The Ideas that Bridge the Past to the Future

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines philosophy as the “pursuit of wisdom” and

knowledge as “a condition of knowing something with familiarity gained through experience or
association.” These two terms are not interchangeable, nor are they mutually exclusive. To be
knowledgeable does not imply wisdom. As teachers, we strive to connect these two terms to
create an effective and coherent educational philosophy whose legacy will be seen in our
students, not only when they are in our classrooms, but more importantly when they are not.
The lessons of the classroom go beyond simply imparting knowledge to our students; they also
include creating curious, critically thinking, independent individuals who understand that the
pursuit of knowledge is not a destination, rather it’s a life-long journey. Over the course of this
class we have explored the educational philosophies of twenty-five giants in the educational
field. Many created their philosophies based on their own educational and life experiences,
both good and bad; in effect, they were a product of their time. It is my ambition to fuse key
ideas from these educational greats with my own, to create a unique and effective educational
philosophy that will resonate with the youth of today.

The classroom experience for my family and I has been at times a troubling journey. We
as a people have lived in northern New Mexico for almost five centuries. To paraphrase
Malcolm X, we did not come to America, America came to us. Schools, after New Mexico
became a state, were used as tools of assimilation. They were English-only zones, and the
punishment for breaking the rules were harsh. My father recalls getting caught speaking
Spanish to his friends during recess one day. The teacher waited until all the students were
seated, and she then walked my father to the front of the class as a miscreant. She announced
his crime for all the hear, and he was then taken to a bed of stones (created specifically for this
purpose), made to roll his pant legs up above the knee, and was forced to kneel in the bed of
jagged stones. To make ensure that the lesson was well-learned, he was asked to hold his arms
out and two heavy dictionaries were placed in either hand. My father felt powerless that day
and he decided that the only way that he could regain dignity and control over his life was to
play by ‘American’ rules, and for him that meant education. His motto was “Saber es Poder” or
knowledge is power. For me college was never a choice, it was a forgone conclusion that I
would attend. Even as traumatizing as it might have been, my parents recognized the
importance of education, and instilled that same value to their kids.

As I reflect on many of my educational experiences, much of the curriculum was based

on rote memorization and the regurgitation of facts - or the banking method of education.
Students were paraded to the front of the classroom to recite memorized phonetics, poems,
and rules of grammar and mathematics. Many of my first years in school were spent writing
and re-writing lines of letters, numbers, and multiplication tables. I remember being bored out
of my mind. In middle school, I was tested and placed into a “gifted” classroom. Academically,
this class was not much different from my other classes except that we met once a week and
the teacher happened to be whoever was willing to give up their free period that semester. I
never placed credence in these courses; I never considered myself smarter than anybody else.
The grades that I earned in school were from hard work, not from being “gifted”. What did
change for me were the expectations that came with this “gifted” title. People started to
expect more from me, and consequently I tried to rise to the occasion. This same attitude
carried me through my entire academic career.

Emotionally, school was never a comfortable place. Bullying, though discouraged, was
often accepted. The bullies, in my experience, were just as likely to be teachers as students.
The classroom was not a safe place to test out new ways of thinking or where teachers realized
that as much, if not more, learning happened when students got things wrong as when they got
it right. So began my life-long aversion to asking for help. I would stifle a question for fear of
looking stupid or keep an opinion to myself rather than endure the incredulous looks from
teachers. I muted that inner voice of mine so much, she eventually stopped talking to me. This
does not negate the effects the awesome teachers had on my education, or in fact my life.
There were many remarkable teachers that had a positive influence - teachers that had
incredibly high expectations but tempered that attitude by showing that they truly cared, not
just about grades, but about students as individuals. They took the time to nurture that vital
emotional connection between teacher and student. These are the teachers that taught me
how important it was to listen to the inner voice again, because she had some important things
to say.

Drawing from the readings during this class, I genuinely connected with the ideas of
many of the philosophers. Though I did not agree with everything that each person believed,
there were bits and pieces that I drew from each that I will incorporate into my own teaching
philosophy. As a result, my educational philosophy is a fusion of the ideas that have withstood
the test of time, a carefulness preached by William Bagley; from the ancient teachings of
Confucius to the more modern ideas of Maria Montessori.

Of all the philosophers, I connected most with the ideas of Maria Montessori. Like her, I
too come from scientific background. She based her educational philosophy on the concepts of
science, observation of children, and from her extensive research in sociology and psychology.
She stressed the importance of quantifiable, observable data to create an educational
philosophy that was based on hands-on observation and was able to correlate her findings to
create an effective and successful teaching style. She also saw the importance of a structured,
ordered environment from which children could learn. In this, she incorporated some
important ideas from Confucius where classroom expectations and behaviors are clearly
delineated, which in turn creates few ambiguous, anxiety-inducing situations; a student’s focus
should be on learning, not trying to decipher social cures from the teacher. She created an
environment that allowed children the freedom of choice within a controlled environment, and
this in turn inspired independence and confidence (Gutek, 2011).

I was fascinated by Paolo Freire’s ideas on ‘hidden curriculums’ in schools; a concept

where students are trained to accept the official version of knowledge and values of the
dominant culture. America has not been immune to the effects of this ‘hidden curriculum’. An
example is seen in many of our history books that explain the divine nature of U.S. expansion
through the Manifest Destiny, while conveniently ignoring the Trail of Tears. He advocated for
a rising awareness where people are taught to see through the false consciousness of the
majority that glorifies their own accomplishments while at the same time marginalizing the
successes of the minority. This creates a culture where non-white children begin to feel inferior
to their white counterpart. Freire believed that teachers played a critical role in creating a
dialogue that shaped a critical consciousness in their students (Gutek, 2011). On that same
train of thought, Jane Addams believed that each culture had something to add to the what we
call being American. She was opposed to the complete assimilation of cultures, rather she
advocated that America had just as much to learn from minority cultures as these cultures had
to learn from America.

John Dewey stressed the importance of creating a sense of community in the classroom.
He advocated for active learning where children worked collaboratively to solve problems. This
group-based learning taught children to become active participants in a larger society. In line
with the ideas of Freire, Dewey taught what he termed ‘reflective thinking’ which was the
conscientious examination of societal beliefs and the evidence that supports them. He believed
that this ‘reflection’ prevented children from taking for granted knowledge that had been
passively passed on to them based on tradition or popular opinion and encouraged children to
test knowledge based on critical inquiry. Dewey also believed that schools and society were
interdependent, that each reflected the ideals of the other (Gutek, 2011).

The idea of critical thinking transcends centuries and philosophers. John Mill, with his
unique utilitarian upbringing believed that freedom of thought was paramount to education.
People had the fundamental right to form new ideas, even if (or especially if) they challenged
the old ways of thinking, to the pioneer of the women’s movement Mary Wollstonecraft. Each
believed that an essential component of education was to teach children to think for
themselves, for Mill, to prevent the ‘Mass Mind’ effect, for Freire, to realize the false
consciousness of society, for Wollstonecraft to create a society based on individual
accomplishment rather than the ‘accident of birth’ (Gutek, 2011).

From William Bagley, I learned of the importance of preparing children for the next level
of education, or his idea on the ‘ladder of education’. Like him, I also believe that there are
many progressivist ideas that should be incorporated into the classroom to make it a more
interactive and enjoyable experience, but in line with his essentialist way of thinking, there
should be a core set of subjects (literature, math, science) that must be taught to students
(Gutek, 2011). The goal of education should be to prepare students for the next level of
education, whether that means progressing from one grade to the next, going from high school
to the university, or perpetuating the belief that education is a life-long endeavor that does not
end in the classroom. Most philosophers also believed that education should be liberal in
nature to produce well-rounded students knowledgeable in a variety of subjects. Bagley, much
like Aristotle, believed in the logical and systematic order of education. The idea where
learning was most productive when the material was presented in a rational manner that
students could wrap their minds around (Gutek, 2011).

A common theme for Johann Comenius, Rousseau, Pestalozzi, and Froebel was the
concept that children go through definite stages of development and education should follow
these stages. They all stressed that children cannot be rushed to learn things that they are not
developmentally ready to learn. Philosophers from Aristotle to Pestalozzi, also believed that
learning should begin with the senses. This underscores the importance that children begin
their education organically by observing and experiencing the world around them using their
senses, and as their understanding grows, so should the complexity of the topics that are
taught. Pestalozzi introduced the ‘simple to complex’ and ‘from near to far’ ideas to education
where children are taught things in an order of complexity. Primary education begins with
simple, local ideas, and as children mature and develop, more complex and abstract ideas are
introduced into the curriculum (Gutek, 2011).

Another idea that transcends time is the concept that schools should act as safe-havens,
where emotional growth is just as important as cognitive growth. For learning to take place,
children need to feel safe and supported. In line with Froebel’s way of thinking, children are
like gardens that need to be cared for to grow.

In my attempt to articulate my own philosophy of education, the key question that I ask
myself is: what is the meaning of education? Education, in its literal sense means to enlighten.
For me, this definition includes the necessary instruction of core subjects, such as science,
math, and literature that allows us as a nation to remain competitive on the international stage.
At the same time it should teach children to be independent, critical thinking individuals who
question the authenticity of societal norms. We have become a nation of sheep, unwilling, or
more likely unable, to think critically on the current events that drive our lives as individuals and
as a nation. Somehow on our journey to excellence and independence, we find ourselves at risk
to losing both.

First and foremost, the attitude of education begins with the teacher. An educational
policymaker once said that “the quality of an education system cannot exceed the quality of its
teachers” (Ripley, 2011, p. 396). As educators we cannot expect excellence from our students
without first emulating that ideal in ourselves. Teaching is not meant to be easy, nor should it
be. It takes hours of studying lessons to ensure that we as educators understand what we are
teaching to the nth degree. This takes much thought and preparation in deciding how to best
present material in a logical and natural manner that makes sense to our students. In this way,
we are building a solid foundation of concepts from which our students can build. My ambition
is to help my students make that connection between the material that I am teaching to ‘real
world’ applications and whenever possible bridge concepts across subjects. I hope to create a
classroom using an interdisciplinary approach to education that is able to connect a history
lesson in World War II to science lesson in chemical warfare. As a teacher, I will strive to be
humble enough to realize that the role of educator and student will change many times over
the course of a day; to realize that I can learn just as much from my students as they can learn
from me.

Students should feel safe to learn. For children to feel safe, first they must feel
respected. Too often teachers demand respect from their students, without reciprocating the
emotion. It is our responsibility as teachers to not only mind the physical growth of our
students, but also the emotional. The foundation of showing respect to our students is
defining in clear and concise terms what is expected of them in our classrooms. Expectations
and behaviors should be clearly understood with few ambiguous, anxiety provoking situations.
Children thrive on routine, but it is our job as educators to ensure that routine does not
become boredom, or comfortable complacency, for students or educators. Being supportive
does not mean undemanding. We need to balance support in the classroom with rigor.
Students should realize that it is because we as teachers care so much about their futures that
we expect so much from them.

Another aspect of creating a safe environment (both mental and physical) for our
students is to help them them realize our classrooms are places where our differences are
recognized and celebrated. The curriculum should weave our country’s varied cultures’
traditions, music, and history into the rich fabric we call America. Lessons in history should be
taught from different perspectives, and not only from the dominant culture’s view. We as
educators need to create a consciousness where students are taught to recognize the
accomplishments of the minority and not just glorify the success of the dominant culture.
Tolerance begins with understanding, and classrooms should be on the frontline of this battle.

I believe that students will rise to the expectations that we have set for them, either
high or low. A central tenant of my philosophy is rigor. I will create an atmosphere in my
classroom where parents and students alike will realize that education matters. In too many
classrooms, learning seems to take on a passive role, something that students expect to
‘happen’ to them with minimal effort on their part. Students will have to work hard in my
classroom, where grades will be earned and not simply given. I believe that the lessons
learned from failing are just as important as realizing the hard work it takes to succeed. We
need to prepare our students to succeed in the ‘real world’ where successful people preserver
where others have given up, to be resilient in the face in adversity, and that the difference
between failure and success hinges on self-discipline.

Though high expectations are important in the classroom, they must be rooted in reality
and based on children’s developmental readiness. To try to teach lessons that are beyond the
developmental readiness of students begets confusion or worse, frustration, on the part of the
student and the teacher. This sense of frustration has the potential to taint a student’s view on
education from that point on; we as teachers much tread carefully to prevent this from
happening. Lessons should be taught in a spiraling manner, beginning with the simple and near
and advancing to the more complex and abstract. For children to ascend the pyramid of
education, their foundation of basic knowledge needs to be solid, only then can we challenge
that knowledge with new ideas and different perspectives. It does us no good to have
philosophical discussions on slavery when students don’t know what slavery meant to us as a
country to begin with.

I believe that subjects should be taught in more depth to allow students to percolate
knowledge, to debate and discuss concepts among themselves and with their teachers.
Discussion will play an integral role in my classroom and one way of achieving this goal is
creating a sense of community where students will have the opportunity to collaborate with
one another but also have the time and space for individual work as well. I will strive to have a
classroom where individual thought, right or wrong, will be encouraged and celebrated. I
want my students to conscientiously examine traditionally held beliefs; to be critical and test
this knowledge with critical inquiry and not take for granted knowledge that has been passively
passed on to them based on tradition or popular opinion. These small humans will one day
inherit the earth, I plan on making sure that they are up to the task.

Last, but definitely not least, I want to create a classroom environment where children
can be children. Youth is a unique time of our lives where both innocence and wisdom, by
some cosmic miracle, are able to co-exist. With all of our loft aspirations and ambitions that we
may have for our students, they are still kids. It is our task as educators to nurture that sense of
wonderment and curiosity in education in an exciting and novel way that will carry these kids
through their future years of education. Kids, to work hard should play hard, and I will ensure
that my students will have ample time for both.

It is my goal to create a philosophy of education that is solid at its foundation but

malleable enough to accept the change that comes with time and new ways of thinking. The
most important lesson that I wish to impart on my future students is to help them to realize the
power that they hold within themselves. Saber es Poder! As a society, we tend to
underestimate the ability of our youth; we expect too little and give too much. I want my
students to learn that through hard work, dedication, and independent thinking, they can grow
into thoughtful, conscientious, and curious students who preserver in the face of adversity and
have the self-discipline to see their dreams become a reality.
 Bibliography

Gutek, Gerald L. (2011). Historical and philosophical foundations of education (5th Edition).
Chicago, IL: Pearson.

Knowledge [Def.2] (n.d.) In Merriam Webster Online, Retrieved July 15, 2018, from
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/citation.

Philosophy [Def. 1]. (n.d.). In Merriam Webster Online, Retrieved July 15, 2018, from
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/citation.

Ripley, Amanda. (2013). The smartest kids in the world. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster
Paperbacks.