Truth. Virtue. Beauty.
My philosophy of education is summed up in three words: truth, virtue, and beauty.
TRUTH.
A teacher must guide her students on the path of self-discovery.
I believe that the primary goal of a teacher is to help students understand how they learn. In order to accomplish this, teachers must be diligent to become familiar with their students' learning styles and personalities. Students will make better progress in their studies if a teacher teaches to their learning style and if the students are made aware of their learning styles. They will begin to capitalize on their strengths and compensate for their weaknesses. Student-determined goals and assessment will become more authentic. Self-discovery leads to expressions of "self-truth." Students who understand themselves and the truth of how they learn take ownership of their education and are able to learn anything for a lifetime.
VIRTUE.
A teacher must be virtuous.
It used to be that teacher training institutions were called "Normalization" schools. The word was associated with teaching according to the standard of education. In Chinese the word used for teacher training institutions uses the same concept. 師範 means "normal" and in the specific case of 範 the underlying meaning is "model."
Teachers model the highest standards - not just in education, but also in character. How can teachers expect students to behave respectfully if they don't? How can teachers expect students to love what they learn if they don't love to teach it? If teachers do not take their own self-cultivation seriously, how can they fault students for not doing the same?
Education in its various forms: whether in the classroom or on the field trip, and in its various contexts: whether in Math or in foreign language, should always be for the purpose of self-cultivation, which is a continuous process of learning and evaluating oneself in light of higher standards. Virtuous teachers are focused, determined and disciplined. They constantly reflect, evaluate and improve on their craft to maximize the impact on their students.
BEAUTY.
A teacher must help students realize the beauty of learning.
Education can be a very beautiful thing. It can create beautiful minds. And while the goal of our nation's standards at this time may be to prepare students for college and career, the broader vision of education should be the beauty of learning itself.
There is a way to make students hate learning and that is to point them to a definitive end. For example, if students know the only reason they are learning specific content is to pass an exam, they will cease to be interested or motivated to continue learning that content once the exam has passed. Every teacher knows this.
However, if learning is open-ended, unrestrained by false boundaries of time, it becomes crucial to hold on to that knowledge for a greater purpose. When one discipline is integrated with other disciplines, e.g. Chinese language with history and culture, and applied to real-life situations, e.g. using Chinese language to order food in Chinatown, then learning becomes relevant, interesting and practical.
When learning a world language is for the purpose of communicating with people different from oneself, to understand a different culture, to broaden one's experiences and tastes, the exam or report is no longer the focal point of learning. The focal point shifts to people, communities and nations. Learning for the sake of connecting, relationships and deepening our sense of humanity, this is the beauty of learning.
