As a student, I have come across people from different backgrounds. The most famous and important people who contributed to the development of the world had personal, deeply insightful educational philosophies on their own. In problem-based learning, teachers present real or theoretical problems instead of one-sided lectures.
While knowledge of these areas isn’t useless, a good education should help us to live well by teaching us how to deal with our emotions, how to build relationships and how to live well. This holistic approach establishes learning as an experiential process and encourages students to derive “meaning” from read text and to express “meaning” in what they write.
As a philosopher it is clear to me that teaching people how to think correctly and to use language carefully (to work out the truth for themselves) is a pretty good start for education (i.e. by teaching philosophy to students from a young age). And that is what educational philosophy is all about.
In showing children how to become responsible for themselves as well as their own learning, I am giving them the tools to become successful in life, to believe in themselves, and to love themselves. The philosophy of education, however, is the study of the key philosophical ideas that have had an impact on educational theories.
The major philosophies of education can be broken down into three main types: teacher-centered philosophies, student-centered philosophies, and society-centered philosophies. At least a basic knowledge of the philosophy of education is necessary for teachers. I’ve been working on forming my own philosophy of education and feel that this is something more of us need to be thinking about.