My First Semester At Touro College - 1631 Words

During my first semester at Touro College, I took a course on the History and Philosophy of Education and Special Education. Throughout this course, I was introduced to many philosophers and their theories, which helped me to develop a personal educational philosophy that I will implement into my own future classrooms. In our very first class session, we examined the word ‘education’. Education derives from two Latin roots, educare: to bring up, to train, to teach, and educere: to lead forth, to draw forth, to guide. In the world of education today, a child’s success in school is primarily dependant on his or her ability to pass standardized tests; this embodies the concept of educare. Knowledge is passed down from the teacher to the†¦show more content†¦He tells us, But examples of this kind are but few; and I think I may say, that, of all the men we meet with, nine parts of ten are what they are, good or evil, useful or not, by their education. It is that which makes the great difference in mankind. The little, or almost insensible impressions on our tender infancies, have very important and lasting consequences: and there it is, as in the fountains of some rivers, where a gentle application of the hand turns the flexible waters in channels, that make them take quite contrary courses; and by this direction given them at first in the source, they receive different tendencies, and arrive at last at very remote and distant places (Cahn, 2012, p. 106). Locke believed that at birth the mind is a blank slate, or tabula rasa, and empty of ideas, but they have natural inclinations. Like John Locke, I believe that education, and developing the mind, is what truly determines character. The mind of a child is impressionable, regardless of their natural tendencies, and education can form it. I believe that early childhood education should not just be about teaching students facts. In Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Paulo Freirie said that â€Å"education thus becomes an act of depositing, in which the students are the depositories and the teacher is the depositor† (Cahn, 2012, p. 379). I believe that knowledge is derived through experiences and knowledge