Reflection 8

REFLECTION # 8 - WHAT IS YOUR PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION?

When we talk about education, we have to have in mind the process of human development that means the purpose, goals and ideals to be reached. In other words, how a person can improve his/her quality of life, applying what he/she assimilated through the educational process and this constitutes the philosophy of education. Where, one wants to arrive after all.
Some teachers have as their educational philosophy, what they can gain on their own experiences, or what they can improve themselves, or even how much money they can earn as “educators.” This is such of poor goal in life. By acting like that, they become not educators or teachers, but liars.
Education is more than information storms, it is a social relationship, an interaction, where we can learn and share our experiences with the others, as a result, there will be a social growth, a production of citizens with skills to build up a world more organized with solid families and communities.
There are some approaches in educational philosophy, which are seen in classrooms, according to the teachers’ convenience. Let’s talk a little bit about them.
The first one of them is that where the teachers just give information, principles that cannot be changed. Simply they present “truths” that are premises, according to them, and that is it. The students don’t have the opportunity to think, to analyze and to build something. They call it, Perennialism.
The second one is very close to the first one. Although, those who advocate this type of approach say that the principles might be changed, the students are trained to read, to write and to speak, but according to the information they received. This perspective is called Essentialism.
The third one is more open. This approach guides the students to be more progressive, so, the name is Progressivism. On this way, students are trained to think, to explore, to formulate questions, to solve problems, to share experiences and learn through them. The goal is how they can learn by their own way and what kind of the individuals they can become.
The last one, and this is my philosophy of education, is the Critical Theory. This approach leads to social development, exploring the potential that each human being has inside and how they might improve their own and other’s life. The teacher is not a gun that “vomits” information, but one that leads the students to create, to grow, to invent a new life. They are prepared to deal with any difficult situations and to solve problems by different ways.