Developing a Professional Philosophy - Essay Example

By or Developing a Professional Philosophy In the human life, what really defines us is our character. Ones character is defined by the strength and quality of their morals. It is defined as what one is always like when they are alone. When no one is observing them can be termed as being in their natural self. In this state, their actions are not determined or defined by anyone. They give out their normal-non-tainted self. The side of you that other people see without your knowing. However, character is not personality; character is how we present ourselves to others. Their views of how we are. Personality varies. It is always different depending on the circumstances that we are in. here, other people see in us what we want them to see. Our personality defines our character. Our characters are molded from childhood, what forms it are those little rules that our parents gave to us when we were young. Overtime, we get used to this and it becomes a big part of us. It makes u who we are. It is very essential that parents give their children the best quality of moral standards that would help make good characters in the future. The main aim of this essay is to evaluate the different learning g theories and enabling environments for children to attain the desired type of learning cycle (Robins, G. 2012, 34). Several philosophers came up with different ways in which relationships and company can influence on the behavior as they grow up. John Bowlby said that in relationships one always get everything or nothing, this means that the attitude with which one approaches person next to them determines what they will learn from them. A bad attitude means that they will probably learn nothing, whereas a good attitude means that they will have a lot to learn. Most of the philosophers who were for the attachment theory thought that one’s security was a major factor in the relationships, the more secure one is, the more attached they become. The easiest way to know how much one is attached to someone is to know how you feel when you are away from them. It gives a clear indication about your feelings towards them. These were the discoveries of an early psychologist called Mary Ainsworth. She also came up with a technique that could be used to view the differences between attachments in children. The procedure was about exposing children to strange situations and then observes their behavior. Albert Bandura also had his ideas on the theory of learning. His theory was mainly on how people learn whatever they have from other people who they consider to be good in their own ways. Albert called these people models. Albert also believed that as much as learning is behavioral, it is not a process that takes place automatically. His view is that learning is process that takes place over time; he also associates it with other cognitive processes like thinking and high order reflections. This type f learning where you look up to someone is called social-cognitive learning. This learning method is more effective when combined with other conditioning theories (Bandura, A. 1977, 76). When one learns to take only the good traits from the models, they develop better characters, probably better than that of their models. The choice of models that people tend to admire differs. This depends on what values the person already has. The model is someone they consider attractive and powerful by their own standards. This means that the social-cognitive theory relies on information that had been priory attained. The values that the learner had got prior to the learning experience determine the type of model that they will choose to follow. Most people opt to choose models who they think are similar to them in most aspects. This makes it easier for them to try to imitate their behavior (Bandura, A. 2003, 223) B. F. Skinner was a philosopher in the olden days. He is mainly associated with operant conditioning. His main beliefs were that the environment in which they grow up in determines the behavior of human beings those things that surround them daily are the ones that determine their behavior. Skinner thought that people have certain traits because of how they respond to certain situations their ways of responding to stimuli makes them who they are and that makes the difference between personalities for human beings. People have been conditioned to do things in a certain way. This is what their brains think of when they are faced with any situations they have been brought up to bet used to certain rules and ways of doing things, overtime, this becomes their personality. According to skinner, the positive traits become more over time while the negative ones tend to decrease as one grows up. He was for the thought that personalities are not formed at childhood but they are formed throughout the life cycle of a human being, the more they are exposed to, the more they know and the better their personality becomes (Rasmussen, K. 2008, 39). The traits of people change as they are exposed to new things. However, in the current world people no longer take into consideration skinners theories. They have been masked by the scientific breakthroughs that have taken place over time. To shape skinners theory, the instructor has to associate bad things with punishment and the good things with success such that with time people get rid of the ill behavior and adopt the good ones. To achieve this, the instructor should try to alter the situations such that the ones that trigger good deeds occur more often than those that inspire bad deeds (Merriam, S. B. 2008, 81). The main strength in skinners theories is that they rely on scientific tested and proven facts and not from speculations or word of mouth. The statements in this theory are results of intense observation of the human behavior over time in regards to the environment that they have grown up in. skinner believed that the ultimate learning g is that which we achieve from thorough observation and use of our senses. They form our experience, and hence become a crucial part in the decisions we make in the future. As the expression states, we learn from the mistakes of others, if something does not have good results, it means that we either not do it or approach it with caution (Edwards, A. G. 2002, 72).  There are those inner characteristics that are not brought in by any external factors but are inborn. Those are our temperaments. In most cases, these are inherited from our parents. As much as they might not be developed from external factors, these traits can be changed over time. The education that children experience during their early childhood plays a big part in character formation. This means that the quality of education that the children are given should be of very high standards and should be well scrutinized to enable the children grow up to have the best characters that they could make. In the modern world, the worry about the safety of children has made parents give so much attention to their children. This leaves children with very few choices on what they should do and what they cannot do. This is applicable in every aspect of their immediate environment, the schools, playgrounds, and at home (Koffka, K. 2013, 89). The government has also come up with initiatives to look after the well-being of the children. This makes them a much-protected group of people. Most of the skills that children get are from learning. Learning is a theory that shows how human beings absorb and process the information they get from the various venues they might be in. Learning takes many forms. For instance, it might be cognitive, emotional, personal or prior experiences that one came through in their lives and the influence they get from their immediate environment. This includes the behavior of the people and the norms of the society that one grows in. The aspect in which one view the world is changed over time depending on what has influenced them to see it that way. The skills and knowledge that one learns over time is not forgotten. People who study the human behavior say that learning is a form of conditioning such that people get used to a certain way of life because the same things happen repeatedly until they get used to it (Staveley-Taylor, H. 1997, 45). Educators supporting the cognitive theory of learning tend to differ with the cognovits definition of learning. They instead take a more personal view such that that they define it from the aspect of the learner and not the environment within which they grow. This view tends to centre more into the complexities of our minds and how they keep memory. The humanist group of people on the other hand view learning in the approach that it entails the relationships that one get into in the process of learning and the aspect of self-knowledge. This is the type of knowledge that we attain ourselves without necessarily being impacted upon us. Another group believes in the theory of constructivism. This group says that learning solely depends on what we already know. They believe that learning is motivated by the value of the knowledge that we have already attained and that what we already have determines our ability to learn. In this statement, the knowledge that one already have is self attained and not gotten from other people (Pound, L. 2011, 52). There are various theories associated with learning. Behaviorism theory state that people’s behavior can be changed when they are exposed to certain controlled responses. This is done through a conditioning process. Here the person who is acquiring the knowledge uses the services of a teacher or an instructor to get the information. The instructor exposes the learner to the stimulus conditioning. The learner’s knowledge is measured and put through scrutiny. It is then molded to face a certain direction, which is thought to be correct by the society in which the learner grows. Here the main skill acquired are those that help in memorization if things. The rules, facts, terms, and laws that they are taught .The learner has an obligation to keep those things in mind and live by the rules and boundaries that have been made to direct them. The venue within which the learner acquires the knowledge from the instructor is by use of senses, they use their abilities to taste observe ask hear and touch to synthesize the information given to them. This theory of behaviorism was brought into existence by an early philosopher, John Watson, who was for the opinion that learning is not attained by theorizing factual knowledge. He considered this unscientific. Watson was for the opinion that learning should be measurable. Behaviorism terms learning as a way of acquiring information by conditioning (Cattell, R. 2007, 111). Cognitivism is another learning theory. It states that human beings have the ability to recognize, analyze, evaluate, understand, and apply things to make something sensible. These are the skills attained from our mental ability and are not taught to us by instructors. The learning here is obtained from adoptive of some aspect such as structures and procedures which are reflected to our brain synapses strengthening them (Parkin, A, J. 2013, 33). To acquire the initial knowledge, the learner is assisted by an instructor up to a certain level where they are left to learn from the prior acquired knowledge. Learning is mainly achieved through logical and verbal means. This mainly depends on the level of our intelligence. Knowledge is gotten from the environment and from people around. In this theory, the learner uses different stages to solve various problems. Their view towards a problem is sequential and technical. It follows a certain string of order until its completion. This theory was first brought out from a German form of psychology known as Gestalt psychology. It was developed in the early 1900 but later taken to the United States of America in the 1920 s. Gestalt is a German word, which is synonymous to the English word pattern. This theory has been trying to tell why people organize their thoughts in sequences of perceptions. The theorists who support the Gestalt theory strongly criticize the behavioral theory stating that it leans so much on learning as a behavior (Wertheimer, M. 2005, 39). This theory majors much on the patterns of learning other than the external factors and how they affect learning, as is the case in behavioral learning theory. Cognitive theory of learning, view learning as more than just the human behavior, they view it as entailing so much of our mental capabilities, the ability to have long-term and short term memory. Those who offer cognitive learning are often inclined to develop ones intelligence from inside the individual and not the environment (Wertheimer, M. 2005, 62). Educational neuroscience is more of a modern theory of learning. It is bases on many forms of scientific to the human brain. The research is about finding out the processes of the brain and how it functions it was observed that new information is integrated into the human brain by the use of neurons, the dendrites are reabsorbed, the information that one learnt is lost. Scientists were able to view the brain functions properly, and how it behaves when information is absorbed. This research makes it possible to observe the brain as the learning process happens; this has been achieved using new imaging techniques that are attached to the brain. Scientists insist that the brain functions as a result of so many processes combined. They say that it works as a result of 70 functionalities. There are different types of brain intelligence. These different types require a combination of different brain functionalities (Cattell, R. 2007, 113). This means that every human thought that is different from the other is a result of different combinations of the human brain functions. The scientists described learning as the process by which synapses between neurons join. The most recent breakthrough in the field of brain science indicates that learning is a process formed because of interaction between many different brain functions. (Goodwin, H. 2009, 142).  Humanism is another learning theory. It entails the observation of how human beings generate knowledge. They observe human relations with others and with themselves. These relations include both intrapersonal and interpersonal relationships. They view learning as self acquired and not necessarily got from the outside world. One is capable of achieving that which they want so long as they train themselves to do so. Here the learner is capable of teaching themselves new things from the prior knowledge that they have (Ricks, D. F. 1976, 27). This prior knowledge is also self-achieved. Prior achieved knowledge is used to acquire new information. An educator in this case has reduced roles (Tyler, L. E. 1978, 19). The main job is to encourage the learner to find new ways of learning and getting information. Here the learning procedure is more complicated (Griggs, E. H. 1900, 59). Walter Mischel is another theorist who supports the learning theory of social Cognitivism. He was very tied to the fact that the environment has a very big impact on the life of person. The influence it has cannot be compared to any other type of learning. The response that one gives a certain situation is very dependent on the outcome of the choices that they make. Hence there is need to critically evaluate the outcome of the decisions we make before we make them. Walter, however, did not dismiss the fact that there is also the part of the human brain that is independent of the environment and makes decisions that are not influenced by the environment. He emphasized the need for scholars to embrace both learning theories. Even the scholars in the present day agree that personality is made up of both the internal features of our brain, and the environmental factors also. The reaction between an individual and their environment forms the personality of the person. The people’s inner thought determine the environment in which they choose to take their values from. They choose that environment which they think will best suit their interests (Knight, S. 2009, 96). The shortcomings of these theories that relate learning to behavior are as follows; most scientists do the experiment on animals then generalize the results stating that all human beings are the same, or that human beings are same as other animals. This is not true since every human being is unique in their own way they might not respond in the same way when exposed to certain conditions. This makes the theories inaccurate. The other shortcoming is that the theorists do not take into considerations of other biological factors. Most of the philosophers who accept the behavioral theories do not include the possibility of other biological factors that might change the outcome of their research. The study of young children in regards to their caretakers and the environment takes place for a period of two years. During this time, the rules outlined for early childhood development will be followed. This is according to the DCSF. This framework provides guidelines on how to take care of children when they are between the restricted age limit, this is according to the childcare act of 2006 (Mariano, L. T. 2010, 96). There is also the Early Years Foundation Framework is another one of the government policies regarding early childhood development. The EYFS has six categories regarding to early childhood development. They include emotional, personal and social development. These is where children learn to co-exist with the others in the society, they become aware of their emotions and learn to have control over what they feel. The next step is provision of knowledge of language, the children are taught the various means of communication and language literacy. The children are then taught about skills that can be employed in solving problems. They are taught on the different ways of problem evaluation and some basic concepts of critical thinking. During this stage, they are also taught the basic skills of numeracy. Children are taught about the knowledge, in most cases this is about the stories of the existence of the world, the various creation theories that we have. The next two stages are for physical and creative development consecutively. The main issues that should be taken into consideration here is the fact that different children have different learning capabilities in the different field offered. This means that the instructors should take keen interest in every child, know their strong and weak points and know how to schedule their learning strategies. Some government policies like the OECD highly call for academic knowledge offered to children. This policy is driven by the needs of the economic market and the future career opportunities the children might have. To achieve this framework, the policy advocates for high skills in numeracy and creativity to children (Goodwin, H. 2009, 271).  Emotionally, research has it that during the age of up to three years, the child takes after the person who they spend most of their time with. In most cases, it is their mothers. Their judgment and emotions are like those of the person who is closest to them, a clear indication that they learn by the theory of social-Cognitivism. The main debate is to whether at this young age the child is able to make morally sound decisions. Morality is something that grows overtime with age, and at this young age, the moral obligation of the child is very low. It is very difficult to make morally sound decisions. However, the environment in which they are brought up plays a big role in their moral development (Loughran, E. L. 1984, 37). Recent research has shown the various enabling environment in which children thrive best. The man one of these environments is the forest schools. This type of school originated from Scandinavian countries, it was quickly adopted by England and other European countries. These schools are unique in that they offer education outside the normal traditional classrooms. Children are exposed to the outside environment and are able to experience the changing environment with time (Knight, S. 2009, 96). This way, they are able to learn more about the environment in a better and more involving way (Williams-Siegfredsen, J. 2012, 74). In forest schools, children have the option to pursue their own interests unlike in the traditional schools where the children have an obligation to follow a certain restricted path (Knight, S. 2011, 12). As much as all children have the same ability to learn, some needs special types of learning. This mainly applies to those who are disabled and cannot cape up with the rest in their daily learning schedule. The special education needs and disability act of 2001 was a legislation in the UK which aims at emphasizing the need to offer education to children with disabilities, since 2001 the act has gone through various amendments to keep up with the current world. All the above policies and theories add up to the learning process of human beings, from the environment, to the society, the company, and the mental ability of different people. They all give guidelines on how the learning process takes place in human beings. It is clear that learning is an eternal process, it does not end at some point in life, but it follows one until death. All these theories and researches should be combined together for one to accomplish a complete cycle in learning (Smidt, S. 2009, 71).  References Robins, G., 2012. Praise, Motivation, and the Child, London: Taylor and Francis. Koffka, K., 2013. The Growth of the Mind an Introduction to Child-Psychology, Hoboken: Taylor and Francis. 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