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My Philosophy of Education

My philosophy of education draws from a variety of sources. First of all, I believe the teacher's job is to teach students, as opposed to teaching a subject, although I would wish to impart to my students the same passion for learning particular subjects that I have, especially for my own area of specialization, which is history. Ultimately, the teacher's job is to make himself or herself unnecessary, which is to say that the teacher's role is to teach students how to learn for themselves. There will always be people from whom students can learn, even if students themselves eventually become teachers, but helping students attain a level of learning whereby they are able to learn for themselves is the primary goal of a teacher.

To attain these goals students need to learn both process and content; to learn content without process is boring and irrelevant, and to learn process without content is impossible. Learning these two together enables students to solve problems and acquire the skills of research, analysis, and communication, whether oral, written, or otherwise. With the explosion of knowledge in this past century, static knowledge quickly becomes obsolete, but new knowledge builds on what has been learned before, so learning both process and content is imperative.

Because students have different learning styles, there are various means by which they can acquire the skills they require, and they will need to use the means that work best for them. It is the job of teachers to tailor those means to individual students. There is a time for passive learning, but students need to be active participants in their own education. In order for students to truly learn anything, teachers must engage them in meaningful activities that captivate their interests and serve some useful purpose from the points of view of the students. This is not to imply that all learning must be focussed on skills that are useful for gainful employment. What students learn should also focus on self-enrichment, whether that be the enjoyment of literary, artistic, or cultural pursuits of some kind.

I agree with the concepts of great books, of permanent and enduring ideas, of the idea and importance of symbols, and of the exploration and development of ideas in and for themselves, but I would use both a direct and indirect style in teaching what is in the great books. The teacher should be a source of knowledge, but also a mentor and facilitator, so the teacher should lecture, but should also take time to debate and discuss the great books. Using the Socratic dialogue is valuable in this regard. Teachers can and should act also as research-project directors and as counsellors in this regard. Teaching must promote intellectual development in the search for truth, and school should be a place for training the mind. This, then, is my philosophy of education, which is a combination of my own thinking and of borrowings from established philosophies.

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