Analysis Of John Locke's Some Thoughts Concerning Education

John Locke’s Some Thoughts Concerning Education evaluates the importance of cultivating virtue in our students. He suggests that virtue should be valued above of wisdom, breeding and learning. He also argues that the ultimate goal is to be happy. Even though Locke says that virtue is God-given, I think it is important to acknowledge the secular view on virtue and how it pertains to the modern day classroom. When I think about virtue, I think about genuinely nice people who look out and serve those around them. How can teachers cultivate virtue in students?

John Dewey writes Democracy and Education where he discusses communities and how they influence and facilitate learning. He claims that “education is a social function securing direction …show more content…
By arguing that a school’s ultimate telos is truth, I believe that schools are making the huge assumption that all students are brought up in a household that is conducive to teaching morality and social justice and that students do not need to be educated in regards to those two topics. However, it is extremely obvious, that this is not the case. Our world is filled with racism, sexism, violence, hate crimes and many other things that showcase how morality and social justice is not taught and internalized in all households. Secondly, how are universities supposed to strive for truth if everyone’s truth is different based off of their beliefs? Because of this, I argue that social justice should be the primary goal of any level of school. Ultimately, when we achieve a world void of anything unjust, the journey for truth will be that much better. We can journey together, inclusively, allowing for everyone to have equal opportunity to contribute to or benefit from our society. As a teacher, our goal should then be creating an inclusive, safe classroom where everyone feels like they belong. When students feel safe and there becomes an interconnectedness amongst all peers, then we can pursue …show more content…
For as long as man has been learning, people have been trying to figure out how the teacher could be used to enrich the lives of their students. In this course, we were given the opportunity to look into what historical figures have deemed as important values in a teacher. These ideals have morphed and evolved with time, however, the telos of the teacher has remained relatively same: make good citizens who strive for the truth. That being said, I placed significant value in my interpretation of the underlining themes in our readings this semester. Each philosopher brought valid points to the table and argued their point of view intensively. In a society where we are continually evolving our education system to look more like a factory, we need to be reminded of some of the earliest perspectives on learning and teaching in order for us to intervene the emptiness of education. Above all, our relationships with our students are probably the most influential in the role of educating. We need to break down power barriers, admit our limitation, pursue constant knowledge and model what we would like our students to do. By enriching those existing relationships, we can then realize that every student has the potential to succeed. What we teach in our class, does not stay in our class. Our students carry the wisdom they learn with them for the rest of their lives. We need to make sure we are avoiding teaching for the