Derek Witmer

, . (Ancient
Greek). As a philosophical educator, I believe the essence of education is Understanding. To
understand, is to perceive the intending mean of. When it comes to education, it is important
for students and educators to understand. From the viewpoint of the student, you need to know
what your strengths are when it comes to learning and taking in the subject matter. From the
educators view, it is important to know how your students learn and how to involve all types of
learning into your teachings so as to give all students the ability to succeed in their preferred area
of learning. As humans it is in our nature to discover who we are and what we have interest in.
Nietzsche says, Your true nature lies, not concealed deep within you, but immeasurably high
above you, or at least above that which you usually take yourself to be. He goes on to describe
that all this information is bound inside of us, and that educators will be the liberators that can set
it free. But the question is, how as educators do we know how to liberate, as Nietzsche says,
[the] original meaning and basic stuff of our nature from our students. As educators it is our
duty to guide our students in their learning so as to help them reach some sort of enlightenment,
under the assumption that enlightenment is the point at which a student grasps a concept or an
idea that they did not previously understand. So, how can we, as educators, expect to guide our
students towards enlightenment if we do not first understand what it is they need to be
enlightened about? As educators we need to first, understand what the student is trying to learn,
whether it is a simple problem in math class, or the Nietzschean idea of the original meaning of
nature. Second, once we understand what the student is striving for, we, as educators, need to
understand the student and their learning preference. Whether it is by visual learning, audible, or
any other way, every student has at least one way that causes him or her to be able to understand

what is being taught, better than another way. A lot of modern day classrooms tend to consist of
an educator who lectures or writes on the board while the students take notes. Situations like this
do not entice the different learning mediums that are present among all people. The essence of
education is an understanding. If you are able to pinpoint your students learning habits, you will
be able to play upon their strengths to help create a learning environment where all students are
actively learning.
As Irigaray says, Teaching requires us to be, and not only to have knowledge. If the
question were only one of communicating knowledge, a machine could substitute for the teacher.
But a machine cannot be the substitute for a certain way of being, that the master has gained
through his or her training, his or her own experience of life, his or her own path." There is so
much more to teaching then just conveying a message or the transfer of knowledge. It is easy to
memorize useless facts, but what is the point of memorizing these facts if you cannot put them to
use and recall them when necessary? Education is understanding. Once we have grasped a
certain topic or issue, it will be useful when we are put in situations that we can relate it to the
real world. As educators we must teach our students to understand what they are learning, not
just teach for the sake of memorization. In order to educate students on subject matter, as
educators we must also understand what we are teaching. Irigaray says that teaching require us to
beI think this is true, but I also believe that our Being, or our nature as people, plays a major
roll into how we can relate to other humans. There is so much that goes into who we are as
people, including our experiences. When it comes to education, an educator is one who should be
using their past experiences to help assist in educating his or her students. An example, which I
have used numerous times, is a Spanish teacher teaching a class on Spanish culture. If the teacher
has been to Spain and has experienced what it is like to be immersed in Spanish culture, they will

Derek Witmer
be much more likely to get the point across of what it is like to experience this culture, to their
students, than a teacher who has never been to Spain before. The students will get to hear of their
teachers experience with Spanish culture, and will be much more likely to understand what this
culture is actually like. Our life experiences make up our Being and help to determine who we
are. Our Being plays a major role into who we are as educators, how well we will relate to our
students and in turn how much they will be able to perceive or understand, what we are trying to
teach them. As educators we can help to understand their purpose for being.
A major part of education, are those that we educate. As students and educators it is
important to understand ourselves, to understand why we are the way we are, and why we like
what we like. Understanding yourself includes knowing what you are interested in and what you
like learning about. We all had to take the same main courses in school, math, english, history,
and science. Everyone will just naturally be better at one of the four main subjects. For example
if a student succeeded in history and fell behind in math, naturally they are going to do better at
history in school then math. By knowing what subject they are most interested in and what
subject they were least interested in, they are able to delegate their time when it came to studying
and homework. Since they struggle with math more than they do with history, they should be
spending more time studying for math then history. By understanding yourself and being able to
recognize what you are good at and what you struggle with, you will then be able to better
understand your educational needs. Once you know your educational strengths and needs, you
will create a better understanding of yourself educationally, and your general interests within
learning. With this understanding of yourself, you can relate it to your education and learn to
perceive why you like the things you like and what makes you tick as a human.

I think that the underlying essence of education is, understanding. An understanding of

what it means to be a philosophical educator, helping students reach their full educational
potential. An understanding of the knowledge itself, and how to best convey and present this
knowledge that you have gained through real world experience to your students. Finally, an
understanding of ourselves, our interests and what makes us who we are. Not only is education
understanding, but understanding, is an education.