My Educational Philosophy

Socrates warned his students over 2000 years ago that the unexamined life is not worth living. (Kreis) This statement, though made so many years ago, mirrors my own beliefs about learning and knowledge acquisition in today’s society. In my own personal philosophy of education, I believe that individuals must continually examine their surroundings and learn from the things they find. I do not believe that just knowing random facts or bits of information is true education. Just as the ancient Greeks believe, I think that education should teach a child to think and learn independently. The underlying purpose of an education should be to teach a child to think for himself.

According to the Socratic Method, educators must pull knowledge that already exists in a child from that child through a series of questions and answers. (Kreis) I also believe that the skillful use of questioning is extremely beneficial to students. Educators can use various questioning techniques to teach students “how” to think.

One of the chief reasons we should educate our children and continue to learn ourselves as teachers is made clear in the following quote found at http://www.spaceandmotion.com/Philosophy-Education.htm#deMontaigne.Philosophy.Education and attributed to Einstein, .

...knowledge must continually be renewed by ceaseless effort, if it is not to be lost. It resembles a statue of marble which stands in the desert and is continually threatened with burial by the shifting sand. The hands of service must ever be at work, in order that the marble continue to lastingly shine in the sun. To these serving hands mine shall also belong.

Einstein believed that education had to be a continual process. We teach our children the history ...

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... students. Granted, it is not possible to teach every child at an individual pace in the set-up of the current educational system, but ideally each child would follow their own education plan. Instruction would indeed be individualized for every student, not just students with learning deficiencies. There would no longer be a need for IEPs or special education programs.

Works Cited

Gutek, Gerald L. A History of the Western Educational Experience Second Edition. Waveland Press. Prospect Heights. 1995.

Kreis, Steven. (2004). The History Guide – Educational Philosophy.

Retrieved July 31, 2005 from

http://www.historyguide.org/teach.html

Haselhurst, Geoff, and Howie, Karene. (2005). Philosophy of Education:

Educational Philosophy / Teaching Philosophy.

Retreived July 31, 2005 from http://www.spaceandmotion.com/Philosophy-Education.htm