Teaching Philosophy

As the generations grow so does our understanding of the world, or at least our knowledge of the stuff in it. As the generations before mine learned more and more about each field of study, the knowledge available for each field of study grew as well. As technology grows, manual labor is less and less important while knowledge is increasingly important.

As each field of study grows and business and development needs grow so do the options of what people can study. The exponential growth of available information has created the need to teach our children more and more every year. Curriculum has become overwhelmed with necessary information and time available for the teachers to ensure the students’ understanding of each subject has decreased significantly. Because we are trying to teach our students too much in too little time with too few resources we end up doing a haphazard job and we need a new solution. We either need new teaching methods or a different time structure for school or both. One option is that parents’ could be responsible for teaching their children to read and write before entering kindergarten. There are many programs available to parents for just that purpose and it would free up at least a year of required education that could be replaced with something else such as math or music.

One problem I see in my own generation is that students are learning that things work but not how or why. Students can solve for x, but do they know why it works or that they use algebra every day when determining how much of something they need? Students learn that gravity on Earth is equal to 9.67 m/s2 but do they know why we experience gravity? Do they know that something in orbit is perpetually falling or do they just know that if we launch an object fast enough it will orbit the Earth? If we expect the students of today to become the inventors and creators of tomorrow than we need them to understand why and how things work not just that they work. People will strive to meet the expectations set forth for them. We need to raise the bar, provide the tools, and refuse to accept failure. This is our duty as the generation of today. We are all teachers whether formally or not. Our children and students are learning their values from us and the rest of society therefore it is up to us to show them what to value. The only effective way to lead is through example.

Also, it is important to teach what we know and admit what we do not. Ever ask for directions and have someone give you the wrong directions simply because they did not want to say “I don’t know?” Classes should be taught by teachers that are comfortable with the material so they can pass on an actual understanding of the material. Again, being able to explain how and not just that it works is imperative. I am especially great at math and am only so-so with chemistry. I love teaching math to others because I am so comfortable with the material that I can come up with dozens of different ways of explaining the material which helps the students truly understand it and be able to apply the knowledge. If I were teaching chemistry, I would be teaching straight out of the book and would not be able to explain how things work.

In summary, we need smaller teacher to student ratios, more active parents teaching, more effective technology and teaching methods, and a different time structure to allow for all the extra material the students are learning as opposed to when the current time structure was put in place. We need to put the right teachers in the right positions and make the effort and take the time to teach our students what is in the box so thoroughly that they do not struggle to think outside of the box effectively.