CAGAYAN DE ORO COLLEGE

Carmen, Cagayan de Oro City

Mid-Term Exam
EDU-168 Philosophical and Ethical Foundations of Education
Summer, SY: 2021-2022

Name: _Donna R. Sabuga-a_______________________________ Date: _05/07-2022__

Direction: Discuss each question.

1. Discuss the meaning of your philosophy in life. How do you relate yourself as a teacher knowing
its basic principles and why?

Growing up, it has always been at the forefront of my mind to live not just for the good of
my own but to other people as well especially those close to me and this goes without saying
that upon entering this profession that has such integrity, I always stick to my philosophy,
principle and to what i believe in. I always keep in mind that no matter how tiring it is with all this
excess work to be specific, these coordinatorships, liquidation, etc..., all of these are for the good
of my learners. It has indeed greatly affected me as an educator because without this there would
be no motivation at all to keep doing things for my students. Of course, there is nothing more
fulfilling than knowing that my efforts have paid off through knowing their high performances.

2. What are the qualities of a teacher that we should possess as introduced by Socrates, Aristotle,
and Plato? Please explain each.
As I have studied during college years and now in my master's degree, there are many
strategies and approaches that could be applied to the learners coming from different
philosophers. Socrates for example who embarks more on the ventures of discovery, as an
educator, it is important to be reminded that we should not spoon feed our learners but rather let
them discover things on their own and let them think of ideas themselves. We are only facilitators
of learning wherein we should elicit ideas from them through questions and synthesis in this way
teachers could develop critical thinking skills towards the learners. Another philosopher's belief in
teaching is that of Aristotle's wherein teacher implicitly teaches students and asks them about
their own responses and ideas in return. Now in teaching, while letting learners discover things on
their own, it is also important that teachers be the one to instruct learners first and instill
knowledge in them so as to avoid mistakes in their learning process. Due to this we can deduct
that there should be a balance between teacher role and student role. Meanwhile Plato's ideas in
teaching has also influenced educators nowadays. From time to time, during seminars, teachers
were told that they should not limit a child's ability to express him/herself through debates,
discussion and academic dialogues with his/her classmate because as Plato's way of teaching,
through this a child learns best. As much as possible, teachers should let students express their
thoughts and opinions because their classmates will learn from that as well and not just on the
knowledge instilled by the teacher alone. As the three have different ways of teaching, but as
 time changes, these methods were greatly applied in the classroom setting and have helped
educators ever since. Through application of these methods, surely, teaching is effective.

3. It has been observed that the teacher is perceived to be the most important variable in the
learner’s educational environment. How do you relate yourself to that philosophy of education and
why?
Indeed a teacher is the most important variable in the learner's educational environment. I
could relate myself to that philosophy especially now that we are still in the middle of the
pandemic that parents now realize how important the role of teachers really are in the lives of
their children. As I have assessed students' output in the modular distance learning modality, it
saddens me that some have very low scores and did not submit the required performance tasks.
When asked the cause of this, they would answer that it is hard for them to understand the SLM
without having someone to explain it to them with the physical presence of the teacher. With this,
I have come to a realization that the absence of the teachers in their educational lives has created
a bump in their learning process. But through action plans, this problem was given a solution by
creating video lessons sent to the students for them to watch the teacher explaining the lesson,
albeit virtually, as well as constant communication with them and being able to answer their
queries regarding the lesson.

4. They say that in every organization, the teacher needs to be cultivated, preserved, and given such
welfare. To what extent do you understand and practice yourself as a teacher? If your feeling is
imperfect, what can you do to increase support for your philosophy in life?
I agree that teachers need to be cultivated in a way that we should be able to develop
ourselves professionally by attending various seminars and even continuing to study for a Master's
Degree because I believe through this, I could give my best to my learners, apply what was
learned to my learners and getting updated to catch up in this modern world as such my learners.
Preserved and given welfare that the government as well as the educational administration would
listen to the cries and concerns of the teachers because if one has many complaints because with
this in mind, he/she would not be able to do his/her job well. For example, teachers for these past
few years have complained about excess work and that we should focus on teaching alone. I am
hoping that the government is finding ways to eradicate such complaints by giving solutions to it.
As all these works are still connected with our learners, I believe that there is still a balance
between passion and overworking to an extent that even weekends are consumed by work. As
the role of the teachers are vital in nation-building, then the nation should also take care and
invest in teachers. We could not forget that teachers have prestige and pride in this country. I
myself always reflect upon my actions in society and even on social media because I keep on
telling myself that I am a teacher and I should always consider my actions with morals in mind.
To sum up all these, being a teacher has such great responsibility that what i can do to increase
support to my philosophy in life is to continue doing my best for the good of my learners and for
the country as well. Keeping in mind that teaching is a vocation therefore doing everything I can
despite challenges and problems in life.
5. Explain each branch of philosophy. What is its significant effect on you as a public servant and as
a teacher with a noble profession?
The branches of philosophy are metaphysics, epistemology and ethics. Metaphysics refers
to the being of a person which deals with the most general and abstract questions such as those
pertaining to the nature of existence, existence of beings such as God and humans, and
immortality of the human soul. Therefore metaphysics focus on the things that are not easy to be
understood and there is no clear answer to things making men in nature curious. Second is
epistemology where it is mainly about knowledge connected with questions such as: What is
knowledge? What do we know? How is knowledge acquired? What are the structures and limits of
knowledge? It is about the critical study of principles, hypotheses and findings of the various
sciences. It also views the mind as a black slate or tabula rasa according to John Locke.Another
branch is the ethics where it is mainly concerned about human behavior of right and wrong or is it
good or bad in other words, the morality of human acts. It is innate in humans to know what is
good and bad and be able to feel within ourselves an obligation to do what is good and avoid the
bad, making us feel accountable for our actions. Knowing these branches of Philosophy, it makes
me ponder that I as a teacher should instill knowledge to my learners as what epistemology is
about and as much as possible answer the queries of my learners about things in this world that
they are curious about (metaphysics) but never forgetting along the way how ethics is important
in everyone's lives. Through the ESP subject, I could teach my students the values and cultivate
their personality making them individuals with well-developed morals. Of course, a teacher should
lead by example and should at any cost avoid doing the things that are morally bad as a teacher
should live with dignity and integrity.