An idealist philosophy of education would call for a highly proactive approach to ensuring that all students receive the same high quality of education and variety of educational opportunities; a realist philosophy would argue that achieving true "equality" may be impossible, but that what is needed is a nationwide effort to reform educational systems and processes to maximize student achievement to the degree possible. Idealism, from a philosophical perspective, is at times vulnerable to charges of utopianism; realism, in contrast, seeks to maximize benefits within an understanding of the possible and the improbable (Solomon and Higgins, 1996). As an educator with classroom experience, I would argue in favor or an idealistic philosophy of education tempered by recognition of the effects of "real world" variables, influences, factors, and limitations.
Specifically, my philosophy of education rests on a rejection of what Robert Evans (1996) has called the excessive assertiveness of the rhetoric of school improvement. All too often, schools rush to institute reforms or adopt new and seemingly innovative programs (or even technologies) without giving sufficient thought to how these new acquisitions are to blend with established pedagogical methods, personnel, resources, state standards, and bureaucratic systems. Criticism, in my view, is easy and may reflect an idealistic orientation toward change. Making change work, overcoming resistance, and ensuring that there is a good potential for a change strategy to generate measurable benefits is far more difficult that simply employing the rhetoric of school reform or improvement.
Additionally, as Reed (2003) has commented, I believe that it is important to recognize the positive role that can be played in education by new technologies รป however challenging those technologies may be, teachers and administrators must embrace their benefits to maximize stud
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