Chapter 9: Reflection

      There are four branches of philosophy that are related to the work of a teacher: metaphysics, epistemology, axiology, and logic. In Metaphysics, the curriculum of a school represents what the community believes is most worth knowing.  Epistemology questions, How so you know that? It can be controversial because of people beliefs of the origin of mankind. In Axiology teachers assist students to become good people. In logic, the primary task of the school is to help students to think clearly and communicate logically. There are two types: deductive reasoning and inductive reasoning. In deductive reasoning, the teacher presents a proposition and then illustrates it with a series of particulars. In inductive reasoning a general proposition is induced, for example, the water is essential to plant growth.
     There are subject-centered philosophies and child-center philosophies. In the subject-centered stress the importance of subject matter in education. There are two school of thought, Perennialism from Plato and Essentialism, an American philosophy. In the child-centered philosophy they look first at the learner not the curriculum. There are two schools of thought: Romanticism from the writings of Jean Jacques Rousseau and Progressivism drawing ideas from Rousseau and John Dewey.