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Betsy Sudlow

Vicki Ansermet

EPS 202

September 4, 2009

My Philosophy of Education

“I promise to try as well as I can to succeed in college, learn my profession well, and to

learn how to teach and inspire children. I promise to work towards becoming a role model others

would be proud to emulate. I promise these goals in the name of my family, by whose example I

arrived at this time and place in my life. I promise these goals in the name of the children I've yet

to meet and those who were lost before I was ready to help them.” As a recipient of the Golden

Apple Scholars of Illinois scholarship (a program that prepares future teachers for their careers),

I have repeated this pledge countless times in the past year of my life to remind me of how much

education matters to me. As stated in the pledge, I feel that working hard to achieve goals and

helping the needy are crucial for a classroom to be successful. Veritably, my entire philosophy

of education can be extracted from the twenty-year-old pledge.

To begin with, I think that being prepared is a key element of education—especially for

teachers. Knowing one’s subject matter inside and out is vital for teaching it to a student. For

example, any music teacher can show a student how to strike a drum with a stick; however, for

that teacher to be qualified and prepared for the profession, he or she must be able to explain

why a quarter note gets one beat or how to play a five-stroke roll. In accordance with the pledge,

I feel that trying my best, learning the material, and comprehending topics that I learn in college

is important for my future—without a strong foundation in my subject matter, I cannot instruct

students properly. This idea applies to all aspects of education; a teacher needs to be prepared
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through proper studying and training prior to starting the career, and he or she needs to retain this

knowledge in order to teach proper curriculum.

Next, I think that leaders in education, such as board members, administrators, and

teachers, need to be role models in the community and in the school. While many people in the

world differ in opinion about ethics, there is usually a general consensus as to what is

“acceptable” and “unacceptable” in a school’s culture. I think that when teachers fill the shoes

of a moral role model, then students hold a greater respect for them and are therefore inspired or

motivated by them. Certainly, one “moral” teacher cannot permanently affect all of the issues of

dishonestly, disloyalty, and disrespect in schools, but if educators in a school work together to

make a team of role models, one can imagine the impact that they would have on the lives of

students. Education needs to be decorated with encouragement, enthusiasm, inspiration, and

motivation, all which stem from successful role models.

Additionally, I feel that reaching all kinds of students in the same classroom and treating

them equally is very important in education. In urban areas, classrooms are often mixtures of

students from different races, ethnicities, genders, socioeconomic statuses, abilities, religions,

and so on. I think that a classroom welcoming to students from all walks of life is imperative.

Students, especially adolescents, are very sensitive to what is said about them or in conversations

around them; even non-verbal messages like posters on the wall can offend students! Once a

student is discouraged or feels unwelcomed in a classroom, he or she disconnects from that class

and refuses to receive anything from the teacher, or worse, the entire administrative staff. I think

that a welcoming, equal environment is a critical component of a healthy classroom.

Finally, I think that passion is the blood that runs through well-rounded schools. Again,

any geometry teacher can present the idea of rectangles and triangles to his or her students, but
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creating a geometric scavenger hunt or other exciting class projects requires passion from the

educator. If there is no want or desire from teachers and administrators to better the school

system, then there can be no realistic educational goals. In a world without passion, students are

forced to read textbooks and regurgitate material, but in a world with passion, students are

challenged, children retain memories and knowledge from one year to the next, and classes are

never boring. Education should be lit by a fire of passion and not burned out by laziness, lack of

caring, or hesitance.

My philosophy of education echoes the goals and statements of the Golden Apple

Scholars of Illinois system. Through the program, I have learned that being prepared in a

classroom earns the trust of students and can never fail a teacher. Being a role model for

students (and even faculty members) is a great course of action for all educators to take.

Creating a warm environment for diverse groups of students helps children of all ages and

backgrounds learn equally, and finally, having a passion for education and subject-matter is the

light bulb in a dark classroom. I think that educational standards should model at least these four

concepts in order to establish excellent schools.