Philsosphy in crisis: the need for reconstruction

Fundamental Principles I (Philosophy of Education)
Throughout the years, education has been referred as the process of learning and acquiring information. It is about teaching people how to think and how to question what they see and hear. It has been was divided into two main types: formal learning through an institution such as a school and self-taught learning or what is often termed as lifeexperiences. It takes us into the conscious world and involves activities that are intended to stimulate thinking and foster learning. .
The purpose of most classroom learning is not to prepare a child for a specific job, but instead to prepare a child to develop critical reasoning and thinking skills that he will use in further academic and career pursuits. Academic courses such as math,science, English, writing, and social studies are all common and vital for the survival in the world. With these basic courses, we set out to help another person to learn, or for them to try to discover his/her own learning process. As far as instruction is concerned, the instructor should try and encourage students to discover principles by themselves. The instructor and student should engage in anactive dialog (i.e., Socratic learning). The task of the instructor is to translate information to be learned into a format appropriate to the learner's current state of understanding. Curriculum should be organized in a spiral manner so that the student continually builds upon what they have already learned.
As an educator, I believe that education is not only comprised of academic courses, but italso has certain values which need to be inculcated and part of their learning experience to help develop critical thinkers, problem-solvers, and life-long learners such as:
• Respect for persons.
• Responsible citizens.
• Truth.
• Fairness and equality.
• Integrity.
• Politeness.
• Loyalty.
• Patience
• Self-discipline
• Tolerance
• Leadership skills
I know that children arecontinually constructing their knowledge and understanding, and recreating what they know in every cognitive system they encounter. They must constantly be given genuine challenges, choices, and responsibility for their work. These values should part of their education and integrated with their learning process. Cognitive structures change through the processes of adaptation: assimilation andaccommodation. It provides meaning and organization to the experiences and allows the individual to “go beyond the information given”. Bruner (1966) states that learning is an active process in which learners construct new ideas or concepts based upon their current/past knowledge. The learner selects and transforms information, constructs hypotheses, and makes decisions, relying on a cognitive structure todo so. He also states that a theory of instruction should address four major aspects:
1. Predisposition towards learning
2. The ways in which a body of knowledge can be structures so that it can be most readily grasped by the learner
3. The most effective sequences in which to present material
4. The nature and pacing of rewards and punishments
Good methods for structuring knowledge shouldresult in simplifying, generating new propositions, and increasing the manipulation of information.
Generally, education is important for learning basic life skills, as well as learning advanced skills that will help a person succeed in his/her professional life. Achievers in life use inspiration and motivation to overcome barriers. Teaching to the test does not inspire or motivate anyone,memorizing does not inspire a love to learn, in fact, it does just the opposite, it turns off the desire to learn. Education’s goal should be to develop a love to learn that stays with students throughout a lifetime. Education should be a lifetime experience, not limited to the youth years.
While school learning is thus very important, it is not the only form of education. As mentioned above, some...