My Philosophy vs. Modern Educational Philosophy

My Philosophy

I have always had a simple philosophy in teaching history. First, let me explain that I have loved history ever since I was a kid. When I was in elementary school and the teacher would take us to the library once a week, I would check out books about the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, and read about people like Richard the Lion-Hearted, Joan of Arc, and Hernan Cortes. In fifth grade, if we completed our work early, we were allowed to sit on the bean bag by the class book shelf and read whatever we liked. I remember I used to read books about evil sorcerers and dragons; and I read about the Trojan War for the first time. I remember being obsessed with the drawing of the horse being pulled inside the city. When I got to high school, I took every history class they had to offer, from AP European History to Art History. In college, I earned a double major in history and classical civilizations. Over the years, I have built up an extensive personal library of history books that takes up more than three book cases. When I chose to get a graduate degree, I earned my degree in history with an emphasis on the ancient world. History has been a huge part of my life for as long as I can remember.

This personal experience of mine has shaped my philosophy of teaching. For me, this is how I would approach teaching a new subject. The first step is to learn as much as you can about the topic. You need to read a multitude of books, do as much research as you can, watch documentaries, and read various textbooks as well. This you do to establish a narrative of the time period and to become very familiar with the key events and people. Next, you must decide which are the most important aspects to that topic, the kinds of things that if you were to be teaching about it, shouldn’t be left out. For ancient Egypt for example, the 18^th dynasty of rulers is one of the most important, and one should not study Egypt without at least mentioning Akhenaten, Rameses, and Tut. Then you have to take all of that information and figure out how to present it in a concise manner in such as way that students will be able to understand it. After that, you come up with fun activities, projects, and worksheets related to the topic. Often, there are source materials at any educational bookstore, and even online, that can help you, but I also like to come up with my own stuff. You also have a textbook, which can be used as a supplement to the materials you create or select from various sources. I say this about the textbook because often teachers are forced to work with textbooks that are poorly written, poorly structured, or have large gaps of information. The textbooks can be used by the students to have an alternate source of information from what you are presenting to them. This is the entire teaching process, coupled with review and assessment to make sure the students are learning.

Modern Educational Philosophy

Modern educational philosophy approaches this in a very different way. First, it seems that the qualifications of the teacher are not very important. That is why often in our schools you have the football coach or the cheerleading coach teaching the history. Also, we find that you do not even have to have a degree in history to be hired. You can major in psychology, political science (just naming a few that are common) or anything really, as long as you pass the social studies qualification exam. There are two versions of this, the 6^th – 12^th grade version, and the watered down middle school version. (I have the former). Who teaches is not important, because the way the books are written nowadays, you don’t even have to know anything. You open the teacher’s guide, and voila, pre made lessons, from videos to worksheets and questions; even word for word exactly what they want you to say. Also, the material is not important either. As a society we have decided that history is not important. For example, everything that happened in the history of the world from the beginning of civilization to the beginning of the modern era (A.D. 1500) is taught only once in a student’s entire educational career, and it is taught in the sixth grade. Does anyone remember anything they learned in the sixth grade when they are adults? Chances are you forget everything you were taught in the sixth grade the summer before you begin seventh grade, because when you are twelve, you don’t give a damn about Sumerians or Romans.

I digress. The material is not important either based on the standards we are asked to use to teach social studies. More than half of the standards we are teaching by in the social studies department are Language Arts standards! We are using their standards and our evaluation scores are based on the student’s performance on their reading tests! In the modern philosophy of education concerning history, none of the information is as important as skills you gain. You need to be able to read a map. You need to be able to write an essay. I agree students learning skills, but they also have to have a knowledge base from which to practice those skills. What good is reading a map if they can’t tell Iraq from Argentina? What good is knowing how to write an essay if they have no facts to back up their arguments?

In Conclusion

Education is not McDonalds. It doesn’t have to be the same everywhere. By regulating what we teach and how we teach it, we are only stifling good teachers.