How do you write a philosophy of education?. . .

For many candidates this is the most difficult task of the entire placement process. It may help you to get together with one or two of your friends and discuss your feelings about yourself and education. As you hear different ideas and opinions and begin to verbalize your own, you may become more aware of your own ideas and feelings. Immediately after your discussion, jot down your main ideas and incorporate them into your statement of philosophy of education.

Sample 1

"My philosophy of education is really composed of my feelings and emotions--subjects which I find hard to define or put down on paper.

"It is founded on one part respect for the teaching profession; one part love for the students, in spite of themselves; one part acknowledgment that not all of my students will be the same academically; one part knowledge that I must help each child, on an individual basis, to achieve his/her highest possible academic potential; and finally, one part awareness that some children are tuned out or turned off by education and that I must try, in some way, to reach those children."

Sample 2

"Although a basic mastery of individual subjects such as math, science, and the various social sciences is essential for a child to achieve a satisfactory education and thus prepare him/her for adulthood, I feel that education must emphasize the training of the whole person. Through education, the student should learn to make those decisions that will be required of him as a mature adult. Thus I would hope that education for my students would be a process of reasoning, thinking, and coping emotionally with daily stresses. This cannot be done by emphasizing individual academic disciplines in a parochial manner. Each student's courses must suit his individual needs. The student must learn not only the particular subject, but also find out how it relates to other subjects, to him/herself, and to the outside world. The end result should be a behavioral pattern that both the school and I could be proud of regardless of the student's future

NOTE: Information obtained from Benjamin D. Kronnick, Director of Educational Placement, University of California, Riverside