My Educational Philosophy

     Training is the cornerstone of our lives.  We are educated and trained to do things from the onset of our existence.  We are trained to walk and educated to become better walkers.  For years I always thought of the two as separate entities.  I felt that school educated me but my job trained me.  After serving in the Air Force for many years, I’ve come to recognize that both go hand in hand.  I am a training manager in the Reserves and we use technology as an important part of training our troops.  My educational philosophy is that we must train to educate.   

One of the biggest challenges that I encounter is when someone infers or assumes that an individual possess a certain level of knowledge.  I’ve experienced this first hand when I was in the Georgia Air National Guard.  Each military member goes through a series of training and is assigned a skill level based on the training received.  My old supervisor assumed that I was capable of performing certain tasks based on my skill level.  When she realized that I required more training, she was upset and my career suffered at that unit. 

A way this could have been prevented that I should have been trained on basic skills and procedures.  The entry level training would focus on the basics.  Strictly facts with little room for deviation from the basics.  This would provide a strong basis for advance training.  Without a basic level of comprehension, how can an individual be able to analyze real world situations and apply what they have learned? 

The role of the learner in the world of training is to absorb as much knowledge as possible.  This is done through a quality training program.  A big mistake that many learners make is to receive a little bit of knowledge and make assumptions on the rest of it.  We have all made that mistake many times.  Just because we can drive a car, that does not mean we are ready to race in NASCAR. 

Once the trainee has comprehended the basics, now there are ready to be educated.  This is where they are encouraged to think outside of the proverbial box.  One of my best trainers was a sergeant in the Air Force who forced me to apply my training to real word situations.  He was always available if something went wrong, however, he let me assess the situation and make a decision.  Soon, I was able to perform advanced job functions on my own.  When he retired, I was able to not only run the section, but make improvements in it as well.  There is no way I could have been able to do so without being educated on the job tasks.  Education is teaching the student to think critically and apply what they have learned.

The role of the trainer is to not only train the pupil, but to provide them with the education to be able to constructively think and apply what they have learned.    

A good trainer will not teach an individual how to perform a task, but also how to apply what they have learned to the environment around them.  Critical thinking is important for any situation.

      Too often assumptions are made regarding what a person should know.  In addition, many people attempt to make changes based on things they do not completely understand.  The best way to combat this is to train to educate.  We must train on the basics and educate to facilitate critical thinking.