ACTIVITY: Let’s Do These

An Exercise to Determine Your Educational Philosophy

Find out to which philosophy you adhere. To what extent does each statement apply to you? Rate
yourself 4 if you agree with the statement always, 3 if you agree but not always, 2 if you agree
sometimes, and 1. If you don’t agree at all.

Statement

1. There is no substitute for concrete experience in learning.

2. The focus of education should be the ideas that are as relevant today as when they were first
conceived.
3. Teachers must not force their students to learn the subject matter if it does not interest them.
4. Schools must develop students’ capacity to reason by stressing on the humanities.
5. In the classroom, students must be encouraged to interact with one another to develop social
virtues such as cooperation and respect.
6. Students should read and analyze the Great books, the creative works of history’s finest thinkers
and writers.
7. Teachers must help students expand their knowledge by helping them apply their t previous
experiences in solving new problems.
8. Our course of study should be general, not specialized; liberal, not vocational; humanistic, not
technical.
9. There is no universal, inborn human nature. We are born and exist and then we ourselves freely
determine our essence.
10. Human beings are shaped by their environment.
11. Schools should stress on the teaching of basic skills.
12. Change of environment can change a person.
13. Curriculum should emphasize on the traditional disciplines such as math, natural science,
history, grammar, literature.
14. Teacher cannot impose meaning; students make meaning of what they are taught.
15. Schools should help individuals accept themselves as unique individuals and accept
responsibility for their thoughts, feelings and actions.
16. Learners produce knowledge based on their experiences.
17. For the learner to acquire the basic skills, he/she must go through the rigor and discipline of
serious study.
18. The teacher and the school head must prescribe what is most important for the students to
learn.
19. The truth shines in an atmosphere of genuine dialogue.
20. A learner must be allowed to learn at his/ her own pace.
 21. The learner is not a blank slate but brings past experiences and cultural factors to the learning
situation.
22. The classroom is not a place where teachers pour knowledge into empty minds of students.
23. The learner must be taught how to communicate his ideas and feelings.
24. To understand the message from his/her students, the teacher must listen not only to what
his/her students are saying but also to what they are not saying.
25. An individual is what he/she chooses. To become not dictated by his/her environment.

Interpreting your Scores: If you have 2 answers of 2/4 in numbers:

1,3,5,7 – you are more of progressivist

2,4,6,8 - You are more of progressivist you are more of a perennialist

9,15,20,25 - You are more of an existentialist

10, 12 – you are more of a behaviorist

11,13, 17,18 - You are more of an essentialist

14,16,21,22 - You are more of a constructivist

19, 23, 24 – you are more of a linguistic philosopher

ANALYSIS: Let’s Analyze

If you have 2 scores of 4 in several of the 7 clusters, you have an eclectic philosophy which means you
put the philosophies together. If your scores are less than 4, this means that you are not very definite in
your philosophy. Or if your scores are less than 3 in most of the items, this means your philosophy is
quite vague.

Seven philosophies of education:

Constructivism

Why teach. Constructivists sees to develop intrinsically motivated and independent learners adequately
equipped with learning skills for them to be able to construct knowledge and make meaning of them.

What to teach. The learners are taught how to learn. They are taught learning processes and skills such
as searching, critiquing and evaluating information, relating these pieces of information, reflecting on
the same, making meaning out of them, drawing insights, posing questions, researching and
constructing new knowledge out of these bits of information learned.
How to teach. In the constructivist classroom, the teacher provides students with data or experiences
that allow them to hypothesize, predict, manipulate objects, pose questions, research, investigate,
imagine, and invent. The constructivist classroom is interactive. It promotes dialogical exchange of ideas
among learners and between teacher and learners. The teacher’s role is to facilitate this process.

Knowledge isn’t a thing that can be simply deposited by the teacher into the empty minds of the
learners. Rather, knowledge is constructed by learners through an active, mental process of
development; learners are the builders and creators of meaning and knowledge. Their minds are not
empty. Instead, their minds are full of ideas waiting to be “midwifed” by the teacher with his/her skillful
facilitating skills.

Essentialism

Why teach. This philosophy contends that teachers teach for learners to acquire basic knowledge, skills
and values. teach "not to radically reshape society but rather to transmit the traditional moral values
and intellectual knowledge that students need to become model citizens." What to teach. Essentialist
programs are academically rigorous. The emphasis is on academic content for students to learn the
basic skills or the fundamental r's reading, 'riting, 'rithmetic, right conduct - as these are essential to the
acquisition of higher or more complex skills needed in preparation for adult life. The essentialist
curriculum includes the "traditional disciplines such as math, natural science, history, foreign language,
and literature. Essentialists frown upon vocational courses..." or other courses with watered down
academic content... The teachers and administrators decide what is most important for the students to
learn and place little emphasis on student interests, particularly when they divert time and attention
from the academic curriculum. How to teach. Essentialist teachers emphasize mastery of subject
matter. They are expected to be intellectual and moral models of their students. They are seen as
"fountain" of information and as "paragon of virtue," if ever there is such a person. To gain mastery of
basic skills, teachers have to observe "core requirements, longer school day, a longer academic year..."
With mastery of academic content as primary focus, teachers rely heavily on the use of prescribed
textbooks, the drill method and other methods that will enable them to cover as much academic
content as possible like the lecture method. There is a heavy stress on memorization and discipline.

Progressivism

Why teach. Progressivist teachers teach to develop learners into becoming enlightened and intelligent
citizens of a democratic society. This group of teachers teaches learners so they may live life fully NOW
not to prepare them for adult life.

What to teach. The progressivists are identified with need-based and relevant curriculum. This is a
curriculum that "responds to students' needs and that relates to students' personal lives and
experiences,"

Progressivists accept the impermanence of life and the inevitability of change. For the progressivists,
everything else changes. Change is the only thing that does not change. Hence, progressivist teachers
are more concerned with teaching the learners the skills to cope with change. Instead of occupying
themselves with teaching facts or bits of information that are true today but become obsolete
tomorrow, they would rather focus. their teaching on the skills or processes in gathering and evaluating
information and in problem-solving.

The subjects that are given emphasis in progressivist schools are the "natural and social sciences."
Teachers expose students to many new scientific, technological, and social developments, reflecting the
progressivist notion. that progress and change are fundamental. ... In addition, students solve problems
in the classroom similar to those they will encounter outside of the schoolhouse.

How to teach. Progressivist teachers employ experiential methods. They believe that one learns by
doing. For John Dewey, the most popular advocate of progressivism, book learning is no substitute for
actual experience. One experiential teaching method that progressivist teachers heavily rely on is the
problem-solving method. This problem-solving method makes use of the scientific method. (You will
learn more of this in your Principles and Strategies of Teaching.)

Other "hands-on-minds-on-hearts-on" teaching. methodology that progressivist teachers use are field
trips during which students interact with nature or society. Teachers also stimulate students through
thought provoking games, and puzzles.

Perennialism

Why teach. We are all rational animals. Schools should, therefore, develop the students' rational and
moral powers. According to Aristotle, if we neglect the students' reasoning skills, we deprive them of the
ability to use their higher faculties to control their passions and appetites.

What to teach. The perennialist curriculum is a universal one on the view that all human beings possess
the same essential nature. It is heavy on the humanities, on general education. It is not a specialist
curriculum but rather a general one. There is less emphasis on vocational and technical education.
Philosopher Mortimer Adler claims. that the "Great Books of and medieval as well as modern times are a
repository of knowledge and wisdom, a tradition of culture which must initiate each generation." What
the perennialist teachers teach are lifted from the Great Books.

How to teach. The perennialist classrooms are "centered around teachers." The teachers do not allow
the students' interests or experiences to substantially dictate what they teach. They apply whatever
creative techniques and other tried and true methods which are believed to be most conducive to
disciplining the students' minds. Students engaged in Socratic dialogues, or mutual inquiry sessions to
develop an understanding of history's most timeless concepts.

-Existentialism

Why teach. The main concern of the existentialists is "to help students understand and appreciate
themselves as unique individuals who accept complete responsibility for their thoughts, feelings and
actions." Since 'existence precedes essence', the existentialist teacher's role is to help students define
their own essence by exposing them to various paths they take in life and by creating an environment in
which they freely choose their own preferred way. Since feeling is not divorced from reason in decision
making, the existentialist demands the education of the whole person, "not just the mind."
What to teach. "In an existentialist curriculum, students are given a wide variety of options from which
to choose." Students are afforded great latitude in their choice of subject matter. The humanities,
however, are given tremendous emphasis to "provide students with vicarious experiences that will help
unleash their own creativity and self-expression. For example, rather than emphasizing historical events,
existentialists focus upon the actions of historical individuals, each of whom provides possible models
for the students' own behavior. ...Moreover, vocational education is regarded more as a means of
teaching students about themselves and their potential than of earning a livelihood. In teaching art,
existentialism encourages individual creativity and imagination more than copying and imitating
established models.

How to teach. "Existentialist methods focus on the individual. Learning is self-paced, self-directed. It
includes a great deal of individual contact with the teacher, who relates to each student openly and
honestly. To help. students know themselves and their place in society, teachers employ values
clarification strategy. In the use of such strategy, teachers remain non-judgmental and take care not to
impose their values on their students since values are personal."

Behaviorism

Why teach. Behaviorist schools are concerned with the modification and shaping of students' behavior
by providing for a favorable environment, since they believe that they are a product of their
environment. They are after students who exhibit desirable behavior in society.

What to teach. Because behaviorists look at "people and other animals... as complex combinations of
matter that act only in response to internally or externally generated physical stimuli," behaviorist
teachers teach students to respond favorably to various stimuli in the environment.

How to teach. Behaviorist teachers "ought to arrange environmental conditions so that students can
make the responses to stimuli. Physical variables like light, temperature, arrangement of furniture, size
and quantity of visual aids have to be controlled to get the desired responses from the learners....
Teachers ought to make the stimuli clear and interesting to capture and hold the learners' attention.
They ought to provide appropriate incentives to reinforce positive responses and weaken or eliminate
negative ones." (Trespeces, 1995)

Linguistic philosophy

Why teach. To develop the communication skills of the learner because the ability to articulate, to voice
out the meaning and values of things that one obtains from his/her experience of life and the world is
the very essence of man. It is through his/her ability to express himself/herself clearly, to get his/ her
ideas across, to make known to others the values that he/ she has imbibed, the beauty that he/she has
seen, the ugliness that he/she rejects and the truth that he/she has discovered. Teachers teach to
develop in the learner the skill to send messages clearly and receive messages correctly.
What to teach. Learners should be taught to communicate clearly how to send clear, concise messages
and how to receive and correctly understand messages sent. Communication takes place in three (3)
ways verbal, nonverbal, and paraverbal. Verbal component refers to the content of our message, the
choice and arrangement of our words. This can be oral or written. Nonverbal component refers to the
message we send through our body language while paraverbal component refers to how we say what
we say the tone, pacing and volume of our voices.

There is need to teach learners to use language that is correct, precise, grammatical, coherent, accurate
so that they are able to communicate clearly and precisely their thoughts and feelings. There is need to
help students expand their vocabularies to enhance their communication skills. There is need to teach
the learners how to communicate clearly through non-verbal means and consistently though para verbal
means.

There is need to caution the learners of the verbal and non-verbal barriers to communication.

Teach them to speak as many languages as you can. The more languages one speaks, the better he/she
can. Communicate with the world. A multilingual has an edge over the monolingual or bilingual.

How to teach. The most effective way to teach language and communication is the experiential way.
Make them experience sending and receiving messages through verbal, non-verbal and para-verbal
manner. Teacher should make the classroom a place for the interplay of minds and hearts. The teacher
facilitates dialogue among learners and between him/