Educational Philosophy

As I sit here attempting to verbalize my educational philosophy I am overwhelmed with words and phrases that would describe my ideal teacher and system of learning. I feel that my answer could be different in a mere few minutes, but for now this is it:

I believe that the relationships that students develop with school and learning is vital to their lives as a whole. School is a place that must teach students how to learn first and foremost. It can not be a place of simple rote memorization of facts, figures, and formulas- while those are arguably important, I feel that school must be a place where inquiry is key so that students leave with the ability and desire to seek information rather than simply filled with information. Further, the information being received and the knowledge acquired must be meaningful and have real world applications for any of it to stick or truly be learned. I would hope that the students in my class not only see but also make connections between the content in the school room and their lives around them. I want them to question everything- authority, rules, facts, history, current events, systematic oppression, social norms, religion, etc. This questioning terrifies many and is a driving force behind a very controlled education system, but I argue that this questioning and inquiry skills in addition to the facts, figures, and formulas empowers students to be fully contributing members of society. Lastly, education and school should be dynamic in that it can never truly be defined or unexamined because it is constantly changing with a fast-paced, ever changing world.