THE EDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHIES

Amber Arsenault

Narrative

The future of tomorrow starts today and that’s why I think that becoming a teacher is so

important. It is essential that children learn and grow in large and positive ways and I believe a

big portion of this is by the teachers that they will have throughout their school careers.

Throughout high school I was lucky. I was placed in honors classes due to hard work which I

learned from my parents and teachers. Over the years I have met others that unfortunately did not

have the same experiences as me. For example, my best friend hated high school, well she hated

school all together, she often felt her teachers didn’t care and that her education was

unimportant. As I speak with more people I get the same response. I think that when kids feel

unimportant, or more like a burden, they don’t want to be involved so they shut down and get by

the best that they can. I think I have great leadership skills and I have a lot of empathy for others

and this will help me succeed in my future career as a teacher.

During the observation hours that I have completed I have a different understanding then

I did going into it. When I began to look in to becoming a teacher a lot of it had to do with the

fact that I want to help better people’s lives and I think the earlier that starts the better off people

will be. I think watching and observing a classroom from the perspective of someone other then

a student helped me focus on things like how she grabbed their attention and how the students

communicate with each other as well. It helped me see that the teaching environment can be a

hectic place, so it is essential to have a hold of the student’s attention and to make it an

environment they want to be in.

The philosophy that I identified the most with was the progressive classroom.

Communication is so essential in everyday life and having a classroom that works as a team
THE EDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHIES

rather than a dictatorship sounds very promising to me. John Dewey was mentioned in the text

under progressivism and I agree that interacting and relating things to the real world is the best

way to get a student interested in something and make them want to learn about it. I know that

humans have a natural want to know how something will benefit them before they bother

learning or trying and I fully agree. We as educators should be more inclined to set students up

for the real world early on with knowledge that they will be able to incorporate into their

everyday lives once they leave the classroom. I think that constructivism is a great philosophy

because knowledge is gained by building onto your own thoughts and ideals and constructed in a

way that one person might not be able to pass on to another on their own. I like the idea of using

ideas and knowledge that a student already posses and having them interpret new ideas with this

to gain a better understanding of a new idea. I think this goes into the knowledge of the past

educational system and different changes that it has undergone, and I think that you can never

move to the future without knowing your past. Therefore, I do think that history and classical

literature is so important, but I also believe that it is the way it is taught that will make all the

difference as to whether is benefits the student long term or not.

I think the strategy I would most like to implement in my classroom would be open

discussion and group activities. It is important to not only be able to express your beliefs but to

learn from others and what they have to say. I would like to take things that the kids have to

learn and make it so they want to learn it because they know it will be useful to them. Reading

the classics is important but then I would like the students to relate the contents of the literature

to current events and things that are happening in the moment. I realize all students are extremely

different and because of that I think that every class I have will need to be adjusted to fit the
THE EDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHIES

needs of the students I have at any given time. Flexibility and patience are two of the most

important qualities I think a teacher needs to have to be successful.

As far as what I want to do to help myself be the best teacher I can be is to further my

education and perhaps take classes that aren’t directly related to my career, so I can have a better

understanding of multiple areas rather then just the basics of what I need to know to start my

career. Thus far I have been approaching my path to becoming a teacher as getting into teaching

high school but recently I have become interested in teaching in the prison system and so I think

I would like to try and volunteer at a half way house or maybe a youth program to try and help

people that way as well.

THE EDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHIES

The Educational Philosophies and

How to utilize them

Amber Arsenault

College of Southern Nevada

THE EDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHIES

Everyone knows there are multiple ways to approach any subject matter. People always

have their way of doing things and why they feel that their way is the best, but the fact is

everyone is different, and it will not always be the case that one method of completing a task

works for everyone. There are set standards in place in a classroom and although for the most

part the curriculum will consist of most of the same things there are different ways to approach

how a student learns and retains the information. Within the text, Teachers, schools, and society

by David Miller Sadker and Karn R. Zittleman there are five educational philosophies that are

used in the classroom today. These different philosophies are just multiple ways of running a

classroom and teaching students and it is all about finding out what works best for the teacher

and students involved within the school.

Essentialism is a traditional approach. It “aims to instill students with the “essential”

knowledge, patriotism, and character development” (Sadker, D. M., & Zittleman, K. R., 201, pg

162). William Bagley made this idea known in the 1930’s and it is what is used predominantly in

the classroom today. Standardized testing is something that would fall under the essentialism

category. “When tests are standardized, this means that a particular group of students will take

the same test that will be scored and analyzed the same way. The Score result for each student is

then compared to the rest of the group to see how well the students performed” (Partnership, G.

S., 2015). This is a way to make sure that the students are all learning the same things and those

are usually based from subjects like math, science, and English.

Perennialism is like essentialism in ways such as the teacher being the focus of the

classroom but differs in the information that is being taught or thought of as important. Students

in this environment will learn from the classics of literature but would find the ideas within that
THE EDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHIES

are unchanging. In this environment extracurricular activities are often not given because they

are not important. Robert Hutchins developed the Great books program and believed that the

textbook was degrading to the education, the teacher should be the one to give to information to

the students (Sadker, D. M., & Zittleman, K. R., 2018, pg 165).

Progressivism is based mostly on real world experiences. If something is to be valued and

learned, then it should be able to pertain to real life situations. This gives students the chance to

develop their own ideals and thought processes instead of learning what we have deemed the

“standard” of the educational system. This is a more hands on approach for the teacher and

students and allows them to work on things that they find useful and interesting. “Teachers act as

facilitators in a classroom where students explore physical, mental, moral, and social growth”

(6., 1., 2., 3., 1., & 2., 2016). John Dewey said that we learn better through communication and

interacting with others (Sadker, D. M., & Zittleman, K. R., 2018, 167). This is how a

progressivism classroom would function.

Social reconstruction is a more extreme approach of progressivism. While there are

similarities the way social reconstruction is different is that it solely focuses on social problems

and lead very democratically. George Counts was a student of Dewey and he took what Dewey

believed and ended up putting making it more intense (Sadker, D. M., & Zittleman, K. R., 2018,

pg 168). The focus is to improve society whether that be through projects of discussions.

Existentialism focuses on the students overseeing their education. It really makes the

students accountable for what they learn, and they do this by asking the students to look within

for the answers and meanings that they seek. “Because the teacher is a facilitator of learning and

self-reflection, rather than a didactic authority, a setting that places learners and teacher on an

equal footing is ideal” (G. 2012). Maxine Greene is a philosopher that says education should
THE EDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHIES

give teachers and students the ability to find their truths within learning (Sadker, D. M., &

Zittleman, K. R. (2018) ).

The philosophy that I would find to be the most beneficial is Progressivism. I think that it

will prepare the students the best in the long run as far as real-world experiences and how to

approach problems they will inevitably face once they leave the classroom. It is really a way to

get students to think outside the box and allow them to learn things that they find interesting and

important but they are still being taught in an appropriate way, I like that the idea of it is not as

extreme as social reconstruction but also steers away from teaching a standardized curriculum of

subjects that might not benefit the overall population of students.

 THE EDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHIES

References

6., 1., 2., 3., 1., & 2. (2016, November 03). Philosophies of Education: 3 Types of Student-Centered

Philosophies. Retrieved from https://www.theedadvocate.org/philosophies-education-3-types-

student-centered-philosophies/

G. (2012, March 14). The Existentialist Classroom and Curriculum. Retrieved from

https://constructivismandexistentialism.wordpress.com/2012/03/14/the-existentialist-classroom-

and-curriculum

Partnership, G. S. (2015, November 12). Standardized Test Definition. Retrieved from

https://www.edglossary.org/standardized-test/

Sadker, D. M., & Zittleman, K. R. (2018). Teachers, schools, and society: A brief introduction to

education. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education.