Jonathan Paul Loomis

October 26, 1998

Schools and Society

Professor Laughlin

I learned a tremendous amount from this chapter. I learned about the continuum and relationship between Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. I learned about the five philosophies of education, along with a veritable plethora of other terminology. The five philosophies of education were of some importance to me because I have to create my own philosophy of education for another class later this semester. I will definitely use this information to help me out. I was also interested in the relationship between the general philosophies and the more education-specific versions. My brother and some of his friends are big into philosophy and this chapter was really interesting in that it was my first real introduction to philosophy and so many of the things I've heard them talk about suddenly make sense.

I firmly agree with the author that understanding the philosophies that surround education are essential to being a good educator. I think that part of being a professional is understanding the philosophical nature of one's work. I disagreed with his stress on older philosophies as more important than new ones. There are a lot of new philosophies involved in education that are valid, especially those based on recent research.

I would like to learn more about St. Thomas Aquinas, and his work. I would also like to learn more about the basis of all philosophies, and why these five were selected to be the five philosophies of education. Are there others that were dropped in the past? Is it possible for new ones to evolve in the future?

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