Teaching Philosophy: Dignity, Diversity, and Safe Learning

Introduction: The Scope and Limits of Teaching

There is only so much a teacher and a school system can do for a student, but schools and their employees should do all they can to inform and prepare students for adult life, the workplace, and their place in society. Much of what appears in the news and other media is discouraging and disheartening. While some of that reflects the "if it bleeds, it leads" mentality of modern media, there are practices and ideologies that genuinely need to change. To help put education on a better path, this philosophy and plan will focus on several important ideas: that everyone is worthy of dignity and respect, that our differences are a source of strength and inspiration, that bullying behavior is never acceptable, that all students need to be informed and prepared for the world they live in, and that society should not be allowed to dictate what people "should" or are "allowed" to do — including gender role expectations.

There is a great deal of emphasis and burden placed on the school system when it comes to what children learn, how they learn it, and how schools adapt as circumstances change. However, clear limitations and barriers exist. Some of those barriers are firm and exist for good reason. For example, the public school system is generally barred from instilling or enforcing any given religion (James & Benson, 2014). That responsibility belongs to parents, depending on their own beliefs and values. Other areas are more ambiguous. Teachers, as agents of the state, are implicitly or explicitly restricted from certain conduct, while students — not being school employees — operate under somewhat different rules.

That said, it is the duty of the school system to teach core subjects such as English and language arts, mathematics, civics, and related disciplines. Regardless of where authority begins and ends, it must be understood that influences outside the classroom — parents, other family members, friends, neighborhoods, and broader social conditions — have a direct and profound effect on what happens inside it. These include whether parents are engaged in their children's learning, whether the child lives in poverty, whether the child comes from a high-crime area, and other social factors such as interactions with police, race, and ethnicity. Despite individual circumstances, teachers and administrators must focus on maximizing both learning and safety. Even when the school's formal role is limited, notifying police or social service agencies when necessary is something schools sometimes must do. And while external factors cannot always be controlled, teachers and administrators can always control the learning environment — and they must do so properly.

Philosophy of School and Learning

The learning philosophy underlying this plan rests on three core prongs: ensuring students learn the right things, ensuring every student is safe, and ensuring every student has equal footing in terms of status and prominence in the classroom.

Ensuring that the right things are learned sounds simple, but it is not. Disagreements arise over both what should be taught and how it should be taught. For example, it is common to explain that Christopher Columbus "discovered" the Americas when he reached the Caribbean, yet far less attention is typically paid to what he did to the indigenous people there — including enslaving and mistreating them. Similarly, figures like George Washington are sometimes criticized because he enslaved people during his lifetime. The debate over Confederate monuments and the "stars and bars" flag is another example of contested historical content. In all such cases, teachers should focus on what the historical record shows and avoid wading into political ramifications. Failing to heed this principle risks provoking parents who object to content they find objectionable — and some such objections, it must be acknowledged, are exaggerated and unfair. Having a fully reviewed, approved, and logically structured lesson plan for controversial topics is therefore essential (Lotherington, 2017).

The safety prong was addressed in the introduction, but a few additional points are worth making. Teachers and administrators are commonly mandated reporters, meaning they are legally obligated to report evidence of likely or possible abuse. At the same time, it is important not to be reactionary. A bruise or a cut might indicate parental abuse — or it might simply be the result of a child's clumsiness. Following best practices and the law is essential: compliance with reporting requirements is not optional, and the safety of children is paramount.

Ensuring equal footing means not allowing bullying and making sure students do not feel shy or intimidated for being different. In some cases, special care will be required. Consider a hypothetical Arab student who enrolls in a predominantly white high school. An elementary-age Arab student would not have been alive during the September 11 attacks, yet his parents were — as were the parents and family members of his classmates. That history should have no bearing on how that student is treated, but pretending that it will not influence some students' behavior would be naive. Swift intervention when any student acts improperly toward that student is essential. Similar considerations apply to Hispanic students given the ongoing immigration debate (Ward, 2017).

Conclusion

If there is a singular takeaway from this report, it is that students should be prepared in terms of knowing what they need to know about history and the world they live in, knowing how to develop and express their own ideas, and knowing how to properly interact with other people. The patterns being observed in contemporary society are concerning, and meaningful action is needed to raise up people who do not engage in anti-social or destructive behavior. Correcting such behavior is far more difficult once a person has reached adulthood. The role of teachers and administrators is therefore critically important — school is where children spend a great proportion of their formative years, and what happens there shapes who they become.

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