Philosophy of Education Transcript

Hello. My name is Susan C. Anthony and this transcript is of my workshop "Find Your Philosophy of Education." The handouts for this workshop are available in portable document format on my web site: www.SusanCAnthony.com.

The purpose of this workshop is to share information which will help you get in touch with your vision for your home school, step back and look at the whole picture of what you're trying to do, and establish a firm foundation upon which to build.

My background

Before we begin, I should tell you a little about me. I grew up in the Colorado Rocky Mountains 35 miles west of Denver. I went to elementary school in a tiny, two-room mountain school, graduated from Nederland High School in a class of 25, and went on to the University of Northern Colorado where I earned a degree in Elementary Education. I moved to Alaska in 1979 and taught intermediate grades for 10 years with the Anchorage School District. My mission is to support home schooling families in any ways I can so they have the greatest chance of success in their vitally important endeavor.

Handouts

Just a brief comment about the handouts. I won't follow them point per point but you should read them for additional background on this subject.

Why a Workshop on Philosophy?

My first objective in preparing this workshop was to help you focus in on your philosophy, like a camera focuses in on a scene. Whether or not you realize it, you already have a philosophy. It determines what you think is valuable and it guides every decision and choice you make in daily life. Unfortunately, most of us Americans are unaware of our own philosophy. It's unconscious, unclear and unexamined. Americans traditionally do not take the time to examine their lives. That fact impressed a Frenchman named Alexis de Tocqueville who came to America in the 1830s. He believed democracy was the wave of the future and wanted to see how Americans were making it work. He wrote the following in his book Democracy in America:

I think that in no country in the civilized world is less attention paid to philosophy than in the United States. . . . Yet it is easy to perceive that almost all the inhabitants of the United States conduct their understanding in the same manner, and govern it by the same rules; that is to say, without ever having taken the trouble to define the rules, they have a philosophical method common to the whole people.

A second objective is to provide you with some resources to help you compose your mission statement, vision statement and philosophy. I did some of the homework for you in order to save you time and make it easier for you.

A third objective is to contrast Christian philosophy with popular world philosophies. Because philosophizing is not especially popular in America, we may not realize it when secular philosophies make their way into our thinking and begin to influence our decisions. Norman Geisler wrote in Introduction to Philosophy: A Christian Perspective:

There are serious consequences of a failure to be aware of contemporary thought patterns. Rather than being exempt from their influence, one becomes their unwitting prey. Many Christians hold beliefs that are inimical to the Christian faith and are unaware of that fact. One must recognize error before he/she can counter it.

The fourth objective was to give you some aids to help you identify the underlying philosophies of curriculums you may be considering for purchase. One home school mom commented to me in frustration: "There are so many philosophies out there. How do I know which one is right?"

What is Philosophy?

Philosophy is Greek for "love of wisdom." "Philo" means love and "soph" means wisdom. The root "soph" also appears in "sophomore." I wonder if this means your 10th graders are somehow wise….

The word "philosophy" is mentioned only once in the Bible, in Colossians 2:8:

See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.

Because of this negative reference, some Christians think philosophy is to be avoided. But a definition of philosophy is "love of wisdom and pursuit of truth." Those words, "wisdom" and "truth" are frequently mentioned in the Bible. Christ claims to be wisdom in I Corinthians 1:30, and to be truth in John 14:6. Christianity is a philosophy. Those who consider Christianity a religion rather than a philosophy do so because religion assumes God exists and can be known, while philosophy generally makes no assumptions.

Philosophy is the study of the whole rather than the parts. It's a look at the forest rather than the trees. Dr. H. Gene Garrick wrote:

Philosophy is man's stepping back to see the canvas in its entirety. It is an effort to see all things as a unified whole and how all the parts relate to each other and to the whole.

That's why universities award Ph.Ds, or doctorates in philosophy. Ph.Ds supposedly have mastered the whole of a subject as well as its parts. Think of a jigsaw puzzle. The methods, activities, ideas and books you use are like the pieces. Your philosophy is like the picture on the cover. The problem with this puzzle is there are a lot more pieces than you need. You choose the pieces you need based on the picture on the box, your philosophy. You will not have an effective home school if you just do a lot of educational things. You need to think about the whole picture you are attempting to create.

Visions and Dreams

Philosophy is sometimes viewed as an "ivory tower" pursuit. Educators are more attracted to the immediately useful, the practical. I congratulate you for being here and believe you are among the most likely to succeed because you are taking time for philosophy.

The long-term success of any business or other endeavor depends in large part on the vision of it's leaders and their faithfulness to the mission of the enterprise. Keeping that vision and mission in mind carries organizations through the inevitable ups and downs. Philosophy starts "up in the clouds" but it doesn't stay there. Like an architect, you start by defining what ought to be, then proceeds by building a foundation. I've always liked something H.D. Thoreau wrote:

If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost. That is where they should be. Now put foundations under them.

Foundations

Philosophy is foundational, not just down-to-earth, but under the earth. The Old Testament, for example, is foundational to the New Testament. A good foundation is critical to the structural integrity of a building. If the foundation is straight and strong, the building will go up smoothly. If the foundation is flawed, problems will eventually manifest. We went through this a few years ago with our house. The foundation had begun to leak into the garage. We ignored it and it got worse. We stored things up off the floor so they wouldn't be damaged. We got a sump pump. Finally, we had to dig up tons of dirt and do a proper fix. Even though you don't see a foundation, it's not the beautiful part of a house, it needs to be done right.

The strength of the foundation you need depends on the structure you want to build. A chicken coop might not need much of a foundation. A small building can be put on posts. But a big building like the Empire State Building needs a tremendous foundation. They dug 38 feet down to the Manhattan schist and then 2 more feet into it. The bigger dreams you have for your kids, the more important it is to build strong foundations.

The Bible has some important things to say about foundations:

For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.

I Corinthians 3:11

I will show you what he is like who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice. He is like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck the house but could not shake it, because it was well built. But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete.

Luke 6:47-49

Purpose, Intent and Direction

Your philosophy as the foundation sets the direction for the structure. You wouldn't lay a triangular foundation if you wanted a rectangular building. Seneca, a Roman statesman around the time of Christ, wrote this:

Our plans miscarry because we have no aim. When a man does not know what harbor he is making for, no wind is the right wind.

There's a saying, "If you aim at nothing, you will hit it every time." Teaching without a sense of direction, purpose and intent is blind. The relationship between philosophy and practice is similar to the relationship between cause and effect. If a person has a correct philosophy, his practice will tend to be correct.

Five Philosophical Questions

The first question in philosophy is, "What is truth?" Pilate asked Jesus this question and Jesus answered with silence because He is truth. John 17:17 says, "Thy word is truth." The Bible is the written word, Jesus is the living word.

There are five basic philosophical questions you need to be able to answer:

• Who am I?
• Where did I come from?
• Why am I here?
• Where am I going?
• How, then, shall I live?

Christians and secular humanists will have very different answers to these questions. A summary of those answers is in the handout.

Who am I? Another way to phrase this is, "What is the nature of man?" Is man inherently good or inherently sinful? Most Americans believe that people are born good. If we do things that aren't good, there is an external reason. Perhaps we have been oppressed or misunderstood. Suzanne Somers expressed the answer to this question according to one popular philosophy very clearly in this passage from one of her books:

I believe in God, but not the God of my childhood. That God was cruel and punishing, that God turned away from me when I sinned or made a mistake; that God scared me. The God of my understanding today is my closest ally, an all-compassionate, loving part of myself (emphasis added). The God of my understanding today is the voice within, my inner dialogue, the part of me that gives and receives the messages; it is the part of me that can do anything I desire if I am willing to do the work. It is the part of me that is my highest self.

The Bible has a very different answer to this question, as illustrated in these verses:

All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.

Romans 3:23

Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.

Psalm 51:5

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked.

Jeremiah 17:9

Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood.

Genesis 8:21

Where did I come from? Are we here on purpose or by accident? This question is foundational. That's why the evolution/creation debate arouses such strong feelings on both sides.

Why am I here? What is my purpose? To be happy? To please myself? To please God?

Where am I going? Is death the end, dust to dust, or is there another destination for our souls? Our daily choices depend to a great degree on how we answer this question.

How, then, shall I live? The answer to this question depends entirely on the answers to the previous questions. Someone gave me a sweatshirt a few years ago with the image of a Bible and the words, "If all else fails, read the directions." Once you are convinced the Bible is God's Word, you have a guidebook for how best to live.

Five Basic Questions of Educational Philosophy

Once you know your general philosophy, or "worldview" as it's often called, you can begin to clarify your educational philosophy. Here are the five basic questions of educational philosophy:

• What is the purpose of education?
• What is the role of the teacher, the role of the student?
• What should be the standards and objectives?
• What methods should be used?
• How should progress be evaluated?

I'm going to talk about the schools of educational philosophy and how they answer these questions, then about what the Bible says.

Five Schools of Educational Philosophy

The first two are more conservative philosophies, the last three more liberal.

• Perennialism
• Essentialism
• Progressivism
• Reconstructionism
• Existentialism

These words are big and may seem a bit intimidating, but if you take off the "-ism", the roots will help you understand. "Perennial" means lasting or continuing for a long time. Some of your garden plants are perennials. "Essential" means absolutely necessary or indispensable. "Progressive" means moving forward or onward. "Reconstruct" means build again. "Existential" is the only term without a clear root, but it relates to existence.

Keep in mind as I go through these that you may have elements of one or more of these. As we go through them, imagine taking off your own glasses, your own worldview, and trying on different pairs at the store to see which most closely resembles what you see through your own glasses. There may not be a perfect fit, but one will be better than the others. Now, let's take off our glasses and try to see the world from the point of view of a perennialist.

Perennialism began with Plato in 400 B.C. He believed that men should concern themselves primarily with the search for truth. Since truth is both perfect and eternal, it cannot be found in the world of matter that is both imperfect and constantly changing. Plato believed that the world we perceive is only a shadow of perfect reality, that knowledge is gained through the intellect rather than the senses and that happiness comes from living virtuously. Plato advocated a general liberal education, non-vocational in focus, what we would call a "classical education." He did not think it was important to learn facts. Facts change. The focus in education should be on timeless truth.

The purpose of education according to perennialism is to train the mind, to learn timeless truths and develop the intellect. Plato's underlying purpose was to eliminate students until only the best survived and ruled as "philosopher kings." Because of this, perennialism has been criticized for being elitist. It has traditionally been the philosophy in liberal arts colleges and is a popular home school philosophy.

The role of the teacher is to help students uncover and internalize timeless truth, to "educe" or draw out the truths that Plato believed are inborn and innate in students. This can be done through Socratic dialog. The role of the student is to emulate the teacher and to think deeply.

The content to be taught includes grammar, rhetoric, logic, classical and modern languages, and great books and ideas.

Charlotte Mason, Dorothy Sayers and David Quine are perennialists. Some key words that indicate a perennialist philosophy in home school curriculums include: classical, trivium, Socratic dialog, liberal education, the arts, character training, Great Books, Western Civilization, formal logic, and Latin.

Now, let's take off the perennialist glasses and try on the essentialist pair.

Essentialism began with Aristotle, Plato's student and the "father of science." Aristotle believed that the world we perceive is real and is a dependable source of truth. Knowledge can be gained through the senses using scientific inquiry and knowledge to investigate nature. He believed happiness comes through fulfilling our function and doing what we do best. Essentialism is a practical, factual approach to education.

Dr. E.D. Hirsch, the author of What Your First Grader Needs to Know, is an essentialist. He wrote:

The basic goal of education in a human community is acculturation, the transmission to children of the specific information shared by the adults of the group.

Essentialists believe there is a core of essential knowledge that everyone should learn. The role of the teacher is to instruct. The role of the student is to obey, study and learn. This includes committing facts to memory.

The content to be taught is the three R's and all basic academic subjects, with less of an emphasis on the arts than perennialism. Vocational education is an essentialist concept. There are right and wrong answers because knowledge is objective, not subjective, according to this philosophy. Essentialist methods include drill and practice, study, books, texts and memorization.

I am an essentialists, possibly because that is the type of education I received. Some people believe that essentialism stifles creativity; I think it lays a foundation for creativity. And I'm not alone in that opinion.

Dr. Yoshira NakaMats is arguably the most creative man alive. He's a Japanese inventor credited with more than 2,300 inventions. To place that number in context, Thomas Edison had 1,093 patents and the next most prolific inventors have 400 or so. Someone interviewed Dr. NakaMats and asked what methods he recommended to prepare children for the strong competition they face. This was his answer:

One method is memorization. We teach our kids to memorize until the age of 20, for we have discovered that the human brain needs memorization up to that point. Then young people can begin free-associating, putting everything together. That's how geniuses are formed.

The next pair of glasses is very popular in America today. Take off the essentialist glasses and try on the progressive ones.

Progressivism is based on the ideas of Jean-Jacques Rousseau and John Dewey. Rousseau believed people were good by nature and any deviation from goodness was rooted in the corruption of society. He advocated a simple life, close to nature. The concept of the "noble savage" originated with Rousseau, who believed that society was evil and primitive peoples were naturally more virtuous.

John Dewey has been called the "Father of American Education" as well as "The Greatest Humanist of the 20th Century", a title which has also been applied to Karl Marx. Dewey was heavily influenced by Charles Darwin as well as Rousseau. He was a pragmatist who did not believe in absolutes or objective truth. He believed in moral relativity, that right and wrong were determined by results, not rules. Truth, according to Dewey, is ever-changing and evolving in an upward direction. Progress is inevitable. New is better. The old and the traditional are outmoded. Every generation is superior to the previous generation. Your children will naturally like that idea!

Another founder of the progressive movement, Col. Francis Wayland Parker, believed in the natural divinity of the child, the child's natural unfolding goodness. Discipline and punishment, he thought, are harmful and should be avoided.

The concept of "socialization" originated with Dewey. He believed that we need to interact in groups to become human, that we do not have "selves" at birth, rather we become selves through social interaction. Because progressivism and humanism are at the foundation of modern American education, you may be criticized for not properly "socializing" your children if you teach them at home. It might help to know that the philosophy in which that concept is rooted is not Christian.

The stated mission of the progressive education movement in the 20th century was to free children from oppressive religious ideas. Progressive educators focus on the child rather than the academic content. The purpose of education is to socialize children, teach them to solve problems, and enhance their self-esteem.

The role of the teacher is to facilitate discovery and self-actualization and the role of the student is to do what's natural. Teachers should not impose anything on children. Learning should be fun and no one should fail.

The content should depend on the interests of the individual student. Progressive educators believe the process of learning is much more important than the content. No academic objectives are inherently more important than others. Experiential learning is superior to book learning. John Dewey expressed this well:

The child's own instincts and powers furnish the material and give the starting point for all education. Save as the efforts of the educator connect with some activity which the child is carrying on of his own initiative independent of the educator, education becomes reduced to a pressure from without.

Discovery, field trips, projects, cooperative learning and centers are some methods advocated by progressive educators. Many of these methods are wonderful and have been adopted by educators with various underlying philosophies. A true progressive educator, however, feels that memorization and drill are harmful and would reject those methods.

Progress is evaluated not so much by what a child learns as by how he feels about himself. Standards and grades are less objective and more subjective, and content objectives are deliberately vague. The notion that no child should fail--that the teacher is responsible for student success--is a progressive idea.

Some key words that can alert you to a possible progressive philosophy in a home school curriculum include: hands-on, learning by doing, spark of divinity within, child-centered, problem solving, unlimited potential, self-actualization, self-esteem, discovery learning, values clarification, freedom, non-repressive, thinking skills, whole language.

Unschooling is the most progressive home school philosophy as far as I can tell. It can work very well with some children, but it will not work with all. If it works for you and your child, you needn't reject it because of its progressive origins.

The handout has a chart comparing progressivism and essentialism.

If you don't like the progressive glasses, the reconstructionist ones will likely hurt your eyes.

Reconstructionism is a spinoff of progressivism. I'll cover it only briefly because it's doubtful any of you have this philosophy. Reconstructionists believe that schools should be agents for changing the world, for creating a new world order and eradicating social evils. The ultimate goal is one-world government. Hitler, Marx and Horace Mann were reconstructionists. They believed the purpose of education was to raise student consciousness about social, economic and political problems, and to give them tools to solve those problems. Reconstructionists are idealistic, utopian and futuristic. They believe man can create heaven on earth. George Counts, the founder of the movement, said the following:

We hold within our hands the power to usher in an age of plenty, to make secure the lives of all, and to banish poverty forever from the land.

The last pair of glasses is the existentialist pair. If you feel a sense of emptiness, hopelessness, and alienation as I speak, you will have accurately seen through these glasses.

Existentialism is another philosophy you probably don't have, but you have likely come into contact with it. Existentialists believe objective, universal, certain knowledge is unattainable. There are no objective standards or rules. Man is condemned to be completely free and completely responsible. Kierkegaard said we should abandon reason and accept groundless belief in a "leap of faith." Nietzsche, another existentialist, wrote:

Life is a meaningless chaotic void: there is no God, no purpose or plan; nature and the universe are indifferent to man.

Existentialism is a widespread philosophy in America and especially in Hollywood. Existentialists believe that whether we know it or not, we are lonely, estranged, alienated individuals caught up in a meaningless and absurd world.

It is a valuable exercise to take off your own glasses periodically and try to see the through the lenses of someone else. If you can do this, it makes communication and teaching much easier. If neither person in a conversation has this ability and the people do not see things the same way, communication will break down. It can be very uncomfortable to try on someone else's glasses when you are sure that they are not seeing truth, but unless you can see things as they do for a moment, it may be difficult to lead them elsewhere. The process of becoming a Christian is the process of changing glasses.

Which philosophies are consistent with Christianity?

Both traditional philosophies, perennialism and essentialism, are consistent with Christianity. Perennialism had great influence on Christianity in the early middle ages, until the 1200s. After that, essentialism was more influential.

I've included Bible references pertaining to the five basic questions of educational philosophy in the handout, as resources for you to use while you write your own philosophy.

I've also included a sample mission statement, vision statement, and statement of philosophy. These are just samples, a place to start. Feel free to use all or part of them for yourself, or to rewrite your own from scratch.

Whether you've been homeschooling for years or whether you're just beginning, I'd encourage you to set aside some time with your spouse to put your vision and your mission into words, and to discuss your philosophy, whether or not you write it. If you have older children, you can include them in some or all of your discussions. You might want to put your vision and your mission on large pieces of paper and post them in your home where they're visible to everyone. At the least, write them in your plan book where you can refer to them whenever you feel overwhelmed by the details of homeschooling. Review them frequently and change them as your goals and ideas change. These are living documents and they will change over time.

As we close, let's recall what "philosophy" is. It's the love of wisdom and the pursuit of truth. It gives us our foundation, from which everything else derives. Jesus wants us to love wisdom and pursue truth. He will give wisdom, knowledge and discernment to those who ask for it. In fact, He's delighted when we ask for it! The book of Proverbs emphasizes the value of wisdom.

Wisdom is supreme; therefore get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding.

Proverbs 4:7

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