¶ … Educational Philosophy
Although not old in years and experience, my educational philosophy is fortunately commensurate with the institution I am presently working for as a teacher. This institution is committed to one of the oldest and most respected academic traditions in existence, that of the Jesuit Catholic tradition of rigorous, questioning inquiry in education. It also stresses a strong community service tradition, along with the Catholic faith tradition. It combines justice education with academic excellence. It stresses that students must take pride in their African-American identity, and show pride and respect for themselves and their community by applying themselves to their studies with intellectual engagement as well as with a sense of duty.
This stress upon the great works of the religious tradition may seem to connect the school to the academic tradition and philosophy of perennialism. This educational philosophy advocates the use of original, translated but not abridged, great books of the Western tradition, rather than textbooks. Perrenialism's basic argument is that the original work is the work of genius, rather than the commentary. This stress upon inquiry and examination of basic, great works of text and training the mind is in line with the Jesuit tradition. However, my school and my own belief recognizes that the African-American canon is still evolving, and is an important part of student's lives and other American tradition of great texts. Thus, more contemporary texts are incorporated into the curriculum than might be typical of a perrenialism school.
In line with the thinking of secular educational perennialists, the school and my own educational philosophy emphasizes the importance of learning how to reason, rather than learning facts by rote. Perrenialists argue that accurate, independent reasoning defines the greatest difference between an uneducated mind and an educated mind. The ability to make intelligent choices, rather than obedience, marks the truly good student. My school, which is located in a section of Chicago where students are often challenged in their faith and belief structures with negative...
Educational Philosophy More than ever, teachers have myriad of decisions to make in their classrooms. Naturally, they have to determine curricula, how to rate the students on their work and the specific grades to give to each pupil. However, a teacher's responsibility goes far beyond this. They must decide what other skills would be helpful, or even essential, to live in this fast-paced global environment. Beyond the academics, students need education
Mathematics has its own internal logic and creates and obeys its own 'rules,' just as a beautiful picture obeys the rules of proportion (or deliberately violate but acknowledges the rules of form as seen in the artwork of Picasso). Great art or important science holds true to the logical rules of a discipline. What is good in art and science holds true to valid principles of a correspondence to
In many learning situations, however, there is no ultimate truth upon which the teacher can call to instruct her students. Instead, many topics are still controversial, even as they are a part of history. In this case, teachers must acknowledge this fact as true, leading to a valuable lesson for students who may assume that textbooks and authority figures are always right. In some cases, however, the teacher must
Here the emphasis is on complete neutrality, the child being exposed to all different ways of thinking and believing (Cahn, p. 421). In the end the child will make his own choice as to what is best. Such complete freedom; however, rests upon a notion that children might indeed make incorrect choices; ones that are base don incomplete knowledge of the real world. The need to make rational choice
Educational Philosophy Comparison: John Dewey vs. William Bagley There have always been philosophical battles between progressive thinkers and conservative thinkers when it comes to the education of America's children. Those wars were waged in the 18th, 19th, and 20th Centuries, and educators from both sides, and some in the middle or the far left or far right, are still involved in the same philosophical scrimmages today. It's healthy though, to look
Synthesize traditional and progressive education for today's students. Education digest. Vol. 68, Issue 7, 4-8. Retrieved January 17, 2011, from: http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?hid=12&sid=90682ec6-64e1-4958-adc2-32dc1555fcc4%40sessionmgr13&vid=4&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=aph&an=9317873 Cohen, L.M. & Gelbrich, J. (1999). Philosophical perspectives in education. Oregon State University, School of Education. Retrieved January 17, 2011, from: http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/ed416/PP2.html Moser, R.D. (1951, July). The educational philopophy of William T. Harris. Peabody Journal of education. Vol. 29, No. 1, 14-33 Retrieved January 17, 2011, from http://www. Jstor, org/stable/1489104 Nehring,
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