Katie Hardy

EDUC 300
Prof. Thomas
A Philosophy of Education: The Early Draft

Throughout my experiences visiting multiple classrooms, taking high school education

classes, as well as college-level education classes, I have discovered that there are five different

philosophies of education. In my Foundations of American Education class specifically, I have

learned that there are five philosophical models of education: essentialism, perennialism,

progressivism, social Reconstructionism, and existentialism. After much thought, I believe that

the philosophy I most closely will follow is progressivism. As described in my classes textbook,

Teachers, Schools, and Society by David Sadker and Karen Zittleman, progressivism is focused

around the thoughts and interests of students (p. 190). One of the three student-centered

philosophies listed above, progressivism includes the use of real world experiences or

applications to help the student learn the material and encourages students to apply

pragmatism, or determining if an idea is a sound one by testing it. To sum it up in a simple idea,

progressivism is about doing not just reading.

The most famous practitioner of progressivism is John Dewey, most well-known for

opening the Laboratory School in Chicago in 1896 (p. 191). The Laboratory School was a place

where educators could test and practice their new ideas; it is an example of progressivism in

action! Deweys school also had multiple rooms where all sorts of different methods were

practiced and especially with ones that focused on group social interaction.

There are personal events that influenced this belief too. For example, by visiting

historical places like Mount Vernon always made me more interested in history. Seeing these

real places near my home made the material I learned stick better in my head, and even

remember to this day. Another example is when I had to create a budget in my eighth grade
civics class. I learned how to write a check, balance my budget, and watch the amount of

money I had to spend a month, all of which prepared me for money situations I would deal with

has I got older.

I also find that there are aspects of other philosophies that I can agree with. Within

social Reconstructionism, I like the idea of encouraging students to go outside the schools to

make a difference in the world. I also like the idea of having a core curriculum, as stated in the

model of essentialism, but I do not like how far it has gone in todays schools.

The Purpose of Education

Schools believe that students should have a basic standard in having common sense and

be able to learn things very quickly. Ive had to learn various math concepts, scientific formulas,

historical dates, and grammar rules in a matter of weeks just so I can pass a standardized test.

While these are still important, I think that there should be a different purpose of education. I

have a very simple idea of the purpose of education. I believe that students should be able to

thrive in the world we live in, and become well-educated and productive citizens. To elaborate,

I think that students should know how to solve real-world problems, whether it is economic,

social, or political in nature. Right now, there are a lot of people who struggle to become

successful in todays world, whether it be from lack of education, or just not having the set of

skills needed to do well in todays society. Skills like balancing a budget, using a computer,

completing simple calculations are only a few of the necessary skills needed to make it in the

world we live in today. Schools should emphasize real-world applications to the material

students learn.

The idea of standardized testing and knowing different things within the core curriculum

is a great essentialist idea, but it has been blown way out of proportions in todays school, and

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sadly it is what schools are currently expecting students to succeed at. However, there are

components of my progressive ideas that are slowly integrating themselves into schools today.

Hopefully, one day when I am a future elementary school teacher, I can implement these

progressive ideas into my classroom, while still meeting school standards.

What Should Be Taught And Why

As stated earlier, I think that schools should be teaching real- life skills, and information

that is of interest to the students themselves. A lot of what is in the core curriculum today is

important to learn and can be of interest to students, but there should be a bigger emphasis on

material that can be applied to the real world, or just expanding on the skills the students may

already have. In my opinion, common sense can get you far in life, and while it is great that a

student can recite their multiplication tables or important dates of the Civil War, if a student

does not have the common sense to know what is right and wrong or how to behave

appropriately, it can hurt them in the future once they are out on their own. For example, I

remember in my fourth grade class, my teacher highlighted common sense while teaching us

about percentages: which percentage gets you the better deal on peaches? Applying real

world scenarios into the math lesson made it all the more appealing to learn, especially since I

love peaches.

I believe that a person is well-educated when know how to be self-sufficient and

provide for themselves, as well as have knowledge of whatever information society deems to

be important. Schools change their curriculum based on societys needs, and what kind

knowledge students need to learn to help society advance. I personally will not be able to select

the curriculum I will teach to my future students, since that is up to the state and their

standards (like the SOLs in Virginia). However, I can bring in real world applications while

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teaching these standards to make the state happy, and help my future students become better

members of society. I can also bring in information that will appeal to each student, so that way

they will be able to focus more on what they are learning, and have fun while learning!

The Nature of the Learner

As I have learned in every education class I have taken, every child is unique and

different in how they learn. With that idea though, I still think that every child does have a good

level of responsibility for their own learning. Students should want to learn, and put in the

effort to succeed and learn the material correctly. All students are curious, and should want to

pursue that curiosity in their education. They should want to make themselves better, whether

it is by mastering the material on a test or by correctly writing a compound sentence. Students

should also know that it is okay to mistakes, since mistakes can only make us stronger as

individuals. Students are not responsible for teaching the material themselves- that is the

teachers job! But they should be responsible for having the enthusiasm and inner drive to

succeed and learn more information.

I expect my future students to fuel their own curiosity, and learn things that can be

applied to the world they live in. I will help by getting to know my students, their likes and

dislikes, and always encourage them in whatever way I can. Also, they should want to work

with their fellow peers. Working with others is a life skill that will never fade away, and can be

applied to all levels of education and in the work force as well. Hopefully, my students will be

able to work well with each other, since there will be a lot of group work, but still some

individual work as well. In the real world, both exist. I find this to be a very progressive idea,

since what I will be bringing into my future classroom will be based on real world applications.

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Also it will meet the wants of the students (some students prefer working in groups, some

students want to work by themselves), which is also a progressive idea.

The Role of the Teacher

A teacher is a very important figure in the classroom- mainly because they are the ones

running it! Teachers have to work with many different kinds of people: students, parents,

administrators, fellow teachers, and other professional figures in the school system. I hope to

have positive and professional relationships with all of these different figures through by

keeping the same ideals and values that I hold very highly. For example, I am a big advocate for

the golden rule: treat others as you would like others to treat you. Also, always trying to be

positive, willing to make things work, and show that I can go the extra mile if needed to get

something done for myself and others.

In my work, I hope to promote some of my values such as hard work, dedication,

cooperation, and never giving up. I plan on promoting these values by showing in examples,

and also stressing it in as many different lessons or stories as possible. I also plan on leading by

example, since students learn so many ideas just by watching their teacher; hopefully they will

learn a lot of important values from me! All of these values and ideas are progressive in nature

in my opinion since they require students to learn through example (me!) and come up with

their own opinions and questions to these kinds of ideas and values.

Teaching Methods That Should Be Used and Why

Throughout my school career, I have been in many classrooms as a student, as an

observer, and also as a volunteer. By visiting so many classrooms, I have seen many

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characteristics that I like that I hope to one day implement in my future classroom. For

example, I have seen both in my previous school classes and at my time at Waterman

Elementary school a great layout of student desks. I love it when elementary school classrooms

have desks shaped into groups. I believe it helps foster the idea of cooperation and even team

work, and makes it easy for group tasks. Another characteristic I have seen is student work

displayed on the walls. I feel like by displaying their work, students will feel a sense of

accomplishment, and will take greater interest into what they produce. Students taking a

greater interest in what they are learning and group work, are ideas that can be found in the

progressive model of education.

I am still in the process of learning the best way to teach my future students. What I

hope I will be able to do though is meet the interests and ideas of my students. I want to hear

their input, and figure out the best way for them to learn. I believe that if students are

interested in what they are learning, they will become more engaged and focused in learning

the material, and hopefully work harder to master the material. I hope that I will be able to pull

real world scenarios and knowledge to make a lesson more applicable to students, so that way

they can see that the material they have to learn is material worth knowing, and then that

material can stick with them for the rest of their lives.

References

Sadker, D. M., & Zittleman, K. R. (2012). Teachers, schools, and society: A brief introduction to

education (3rd ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.