Philosophy of Education

Philosophy of Education

“You should be ashamed of yourselves!” the instructor shouted from his stage at the bottom of the 300-seat lecture hall.  The disruptive students barely paused.  “You don’t realize what an opportunity you’re missing!  If you don’t learn this now, you never will!”

            That scenario came from an early college experience of mine.  The instructor was one of those prime examples of poor teaching.  He sat in front of the lectern and read to us from the book he was writing.  He also reflected a popular view of the time, that learning was basically set by age 30 and that education had to be completed early in life. The concept of lifelong learning was not yet a buzzword and adults returning to school were anomalous misfits.

            I left the education industry because the business world beckoned with not only more pay but also with less politics than the academic world.  I found that as a supervisor, I was still a teacher; I just taught a different subject.  In time, I discovered that most of life is about teaching in some way.  After leaving the corporate world to start my own business, I still had to teach my customers; in order to sell the products.  I had to instruct them on how to use them for their benefit.   

            Running my own mail order business left me with enough of a flexible schedule so that I could offer private students lessons in teaching their dogs how to herd.  Individuals came with various backgrounds and talents and the situation became a true test of my teaching skill.  Imagine that each of your students paid you money when they walked out the door at the end of your class, according to how good their learning experience was that day.  If they did not advance in learning they would not be back and you would shortly be unemployed.   

This became the almost ideal example of learner centered teaching.   My students’ minds were not blank slates.   While most had never done any herding, some of them had done other things that we could build on.  For example, for those who had experience with horses, I could explain the concepts of pressure in an analogy with equine motivation.  For my English-born student, I was able to make a comparison about the relationship of dog, handler and sheep to that of the billiards player, cue stick and cue ball.  I didn’t know this had a major educational field of theory called constructivism until recently. 

Each student learns by doing, although sometimes I refer them to a classic text if I think they are people who can learn from books.  Each individual’s lesson is unique.  The students often tell me what they need to repeat, or what direction they want to go.  Students continually ask questions.  Students tell me that a herding lesson is better than going to a psychiatrist.  Although students are often fearful at first, they begin to relax and discover the exhilaration that a successful lesson can create.  

Is this learner-centered education?  Here is one researcher’s view:  “The review of literature supporting learner-centered education suggests several important dispositions including (1) education should be experience based, (2) each individual learners own unique qualities and dispositions should be considered when planning experiences, (3) the learner’s perceptions should shape the curriculum, (4) learner’s curiosity should be fed and nurtured, (5) learning is best when it involves the emotions, and (6) the learning environment should be free from fear.”  (Henson 10)

I think the private lessons fit this description.  There are no tests and no grades but if students want, they can have their abilities evaluated and certified by an independent individual in a formal trial.

But although this format has worked well for individual lessons and even small groups, it is more difficult to bring this style into a classroom situation.  Sometimes just being in a physical classroom with desks all oriented to the front shapes the students’ expectations that all the learning is going to come from the instructor.   It is harder for the content to become directed by the learner, because we have learning outcomes that must be achieved.   We can still make the learning experiential and creative a positive emotional climate, and we can encourage questions and dialogue. 

Today’s classroom, even with all its limitations, is a darn sight better than the college lecture hall experience I described earlier.

If you want to know more about some specifics of my teaching philosophy, here's a three-minute video I made to explain some additional thoughts.  

Works Cited

Henson, K. "Foundations for learner-centerededucation: A knowledge base." Education (2003): 5-16.