Personal Philosophy of Education

Personal Philosophy of Education

There are many schools of thought on the learning process and there is no single philosophy that covers every aspect of the learning experience.

My personal philosophy for education is to provide the most positive learning experience possible right from the onset of the educational process. Integral to this experience is the environment that must stimulate the child from early childhood to maturity.

Learning is an ongoing process and requires a broad vision of education to maximize the learning opportunity. I personally have been greatly influenced by the Montessori approach. The Montessori approach is designed to help children with their task of inner construction as they grow from childhood to maturity. It succeeds because it draws its principles from the natural development of the child. Its flexibility provides a matrix within which each individual child's inner directives freely guide the child toward wholesome growth.

This method addresses the various developmental stages a child will go through and provides an atmosphere that will foster the ability to benefit from the ultimate learning experience. In the Montessori method, there are prepared environments for children at each successive developmental plane. These environments allow them to take responsibility for their own education, giving them the opportunity to become human beings able to function independently and hence interdependently.

But the Montessori approach demonstrates only one educational philosophy that addresses the physical, mental and spiritual development of a child.

Within the traditional classroom experience, there used to be very little attention paid to individual differences in skill sets and learning abilities. Today, there are many different approaches that allow children to function at their own pace while remaining in a classroom environment with their peers. Some teachers create extra credit work for those students who can complete assignments ahead of the rest of the class. Other teachers use a "step" plan that allows children to complete their assignments at their own pace throughout the week, allowing the slower students a chance to meet their goals.

According to B.F. Skinner, "to effectively respond to the world around us, we must see, hear, smell, taste or feel it."

Education provides the outlet for achieving that interaction of stimuli. Learning should be a hands-on experience where children not only observe but also actually experience something.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau created one of the most significant books on education, Emile. Drawing from a broad spectrum of traditions including botany, music and philosophy, his thinking influenced subsequent generations of educational thinkers.

Like Rousseau, I believe that education should be a blend of doing, observing and thinking by using all the senses, abilities and cognitive thoughts we have to create a storehouse of knowledge. Education is the instrument that provides us with the essential power to do that.

No matter what philosophy one espouses to, education is a complex process, a system that identifies possibilities.

There are many schools of thought on which educational system is the best. The deeper that one delves into the many schools of thought, the more one can see that each approach has merit and that many models offer different advantages.