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Philosophy of Education Essays

Decent Essays

Philosophy of Education

No society has ever survived without some system of education. Education is, perhaps, the most important of all social systems because it enables all the others by training individuals for their social roles. Still, it is a system which is far too complicated to perfect or even define. What is the “best” way to teach? What knowledge is it necessary for an “educated” person to attain? Should an education for one be the same as for another? In such an individual-centered field, the answers to these questions are as varied as the individual teachers, students, and others themselves. There is no correct answer; each teacher’s philosophy of education is surely founded on their own experience, societal views, and …show more content…

The canons of literature, the principles of science, the exploration of history, and many more all build a foundation of what it is to be human and part of a human society. Lacking such an essential base, more liberal philosophies collapse.

These essentials, however, do not complete the picture. Knowledge and education cannot exist in a vacuum; just because a certain volume of human knowledge does exist does not necessarily mean it will be acquired or even prove useful without the right conditions. When teaching people, one cannot neglect the role of the individual in his or her own education. Students must want to learn, they must be motivated to acquire knowledge, and they must be inspired to hold and apply it beyond a chapter test or school year. By giving individual credence, validity, and applicability to the material we teach, we grant the student the opportunity to intrinsically pursue knowledge and to apply the “facts” of the world to new situations, question, not just accept, and shape their own informed opinions. If the essentials are the roots of education, individual motivation is its branches, and the fruit it supports are the educated people such a system eventually bares.

Perhaps the goal of schooling is not necessarily to learn, but rather to learn how to learn. To suggest education can occur in a set amount of time or that “educated” is a binary state is to neglect the influence of the individual on the process. To merely “know”

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