Brett Meerman

Philosophy of Education
1

A person's philosophy about education is very unique and based upon

a person's personality. Mine is quite simple: Learning is a life-long process,
just because schooling reinforces or introduces new tactics, does not mean
that learning stops after schooling is done. To explain this one must know the
purpose of school, the roles of the teacher in learning, and how students
learn best. What should actually be taught in school is also essential,
whether it be knowledge, skills, or dispositions.
The true purpose of school is very important to know all about how
learning is done. Schools are meant to be centers of learning where people
learn new habits or reinforce old ones. Whether the habits are good or bad is
up to the educator. Schools are meant to aid in the learning of topics that can
be used in everyday life. It also prepares students for becoming part of the
work force, there are no jobs in the world that do not require a single ounce
of knowledge. Without the implementation of schools it would be very
difficult to create a culture that is worth maintaining. The type of culture that
would meet this standard would be one that is educated and disciplined in
many areas and not just one.
Students learn the best when they are comfortable in their
setting. This means that they need to be taught to their specific needs and
wants. Unfortunately this isn't always going to happen and most of the time
it is neglected due to the fact that it is almost impossible to have a teacher
for every student. In order for a student to learn at the best of their ability,
teachers must implement many different strategies to further the knowledge

Brett Meerman

Philosophy of Education
2

of their student. One big one being; building a positive relationship with their
students. Parents play a big role in this area of learning. If a parent learns
how their child learns the best, the biggest thing they can do is to share this
knowledge with future teachers. They also learn best when they are being
taught something of interest to them. This being said, the learning must not
only make sense to the students but it must also be relatable in some way.
When students are learning from each other they boost the comprehension
levels of each other. L.S. Vygotsky stated that social interaction rather than
the subject-object interaction is crucial to learning. A great example that I
love to implement into my teaching is to have a debate on the assassination
of John F. Kennedy and have students argue for each theory.
This leads to the next topic: What should actually be taught in schools
these days? Over the years many different plans have been introduced that
seem to be the best of the best. I have come to the conclusion that what
should be taught in school is the basics like reading, writing, mathematics,
social studies, science, the arts, and physical education along with the
student having an area of focus to excel in. This provides a base that the
student can then pick from to become an expert in. Many people would have
the same list as I do except the final study. I believe that if a student is
provided with an idea of what is good for their body and what is not is
extremely important and almost necessary. Without this basis of
exercise/nutrition there is almost no reason why any of the other subjects
should be taught. The city of Ontario, Canada agrees saying, Regular

Brett Meerman

Philosophy of Education
3

physical activity is not only essential for healthy growth and development
it can actually boost students academic achievement. They go on to say
that physical activity is helpful with younger children because it lets them
burn off their extra energy that they might not be able to control yet.
Going back to the idea of goals set by teachers for students. Goals
provide a basis to where the student should be by the time the learning with
that teacher is finished. The goals I would set for my students would be
reachable but not too easily reached. This would set a challenge for the
students to accomplish where they actually had to work hard to accomplish
the goal. The reason for setting goals would be to have an outcome of
learning. Without a challenge to push the students further in their learning, it
would be extremely hard to teach them. Every student should feel like they
accomplished something while learning a topic, which is why goals need to
be reachable, if they were not reachable then the student would give up
hope in ever getting to that point. The last part of my goal setting would be
to make all my goals measurable. Without a way to measure how much
learning actually occurred besides the fact that the students accomplished
the goal, it would be hard for the students to recognize their strengths and
weaknesses.
Work Cited
Noddings, Nel. Philosophy of Education. Cognitive Developmentalism. Third
ed. Boulder,

Colorado: Westview Press, 2012. 168-175. Print.

Brett Meerman

Philosophy of Education
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advanogy.com. Overview of Learning Styles. Advanogy Publishing. 2004.

http://www.learning-

styles-online.com/overview/

Noddings, Nel.Philosophy of Education. Third ed. Boulder, Colorado:

Westview Press, 2012. 16.

Print.

People for Education. Why do schools teach health and physical education? Is
it really important,

like math?. 2013.

http://www.peopleforeducation.ca/faq/why-do-schools-teach-health-

and-

physical-education-is-it-an-important-subject-like-math/
Freishtat, Richard. University of California Berkley Center for Teaching and
Learning, What are

Learning Goals?. 2013.

http://teaching.berkeley.edu/what-are-learning-goals
Martusewicz, Rebecca A., Jeff Edmundson, and John Lupinacci. Ecojustice
Education: Toward

Diverse, Democratic, and Sustainable Communities.

First ed. New York: Routledge,

2011. N. pag. Print.

Lewis, Anne C., and Elizabeth Steinberger. Learning styles: putting research
and common sense

into practice. First ed. Arlington, VA: American

Association of School Administrators,

1991. N. pag. Web. 7 Dec. 2013.