Damariz Lewis

EDU215 Education Foundations and Framework

February 4, 2012

Education Philosophy and Rationale

With the invention of standardized testing there is only philosophy allowed to

teachers and that is Realism. This is because by definition it's "teaching methods focuses

on mastery of facts and basic skills through demonstration and recitation. Students must

also demonstrate the ability to think critically and scientifically, using observation and

experimentation. Curriculum should be scientifically approached, standardized, and

distinct-discipline based. Character is developed through training in the rules of conduct

(Cohen 1999). Now doesn't that sound a lot like teaching the test?

On the other extreme you have existentialism a philosophy based on the

individuals personal choice stating that the student should lead where the curriculum goes

instead of the curriculum being predefined. Existentialists are opposed to thinking about

students as objects to be measured, tracked, or standardized. That would really put a huge

hole in our current standardized testing frenzy so I strongly believe teachers will not be

able to use this philosophy in the public school system any time soon. However all that

being said I believe there is great merit to this philosophy I actually experienced this style

hands on when I was in head start.

Mrs. Sanchez was not your typical teacher for one thing she never had lesson

plans per say she would just start the morning off reading a book or walking outside and

see where the day took us. Sometimes I would get all caught up in the sky and she would

take the time to explain the clouds and sun to me or I would be curious about the

butterflies and she would show me a caterpillar and explain that someday it would be a

butterfly. Another thing that I loved is she would always let me chose the which book I

wanted her to read to me at story time. This made me quickly love to read. I can

remember running home and nagging my mother to by me the Disney read along story

books. I can now understand that Mrs. Sanchez was using existentialism a philosophy

based on the individuals personal choice stating that the student should leading where the

curriculum goes instead of the curriculum being predefined. What seemed like the coolest

teacher in the world at 4 was actually just a different philosophy on teaching.

I often think of Ms. Sanchez and wish I could implement her teaching style but as

I said earlier with standardize testing it just would not work. This is because it's teaching

methods focuses on mastery of facts and basic skills through demonstration and

recitation. Basically we teach the test. That is why I have decided to stick with the realist

philosophy for my teaching philosophy. My goal will be to have at least 75% of my class

understand the material before I can move on. If 75% do not understand then I have to go

back and reteach. However if 75% get it it is time to move on. My hope is that even if

25% do not fully understand the subject matter I have made them think. Hence I have

chosen to adopt this quote as my mission statement “I cannot teach anybody anything. I

can only make them think” ― Socrates

Realism can be broken up into metaphysics, epistemology, and axiology.

Metaphysics is also known as the nature of reality. This means physical things or nature

and our experience or perception of those things. Epistemology also known nature of

knowledge is the discovery of logical, orderly truth of the external world via sensing and

the scientific method. For example metaphysics will ask the question the “Do dogs exist?

Epistemology will say can I see, touch, and smell the dogs. If the answer is yes then the

dog must exist.

Axiology also known as the nature of values is the natural law or moral law

governing what is good. As a realist I feel that it is in nature that we will find these

answers. I good example of this in education is corporal punishment in the class room. I

can look back and prove that it has been emotionally detrimental to children and hence

say it is morally wrong to beat children in the classroom.

As a realist my curriculum will be taught using lectures, discussion, and scientific

method. There will be no room unfortunately for the student to make any choices on

what they would like to learn. This may sound correct in theory since the teacher is in

charge of the class not the student but here is some food for thought. Do you think a child

will learn to read more quickly using your books or the ones that interest them? If you are

being honest with yourself you know that the child will learn quicker if they chose their

own book. However like I said before the invention of standardize testing does not allow

us the time to explore these options. Let us look at some other philosophy’s that have

been stripped from us.

Idealism the oldest of all philosophies dating back to ancient Greece it focused on

the world of the mind, ideas, and reason is primary. This actually sounded like a great

philosophy till you looked into the metaphysics that believe everything exist in the mind

or better yet in the mind of God and believe everything can be explained as a creative

spiritual reality. Well that is where it all literally gets blown out of the water for someone

teaching in the public school system. We can barely get away with using the word God in

the pledge let alone actually teach an entire curriculum with it being the focal point. We

would probably be fired before we finished our first lesson plan. However let us for

argument sake say we could get pass the metaphysics and go to the epistemology. Well

then you would have to scramble to explain things like ultimate truths and that the search

for truth is actually more important than the truth itself. I see one huge problem in all that

from a public school stand point. How will we test for that? Once again we are left with

an otherwise good philosophy that cannot be used because of our obsession with testing.

Honestly is it a wonder that students hate to go to school when all we do is test them all

day long. I remember being a kid and loving my head start teacher. It is a shame that kids

now days will not share that same experience. Perhaps we can hope that things will

change around for our students sometime in the near future but till then I guess we are all

left teaching with realism as our philosophy not of choice but of mandate.

References

L. DEAN WEBB (2010) FOUNDATIONS

Of American

EDUCATION (ARLENE METHA& K. FORBIS JORDAN) Merrill

Upper Saddle River, New Jersey

Columbus, Ohio

Leonora M. Cohen (1999) .Philosophical Perspectives in Education. Retrieved

February 4, 2011.

http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/ed416/PP1.html