Theoretically speaking, my philosophy of education can be summed up in one word: experience. How does one really learn until they try for themselves? I am not saying there is no value to studying a text or listening to a lecture, but it is in the practical application of what was studied or heard that the true learning takes place. Although it is thought to be a Chinese proverb, most of us are familiar with Ben Franklin’s wisdom: “Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” Henry David Thoreau mocked the lecture-style method of learning favored in colleges: “To my astonishment I was informed on leaving college that I had studied navigation!--why, if I had taken one turn down the harbor I should have known more about it.” And the example I use for my students: “One cannot learn how to swim without getting wet!” Examples of this are everywhere. A student may be able to tell you how to write a five-paragraph essay, yet it is in the execution that will determine his/her grade. I taught English in Japan and Thailand. Even though my students had been studying English for over 10 years, they were unable to have even simple conversations. This is because there is too much emphasis on text book learning and not enough on the application of that learning.
-Rich Lauria
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