Voices of Educational Pioneers

Socrates, Augustine, Rousseau, Pestalozzi, Jefferson, Gallaudet, Dewey, and Piaget. I think that all students come to school with some preexisting knowledge. Therefore Socrates made sense to my philosophy. Socrates believed " the teacher's role was to draw the knowledge out of the student. He believed that knowledge could not be transmitted from a teacher to the students, but that the students had to discover the knowledge that was within them." In other words, students need to learn about themselves and the knowledge they have already obtained. Augustine built off this idea too. Augustine believed that "the teacher should take into consideration what his students already know and build on that, teaching using a dialogue format Augustine termed as 'soliloquia'; two voices talking instead of one, interaction of teacher and student seeking the truth." The truth being referenced here is one that the student believes in. Therefore it is the teachers job to illuminate the beliefs of the student, not impart their own beliefs. I think that teaching should be very student centered. Rousseau agrees. Rousseau believed that "instead of education being centered on what is taught (the subject matter), it should be centered on who is taught (the child)." Education should be about self learning. I also think that students should have a hand in deciding on what should be taught this helps motivate them to learn. In this way Pestalozzi makes sense to me. Pestalozzi believed that "learning had to be stimulated by the interests and motivation of the child, not by punishment and fear." Punishment and fear only increase a child's hatred of school. I also think that education has the ability to empower us and make us more than what we start out as. Jefferson thought the same. Jefferson believed "in the ability of higher education to bring the lower class up to a higher class. Education was the only hope to teach not only useful skills but to change attitudes, to improve morality, and to spread civilization." He also thought that education could open our eyes and make us think about what is wrong with our current way of think and how it can be improved. I also think that all children should be educated. This includes all ethnicities, religions, races, genders and abilities. Gallaudet felt this way about deaf children. Gallaudet believed "that deaf children could and should be educated." This idea though should apply to everyone. I think that there are connections to be made between my content area, English and all other aspects of life. I feel it important to show this to students so that their interest in reading and writing will be increased and because connections help us to understand more deeply. Dewey agreed that all studies should be linked. Dewey believed "students should be helped to see the relations of studies to one another and to the intellectual whole to which all belong." The second half of this statement is also important because it infers that there is a community in which the intellectual interact and that learning opens doors to that community to all people who learn. I think it is important for students to be able to interact with that community. But I think that learning can only happen when you are ready for it to happen. Piaget also stressed this. Piaget believed in the "need to individualize instruction in order to accommodate each child's readiness at different stages of development." We are all at different stages in our lives and teachers must know how to accommodate for this.