Philosophy of Education
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s much as I wish to believe that the world
is a fair place, I am constantly confronted with
the inequalities that surround us. While I know that despite our national pretense of "equual opportunity," for some there
is very little equality and even less opportunity. While I can not dwell in
noble dreams of creating a Utopian society, I believe
that our lives must be dedicated to correcting injustice as we see it. For me, providing a quality education to all is part of
my reparation to humanity. However, to obtain equal footing with their peers,
students deserve more than the name and date knowledge; they
deserve to be taught how to learn.
For this reason,
I focus on history, as I believe that through history we can provide students the tools they neeed to be successful specifically,
critical thinking, analysis and evaluation. I also admire the
freedom of learning offered through history. Everyone
and everything has a history; through variation in instruction methods, assessment, and historicall perspective each student has the
chance to discover relevance in the past. Additionally,
my open view of history allows for the integration of
all subject areas, adding more meaning to what is learned in not only my
classroom, but through the course of the students' academic career.
Yet, I would
attest that the lessons of history go beyond these academic skills. History also provides the opportunity to instruct precious life
skills; the most valuable of these skills being empathy. As part of my
instruction I ask students to think through the situation
as though they were an historical figure. Surely if the students can see the world through the eyes of a 17th century French
king, they will be able to apply these tools when dealing with people they
encounter everyday. If such is possible, if empathy is
a skill that can be taught, then perhaps we have the possibility of creating a better
society.
I
understand that my views smell of noble intentions that in actuality may be impossible to accomplish. Still,, I contend that to teach is to
breathe nothing but the noblest of intentions and that if there ever comes a
day when I can no longer turn to my noble intentions, I should
no longer wish to call my self an educator.
Kathryn Lynn Elizabeth Wineland