describe philosophy?describe the importance of education philosophy
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Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental questions about existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. ... Philosophical methods include questioning, critical discussion, rational argument, and systematic presentation.
A philosophy of education is a system of thinking about what education is for and how it should be done.
In order to know how best to do something, you need to be very clear about what it is that you are trying to accomplish.
At first glance, the idea of a philosophy of education seems a little like “well, DUH - it’s teaching the students!”
But - what do we teach them? How to do a job? To be good citizens? To think for themselves? To cooperate with leaders? To focus on science? To focus on civics? Art? Philosophy? To balance their lives or throw themselves entirely into what is most important? Important to whom - the student? parents? leaders? experts? Which leaders? Experts in what?
And here is the problem: The answer to almost every question of that type is YES. But there are a limited number of hours in a day, and for some of those, YES implies NO to another.
For example, in teaching math, we can either give students the exact method to do something, or we can guide them to discover the method for themselves. The first is much faster, and leaves more time for practice. But students forget what they have been told, and remember what they have discovered for themselves. And the process of discovering procedures for themselves trains them to be ready for new challenges.
Another philosophical question in math education: do we let students use technology, or do we require them to calculate by hand? Calculating by hand develops speed and efficiency in basic calculations, but takes time that could be used learning more advanced math. And using technology is how they will do math outside of school.
Questions like these come up often in teaching and in discussing education. By thinking carefully about these questions ahead of time, we are able to act on, and explain, our best ideas and most important values in the moment. When a student is struggling and a parent is asking why you aren’t doing things the classical way or why you aren’t using the latest fad, you need to have already thought about it. You need to know why you are doing what you are doing, and neither “because that’s how we always have always done it” nor “that’s what this book says we should do” is good enough.