My Philosophy of Education Essay

For me, the decision to become a teacher is more of a way of life than a career. I have always loved school, practicing at being school marm from a young age, and voraciously devouring every shred of education offered me in my career as a student. If it were possible, I would be a student for the rest of my life. And then I still would not have learned enough. As a teacher, I hope to instill this appetite for knowledge in secondary students. They are, after all, the future leaders of the world, and what better place to expand the minds of the generations to come than here in Appalachia where education programs, especially the sciences, which I plan to teach, are poorly funded and children’s dreams

Education entails individual human development in the cognitive, emotional, creative and social areas. All children are entitled to a free education regardless of race, cultural background or handicaps. For education to be an effective part of the students life, the student and teacher must be actively and enthusiastically involved in learning. A teacher needs to be well prepared and organized. They need to know the perspective goals for each student and ways to achieve these goals. Teachers need to work with students to help them grow and develop ways to use their knowledge.

"Some people make things happen, some watch while things happen, and some wonder ‘what happened?’ Which type of person are you?" author unknown.

My purpose of getting any education was to learn all that I can learn and to be a productive citizen in today's society. My purpose of getting an education and pursuing a degree in elementary education is to have an impact on many students' futures, change students' lives, and to help students to believe in themselves. I will do this by believing in my students and pushing them to achieve their goals. As a teacher, I understand that politics and geographic zones have a big influence on what schools are supplied with, and they can have an impact on the education that a student gets. As a teacher, I will not let these things get in the way of providing my students with a quality education, and I will not let these things hinder what my students learn.

The purpose of public education is greatly debated in this country. The obvious, ultimate goal is to educate people. I believe it can be argued that by trying to create perfect citizens, encourage free expression, change society, control behavior, and produce high standardized test scores, that goal has been blurred. Not saying that these are improper objectives, but the main goal has been lost. Social Reconstructionist Paulo Freire noticed this problem in the 1960’s. He states, “Schools can either educate and liberate, or miseducate and oppress.” (143) I agree with Freire; a proper education is irreplaceable. It not only empowers individuals and improves their self-concept, but it also improves society

Generally when you compare twins you find that they are different in many ways. Even if they are identical and they look exactly alike they usually have different personalities. Normally they are extreme opposites; one takes up the more dominant outgoing personality while the other is shy and more of a follower. Ever since my sister and I were little I have taken on the more dominant role. From the time of playing school when I was little I have always loved being in control. Of course, I was always the teacher and got to boss everyone around. Even into my high school years I took pride in being captain of my basketball team and my teammates looking to me as the leader. I have never shied

As an educator we all struggle with philosophy and where to go from there once we decide what our set of beliefs are. Once we put our philosophy in place, we then struggle with changing our philosophy. I believe that philosophies can be always changing any given situation and in order for growth as an educator we have to be aware of the situations that can change our philosophy, as well as being true to our core beliefs. However, in order for this to happen we must understand what philosophy is, and what it is not and how it fall in line with ideology and theories. For this assignment, I will compare and contrast philosophy, ideology, and theory.

Becoming a teacher has always been one of my goals in life. What motivates me to become a teacher is that I love to help and teach children new things in life. I try to do this in a very unique way. I love to see kids happy. I think that being a teacher is a very rewarding job. Teachers should try to teach their students new things with a positive attitude, with enthusiasm and interest. Giving more attention to students of younger ages is especially important. It is a good feeling to see students become knowledgeable in all aspects and to prepare students to be successful for the good of society.

I believe is knowledge is inherited. Fortunate for some, not too fortunate for others. All children ate born with the ability to learn, but speed is what makes the difference. A perfect example is a student that goes to Yale, more than likely has previous generations that attended there. On the other hand, a student that has parents without a college degree, does not feel as smart around a future Yale student. This is where the students start putting themselves into groups. Forcault says that power shapes knowledge and knowledge shapes power and I could not agree more.

Education is the process of learning that can take place anywhere and at any time. I believe that creativity and activity as well as books and lessons are essential to the learning process. As a teacher, I hope to instill in the children a sense of knowledge and self-worth that will remain with them throughout their lives.

What is my philosophy of education? For hours I have tried to decide what exactly that is. However after much thought I have not been able to come up with an exact answer. After much consideration I have decided that I have no real philosophy but I have goals that one day I will achieve. Although the goals sound simple I know that they will be difficult to attain.

There are five basic areas of philosophy regarding education. I am going to discuss the two that are nearest to my own educational philosophy. The aim of Perennialism philosophy of education is to ensure that all students receive an educational understanding about the ideas of Western civilization. They emphasize the rational thinking ability of students. With Perennialism they feel that correct and critical thinking should be the primary objective of all students and teachers. Whereas the Essentialist philosophy is the belief that all students should be taught a core of common knowledge in an organized and controlled process. Educators should prepare students for life with the sound practical education. The focus is that educators should instill good morale values, downplaying vocational courses. Essentialist have a firm belief of “back to basics” approach to education. Although both Perennialism and Essentialism have excellent ideas, they also have some issues. I read through both philosophies and found points from each philosophy that I felt would assist me with forming my philosophy along with the assistance of some very influential people in my life.

Education is an experience that without a doubt no one can avoid at least for a while. While this process should be positive sometimes it can seem more negative. People should not look back at their education and perceive it as a “bad” thing or a waste of time. Logically one would think that a person is entitled to their own opinion; however, the opinion of one’s education should never be portrayed as a negative one. Every teacher or educator, whether they realize it or not, has developed an educational philosophy probably starting at the time they became interested in the field of education. It is through this educational

One reason schools have many subjects is to make their students well rounded; another is to help students develop their ability to reason. I agree with Rousseau’s idea that students should be taught to reason and should care about and respect others. Throughout one’s life they need to reason to make decisions. I think students should be taught history so that they do not remake the mistakes of the past. A person should also know how to read and write so that they can function in society. Thus, several attributes of education combine to create curriculum.

Plato/Socrates and Rousseau have become major philosophical approaches. All these opinions are different compared to mine. Some are the same and some are different. I do agree with some of the philosophers’ points, but some I disagree with. My philosophical view relates to some of the philosophers views.