Everyone should develop, write down, and periodically review their philosophy of life. If we are going to be successful, we need to have a systematic way of going about it. What do we know today about effective ways of becoming educated and successful?
At this point in time, my own philosophy for education has 11 parts.
First, learning has three basic components: specialized knowledge, basic thinking skills, and mature thinking skills. [1] In the study of Dickens' Great Expectations, "specialized knowledge" includes Pip's turbulent relationship to his sister and to her husband Joe. "Basic thinking skills" include the student's memorization of the various characters and the sequence of the plot in the story. "Mature thinking skills" include the student's analysis of Pip's internal conflict and how Pip overcomes his internal weaknesses. Mature skills might also include the creation of an alternative ending of how the story could have achieved an even more satisfactory ending. This story is unique in that there are two published endings: one, the author's original ending, and the second written at the insistence of the author's newspaper editor. These alternative endings illustrate how we can create an alternative environment and make our dreams come true. Sequential Problem Solving is about finding alternative solutions to problems and executing well researched plans.
Second, students learn to trust their own ability through success, and the teacher can help to insure that success. Success can be assured by tailoring the curriculum to the student. The student with severe prior knowledge deficits can usually be rapidly remediated by learning basic thinking skills first: for instance, the basic memorization techniques, note taking, outlining, and free association recall techniques. (These are discussed in detail elsewhere.)
Students should be aware of what they learn and feel pride of accomplishment. They should recognize for themselves when they achieve success in learning. They should learn to constantly monitor their own performance and the success of their strategies.
Learning occurs in well ordered ways:[2] first, the student gains understanding of what is read or the teacher explains, then memorizes the facts of the subject in order to analysis the information later through comparing and contrasting. Next the student may use the information to create something new, and finally he should use the memorized information to evaluate his own performance. This sequence is known to teachers as Bloom's taxonomy. [3]
Students need guidelines for making decisions. Those decisions may involve physical, scientific problems, or they may involve interpersonal problems, social values and moral decisions. Students should learn a systematic workable framework for making decisions. All students should develop the ability to evaluate their thought processes as a learned skill. The mature learner should be able to recall the steps of scientific problem solving, recognize specific personal values and character traits, and remember the tests for sequential steps in moral decision making. Students should then be able to use apply those mature thinking skills to first literary scenarios and then to real life problems. Studies of literature enable the student to extend the analysis to television drama and ultimately to real life and to subsequently imagine a variety of suitable alternative outcomes.
Students should learn to recognize and control certain biological feelings. A student should know how the human brain is organized and recognize those times when animal-like impulses jeopardize more mature, rational thought. A student should also be able to recall and use basic information about basic nutrition, rest, and exercise, in order to minimize the danger of thoughtless impulsiveness.
Students should develop a sense of belonging to a caring, helpful humanity, and develop their own short and long term goals in achieving peace and joy through helping others in a responsible manner.
Students should learn the dynamics of basic childcare and the importance of continuous parental attachment in the first two years of a baby's life. Students should be aware of how "unattached" children are set up for failure and antisocial behavior disorders, by poor bonding with the parent in the first few months and years of life.