Daniel Bridges

Philosophical Portrait of Myself

The many philosophical portraits that life paints on its educators are just as complicated,

varying, and substantial as the seven billion people that walk this Earth. The different

philosophies people come to have are based on a combination of their past experiences, their

values, and their individual learning styles. No one in their right mind can say that they believe

in something, but then not be able to articulate to you why they feel that way. Even if our beliefs

are biased, immoral, or grossly flawed, there is still some basis from which our philosophical

portraits come from. It is my belief that students should be taught in a safe, highly structured

environment that accommodates the many different learning styles, which would allow every

student the chance to succeed.

My time in Education 201, along with the time I have spent volunteering and observing

all over the Las Vegas valley, has shown me that teachers really do teach from their own specific

learning style. When I first read of this phenomenon in our textbook, I did not believe it. I was

content with the thought that all teachers taught the same way. So, it is safe to say I was pretty

shocked when I began my observations. While attempting to complete my twenty hours of

observing, I have witnessed multiple teachers instructing in ways that differed from their peers. It

took a little while for me to get use to this idea, but I can see how different learning styles affect

how teachers teach. I was able to have a conversation with the Resource Teacher about this

phenomena, and she told me that I will also teach to my specific learning style at times, which is

kinesthetic, but that I should get to know my students individually and try to tailor my lessons to

their individual learning styles as well.

 I do not know if this is the former soldier in me talking, but I also believe that any

approach to educating Americas youth should be based on a solid foundation of standards and

expectations. Yes, it is important to teach students lessons from the important works of literature,

and from some of the issues that are plaguing our world today, but it will all mean nothing if

there are no standards or any sense of accountability for students to grow from. In being a firm

advocate of essentialism, I believe it is a vital approach to educating students because it

adequately prepares them for their lives after school. Yes, there are some supervisors that run

their operations in a relaxed and friendly manner, but they are the minority. If you teach students

core knowledge, discipline, and the basics of morality, they will be able to thrive in any

workplace. The same however, cannot be said if a child is taught in a more social environment. I

am not saying it is impossible to go from a social environment to a stricter one, but it will be

harder for a young adult to go from a relaxed environment to a high pressure environment. We

can save our youth from future stresses if we, at an early age, put them in a structured

environment and teach them to succeed there.

Even though I subscribe to the essentialist way of thinking, I do not feel this era of high

stakes testing is the answer that School Boards and politicians should be trying to present to the

American public. While I do believe testing is an effective way to judge what kids are learning,

we have to examine what we are putting our test scores up against. This era of high stakes testing

was brought about because reports were put out that American students are not doing as well as

other students from all over the world. While this should be a good way to judge success in a

perfect world, we all know this world is far from perfect. For all we know, the other countries

could be lying about their test results, and America is now trying to reach a standard that does

not really exist. I bring up this era of high stakes testing because that will probably be what I will
be helping my students focus on when I begin teaching in the Clark County School District five

years from now. I will be happy to finally be in a classroom and helping young people, but a

little bit of me will be bothered by the fact that I will be constantly teaching my students to pass

standardized tests.

Instead of being worried about what other countries are doing, it is my belief that

America needs to judge its successes and failures off of whether its students are still going to

college, and if we are still a major force in the global market. If we judged America based of

these standards, we would see that we are still one of the best nations on the face of this planet.

Not only are American universities thriving, but when Americas 2008 recession began, the

entire world felt the pinch as well. Long story short, it is my philosophy that America needs to

find a way to unilaterally teach kids of all learning styles, we need to be able to develop an

approach to education that keeps essentialism at the core of all of our lesson plans, and we need

to stop being worried about what other countries say they can do, and be more focused on

ourselves and our students.