My Philosophy of Education - Essay Example

My Philosophy of Education Philosophy combines two words of the Greek language; “philos” and “sophy”. Philos means affection and sophy is the Greek word for wisdom. Hence, when the two terms are combined, they mean love/affection for knowledge/wisdom (teachersrock.net, n.d., p. 4). Conventionally, philosophy is the term used for a individual’s or a group’s general ideology, concepts and behaviors. Thus, philosophy of education means the general perceptions, ideology and attitudes towards the education. For a teacher, the educational philosophy should contain the ability to understand how to teach and the knowledge of the curriculum. When planning the educational philosophy, we should consider our purpose and know our goals to teach the students. The educational philosophy consists of theories that include logic, epistemology, metaphysics, and axiology. Logic finds answers to questions and is thus a way to evaluate arguments. Epistemology is the study of the philosophy of knowledge. It provides insight into such dimensions of knowledge as faith, reason and truth. Metaphysics is the study of reality (metaphysics-for-life.com, n.d.). It provides insight into the spiritual and religious knowledge and issues. Axiology is the knowledge about values. As a professional educator, we should have the right values, morals, and motivations to inculcate in the students. In the realm of the philosophy of education, there are certain questions that need be answered. They are: Who should know? What to know? How to know? When to know? And Where to know? This set of who, what, how, when and where completely defines the philosophy of education. Let’s start from the answer to the first question; Who should know? My philosophy of education says that everybody should know. Education is a fundamental necessity of every human being in the present age. It is not a matter of choice. Anyone who is born in the present age is obliged to receive education irrespective of his/her financial status. It is for this reason that going to school is compulsory for both the boys and the girls. What to know? is a suitable topic for debate. There has conventionally been considerable debate about what should be included in the curriculum and what not. These days, there is increased emphasis upon the importance of inclusion of such controversial topics in the curriculum as sex education. I believe that anything can be taught but following the standards of ethics. For example, students must be educated upon the importance of using contraception in sex and be made aware of the different kinds of sexually transmitted diseases and the potential protective measures that can be taken to avoid them. The students must not, however, be shown any sexually explicit material in the name of education. This is my educational philosophy for a classroom setting. In the present age, knowledge is omnipresent. Normally, people are expected to know principally about the profession that they have formerly seeked education in, but nowadays, there is so much awareness that an individual that has not even pursued education about a certain field can get to know pretty much about that. This can be explained with the help of an example. Let’s suppose a teenage boy feels that his chest is a little too puffy than it should be in the boys his age. He needs to know if there is a medical problem, but he thinks that the condition is too embarrassing to discuss openly with his parents, siblings, friends or the doctor. It is just he who knows it and wants to do something about it. But the boy does not need to disclose his condition to anybody as long as he has a computer with an internet connection. All the boy needs to do is type “what causes puffy chest in teenage boys” in the search engine and the next thing he sees is links to innumerable articles about gynecomastia – that is a condition in which men grow unusually large chest because of hormonal imbalances. The boy gets to learn the name of his condition for the first time, and the moment he knows the name “gynecomastia”, he gets to know what are the causes, symptoms and treatment for this condition. The boy that was skeptical bout his own gender identity before knowing the name and causes of his condition can now safely assume that he is as much a male as anybody else. Likewise, people use such websites as Youtube to get to know how a certain operation is done. Youtube is a rich source of information with videos about all types of operations ranging from removal of stones from the kidney to gynecomastia surgery. The answer to; How to know? is very easy in the present age with so many sources of information. These days, sources of education are so rampant that one need not necessarily go to the school for getting education, though one needs certificates in order to receive the verifiable education. An individual that cannot afford going to school can still receive education online. Youtube is the best source of information these days. There are all kinds of videos addressing hundreds of thousands of topics. They educate the audiences without having them go anywhere for the information. Youtube is a potential example of the source of virtual education. Virtual education is more effective than the education that is received in the classroom for many reasons. In the classroom education, a student has to make notes. The time consumed in making the notes does not really enable the student to concentrate upon the lecture. On the other hand, because virtual education is recorded, the student does not need to make notes so the whole attention of the student is directed at hearing the lecture and building the concepts. Moreover, virtual education provides the student with an opportunity to rewind the lecture and hear it again and again until the concept is clear. This is not possible to achieve in the classroom lecture. This also provides answer to; where to know? People can join schools and also learn on their own reading books and reviewing literature online. Teachers have an important role to play in deciding the way students learn things. There are two primary ways to assess the students’ skills; namely the authentic assessment and the traditional assessment. The traditional assessment is the students’ evaluation through such regular tools as MCQ exams. On the other hand, authentic assessment is “A form of assessment in which students are asked to perform real-world tasks that demonstrate meaningful application of essential knowledge and skills” (Mueller, 2011). Authentic assessment is a practice that is increasingly being used by teachers in the advanced education systems. This assessment system is way off the traditional assessment system that is more objective-type. Authentic assessment is theoretical, but the theoretical evaluation is completely different from the theoretical assessment that has conventionally been in practice. Theoretical assessment is normally related with creativity. In the past, students’ creativity was checked by making them write the essays on such simple subjects as “my first day at school”, “my favorite gift” or “my pet”. But these topics for creative writing have become quite old-school and there are a lot of model essays available on the internet and in the guide books for students to retrieve ideas about these essays from. Moreover, making students write upon such simple topics may enhance their creative skills slightly, but there is little room for improvement of the students’ analytical skills. With the growth of literature over the decades and so many things to write about in the present age, there is a need to take the creativity and the analytical skills of the students to a further level. The answer to; when to know? requires more technique than any other question. There has to be systematic progress of knowledge right from the kindergarten till PhD. It is for the educationalists to decide what should be taught to the students at a particular stage of education. References: metaphysics-for-life.com. (n.d.). Of the Five Branches of Philosophy, Metaphysics is first and foremost. Retrieved from http://www.metaphysics-for-life.com/branches-of-philosophy.html. Mueller, J. (2011). What is Authentic Assessment? Retrieved from http://jfmueller.faculty.noctrl.edu/toolbox/whatisit.htm. teachersrock.net. (n.d.). Teacher Professionalism. pp. 1-66. Retrieved from http://www.teachersrock.net/TEACHER%20PROFESSIONALISM.pdf. Read More