Philosophies of Education

Educational Philosophy is simply a description of our goals and beliefs as we have our young people grow and learn. It is based on deep personal and universal values that have to do with Essentialism, Perennialism, and Progressivism, each with its own set of philosophical beliefs about what education is and what the roles of teacher and learner are.

Essentialism

Essentialism - The learner must learn the essential skills in order to become an effective member of our society.

He must become qualified in the basics of reading, writing, and arithmetic. These are the facts, information, and skills that he needs to be able to deal with the society in which he lives.

In simple terms, he will be able to balance his checkbook account, he will be able to repair his kitchen sink, he will be able to drive a car safely, he will be able to follow a recipe and cook a decent dinner, he will know how to vote and be able to choose who to vote for, he will know how to use a lawn trimmer, etc., etc., etc.    In high school he will be in a general non-college bound program.  What he learns is more important than how he learns it. The curriculum is the same for all learners and they all learn it the same way. Effective testing is essential in determining his grade placement and in his future placement in our society. 

He may continue his education at a higher level and choose a career or he may become a productive member of the workforce. Teaching is the basic process - the teacher is the active person in the process and the learner is the reactive person.

Perennialism

Perennialism is based on the belief that there is everlasting, Classical Knowledge that has existed throughout the ages and it must be learned in order for a person to be an Educated Person. In high school she will be in a college preparation-bound education program. She must learn those facts, skills, and beliefs that have been transmitted to us, including traditions and classical philosophy. 

Our students are taught Mathematics because educated people must know Mathematics. The required learnings also include these classical subjects; Science, Literature, History, Music, English Grammar, and Physical Education. Learning about the Arts; the music of Bach, the paintings of Titian, The poetry of Keats, the written treasures of Shakespeare are also the marks of the educated person. Subject-Centered Education is more concerned with what is learned (Product) than how it is learned (Process). Failure to learn is usually caused by either the student’s lack of ability or his lack of desire to learn.

Teaching is the basic process - the teacher is the active person in this system.

Progressivism 

Progressivism is concerned with the growth and development of each child in her own growth and learning. Each child is an active, unique learner. Each child learns at her own rate using her own set of abilities, interests, and modalities. Children learn by doing, by being actively involved in the process. How the child learns is more important than what she learns. If a child learns how to learn, she is more likely to use her talents productively in whatever field or interest in which she is involved. 

Learning has to do with subject matter including Math, Science, Literature, History, English, and Physical Education, but the facts, skills, and concepts are learned during the child’s experiential, exploratory endeavors. The Arts are very important for the education of the Whole Child. 

Teachers must be very knowledgeable about the growth and development of each of their children. They must know what each of their children is ready to learn; physically, cognitively, and conceptually.  Learning is the basic Process – the teacher and the learner are both actively involved as partners in the process.

Coaching Sports is Player-Centered

By its very nature, sports coaching is player-centered (Progressive). We teach all of our new players how to pass, dribble, and shoot their basketball at the same time when they are first learning, but we really individualize their skills and knowledge as they play the game. We know that Ron is our offensive leader and we train him on awareness and teamwork. We know that Dennis is our best guard and we assign him to the opponent’s point guard and help him use his quickness to keep his opponent under control. We get to know each of our players as an individual and treat him that way.

So we get what is natural in our sports world; the interpersonal co-learning; that we‘re not allowed to have in our regular classroom. In other words, we teach Carl, Angelo, Sammy, and all the other players how each of them can improve their own free-shooting on the basketball court while we are teaching all 16 of them on our team and their classmates the same 24 word list on this week’s spelling assignment in our sixth grade classroom.

We are observing and helping each of our players grow and improve while we’re scoring and grading their spelling tests to find out what they are doing wrong.

I learned later how to individualize my fourth grade classroom and then how to adapt this to my learning experiences with my college students – all the way to my students in their doctoral experience.