In considering my responsibilities and priorities as an educator, I take an eclectic approach to my philosophy, combining existentialist, essentialist, social reconstructivist, and humanistic ideas. These four philosophies align with my educational values, and their core goals and premises guide how I navigate educational spaces. I use the central components of these philosophies to define the meaning of education, my role as an educator, and the anticipated outcomes for my students when I am educating.   

Education is a wide-ranging term that can mean something different for every individual student or instructor at every level or stage. I define education as one’s growth intellectually, mentally, and emotionally. To achieve intellectual growth, there must be an expectation of having essential knowledge and specific information must be conveyed, as adapted from essentialism. Mental and emotional growth comes from considering the individualism that exists within education and although there may be a classroom full of students, they each come with their own stories and experiences. To propel mental and emotional growth, there must be flexibility, meaning that there is choice and agency to use that essential information provided and do as they wish with it to make sense of their world as an individual which may be different from others, stemming from existential and humanist ideas. To be educated, one must be open and accepting of this growth in different forms and all the challenges that come with it. If someone wants to be educated, they need to take responsibility for the information provided and apply it to their own lives and morals in ways that make sense for them, as stated by existentialist values.  

As an educator, I guide learners and allow them to take ownership of what they learn in my programs or classes. I am responsible for providing that essential knowledge, but once provided, I allow the student to have the choice and freedom to engage with this information and use it towards their own goals, as previously alluded to. As an educator, I have an additional responsibility to discuss social problems with my students and consider societal improvement by applying the learned information in the classroom. This is a social reconstructivist approach to engage students in the need for political change and the heavy oppression that is embedded throughout our society. According to my educational philosophies, by providing essential knowledge, ensuring freedom and agency to use this knowledge, and introducing components of politics and oppressive systems, I am setting my students up for successful development.   

After educating and guiding my students, I want them to be able to take the information they learned and not only apply it to their own lives, as mentioned, but the lives of others to engage with their empathy and understanding. Education allows us to gain information and insight to better understand the circumstances of other communities so we can better help all humans achieve basic rights and freedoms. This comes from social reconstructivist ideas in which students can be empowered to see how educational material is connected to political forces and oppressive systems, and thus they can work towards dismantling such systems. I want my students to not only have empathy and understanding for these other communities but see that within these communities there are individuals with specific needs and experiences. Connecting educational material back to the individuals within these communities takes a humanistic approach, centering each person and learner as what they are, all different people.

 In combining essentialism, existentialism, social reconstructivism, and humanism, I have been able to determine how I provide information and what I expect for myself and for my students to do with that information in my educational programs and beyond. I see the beyond as a key component of education overall and focus on that in much of my educational philosophy in answering the questions of how we can make the world better and more equitable as well as how we can make the learner feel growth and development. In keeping these core values in mind from the philosophies mentioned, I can help students to envision not only the education they want, but the world they want and how they want to change it for the better.