My Philosophy of Education

By Cynthia Cousineau

     Teaching is the act of divulging wisdom of one generation onto the next generation. A teacher plays many roles at once, such as the advisor, the nurse, the mother, the friend, and the mentor. The primary role of a teacher should be to help prepare children for the world they are about to face and to influence them to become better human beings, by teaching them civility, an understanding of their own emotions and a respect towards nature.

     Most people think that a teacher is someone who will educate children about various academic fields to prepare them for their future in post-secondary institutions and future careers. This is true, however I believe the true job of a teacher should be to guide students by giving them values they could use throughout their lives. For instance being a good role model to the younger generation would be considered a type of teaching method. Always behaving in a calm and friendly way would influence the children to behave in the same way.

    Civility is a very important aspect of the way humans interact with one another. Unfortunately, we live in a society where people are often uncivil another. To be well educated should mean to respect one another and thus be civil to one another. A teacher should create a welcoming and friendly learning atmosphere for students. This could be done by encouraging students to be kind to one another and to help each other when needed. In kindergarten teachers could emphasise the importance of sharing. This will build the necessary foundations of civility. Teachers could also spend more time organizing group activities that require working together as a team. Teachers have the power to make the next generation more caring and empathetic.

     Young people tend to have a great deal of difficulty juggling many types of emotions.  Sometimes when youngsters do not know how to handle their emotions it could result in bullying, acting out, depression and suicide.  Teachers should prepare children for all the emotions they will face throughout life. Teachers should spend several hours a week to teach students about their emotions. Students could have sessions where they openly talk about how certain things make them feel. The teacher could so assign a weekly or daily journal in which students will discuss their emotions about a certain event or aspect of their lives.  For younger grades teachers could read books about bullying or feeling angry, and these books should inform them how to cope and deal with the matter. We live in a very angry society, but perhaps if we thought students to manage their anger in a healthy way then it would create a friendlier school environment as well as a friendlier society in the long run. 

     We live in a time of severe environmental changes as a result of global warming. The next generation needs to be more educated about caring for our planet then we currently are. Schools should go greener by introducing a better recycling program. They could also introduce composting. Teachers should make students feel a sense of responsibility towards protecting the environment. The teacher could give a weekly task to each student, and these tasks would be ecologically friendly. For instance you could pick students to carry out the recycling, that would water the school or class garden, or washout the milk cartons before recycling them. The teacher could also incorporate the environment into other subjects so instance having students write an essay on a topic related to the environment  or give a spelling test on environmental words. Humans play a key role in nature and therefore should help preserve it. 

    Education is not solely the gain of knowledge to make us more intelligent academically. Instead education could aim to make us better people, and therefore a better society. Perhaps if people were more morally educated there would be less wars, poverty, crimes, hatred, and jealousy. Therefore the role of education in intellectual development could be to give students the tools they need to survive in this world, while the role of education towards social development should be to create better citizens that would make the world a better place.

Sinthia Cousineau & her students