Philosophy of Education

Throughout my time at Wesleyan, I have studied several educational philosophies. As I

have made my way through the different philosophies, I found that I was drawn to Pragmatism.
Now this may be due to the fact that I have fallen in love with ohn !ewey and his ideas.
Pragmatism is a philosophy as "nown as e#perimentalism. This is because this philosophy
revolves around e#perience and discovering tentative truths through e#perience. This is relatively
recent philosophy that developed in the $%
th
century &'(). As stated before it is popularly
connected with ohn !ewey and his beliefs. This philosophy draws me in with the endless
learning possibilities. This philosophy relies on learning through e#periences in nature. Through
these learning e#periences in nature, pragmatics are able to determine truth however an absolute
truth can never be determined &*%). Pragmatics view reality as an event that is sub+ect to change
at any point. They also believe that nothing is certain. Another thing about pragmatism that is
very appealing to me and my beliefs is the idea that each person wor"s for the entire community.
Everything is based on a democracy and wor"ing to benefit the entire community &*,). There are
many things within the philosophy of Pragmatism that appeal to my beliefs so throughout this
paper you will reali-e that Pragmatism has become a part of me and has definitely placed itself in
my personal teaching philosophy.
.y beliefs on the philosophy of education have been shaped and molded by the many
influences in the education program. .y first and foremost influence has been ohn !ewey.
After him I loo" to /harles !arwin and /harles 0anders Peirce. I have a strong belief in the
power of learning through e#perience and problem solving through e#perience. 0o many great
things have developed from e#perience and I believe that it is the "ey to success. ohn !ewey on
page *, discusses the importance of e#perience. 1e says 2we simply do something, and when it
fails, we do something else, and "eep on trying until we hit upon something which wor"s, and
then we adopt that method as a rule of thumb measure in subse3uent procedures4. This shows
that the e#perience of life is what determines what wor"s best, or "nowledge. The basis of
Pragmatic thought is finding what wor"s best and applying it to the community. I find this as a
"ey to success in education. When in and out of the classroom you must try and try again to find
what wor"s best to solve whatever problem you face. Another influence on my personal thoughts
and beliefs is /harles !arwin. !arwin has influenced a lot of aspects of science and philosophy.
In relation to education, /harles !arwin has contributed the idea of using science to problem
solve &*%). I believe that using a scientific approach to solve whatever problems in your life can
help further "nowledge when problem solving but also "eep a more unbiased approach while
wor"ing through a problem. 5et another heavy influence on my personal beliefs is /harles
0anders Peirce. Along with my other influences, /harles 0anders Peirce believed in the power of
e#perience in education. What ma"es Peirce uni3ue is having previous "nowledge and then
e#perience other things through nature and trying to validate the "nowledge you already hold
&*,). 6ecause nothing is certain and that there is no absolute truth, validating the "nowledge you
have been given is a way to get as close as possible to a tentative truth. 7erification of "nowledge
should become a part of everyday life in the classroom. 6eing certain of the "nowledge that you
have is very important to being the best student and citi-en that you can possibly be. Through all
of these influences, my beliefs have been shaped and refined but also e#panded. ohn !ewey,
/harles !arwin and /harles 0anders Peirce have a similar view on education yet different
approaches to the achieving their goal in education. They have all aided me in e#panded my
mind and enhanced my educational e#perience.
When applying my beliefs to a classroom, my ideas become very similar to ideas of
Progressivism and 0ocial 8econstruction. 6oth philosophies from the $%
th
century, these models
reflect a lot of how I believe a classroom should function.
9irst in a classroom there has to be a purpose for being there to learn. I believe that the
purpose of schooling is to teach the students to wor" together in a community. The classroom
should reflect a democratic society. In the classroom the students will wor" together and create
their own rules to abide by. Throughout the school year the students will wor" on critical
thin"ing s"ills and problem solving. !uring this critical thin"ing and problem solving the
students will wor" together to create a strong democratic community. The class will be given
some "nowledge but they will be encouraged to e#plore and e#perience in order to validate what
they have been given. When the students leave my classroom there will be a strong community
and they will be able to thin" critically, problem:solve and learn through e#perience.
As learners, the students have a nature and it relies on the necessity to e#perience.
Through this e#perience the students tend to lean to "inesthetic learning. This allows the students
to e#plore in nature and this develops a deepen sense of "nowledge in the students. I believe that
the students are able to thin" critically and problem solve on their own. They can establish their
own rules and abide by them. 0tudents are always changing. The nature of the learner is what
allows the classroom to succeed.
0chool should revolve around e#perience. There should be time spent outdoors e#ploring
and self:teaching through this discovery. The class should be reflective with opportunities to
problem solve. The curriculum should grow with the children throughout the year and be
community oriented. As the year goes by the curriculum should be based around not only the
e#perience but the interests and needs of the students.
When instructing the students there should be many opportunities to wor" and develop in
groups. In and out of the groups the students will be thin"ing critically and ma"ing decisions on
their own. They will wor" on pro+ects and learn together. 0ome peer teaching and mentoring
should occur. E#perience is a must in the classroom, not +ust teaching a sub+ect but allowing the
students to do their own e#ploration into the sub+ect.
The classroom will be managed as a democratic society. The students will be self:
motivated and be leaders of the school. The students will be responsible and respectful. They
establish their own rules and will be e#pected to follow the rules they create.
In assessment, I will monitor the students; progress and have a strong feedbac" system
for the students so that they "now how they can improve themselves. They will also be doing a
self:evaluation because they are responsible for themselves and their wor" in the classroom.
<ccasionally I will use conferences with the parents but also the students to discuss progress and
different opportunities to progress.
In summary my classroom will reflect a lot of the ideas of Pragmatics, Progressivists, and
0ocial 8econstructionists. The classroom will be built upon e#perience and e#ploration. The
students will be responsible for themselves and their wor". They will have power in the
classroom as we reflect a democracy.