Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Educational Philosophies


Essentialism: Essentialists believe that individuals in a society should have a common core of information, and schools should be focused on teaching this common core.
Perennialism: Perennialism suggests that there are a few long-lasting ideas that always remain true and need to be taught.
Behaviorism: This idea states that behaviors define people and every behavior should be seen as a response to stimuli.
Positivism: Positivism suggests that truth and knowledge should be limited to things that can be observed with senses.
Progressivism: Progressivists think that ideas should be tested using experiments, and that learning is apparent in the questions asked by the students.
Humanism: Humanists believe that all humans are born good and later become enslaved by institutions (similar to Rousseau’s views on government).
Constructivism: Constructivists focus on hands-on learning and allowing students to develop their own frames of thought.
Reconstructionism: Reconstructionism is aimed mainly at setting a curriculum that is meant to make social reforms.
                As much as I hate to admit it, my dominant philosophy is Essentialist.  I would love to spend all day going on tangents to describe my favorite ideas and times in history, but I also realize there are certain things that every student needs to learn.  I know I cringe every time a student doesn’t know something that seems like basic information (how to find slope, Pearl Harbor attack). 
                On the other end, I can say that Behaviorism is as far away from my perspective as possible.  This whole idea that students’ actions can be diagnosed as being caused by a specific stimulus assumes that all students think alike.  At the same time, this idea suggests that there is nothing beyond students’ actions.  That means that every student who isn’t speaking in class aren’t paying attention.  As someone who is usually the student who isn’t speaking, I can say this is not true.

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