Educational Leadership & Technology

I was trolling through some old files and came across a philosophy of education assignment I wrote for one of my MEd. courses. After reading it, I realized that everything in it was still true and appropriate for me as an educator, so it is time to publish it for the world to see. Enjoy!

The philosophy of education that best matches my beliefs is Reconstructionism. Although the goals of traditional education seem logical, they lack a quality that is essential for students which is purpose. Students are not seeing the connection between Ancient Rome and modern times. They do not understand the purposes for being drilled on odd bits of English grammar. The three Rs, and all other aspects of the traditional education, can be mastered through more engaging methods. A new emphasis should be placed on researching and solving problems of society and community service projects.
The most fundamental purpose of education is to improve society. Improving society can only happen through educating young minds that they possess the ability and power to change problems in our world. The time for memorizing small bits of information is over. Students now need the skills to understand how to locate, comprehend, synthesize, evaluate, and effectively use information. The students must see meaningful connections between content and skills and the real world. It must be understood by students that they can change the world with action and knowledge.
Much of our current society is built on systems that pacify the individual. People are encouraged to be watchers and observers, but not encouraged to take part in influencing or changing a situation. Traditional education feeds into this problem by making students empty vessels that knowledge must be poured into. The learner is passive and assumed a fool. It is my belief that education serves to change the individual’s personality from passive to active. Through becoming an active member of society, the individual can invoke meaningful change to the society. History can be used as a guide for avoiding the same mistakes. History can also be a guide that provides models of correct behavior, excellent achievements for inspiration, and a way to review both good and bad aspects of society. However, the most important goal for students to comprehend must be the concept that the future will be better and different from the past if they strive to shape it.
These ideals come across in my teaching in several ways. My students are asked to explore the ideas of literature and writing at the very beginning of the year. We ask questions and search for answers together. Although I do not tell the students what we will study, they often end up choosing similar concepts: why do we study literature, what is literature, how has literature been used to change society, how is writing powerful and why, how can writing be used to change and shape society. These ideas build a base that makes the study of literature more than just reading another novel, poem, article, or short story. There is a purpose for reading and writing. Reading and writing can help solve problems in society.
My school supports this style of project learning by requiring students to perform community service for graduation. My students are encouraged to build a community service projects to help make Saipan (and the world) a better place. Examples in literature become both negative and positive models. The great authors are looked to provide us with assistance in understanding how to affect the future. Writing becomes a vehicle for finding community members or institutions that can assist in the project. We write emails, business letters, resumes, journals, poems, and stories about our projects.
We can spend our time pouring information into an empty mind, but we will never keep up with the amount of information there is to know. We must give students ways to deal with information on their own. Methods to locate, comprehend, synthesize, evaluate, and effectively use information. While doing this, we need to explore how society can be improved for the future. Educating children in this way achieves all the goals of traditional education plus we receive a member of society who has the ability to make change. Reconstructionism is a better way.