Philosophy of Education
In 2007, I retired after a 22-year career as a solar technology engineer. Shortly thereafter I began to tutor high school students in algebra. I enjoyed this and found it quite rewarding. So I decided to go back to school and get a teaching certificate. This is the process in which I am now engaged.
This paper is an attempt to work out for the first time my philosophy as a teacher. For me it is breaking new ground altogether. I begin the paper with my reasons for wishing to become a teacher and an examination of my own socialization, beliefs and values. Then I address the core issues of my educational philosophy, what is the purpose of education and the roles of society, teachers and students. Finally I examine some issues relating school to society, particularly here in New Mexico.
What Has Motivated Me to Pursue a Teaching Career?
My motivation to be a teacher stems from a) the value of “doing good” that is part of my heritage, b) the pure joy that I get from learning, and c) the enjoyment and positive meaning I’ve experienced in the role of a tutor (teacher and mentor).
First, I learned from my parents to value service to others. They were missionaries in Costa Rica, and in their view, their lives and their work were a calling to service to God and to their fellow man. Service, then, has been a value I’ve embraced throughout my life, both in my career as an engineer and now, as I prepare for a second career as a teacher.
Secondly, I greatly enjoy learning for its own sake and this is a source of motivation for me. One of the happiest times of my life was an engineering student back in the early 1980’s. I thrived in the environment of the university and in particular I experienced a lot of joy and satisfaction from learning. I especially enjoyed the study of algebra and calculus and excelled in those classes. At one point in time I recall thinking to myself that teaching math could easily be an alternate career choice. That idea resurfaced at the time of my retirement.
Finally, I am also motivated by the fact that I enjoy teaching. In my work as an engineer I had and enjoyed opportunities to teach solar technology to adults, and more recently (since 2007) I’ve thoroughly enjoyed tutored high school students in math. This recent experience confirmed for me that teaching will probably give me great satisfaction and a strong sense of meaning.
How have I been socialized, and how will my beliefs, values, and experiences impact my students?
Let me start this discussion by listing my basic values and beliefs that will guide my practice.
- I am an evangelical Christian; among these I would be considered a liberal. As a teacher I will model Christian principles. This will impact my students by providing them with a role model in terms of conduct and integrity.
- I consider education to be a great treasure and a great joy. I believe this will impact my students. I intend that my enthusiasm be infectious.
- I know that the cards are stacked against many people. There is racism, cultural bigotry, gender discrimination, and discrimination against people with special needs. Much of these inequities are institutionalized in this country. As a teacher I will make myself aware of the students (and colleagues) who are at the receiving end of inequities. I would like to believe that I will have the courage and initiative to be proactive in fighting these injustices.
- I believe and value the work ethic and am convinced that individuals can through hard labor and discipline overcome the obstacles in their life, including discrimination. I believe in hope, hard work, self-motivation, persistence, enthusiasm, and a high standard of excellence. In the course of my teaching, my students will be exposed to these values. If I also walk the talk, many of them are likely to learn them.
- I value other cultures, including the two in which I was raised. My own multicultural experiences will help me to be sensitive and open to the various cultures that my students will bring to the classroom. I will make it my job to learn about the backgrounds of my students and find ways to use these differences in my classroom in a positive way.
What is an Education? What is the Purpose of an Education?
An education is the means whereby individuals are prepared for life in society. It is one of the important ways by which the individual is equipped with the “psychological tools” of the culture[1]. These tools are such things as language, writing, music, math, history, and sciences. These and other such tools equip the individual to both enjoy the world and human culture in all of its rich dimensions and to be successful in navigating the world, in having an impact on it, and in achieving his objectives in life.
I believe that grade school and high school should have the goal of fully equipping the individual not merely preparing them for the workforce. Rather than place a student into a vocational track, I believe he should be given the widest possible range of knowledge and skills. School administrators and teachers should not make decisions that shunt a student off onto a diminished path of learning.
A key indicator of the success of an education is that the students become capable of thinking for themselves and of solving problems. These skills will enable the individual to make a contribution and experience success in a rapidly changing world. Part of the ability to think for oneself is the wisdom and ability to select one’s own values and make one’s own value judgments. I intend to equip my students with tools and ways to frame the right questions and the methods for solving not just math and science problems but the problems they face in their lives.
The quality of an education determines the size of a person’s world. Consider that a formal education is one of the means whereby an individual’s mind is shaped. Consider that it is through the senses and the mind that a person knows and interacts with the world. With the mind, the individual both understands the world and is able to grapple with it. For that reason, the size or scope a person’s world is limited by his knowledge, his habits of thought, his capabilities and know how. A poorly educated person lives in a world diminished by all the things that he does not know about and all the ways of dealing with the world that are outside of his grasp. The world of a well-educated person, in contrast, is larger with a greater scope and with a wealth of diversity, of detail and of beauty. And the educated person has in his hands abundant resources and a multiple array of tools with which to know the world and to manipulate or impact it. For this reason, K-12 schooling should not short change an individual for any reason.
An important class of the psychological tools that come with an education are social tools. These are the knowledge, the understanding, the skills, the experience, and the capabilities that enable an individual to function as a social creature. An education plays a significant role in the socialization of the child. Together with life at home and in the community, the school is the place where a child develops her social persona, her concept of who she is and how she believes that other see her. It helps to shape her thoughts about and her attitudes towards others and to equip her with interpersonal skills.
As an aside, it’s worth noting that in kindergarten and in the first years of grade school, adults teach social customs and rules explicitly to the children. After that social education becomes less explicit and more a matter of environment. In other words, the school is the social milieu, the environment that will play a significant role in a person’s social development. One of the inferences of this is that while the student’s peers have perhaps a greater role in the socialization process, as the teacher, I can have a very powerful influence. The classroom is not only the place where I will teach math and science but is also a microcosm of the community in which I will have an influential role.
The Roles and Goals of the Student and of the Teacher
The roles of teacher and student and the goals they should pursue are interdependent and for me are more easily treated together.
The student is the central player in the learning process and he/she largely determines what learning takes place. I, the teacher, have a vital but secondary role.
A primary goal of a student is to become a self-regulated learner. The student must learn to be the driving force behind his or her own education. A self-regulated learner sets her own goals and determines the strategies and tactics she will employ to reach them. She provides her own motivation and generates her own rewards. She evaluates her own performance and makes adjustments to improve it. One of the teacher’s roles then is to teach explicitly the knowledge and skill’s of learning and to encourage students to adopt them[2].
If a key to education is learning to think for oneself and to determine one’s own values, then my role as a teacher is to provide my students with the opportunities to exercise and articulate their own ideas and thoughts.
I believe a student must strive for excellence. My job is to set the standard in my classroom, both the academic and the social standard.
The student’s role is to follow a basic code of conduct that contributes to a good learning environment. As the teacher, that environment is ultimately my responsibility. I.e. I shape the climate of my classroom.
My goal is to create an environment of freedom of will and of expression. By my lead and my example I help to shape my class into a democratic community where each person is recognized, respected and honored for who they are, for their culture and the knowledge and experiences they bring to the class. My students’ role is to be contributing and participating members of the community. I give my students the opportunities to express their ideas and their feelings; it’s up to them to avail themselves of those opportunities. I stand up for and articulate my values to my classroom I encourage them to think about and articulate their own. These are then the values and goals that will guide my practice.
Regarding Privilege & Cultural Sensitivity
The way that I conduct my classroom will determine whether or not the issue of privilege is properly addressed. My goal is to make my classroom one where everyone is respected and given voice.
The essential elements in my classroom that will make my practice culturally relevant or sensitive are acknowledgement of each individual and the background and experiences that he/she brings to the class. A culturally relevant practice includes the conscious acknowledgement in my classroom of the various cultures that are represented. It involves treating with respect and inclusion all the individuals in the classroom and the cultures they bring with them.
Discipline in the Classroom
If I succeed in reaching my own goals in the classroom it should be an environment in which learning is an adventure in which everyone is engaged. If I succeed, then discipline will take care of itself. But what do I do when a student is disruptive? I will enforce acceptable classroom behavior in a firm but mild manner.
The Social Benefit of Schooling
Education’s primary purpose is not so much to benefit society but to benefit the student. However, the knowledge, skills, and positive qualities of character that come from an education are a benefit to society. As a general statement, I believe that the better the education of the individual the greater their potential to make a positive contribution to society. I believe that an education serves first the student and, as a by-product, serves society.
But I do not believe that educators should make decisions about a student’s curriculum that effectively shuttles them off to a future of menial or poorly rewarded work. Schools should strive to provide the same solid education to all of its students. I realize that there is a competing principle at play. Some students have mental disabilities that suggest they will not be able to succeed with the standard curriculum. From what I’ve seen of inclusive classrooms I’m convinced that classroom can function at least at the grade school level with students of all types attending the same class, at least for part of their curriculum.
Financing Grade School and High Schools in the USA
The disparity between this country’s best and worst schools is a result of the inequality of the resources made available to the different schools. In the current national political climate it may be difficult to achieve, but I think that the funding of schools needs to be equitable on a per capita basis. It’s easy to reach that conclusion. But how this can be achieved is the more difficult question. It seems intractable, but for me this is one issue that should be under the purview of the federal not the state government. It is a national security issue, not a state issue. Unless more resources are provided to schools in “poorer” neighborhoods, our country will stagnate and continue to drop as a competitor in the world economy.
Who Should Determine the Curriculum Taught in School?
I think that experienced educators should be responsible for decisions about curriculum. I think that this will come about most optimally by both federal and state involvement in the process. I think that it should be professional educators at both the federal and state level who have this responsibility.
How Is Student Learning in my Classroom Impacted by the Social, Economic, Political, and Cultural Paradigms in the United States and New Mexico?
My classroom will be one of the arenas in which the US and New Mexico’s social, economic, political, and cultural paradigms are played out. I am likely to have students who are from disadvantaged backgrounds. I will have students whose first language is not English. I’ll have students whose parents are themselves poorly educated – students who have grown up in homes where the fundamental attitudes and skills towards higher education are missing. I am going to encounter in my classroom many of the challenges and difficulties that we have read about during this course.
The problems in our society here in New Mexico will come into class with my students and with me. The classroom will be a microcosm of the society at large. I’ll be faced with the challenge of closing the gap with students who are slated to become casualties of the school system. I will face the challenge of having a positive impact, of making a difference. How these issues play out in my classroom will be determined by the wisdom and effort that I bring to the practice.
Closing Comments
What I have expressed here are the first thoughts of a beginning teacher. I’m convinced that when I have had some time as a teacher my philosophy will be greatly influenced by my experience teaching. Nonetheless, at this point in time I have a strong sense of the critical value of education and have an initial set of goals and values to guide me. Time and effort will bring maturity and perspective.
References
Snowman, J., McCown, R., & Biehler, R. (2009). Psychology Applied to Teaching. Houghton Mifflin Company. Boston.
Tozer, S.E., Senese, G., & Violas, P.C. (2009). School and Society, Historical and Contemporary Perspectives. McGraw Hill. Boston.
