Sara Pintauro

10/04/15
Education 300

Educational Philosophy

Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I may remember. Include me

and I will learn. One of the many quotes about the philosophies of

education. Philosophy is defined as love of wisdom. A teachers

philosophy reflects his or her beliefs about why, what, how, and whom

they teach; therefore, with the many different types of philosophies to

choose from, education around the country and around the world is

very different in every classroom. Some philosophies of education

include perennialism, essentialism, progressivism, reconstructionism,

information processing, behaviorism, cognitivism, and humanism. The

types of philosophy I most believe in are humanism and behaviorism.

Humanism is the philosophical belief of the human potential for

growth; that a child wants to be the best they can be. That humans

control their own destiny and are inherently good and strive for a

better world. It also is the belief that a childs learning is impacted by

their environment. Specifically, the environment in the classroom. In

simple terms, if the classroom has a happy and positive environment,

then it will create happy students. I believe in this view because I know

from personal experiences that what happened to me at home, or in

my outside environment, definitely affected my ability to focus and

perform well in school. Two things that helped me get through my hard
times were the positive atmospheres that my second and third grade

teachers created in their classroom.

I also think education should be a gradual and slow process that

builds on information learned previously, which is another view of

many humanists. Although I do believe in a lot of views from the

humanist perspective, I also share beliefs with the behaviorism view of

philosophy.

Behaviorists believe that behavior is an affect of outside forces

that cause people to act in predictable ways over which they have no

control. This belief promotes creating desirable citizens. For instance,

when the teacher believes in this, their focus is to set behavioral goals

for the students and help them improve and succeed with things in life

that external forces would otherwise prevent them from. This is exactly

what my teachers did for me when I was young and being affected by

outside-of-school issues. Seeing how my two teachers helped me

through the process makes me realize that I am probably where I am

today because of the way they taught and helped me change my

reactive behavior. I also believe in this type of philosophy because I

think its the right thing for teachers, or any person, to do. If they can

easily tell that a child is going through something which is why they

are acting out during class, the best way to handle it should be by

trying to help them move past whatever they are going through and

set goals for them to advance in school and in the long run, their life.
 In conclusion, a teachers philosophy has a big impact on what

and how the children in that classroom learn. One of the major parts of

how and what the children grow up to be has to do with their

experiences in school, of which the teacher is the a main factor. Thus,

the teachers philosophies impact the way and what our children learn

all throughout different age groups. My personal philosophical beliefs

are humanism and behaviorism, which impacts how I think and at least

somewhat impact how I teach children in the future.