Philosophy of Education Essays
Philosophy of Education
No society has ever survived without some system of education. Education is,
perhaps, the most important of all social systems because it enables all the others
by training individuals for their social roles. Still, it is a system which is far too
complicated to perfect or even define. What is the best way to teach? What
knowledge is it necessary for an educated person to attain? Should an education for
one be the same as for another? In such an individual centered field, the answers to
these questions are as varied as the individual teachers, students, and others
themselves. There is no correct answer; each teacher s philosophy of education is
surely founded on their own experience, societal views, and ... Show more content on
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The canons of literature, the principles of science, the exploration of history, and
many more all build a foundation of what it is to be human and part of a human
society. Lacking such an essential base, more liberal philosophies collapse.
These essentials, however, do not complete the picture. Knowledge and education
cannot exist in a vacuum; just because a certain volume of human knowledge does
exist does not necessarily mean it will be acquired or even prove useful without the
right conditions. When teaching people, one cannot neglect the role of the individual
in his or her own education. Students must want to learn, they must be motivated to
acquire knowledge, and they must be inspired to hold and apply it beyond a chapter
test or school year. By giving individual credence, validity, and applicability to the
material we teach, we grant the student the opportunity to intrinsically pursue
knowledge and to apply the facts of the world to new situations, question, not just
accept, and shape their own informed opinions. If the essentials are the roots of
education, individual motivation is its branches, and the fruit it supports are the
educated people such a system eventually bares.
Perhaps the goal of schooling is not necessarily to learn, but rather to learn how to
learn. To suggest education can occur in a set amount of time or that educated is a
binary state is to neglect the influence of the individual on the process. To merely
know