Why is it important for teachers to have an understanding of philosophy?

Philosophy can be an academic discipline, where various viewpoints are compared and contrasted, but more important for teachers is an educational philosophy, a fairly thoroughly considered statement of what education is “about,” a “raison d’etre” for educating a certain way, whether “facts” are more or less important than “methodology,” whether testing has a punitive or a constructive function, what constitutes success in an educational environment, etc. On the college level, a teacher’s understanding of philosophy can help penetrate the material to be learned; for example, literature always benefits from a philosophical point of view; even mathematics can benefit by such inquiries as “Was mathematics invented or discovered?”  Finally, a teacher must keep in mind the way the brain works, and that requires a philosophical world-view.