Why So Many Philosophy Statements?

The first reason is pragmatic – I require students to develop these kinds of statements in many of the classes that I teach. As a teacher, I believe I should never ask students to complete an assignment that I am not willing to complete myself. Further, these serve as examples for my students.

This said, the best answer to this question is more than pragmatic. I've long been an advocate of developing a personal philosophy. Some people prefer to call them personal mission statements or purpose statements, which is fine. The purpose of my philosophy statements is to help me remember who I am and how I wish to respond when life throws me a curveball. In fact, I've found my philosophy most helpful when life has been the most challenging, whether at work or at home or even inside my own heart.

Some of my friends and colleagues have challenged this process, suggesting that all I need is a single statement of faith, or even that all I need is to have faith. I disagree. Being a child of God certainly is a part of my identity, but it is not my entire identity. Consider the following analogy: I do not want my wife, Joy, to define herself solely (or even primarily) as “John's wife.” Instead, I desire for her to be herself, a unique individual who sees the world in her own way. One component of her identity may be the fact that she is my wife (part of mine is being her husband), but that is far from her full identity. In a similar manner, I believe that God's desires for me to have an identity all my own. Though being God's child is an important part of who I am, it is not all that I am. Developing and refining my philosophy is a process that I have used to discover and create my identity and to make sure that I live in a manner consistent with who I want to be.

Other colleagues have suggested that one statement (my personal philosophy) is enough: “Do you really need a philosophy of teaching, of leading, of parenting, or of driving your car?” I acknowledge that there is a danger of overkill, and one should notice that there is a great deal of overlap between my various statements. That said, I disagree with the claim that one statement should be sufficient. Let me suggest another analogy: Joy and I have a philosophy of parenting. When we face the most significant challenges in being parents, simple sets of steps for doing discipline or for setting rules are not enough. Now Joy and I have not written down our philosophy, but we do talk about it regularly. Building on this analogy, I suggest two reasons for the various statements. First, the statements help to remind me of who I am and who I desire to be. In this light, the very process of developing the statements is a helpful exercise of the heart, mind, and soul. Second, I do not enact these philosophies by myself, but in the context of community. For example, teaching is not a singular, but a communal process. Said another way, my teaching philosophy speaks not only to who I am, but also to how I desire to interact with others in a learning community. In order for this education process to be at its best, I believe that I need to be as forthright and upfront with students as possible. Indeed, I have experienced times when my students have helped to hold me accountable to my philosophy.