WHAT IS YOUR PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION?

(based on Sadker & Sadker, 1998 Teachers, Schools and Society, 2nd Ed)

What is your philosophy of education? To find out, read each of the following statement s about the nature of
education. Decide whether you agree or disagree with each statement. Use the following numbers to express your
response.

Legend 4 Agree Strongly 2 Disagree

3 Agree 1 Disagree Strongly

____1. The student learning should be centered on basic subjects such as, writing, history, math and science.
____2. The school subjects 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. Subject matter is taught effectively when it is broken down into small parts.
____6. The school subjects should be determined by information that is essential for all students to know.
____7. Schools, above all should develop student’s abilities to think deeply, analytically, and creatively; than develop
their social skills or provide them with a useful body of knowledge about the ever changing world.
____8. Teaching should prepare students for analyzing, 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 exercise of their free
will.
____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.
____13. The curriculum of a school should be build about 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.
____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. Student’s learn best through reinforcement.
____21. Effective schools assign a substantial amount of homework.
____22. Education should focus on the discussion of timeless questions such as “what is beauty” “what is truth?”
____23. Since students learn effectively through social interaction, school should plan for substantial social interaction in
their curricula.
____24. The purpose of school is to help students understand themselves and find the meaning of their existence.
____25. Frequent objective testing is the best way to determine what students know.
____26. Countries must become more competitive economically with other countries hence school must bolster their
academic requirements to facilitate such competition.
____27. Students must be taught to appreciate learning primarily for its own sake, because it will help them in their
careers.
____28. Schools must place emphasis on teaching about the concerns of minorities and woman.
____29. Each person has free will to develop as he/ she sees it.
____30. Reward students well for learning and they will remember and be able to apply what they learned, even if they
not understand why the information is worth of knowing.
____31. Philippines schools should attempt to instill traditional Filipino values in students.
____32. Teachers-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 teacher to determine which students behavior 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 Filipino heritage.
____37. Philosophy is ultimately as least as practical a subject to study as a computer science.
____38. Teachers must stress for students the relevance of what they are learning for their lives outside, as well as
inside the classroom.
____39. It is more important to a student to develop a positive self-concept than to learn specific concepts.
____40. Learning is more effect when students are given frequent tests to determine what they have learned.