Philosphy of Education part 4: Educational Theory & Practice, and Philosophy of Schools & Learning

What I believe about educational theory and practice, and philosophy of schools and learning.

After detailing my philosophy of the world and how I make sense of it, the next step is to narrow it down to my beliefs about education, what is imminently important to share with upcoming generations, and how best to teach it.  What would be the best atmosphere in which to teach these important concepts?  Is there a particular philosophy that seems to get the job done better than others?  What are the best educational practices and strategies?  How does this affect the community in which students will one day live?

Be careful not to confuse the term learning with that of teaching.  If you ask any junior high student— whether in private school, public school, or Sunday school—he will tell you that the ratio of teaching to learning is heavily in favor of whatever it is the teacher does up in the front (Schultz, 1993).  So what is happening within students while all this teaching is going on and why does it seem they just are not listening?  If learning is the students’ responsibility, teachers may be tempted to throw up their hands at the first sign of a blank stare and declare, “Well, you can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make it drink, right?”  Learning has taken place, according to Bloom’s Taxonomy (Bloom, 1956), when students can show that they know, comprehend, can apply, analyze, synthesize, or evaluate the material they were taught (Slavin, 2006).  Perhaps it is true that one cannot make horses drink water, but even a stubborn horse will drink if it is thirsty! 

I believe that education can be fun.  It can also be tedious, but whenever possible, learning should be a painless process.  This quote by journalist Tracy Kiddler in Why Nobody Learns Much of Anything at Church and How to Fix It sarcastically answers the question of why education must be painful, “Put 20 or more children of roughly the same age in a little room, confine them to desks, [sic] make them behave.  It is as if a secret committee, now lost to history, had made a study of children and, having figured out what the greatest number were least disposed to do, declared that all of them should do it” (Schultz, 1993).

I believe that the content that is taught to our students is not nearly as important as the manner in which they learn the content.  The process of learning and consciously seeking patterns is what trains the mind to receive more information as students grow to adulthood (Willis, 2009).  Whenever possible, lessons should be multi-layered and multi-subject and build on previous lessons so that what is learned at the beginning of a project opens the door to learn more and dig deeper and differentiate how subject disciplines overlap each other.  This would be reflective of the strategies employed in a Progressive classroom (Knight, 2006) and like a good Idealist, I believe good questions and discussion do more to teach than the finest text books (Knight, 2006), but textbooks can provide a place from which to gather many good questions.  The model I would choose to pattern my school after is The Ron Clark Academy in Atlanta, GA[1]. 

The scenes in the movie, The Ron Clark Story, that had me nodding my head and smiling were the ones in which he figured out how to creatively discipline his students.  He did this by implementing 55 rules that he had determined would benefit any classroom. The first rule is “We Are a Family” (Haines, 2006).  He finds that adherence to the simple rules helps bring cohesiveness to the flow of learning as it happens each day in his classroom.  He is also not afraid to be energetic and passionate and to glean nuggets from the students’ subcultures that he can utilize to teach them more effectively such as popular music, humor, funny antics, and dance moves, or learning how to double-dutch (Haines, 2006).  Ron Clark and I would likely agree on this: It is a travesty to make learning boring.  Hard is ok.  Boring is not!  A student who is thirsty for knowledge will be more likely drink of it.

His school combines aspects from that of a Progressivist and a Pragmatist, two very similar educational philosophies but I would also add a touch of Existentialism.  As a philosophy, Existentialism holds that truth is subjective to one’s own experience (Knight, 2006) and I do not agree with this stance.  But educationally, the Existentialist believes that experiences are the best curriculum a student can have (Knight, 2006).  I would go so far as to suggest that there most certainly is a truth standard, but that students will appreciate truth better when they come to realize it themselves rather than have it force-fed to them (Arnold, nd).  I also agree that experience is a wonderful classroom, but some things should not be experienced by children so the learning process needs to be carefully thought out and the “Zone of Proximal Development” honored (Slavin, 2006). 

The Pragmatic/Progressive approach is evident in the importance Ron Clark places on field trips.  When his students take field trips, it is to the far ends of the earth.  He has integrated each trip with lessons that center on the region of the world to which they will be traveling.  For instance he took a group of students to South Africa where they actually “ran into” Nelson Mandela.  The students had tears in their eyes because they had already studied him and knew what he was talking about when he spoke to them (Haines, 2006).  If money were no object, I would incorporate world, national, or even local travel as an integral element of the curriculum.

If I could change one aspect of the current landscape of education, it would be the absence of religion and religious material in America’s public schools.  I believe the Bible provides the perfect framework for developing a well-rounded education including the sciences, Grammar, Algebra and Geometry (through solving life’s mysteries and studying measurements), Literature, Character traits, Government, Statistics & Probability, Judaism and other world religions, Psychology, and Law (Arnold, nd).  By excluding the Bible, public schools have eliminated a valuable curriculum potential.  This statement is admittedly controversial and requires many considerations on which space does not permit me to elaborate.  I mention it here because it is part of my ideology regarding my philosophy of school.  It may also be that I hold a small place in my philosophy for that of Perennialism which values the classic works of great authors and thinkers (Knight, 2006). 

            A school that incorporates elements of Progressive and Pragmatic strategies with room for Perennialism, Existentialism, and Idealism would best summarize what I believe about educational theory and practice, philosophy of schools and learning, and educational practice.

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[1] http://www.ronclarkacademy.com/ 

References

                                   

Arnold, Christyanna, (nd), Student at Liberty University: writer of this paper.

Brainymedia, (2010), http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/s/st_francis_of_assisi.html,
             retrieved July 7, 2010.

Brockway, Jody (Producer) & Deyoung, Annie & Enscoe, Max (Writers) & Haines, Randa
            (Director), (2006), The Ron Clark Story [motion picture], Echo Bridge Home
            Entertainment.

Daniel, Eleanor A. & Wade, John W. (1999), Foundations for Christian education (Ch. 2),
             Joplin, MO: College Press.

Ginsburg, Kenneth R., (2006), A parent’s guide to building resilience in children and teens,
             Elk Grove Village, IL: American Academy of Pediatrics.

Hallahan, Daniel P., Kauffman, James M., & Pullen, Paige C., (2008), Exceptional learners:
            Introduction to special education, Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

Knight, George R., (2006). Philosophy and education: an introduction in Christian perspective,
            Barrien Springs, MI: Andrews University Press.

Pearcy, Nancy, (2005), Total truth: Liberating Christianity from its cultural captivity, Wheaton,
            IL: Crossway.

Schultz, Thom and Joani, (1993), Why nobody learns much of anything at church and how to fix
            it, Ch. 1, Loveland, CO: Group Publishing.

Slavin, Robert E., (2006), Educational psychology: theory and practice (Chs. 1 & 13). Boston,
            MA: Pearson.

Willis, Judy, (2009), What brain research suggests for teaching reading strategies, The
           Educational Forum, Vol. 73, 333-346.

Zondervan, (2009), Bible gateway website (Genesis, Daniel, Acts, Galatians),  
            http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=galatians%205&version=NIV, retrieved
            June 30, 2010.