What Is Your Philosophy of Education?

Name: Group:

Each of us has a philosophy of education, or a set of fundamental beliefs regarding

how we think schools should be run. What is your philosophy of education? To
find out, read each of the following statements about the nature of education.
Decide whether you agree or disagree with each statement. Use the following
numbers to express your response:

  5 Agree strongly
  4 Agree
  3 Neutral
  2 Disagree
  1 Disagree Strongly

_____ 1. The curriculum of the schools should be subject centered. In particular,

student learning should be centered around basic subjects such as reading, writing,
history, math, and science.

_____ 2. The curriculum of the schools should focus on the great thinkers of the
past.

_____ 3. Many students learn best by engaging in real-world activities rather than
reading.

_____ 4. The students should be permitted to determine their own curriculum.

_____ 5. Material is taught effectively when it is broken down into small parts.

_____ 6. The curriculum of a school should be determined by information that is

essential for all students to know.

_____ 7. Schools, above all, should develop students' abilities to think deeply,
analytically, and creatively; this is more important than developing their social
skills or providing them with a useful body of knowledge about our ever-changing
world.

_____ 8. Schools should prepare students for analyzing and solving the types of
problems they will face outside the classroom.

_____ 9. Reality is determined by each individual's perceptions. There is no

objective and universal reality.

_____10. People are shaped much more by their environment than by their genetic
dispositions or the exercise of their free will.
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_____11. Students should not be promoted from one grade to the next until they
have read and mastered certain key material.

_____12. An effective education is not aimed at the immediate needs of the

students or society.

_____13. The curriculum of a school should be built around the personal

experiences and needs of the students.

_____14. Students who do not want to study much should not be required to do so.

_____15. Programmed learning is an effective method of teaching information.

_____16. Academic rigor is an essential component of education.           I

_____17. All students, regardless of ability, should study more or less the same
curriculum.

_____18. Art classes should focus primarily on individual expression and

creativity.

_____19. Effective learning is unstructured and informal.

_____20. Students learn best through reinforcement.

_____21. Effective schools assign a substantial amount of homework.

 
_____22. Education should focus on the discussion of tuneless questions such as
"What is beauty?" or "What is truth?"

_____23. Since students learn effectively through social interaction, schools should
plan for substantial social interaction in their curricula.

_____24. The purpose of school is to help students understand and find the
meaning of their existence.

_____25. Frequent objective testing is the best way to determine what students
know.

_____26. America must become more competitive economically with countries

such as Japan, and schools have an affirmative obligation to bolster their academic
requirements in order to facilitate such competition.

_____27. Students must be taught to appreciate learning primarily for its own sake,
rather than because it will help them in their careers.

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_____28. Schools must place more emphasis on teaching about the concerns of
minorities and women.

_____29. Each person has free will to develop as he or she sees fit.

_____30. Reward students well for learning and they will remember and be able to
apply what they learned, even if they were not led to understand why the
information is worth knowing.

_____31. American schools should attempt to instil traditional American values in

students.

_____32. Teacher-guided discovery of profound truths is a key method of teaching

students.

_____33. Students should be active participants in the learning process.

_____34. There are no external standards of beauty. Beauty is what an individual

decides it to be.

_____35. We can place a lot of faith in our schools and teachers to determine
which student behaviours are acceptable and which are not.

_____36. Schools must provide students with a firm grasp of basic facts regarding
the books, people, and events that have shaped the American heritage.

_____37. Philosophy is ultimately at least as practical a subject to study as is

computer science.

_____38. Teachers must stress for students the relevance of what they are learning
to their lives outside, as well as inside, the classroom.

_____39. It is more important for a student to develop a positive self-concept than

to learn specific subject matter.

_____40. Learning is more effective when students are given frequent tests to
determine what they have learned.

Now that you have responded to all 40 items, write the number of your response to
each statement in the spaces below. Add the numbers in each column to determine
your attitudes toward key educational philosophies.

    

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 A B C D E
Essentialism Perennialism Progressivism Existentialism Behaviourism
1. ________ 2. ________ 3. ________ 4. ________ 5. ________
6. ________ 7. ________ 8. ________ 9. ________ 10. _______
11. _______ 12. _______ 13. _______ 14. _______ 15. _______
16. _______  17. _______ 18. _______ 19. _______ 20. _______
21. _______ 22. _______ 23. _______ 24. _______ 25. _______
26. _______ 27. _______ 28. _______ 29. _______ 30. _______
31. _______ 32. _______ 33. _______ 34. _______ 35. _______
36. _______ 37. _______ 38. _______ 39. _______ 40. _______

These scores, in columns A through E respectively, represent how much you agree
or disagree with the beliefs of five major educational philosophies: essentialism,
perennialism, progressivism, existentialism, and behaviourism.  The higher your
score, the more you agree with philosophers who represent that viewpoint. The
highest possible score in any one area is 40, and the lowest possible score is 8. 
Scores in the mid to high 30s indicate strong agreement, and scores below 20
indicate disagreement with the tenets of a particular philosophy. Compare your
five scores.

What is your highest? 

What is your lowest?