Philosophy of Education
“The more empowered one individual or group becomes, the more is generated for others to share.”
Cummins, 2009, p. 263
When exploring my values, perspectives, biases and beliefs regarding education, I have come to find that I base much of my philosophy on five foundational principles. The first, and foremost of which is that education is for all people, by all people. Regardless of ethnicity, background, ability, or socio-economic status, every person has a right to intellectual growth and the development of skills. Advancing ourselves through learning matures and improves each of us as individuals, community members, and global citizens. Accessing high quality learning opportunities, whatever shape or form they make take, should be made available to all persons, not just a privileged few. The nature of being taught, also, should not be restricted to just the guidance of those who are deemed ‘experts’. Instead, education through sharing skills, conveying thoughts, and challenging one another’s perspectives should come from a great many sources of wisdom in one’s life, from siblings, to strangers, to walks in the woods.
The second tenet of my philosophy is that education for, about, and in the natural environment is simply good education. The earth, its elements, and its systems, are things all living creatures share, and something that we all have a connection with.
Whether you and you live in an urban environment or a rural community, all humans, across time and space, have an innate tie to the ground upon which we live. Teaching with this notion provides a strong groundwork for the interconnectedness in which every system functions – both cultures and disciplines, from mathematics to survival skills, from ceramics to psychology. I echo author Deborah Simmons’ sentiment that “environmental education is more than a useful theme that can tie units of learning together or an effective pedagogy that makes learning more meaningful. Environmental education is essential education” (emphasis added, 1998, p. 67). Connecting students to the outdoors should be a fundamental priority in each form of education, as it breaks apart the intellectual silos of mono-disciplinary education and the biases and discrimination of mono-cultural education. In teaching, the sociopolitical context of our community is magnified in what we choose to teach our youth, and for far too long we have been teaching from a singular mono-cultural perspective, that of this country’s European ancestors, that “reflects only one reality and is biased towards the dominant [white] group” (Nieto, 2010, p. 73). Teaching with an environmental lens confronts and interrupts the cycle of mono-cultural education as it “supports the development of an active learning community where learners share ideas, expertise, and prompt continued inquiry” (Simmons, 1998, p. 67). Inviting our shared and different backgrounds into the learning process through our experiences in and with the environment, we as teachers are nurturing the richness and creativity that diversity contains, and are acting on the belief that many hold regarding the primary function of education: to “further the development of higher-order skills – critical thinking, creative thinking, integrative thinking [and] problems solving” (Disinger, 1993, as cited by Simmons, 1998, p. 66).
Thirdly, I believe education should be for the betterment of all beings. With our insight and wisdom, experiences and abilities, human intelligence should serve to help all living things, from protecting microorganisms in the soil, to discovering medical advancements, to making peace treaties. We have a responsibility as highly capable creatures to acknowledge and respect the value that all biota have on this earth, and should work to share an equal and high quality of life. Education should not only provide students with opportunities to experience the great importance of the non-human living world, but should also correlate that with the significance of the cultures, communities, and identities that shape our human world. Speaking to the importance of this correlation, author A. Walqui writes, “education never takes place in a vacuum but is deeply embedded in a sociocultural milieu. Thus learning is a matter not only of cognitive development but also of shared social practices. The cognitive and the social go hand in hand in classroom learning”(2006, p.159).
The fourth of my strongest held beliefs is that learning encompasses more than gaining knowledge. While memorizing facts and retaining information is a skill unto itself, people are intelligent in a plethora of ways that are not measured by tests or recognized in formal U.S. public school education. Think of the student who is exceedingly compassionate and emotionally intelligent – what of their learnedness? It was not memorized or acquired through a textbook, but through life experience. Speaking to these other types of proficiencies, Rachel Carson wrote, “I sincerely believe that for the child, and for the parent [or teacher] seeking to guide him, it is not half so important to know as to feel” (emphasis added, 1956, p. 45). Overshadowed aspects of education, such as empathy and kindness, can be found in the culture we as teachers create and foster among our students, and deserve great clout in our profession. Accepting these intelligences as having equal or greater value than gathered facts, we are not only validating and celebrating the many multitudes our students contain, but are also opening ourselves to being lifelong learners, gaining perspective from each experience in and outside the classroom.
My final educational principle is what education should not be. Teaching should not be fear mongering, rectifying, or assimilating. As teachers, we have the opportunity to serve as mentors in our students’ development, guiding and challenging them as they navigate their own curiosities of the world. ‘Educating’ from a position of dominance, correcting and instilling fear in our students is to stifle and suppress the wonderment that guides us all in authentic and meaningful learning. In her book The Sense of Wonder, Rachel Carson states, “if a child is to keep alive his inborn sense of wonder…he needs the companionship of at least one adult who can share it, rediscovering with him the joy, excitement and mystery of the world we live in” (1956, p. 45). Teachers should strive to serve as these companions as well as catalysts for seeking to understand what our students do not yet know, enhancing curiosity by providing direction and encouragement to strengthen their innate desire to know (Gade, 2011). Similarly, education should not function to conform our students, but should instead celebrate and affirm our differences. No one has stated this more clearly than Sonia Nieto when she wrote,
[Teachers] need to first acknowledge students’ differences and then act as a bridge between their students’ differences and the culture of the dominant society…A bridge provides access to a different shore without closing off the possibility of returning home; a bridge is built on solid ground but soars toward the heavens; a bridge connects two places that might otherwise never be able to meet. (2010, p. 17).
To serve as a bridge is much less a noble goal than a necessary one, where we can begin to reform U.S. school policy from one that promotes mono-disciplinary and mono-cultural ideologies, to one that cultivates mindfulness and connectedness across all peoples and places, better preparing our youth to become effective and caring global citizens.
Synthesizing my philosophical values on education, I have come to believe that our efforts as educators are much better spent acting as mentors to our students than as vessels of knowledge. While the information we retain is significant, our shared goal to inspire and encourage our youth towards a higher quality of life for all of earth’s inhabitants is better served through our endeavors as guiding companions. It is in this role that we may approach our teaching with sympathy and understanding, embracing our students’ differences and emboldening them to test themselves, to reach beyond their zone of comfort and engage in authentic and meaningful learning experiences. It is here that we can model, not inflict, the respectful behaviors and expectations that build a culture of acceptance, cultivate strong minds, and nurture our shared world for the future.
References
Carson, R. (1956). Sense of wonder. New York: Harper & Row.
Cummins, J. (2009). Pedagogies of choice: Challenging coercive relations of power in classrooms and communities. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 12(3), 261-271.
Disinger, J. (1993). Environmental education in the K-12 curriculum: An overview. In R. Wilke (ed.). Environmental Education Teacher Resource Handbook. Milwood, NY: Kraus International Pub., p. 23-43.
Gade, D. W (2011). Curiosity, inquiry, and the geographical imagination. Peter Lang Publishing Group. New York, NY.
Nieto, S. (2010). Language, culture, and teaching: Critical perspectives (Second ed.). New York, NY: Routledge.
Simmons, D. (1998). Education reform, setting standards, and environmental education. In H.R. Hungerford et. al. (eds). Essential readings in environmental education (3rd ed. pp. 65-72). Champaign, IL: Stipes.
Walqui, A. (2006). Scaffolding Instruction for English Language Learners: A Conceptual Framework. The International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism 9(2),159-180.