Influential Educational Philosophers and Their Methods
Pioneers of Educational Philosophy
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
“Even though I was not a teacher nor did I open a school, I am considered one of the most important people for the promotion of experiential learning through discovery. I wrote a long book on the topic in which I describe how I would educate one boy from the time of birth until early adulthood. For me, it was important to be educated in a natural setting, away from the negative influences of society in order to protect the inherent goodness of children.”
Maria Montessori
“After studying to be a doctor, I worked with special-needs children and tried to help them. I quickly realized that many of the ideas I was using with these children were effective with other children as well. So I ended up designing a method that has been used worldwide and is still popular today!”
“For me, children can learn independently and autonomously if they are given a proper, prepared environment. For that reason, I have always argued that the design and organization of classrooms is extremely important. Furthermore, children need well-adapted and high-quality materials to learn. In fact, many of the materials that I invented are still used today.”
Friedrich Froebel
“For me, it is important to pay attention to children’s early lives as an important part of their education. For that reason, I opened a school for very young children where they could play and spend time in nature. I also developed important learning materials that I called ‘gifts’.”
Socrates
“I was a very controversial teacher. A lot of people didn’t like the way that I taught or how I made people feel. They thought I was ironic and that I was making fun of them by suggesting that they did not really know as much as they thought they did. Although I was eventually punished for my teaching, later teachers have taken inspiration from my methods and are still using them today.”
Horace Mann
“When I was growing up, not everyone was able to go to school. For example, I wasn’t able to and had to teach myself! When I grew up, I wasn’t a teacher, but rather a politician who tried to create a new public school system in my country, since I thought that a good, free education was the best way to give everyone a chance to succeed in society.”
Paulo Freire
“I am famous for criticizing the educational system of my day. In my mind, students are often expected to act passively, simply receiving and storing information provided to them by teachers. Instead, I argued that learning should be a process in which teachers and students collaborate together.”
“As a teacher I worked with many different types of students, but one important group was illiterate adults. I not only wanted to help them learn how to read but also gain skills that would empower them politically and help make a more just society.”
Anton Makarenko
“As an educator, I worked with children whom most people thought could not be properly educated. I disagreed. Through the use of discipline, routines and hard work, I helped turn many overlooked and forgotten children into productive members of society.”
“One aspect of my pedagogy was arguing that the collective identity should be given more importance than the individual. I thought that all children should feel like part of a larger group and make contributions to its success. For that reason, I am often associated with teamwork.”
Confucius
“I always thought that society needed the best people to be in roles of leadership and so I argued that my country should use a series of tests to choose the most prepared people to work in government, even if they did not come from important families. I also thought that education had to be based on hard work, effort and respect for others.”
John Dewey
“I was one of the most influential thinkers on education during my lifetime (and even today). Besides being influenced by previous educators, I was also inspired by philosophical and psychological research as well as the many rapid changes that were taking place in the world around me. Besides writing many important books, I put my ideas into practice at a school that I created, which served as a sort of laboratory for my pedagogical thinking.”
“In my view of education, it is extremely important to prepare children to participate in a democratic society. I also think that they should learn by doing. My focus on democracy and practical activities was designed to help prepare students to live in the real world.”
José de Calasanz
“After studying law, philosophy and theology, I moved to a new country where I opened a school. At the time, I had an idea that was new: I wanted all children—not just those from elite and privileged backgrounds—to be able to attend school and receive a moral and religious education.”
Booker T. Washington
“My contribution to education was helping to provide people who had previously had no rights or freedom the opportunity to become productive members of society. In particular, I wanted previously unskilled people to learn practical and vocational skills that would help them support themselves. To make this goal a reality, I helped train many teachers and also raised money to expand educational opportunities for people like me.”