My Philosophy of Education - Teaching Survival Skills

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My Philosophy of Education - Teaching Survival Skills

I fundamentally believe that genetics plays more of a role in the classroom than most are willing to admit. Ever wonder why some people are better at certain things than other people. Why can some people do math in their heads and others need paper and pencil to add? I think it has more to do with genetics and instinctual factors. Think of it in terms of survival skills. We will be more likely to survive if we stick with the cognitive abilities that we are good at.

So what does survival skills have to do with teaching children? The younger a child is the more in tune they are with the basic human instincts. Now granted a five year old in not going to have to run away from a lion, but he will instinctually want to be successful. Success is based on survival. Success at one point meant hunting for food to feed oneself. Being able to survive enables the person to pass on genetic material to offspring. Today, we still supply food to our family but in a different way. Over time humans instinctually develop, realizing that by taking good care of ones offspring could insure that the offspring will then themselves produce offspring. Now apply the argument of survival to the classroom. What do children do that makes us realize that they still using instinctual methods?

My philosophy is a work in progress but I believe that learning itself is based on survival. Why do parents and teachers reward student? Parents realize that with good grades comes better paying jobs. With better paying jobs comes a better lifestyle and better health. Hence, healthier children and strong, healthy offspring.

Another point on survival has to do with the special education student. The human race has genetic mutated over time. Mutation is a change in the DNA bases and sequences. Take dyslexia for example, over time for what ever reason, the genetic make up of society has mutated and dyslexia is still around. It must have contributed to survival of the human race. I think this true for all learning disabilities. Did the learning disabilities help us survive? Did human DNA mutate to better our survival skills?

I have many questions that are still unanswered.

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