Essay Sample on Function of Education in a Democracy

Education is a crucial aspect of human life. It possesses a two-fold function in our lives and society: one function is utility and the other is culture. Education must facilitate the ability of a human being to become more efficient and by extension to achieve the legitimate goals of life (Dewey, John). As a teacher, my primary goal is to provide the best education experience for my students. I strongly believe that every student is unique and endowed differently and I must strive to provide an environment that enables all students to flourish and grow.

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After thorough consideration and vivid self-assessment, I managed to find out that I am a pragmatist in philosophy and progressivist in my teaching approach. Progressivism relies on the core believe that the student is the focal point .it is a student-centered approach that attempts to focus on the growth of the students through experience and hands-on activities.Progressivists believe that optimal learning is achieved when students are exposed to what they consider most pertinent to their lives (Lilja & Dahlbeck ).As a progressivist I strongly believe that when the curriculum and teaching techniques are modified to cater for the needs and interests of the students, the teacher manages to motivate the student to yarn for more. Another spect of progressivism is the idea of democratic system of teaching. In this aspect, I believe that students will thrive in life if they are exposed to norms and cultures of different societies early. By promoting group work, the student is able to work well with others and be better prepared for the diverse world.

Another aspect of progressivism is logic and this is crucial for students to understand that whatever he/she learns in classroom has relevance in the actual world. Logic helps the students to think for themselves as guided by the teacher and in turn enables the student to focus on how to think than what to think.

The impact of progressivism on my teaching style

In order to fit in and achieve the bare minimum for my teaching approach to qualify to be progressivist, my teaching style must compliment the desire of this theory. First , my progressive approach of education will make me change my approach and involve my students in teaching through asking them questions that invoke their emotions, which in turn will generate discussion in class. I would also organize fun class activities so that all the students can participate actively. If I was a science teacher and I was teaching about the anatomy of a human being, I would try to avoid the common norm of dumping excessive information through long and boring lectures. In its place, I would strive to demonstrate the features of the human being through visual aids and ask questions in way that students can pick the answer from the stated notes by the help of the illustrated images. This typical way of guided discovery helps the student to gain interest in the subject which achieves the ultimate goal of accelerated learning.(Eggen and Kauchakk,2014).I would also plan fun activities for the anatomy lesson where students will have different dummies of dismantled models of the human body and the students will work towards assembling the different dismantled parts of the human body in groups. The activity is to test their comprehension of the topic but also give them the chance to work together towards a common goal.

Secondly, centered on my progressive education approach, I would strive to make the knowledge taught in the classroom applicable and practical. The best way of doing this in a graphics class would be to enlist the service of an actual client who desires a flyer for an event. I would challenge the students to take up the work in groups and present their final product to the client who in turn would consider the best group and pay them for their services. This will expose the student to the real work and the challenges that graphics designers face but also make the experience worthwhile if they earn something from their lessons. This will increase students’ interest in pursuing more techniques in enriching their presentation in order to become competitive in the actual business environment.

The third way that my progressive approach would affect my teaching style, involves me attempting to integrate my students’ personal interests into the activities and the schedule of the lesson. For instance, using the media and graphics class, if I had knowledge that a certain student called Oscar had interest in shooting movies when he completed his studies, then I would try to arrange an academic visit to Hollywood for the class. The intention is to expose the students who have an interest in showbiz to learn something and be motivated. This turns the class room to a more fun experience and exposes the students to real life skills that are need to help them grow and nurture their interests.

Another way would to allow students to choose their essay and desired research topics, rather than assigning them topics randomly. This approach would help me understand students’ interest in certain areas of their study and it will also give them the chance to showcase their abilities in their desired areas. Assigning students’ work that doesn’t not intrigue them will somehow look like a punishment and they will try to find different inappropriate avenues to complete the task but allowing them to write and research about what they like would look like more of an opportunity to learn more.

How my teaching placement would modify my philosophy

My teaching placement would also play a major role in modifying my philosophy on education through exposure and interacting with faculty members who are very experienced in their respective fields. Teaching placement offers the opportunity to compare different philosophies from a pool of very well vast professionals and might offer an opportunity to change ones approach or modify it to be more receptive to emerging issues in the education sector. The place where one is placed can also help expose the limitation of the approach of teaching where there exist barriers to access to equipment and lack of funding for outdoor activities like excursions. When there are such barriers it makes it hard to achieve lesson goals and might force a teacher to adapt to methods that do not compliment the approach the teacher desires. For example if I needed to take students to an academic trip to be able to see what we have learnt in class but the school does not have a budget for such, then the teacher is forced to use other methods that do not compliment the educational philosophy the teacher applies in his/her approach. The barrier might also call upon the teacher to be creative and improvise to achieve the same required goal. For example if the school cannot afford to take students to sites for visiting, the teacher can look for videos of the place and use them to reinforce what was taught in class.

Lastly the placement institution will modify my philosophy through interaction with other faculty members who use different approach and it will only be prudent if take the positives aspect of such philosophies and integrate to mine to adapt to any emerging issues.

How my personal values, political proclivities, class consciousness, racial perspectives, and historical insights influence my outlook

Areas of my personal values, political proclivities, class consciousness, racial point of view ,and historical insights are inclined to influence my outlook because in a way they are the major factors of the type of norms and philosophies that I subscribe to. I believe that I am a born leader and such has allowed me to appreciate that I must lead by example , I must treat those who are below me with respect and that if I have to lead I must be in touch with the those that I lead. This thing allows me to choose a philosophy that allows me to lead and concentrate my attention to those that I consider under my leadership. With regards to political affiliation, it is crystal clear that different political factions tend to favor certain approaches in education and therefore it is obvious that politics tend to influence the values that I adopt as teacher. Class consciousness plays a crucial role on how I approach different students in my class and the level of commitment that I put to ensure balance and equity. When it comes to racial perspective, it is easy to say that different races hold conflicting assessments with regard to values that are acceptable and not acceptable. Due to this fact, racial structure of the classroom is most likely to affect the kind of approach that I will undertake to accommodate these divergent views

Importance of having a philosophy of education

Having an educational philosophy facilitates the possibility of a person to raise questions on the education systems and also be able to offer suggestions on improvement of existing guidelines. As from the era of Rousseau, educational philosophies have been used to enhance development in the education sector through offering new ideas on achievement of educational goals (Blake, Nigel)

Philosophy of education helps to develop new norms in a society by introducing new culture and believes that are regarded desirable and beneficial to the existing ones.

Educational philosophy has also contributed to the pool of knowledge and emergence of scholars who in one way or the other have advanced theories that have changed the course of history. Such scholars have also contributed to intellectual discussions that have been the source of development in different sector of human growth and development. Such discussion have also led to departure from retrogressive cultures to adoption of very desirable ones hence enhancing human development

Work Cited

Blake, Nigel, et al. The Blackwell guide to philosophy of education. Blackwell Publishing, 2002.

https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/33338468?versionId=40922821Dewey, John. Interest and effort in education. Forgotten books 1913 HYPERLINK "http://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015003488189" http://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015003488189.

Kauchak, Don, and Paul Eggen. Introduction to teaching: Becoming a professional. Pearson, 2016.

https://www.pearson.com/us/higher-education/product/Kauchak-Introduction-to-Teaching-Becoming-a-Professional-5th-Edition/9780132835633.htmlLilja, Peter, and Johan Dahlbeck. "In the Absence of Adults: Generations and Formation in Hunt for the Wilderpeople." Journal of Philosophy of Education 53.2 (2019): 407-424.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1467-9752.12350Lilja, Peter, and Johan Dahlbeck. "The unexpected alignment of progressive ideals and the commercialization of education in entrepreneurial learning." Philosophy of Education 2017 (2019): 392-405.

https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?pid=diva2%3A1399844&dswid=-5164