that education is successful at every level, focusing on the entire development of the person rather than what may be perceived as the “more important” stages of higher education. Though DuBois is particularly concerned here with the education of Negro students, this is only owing to the fact that they have traditionally been underrepresented and their interests more easily overlooked than those of other ethnic groups. The desire to improve education at the early levels, which will be more effective in the long run, and not to fall into thinking that higher education can be improved without regard to elementary education. This is not a problem unique to Negro education.

I've noticed the importance of elementary education in observing the performance of student in the higher levels. My high school was composed of students from a variety of neighboring elementary and middle schools, of which some were known to provide an inferior education to others. Statistically, students from these inferior schools did not do as well in high school. I personally experienced a struggle to achieve in math, because I had not been adequately prepared, and therefore felt that although I understood some of the concepts, I was completely lost in others, which forced me to work harder just to keep up with those of my peers who had received a stronger education in mathematics early on. Because it is evident that opportunities provided early in life are correlated to future success, the government ought to regulate to ensure equal access to early education opportunities for all of its citizens.


Conclusion

In this paper, I have sought to give and to defend my basic beliefs concerning a general philosophy of education. That the aim of education is to prepare the pupil for the requirements of the future as is exemplified through Dewey's belief that "it must progressively realize present possibilities, and thus make individuals better fitted to cope with later requirements."(p.56) This was further emphasized by personal experiences of learning arithmetic which I still use today. My belief that people learn best through an engaging process of education that has applications to real life was supported by Dewey's proclamation that "...education is not an affair of "telling" and being told..."(p.38) as we learn rather through actively engaging "in learning an action" (p.45) and utilizing our knowledge, as I did in learning Spanish. The role of the educator is to engage in learning early on when the child is most "plastic" (p.377b), through play, because "instruction must not be given the aspect of a compulsion to learn" (p.536e). This was reinforced by my love of reading which has allowed for an influx of knowledge throughout my life. However, I have argued that the educator must also keep in mind the need to remain at the level of their students. In elementary education, this meant remembering that children are still children, a claim which is defended by Rousseau when he states that 'When one is not in a hurry to instruct, one is not in a hurry to demand..." (p.103). Thus, the student is given the opportunity to learn the material at his or her own pace, tailored to their own stage of development. It is important to keep in mind that the educator should not rush to make a "doctor out of a child" but rather "be reasonable" (p.94). This was emphasized by my own experiences in taking it slow in the first grade classroom and my rush to complete assignments which resulted in piles of work, though little actual knowledge was acquired. Finally, I identified the responsibility of society to ensure that its citizens receive equal access to education at the elementary level, a claim which was defended by DuBois, who proclaimed such laws to be as "necessary as are laws against lynching and race segregation" (p.108). As a witness to the result of unequal elementary educations in my area, I fully support this belief. These claims taken together form what I believe to be a strong, internally-consistent philosophy for education.



References


Dewey, John., Democracy and Education, Free Press – Macmillian, 1966.


Du Bois, WEB, The Education of Black People, Ed. H. Aptheker, Monthly Review Press, 1973.


Plato, Republic, Trans. Allan Bloom, Basic Books, 1992, Library of Liberal Arts, 1962.


Rousseau, Jean-Jacques, Emile, Trans. Allan Bloom, Basic Books, 1979.



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