Running head: PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION 1

Philosophy of Education: Retaining Knowledge

Hallery Ferrini Montepeque

Western Nevada College

PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION 2

Philosophy of Education: Retaining Knowledge

One of the most important factors about being an educator is knowing and putting forth

their philosophy of education in their classroom. Every teacher has different beliefs, and these

beliefs are determined by how they belief education should be towards the students and their

beliefs about teaching and learning in general. Some teachers prefer to acknowledge the

importance of education through moral and intellectual standards; meanwhile, others argue that

education should be based on student interest. Nevertheless, theses are the beliefs of others. The

philosophy of education that is of importance is to help students retain knowledge that will guide

them in life. Three very crucial knowledge that learners need to acquire through education are

moral values, self awareness, and academic knowledge.

The first knowledge that students need to retain in order to help them throughout life are

moral values. From a very young age, students are taught to respect others and show manners at

all times. During teenage years, students do not take much importance about moral values.

However, as they continues to grow, they realize that having these values will help them acquire

jobs and opportunities within school. It is important for teachers to educate their students about

these moral values and put them to practice in their classroom because not only will it create a

better atmosphere in the classroom, but it will also allow student to practice those values inside

the classroom so that when they head start growing their life outside of school, it will not be hard

to exploit these values. Some ways educators can teach students about moral values is by setting

classroom rules and responsibilities for them. Even Though some may argue that educators have

much more important things to teach, showing students moral values is the best knowledge they

can give their students because it will teach them to be good role models for others and good
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citizens. The reason why this is important is because moral values will help the future

generation-- who will eventually control and have power over the country in which we currently

live in, become better than how we are at this moment. Educators are of great importance

because they set an example for their students and give a bit of their own perspective of how life

should be lived. However, it is important to teach the student that creating their own perspective

is also important.

The second knowledge that students should retain from teachings is self awareness. This

is an important factor that students need to remember because this is what shapes them as a

human being. According to Parkway (2015), self awareness is a form of existentialism which is a

philosophical orientation to teaching and explains that “student should acquire an education that

will enable them to assign meaning to their lives”(p.128). Self awareness is important because

through this students will create stronger moral values and allow students have better control

over their emotions, thoughts, and behaviors. This is a great key feature because just like moral

values, students will be able to become good citizens. A couple of way to teach about self

awareness is by teaching controversial issues. Through this, student will be open to different

perspectives and ideas from their own, and they will also get the ability to be good listeners. One

of the benefits about teaching controversial issues is that students will recognize their beliefs and

be able to control their emotions and behaviors when a classmate is speaking about their ideas

(even when it may be completely different from their own).

The third knowledge that students should acquire from education is academic knowledge.

This is a very important matter because is is through academic knowledge that students have a

form of safety in the world. According to Parkway (2015), the idea that knowledge should be
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based on teaching students about academic knowledge is called perennialism (Parkway, 2015, p.

141). Everyday life consists of academic knowledge we learn from school such as english, math,

etc. It is important for students to retain this knowledge because it may also help them in their

future jobs. There are many careers out there that require math, english, philosophy, science, and

many more. However, in order to be successful in these jobs, students must be able to remember

the information they learn in school.

My philosophy about education is for students to retain important information such as

moral values, self awareness, and academic knowledge because they will be of great help

towards the students in the future.

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References

Parkay, Forrest. W. (2015). Becoming a Teacher. Pearson Education.