What Is Philosophy Of Education

1 Pages 324 Words

Philosophy of Education
What is it?
The field known as the Philosophy of Education is relatively self-explanatory - it deals with how children should be educated, what they should be educated in and what the ultimate purpose of education should be for society. This is an often neglected field of philosophy, and when it is addressed, it tends to only be in educational programs designed to train teachers - in this context, it is a part of pedagogy, which is learning how to teach.
Despite this neglect, the Philosophy of Education is nevertheless of fundamental importance. How and why a society educates its children will be dispositive for the following generations and long-term political health. In other words, we define our society and the society of our future by how and why we educate the young.
Do we want our children to be educated for democracy or consumerism? Should children learn by rote memorization or through creative problem solving? Does school exist to teach values or skills for use in the job market? Because these decisions will affect the course of society for decades to come, the questions asked are as important as those found in any other branch.
The Philosophy of Education in modern times has been heavily influenced by developments in the field of psychology - in particular, psychoanalysis and behaviorism. The former has argued that there are psychological processes affecting our ability to learn which are not entirely under our control; the latter has influenced the way we think about how things can be taught, especially topics like morals and values.
Curiously, the Philosophy of Education is one of those fields where philosophy itself is both the object being studied and the tool used to study it. One of the things discussed is the role which philosophy itself can play: Should students learn about philosophy? Does philosophy create a better educated person, or is it ultimately a useless and dispensable topic...