Philosophy of Teaching - Essay Example

The proper function of education is in teaching a how to live. What this means is that we ought to give the the conceptual and mentaltools to deal with the facts of reality. Teaching a person how to live means teaching him how to understand, conceptualize, to prove logically, and thus to think. Part of this entails being equipped with the devices necessary for him to pursue knowledge and acquire it by his own effort.Children learn only through self-directed learning, which is not the method used by the majority of contemporary schools.

Progressive education, the philosophy that education needs to reflect the fact that humans are social animals and learn best through social activities, contradicts student self-directedness. This thought leads one to conclude that interactivity between student and learning material is necessary for a proper education. Rather than lecture with displays, children learn best by using their five senses, motor skill coordination, and spatial refinement. This can only happen when the children feel that they are in control of their classroom environment.

Children learn best through trial and error; therefore, giving them tasks to complete and learn from their errors is vastly superior to simply giving them the right answer at finish. In many ways, the most effective way of teaching children is to give the student hands-on experience with the lesson. Getting the children active and engaged is a matter of doing activities that hold the student’s attention. By doing these specialized activities, students develop the will and ability to have their own thoughts: thinking and doing independently and apart from an obtrusive teacher.

This philosophy of learning accompanies a complementary philosophy of pedagogy. Because students and children in general are capable of self-directed learning, the ideal teacher is not so much a lecturer or an interferer, but rather she is a guide or a director of learning. The teacher does not give facts for rote memorization or lead students into social learning, but rather into the autonomous completing of activities. The teacher simply introduces the materials and lets students teach themselves and others, and helping when necessary.

When the teacher feels that the student has mastered the current material, demonstrating this with new skills and knowledge, he or she can introduce new materials and exercises. The proper approach to pedagogy views testing and grades as antithetical to the proper purpose of education as a means of teaching children how to live. Teachers give primary evaluations of students not quantitatively but rather with focus on strengths and weaknesses to be emphasized or improved. Perhaps most important, however, is the way the teacher sees her children.

The teacher, in order to secure the best education for her children, ought to see the children as individuals, devising lessons that help individual students by addressing their unique needs and personalities, instead of seeing them simply as part of the classroom.Traditional views of education, namely those of progressive education, breed dependence on others for collective learning. A revised philosophy of education is necessary to foster children’s abilities to be individuals and self-directed learners.

The previously given philosophy, I believe, accomplishes just this, and gives children the ability to think and understand reality. A new philosophy such as this is necessary to ensure a bright future for us all.