William Commins

Education 300

June 2nd, 2019

Dr. Lori Leaman

Philosophy of Education Paper

I. The purpose of education​.

The purpose of school is something I have pondered for a long time. Throughout my high

school experience, I knew pretty early on that I wanted to be a musician of some kind, so my

other classes felt a bit pointless to me. I thought that maybe my math class would be useful to

some of my classmates, but it would not be useful to me. However, after entering this class, I

realized that the feelings I had towards my classes aside from band were okay. I realized that my

school helped me figure out what I was good at, and they left it up to me if I wanted to pursue

my talents. I believe the purpose of school is to give students options. I never considered a

degree in history during my high school experience, but others are studying history in college

right now, and that’s great. At the same time, however, I recognize that it’s important to know

basic math, history, language arts, and science, as I believe almost any job will require basic

knowledge of at least one of those four subjects.

I think my beliefs about the purpose of school are greatly influenced by the millennial

generation. Most millennials try to find jobs that will let them do what they love while making a

living, while generation x is much more focused on finding any job that will support a stable

living, regardless of whether they enjoy their work or not. I personally believe that if it is
possible to make a living out of passion, then it should be done without hesitation, and my school

helped me realize that.

Given that I established I am an advocate of making a passion into a living, it is safe to

say that I am very student-centered in my beliefs. I desire to bring out the talents of students so

that they can do what they love when they get older. My beliefs overall align very closely to

progressivism because I want students to develop their passion through their experiences in my

classroom. I hope one day I will be able to accomplish that goal.

II. What should be taught and why?

I believe that the curriculum should include progressivist values because students today

need to learn how to adapt to new situations. Our society today is always changing, and with the

advent of the internet and social media, information can be obtained within a matter of seconds.

Students should know how to take in information, and know how to apply what they learned to

their daily lives.

The biggest emphasis the curriculum should have is problem-solving. Our culture is one

of the most individualist cultures in the world, so students have to be able to solve problems on

their own. Schools should encourage not only the gaining of knowledge, but the application of

said knowledge. I think schools should also encourage the students to find a passion. I think it’s

important to encourage students to question what it is they want to do after they receive their

education.

If I were to add one innovation to the curriculum, it would definitely be digital citizenship

and social media. Technology has advanced so much in the past thirty years, and it continues to
develop at an extremely fast pace. As such, it is essential that students know as much about the

internet as possible. They need to know the benefits of technology, but they also need to

understand the dangers of the internet. The internet can be a wonderful place, but it can also

potentially ruin lives. I am honestly surprised that digital citizenship and social media isn’t

already being taught in schools. I believe this innovation is absolutely necessary to our

educational system.

III. The nature of the learner.

It’s very difficult for me to say how much a student is responsible for their own

education. This is because every student is different. Some students learn very quickly, some

learn at a slower pace. Some students have the ability to pay for the highest education money can

buy, and others can barely afford to go to school at all. What I can say is that students need to

have at the very least a slight interest in learning. If a student doesn’t want to learn, and makes

no effort to gain new information, then it wouldn’t come as a surprise if said student does not get

good grades. That said, the teacher holds a large amount of responsibility for their students’

education. Some teachers can give very bad instruction, and that is not the fault of the students,

but just because the teacher isn’t trying hard enough, that doesn’t give the students an excuse to

not put in any effort.

It can be said that students need to respect their peers, teachers, and administrators in

school, but what does that really mean? I believe that respect comes in the form of engagement. I

think when the teacher gives students an activity to do, the students should be active participants.

In addition, students should be encouraged to ask questions during a lecture. This conveys to the

teacher that the students are trying to find a deeper understanding of the topic being covered.
 There are many challenges that students in the 21st century have to face, but I believe the

biggest challenge is the denial of certain opportunities. Students in poverty don’t have the

opportunity to go to the best schools, students of color often don’t have the opportunity to learn

from teachers that are of the same color, and the same can be said for LGBT students. I think this

denial of opportunities is discouraging to the students’ learning experience, and it can possibly

make students envious of students who do have those opportunities. The solution to this problem

would be to make education more readily available to students in poverty, and to increase the

amount of teacher diversity in schools. However, this is obviously easier said than done.

​IV. Teaching methods that should be used and why.

I believe the most effective schools are the ones that provide an encouraging, yet

challenging environment for the students. I think that students need to be academically

challenged in order to grow, but it’s important to remember that students are human beings, and

they all learn at different paces. Some students are not going to be able to grasp new concepts

right away, and I don’t believe that those students should be made to feel inadequate compared

to their peers. That’s why I believe schools should encourage students even when they fail.

I believe some of the most effective teaching techniques are Mike Rettburg’s “asking

essential questions” strategy, and Leah Alcala’s “my favorite no” strategy. Essential questions

are questions that provoke thought in the students. These questions often relate to students’

experiences, so it makes it really easy for students to discuss the given topic and learn about it

more efficiently. The “my favorite no” strategy has students answer a difficult question, and then

the teachers finds the most interesting wrong answer and proceeds to show the class where the

anonymous student went wrong, and what they can do to fix their mistake. I believe these two
strategies are effective because they promote engagement. They both require interaction with the

teacher, and that helps the teacher become more familiar with the students’ personalities, and

therefore become a more efficient teacher.

I think one way to accommodate students with disabilities or students with different

learning styles in general in a classroom is to let them do what they need to do in order to learn

more efficiently (within reason, of course). For example, during my senior year of high school,

there was a student trombone player who had a physical disability, so in marching band, the

student had to hold the trombone in a different position to everyone else. This student never

distracted or brought harm to anyone when they did this, so everyone at my school was okay

with it. I believe this situation can and should apply to all students with disabilities or different

learning styles. If a student with disabilities needs to do something apart from the students

without disabilities in order to learn more efficiently, I believe they should be allowed to do what

they need to, as long as it doesn’t negatively impact the learning environment.

V. The role of the teacher.

I believe my job is to give to the students. It’s my job to give them advice for the future,

the skills needed to succeed, and the encouragement that they need. Life is hard, and many

students feel they don’t have anyone they can rely on. I want to be someone that the students can

rely on.

I think it’s important for teachers to at the very least have a mutual understanding with

their co-workers, parents/guardians, and administrators. This is because they all have the same

goal: Make the students into the best people they can be. Teachers should also have a good
relationship with the students. Students should feel comfortable in a given teacher’s classroom,

and they should be comfortable asking questions without fear of being ridiculed.

I will do my best to promote the equality of every student. This means I will not tolerate

racial/bigoted slurs in my classroom, and I will do my absolute best to treat every student fairly

and equally. I will also encourage the students to do their best in my class, and I will convince

the students that no challenge I give them is impossible to overcome.