The School & The Curriculum: My Philosophical Belief Structure

School is essentially our opportunity to prepare our youth (1st phase) for diverse roles in their 2nd (citizenship) and 3rd (statesman) phases of life. My views about how schooling can do this are fairly well aligned with those of Mr. Mortimer J. Adler, whose Paideia Proposal still hasn’t been faithfully implemented by many (if any) schools around the world. In his Proposal, Adler calls for a “basic education” common to all students in the entire country. He outlines the general instructional approach, an even more generalized course of study, and proposes that the specific community and school make final decisions about how to implement the program and round it out with courses and extracurricular activities specific to the area. From this basic introduction of beliefs, I’d like to expand and offer my more personal views about what it means and how to make it happen.

I believe that, in every year of K-12 education, students should study Mathematics, English Language Arts, Foreign Language, Literature, History, Science, Physical Education, and either Art or Music. In addition, a 9th course should be offered which is offered as an experiential supplement to their general course of study. This 9th course would include things such as Home Economics, Keyboarding, Web Design, General Automotive Work (oil changes, etc.), Computer Programming, Health, and more. This 9th course is meant to be that which prepares the student for life in the modern world beyond the general and interdisciplinary work done in the other 8 courses. This would provide a wonderful opportunity for students to learn about technology that is not integrated into the general classroom, such as hardware and software design, animation, accounting, etc. These students are going to live primarily in the 21st century, and every effort should be made to ensure that they are successful, productive citizens in that realm. The 9 courses proposed above would be the only courses. There would be no electives, other than allowing students to choose their own foreign language and whether to study art or music more specifically during their high school years. Anything outside of the proposed curriculum is by definition extracurricular and should be offered only before and/or after normal school hours.

I believe that students learn best by forming their own conclusions from shared experiences. The school curriculum should offer experiences to the student which will allow for them to form an accurate conclusion about a particular idea, and the teacher-facilitator should serve as the students’ guide in the process, not merely a fact-checker. In our modern schools, we strive to impart thousands of years of human wisdom and discoveries to our youth in 12-13 years’ time. I believe this to be unrealistic, particularly when many of our students do not see the value in the discovery and have no interest in understanding a concept that their teacher isn’t even passionate about. Students should strive for conceptual understanding, realizing that while we may never truly understand something in full, the pursuit of understanding will provide us a sound education and fuller life.

In order for schools to be effective, they must be willing to connect all the primary stakeholders in the area. If the school can get community members, parents, and students all working together, the experiences available to students will be more diverse and more enriching. I believe that lengthy portions of the school year (at least two week blocks) should be taken out of the regular schedule for interdisciplinary projects, service projects, and field experiences (local, national, & international). The school should never stop providing experiences for students, and bringing in parents and other community members to share in the experiences with students will help tie the school to its rightful place as an anchor of the local community.

My work thus far as an instructor demonstrates these beliefs in the way I teach. We use the Paideia methods of instruction at my school, though it is not occurring with enough regularity for me to call our school a true Paideia school. I focus my teaching efforts primarily on producing critical thought, problem solving, and discussion amongst small groups of students. I put them in situations where they require those skills to solve a problem, and I never give an algorithm (I am a math teacher) in situations where students can solve the problem with what they already know. In fact, I have often seen students produce the algorithm themselves through discussion and critical thought. Our students have thus far done very well in the American Experiment that is our school, scoring well above state averages on standardized assessments. Truthfully, however, I feel it is not enough. The school could be doing more to be a long-standing member of the community. It could be more efficient and consistent with the Paideia method of instruction, and its curriculum could be developed more to facilitate teacher autonomy. Most importantly, the school could be doing a better job to mentor new teachers to use the Paideia methodology effectively. I hope to do more work in my education career to bring the true Paideia school into reality, as I believe from what I have read and experienced that there is no better way to organize a school’s curriculum for any diverse system of learners.