CHAPTER III

Different Educational Philosophies

Abba Paola Bautista Nagares

IMPORTANCE OF PHILOSOPHY TO STUDENTS OF EDUCATION

The study of educational philosophy isessential in the study of education.

The general aim of educationalphilosophy is to provide the studentsthe basis of philosophical understandingwhich will enable them to arrive at alogical and systematic theory ofeducation.

By understanding the various currentsystems of philosophy it is possible forthe students to derive their owntheories of education aftersystematically evaluating their owntheories.

The comprehension of the relationshipbetween the various elements ineducation provide an importantknowledge of the whole of education.

This enables the student to becomeaware of the limitations andinadequacies of ethical systems as theyrelate to education.

THE DIFFERENT SCHOOLS OF PHILOSOPHY

1)The Philosophy of Idealism

- The oldest systems of human thought.

- Man knows some truths by reasoning logically in the relationship between values.

- Some idealists assert that the true ideas exist innately in the soul of man.

- Some of the important concepts andgeneralizations in the philosophy ofidealism are found in Metaphysics andEpistemology.

- Metaphysics all of reality is reducible toone fundamental substance-spirit. Thenature of man is fundamental to theunderstanding of man.

- Idealists start with the idea, and endswith thing.

- Epistemology, there are two divisions ofIdealism.

OBJECTIVE IDEALISM

SUBJECTIVE IDEAMLISM

- It is said that the stimulus which isperceived by the soul comes from theinfinite spirit –God.

- The idealist affirm the existence ofeternal values.

DIFFERENT TYPES OF IDEALISTIC PHILOSOPHY

OBJECTIVISM –This emphasizes the objective and real independence of ideas.

SUBJECTIVISM –This emphasizes the subjective mental state of mind.

ORGANIC –This emphasizes the holistic state of mind.

PERSONALISM – This rejects theimpersonal description of infinite mindand emphasizes the individualphenomena of the personal mind.

- IDEALISM is against the philosophy ofprogressive education.

- Idealists claim that education mustprovide for the development of themind of every pupil.

HOW TO TEACH?

- The school must emphasize theintellectual, moral, and aestheticjudgment of the pupil in order for him toachieve his full spiritual potentials.

- The school can accomplish this thoughtthrough a subject-centered curriculumdesigned to provide the pupil with thevery best ideas of human culture.

HOW TO TEACH?

- The teacher is expected to be an excellent and all around person. Because for the idealists, nothing is equal in importance to an excellent teacher.

- Teachers also provides pupils opportunities to think and apply what they have learned.

- Thinking and reasoning are criteria of good teaching and learning.

EDUCATION, LIKEWISE, MUST EMPHASIZE THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE FOLLOWING AREAS OF

LIFE:o Intellectual activities

o Moral Judgment

o Aesthetic Appreciation

o Self-realization

o Individual freedom

o Individual responsibility

o Self-discipline

WEAKNESS

- The weakness of this philosophicalthought is that it is against thePhilippine Constitution because of theseparation of church and state, becauseIdealism stresses moral and religioustraining.

2) THE PHILOSOPHY OF REALISM

- The realist believes that the world ismade of real, substantial materialentities.

- The realist starts with a thing and endup with the idea.

- Knowledge is derived through senseexperience.

- The realist tries to be as objective as ishumanly possible.

- The realist tries not to distort life by forcingit to agree with his own principle, but mostoften he is influential by what he feels andthinks.

- The philosophy recognizes the right ofevery individual to an education based uponhis nature.

- This philosophy recognizes the importanceof individual differences in education.

(Methods and techniques in teaching)

HOW TO TEACH?

- The school curriculum is selected andorganized logically and psychology.

- LOGICAL ARRANGEMENT means thesubject should be arranged from simple tocomplex. (Gradual Reaction Change,Thorndike)

- PSYCHOLOGICAL ARRANGEMENT meansthat the nature of the learner must betaken into consideration, such as; ability,interests, and needs of the learner.

THE REALISTS EDUCATION EXISTS FOR THE FOLLOWING

REASONS:

o To transmit culture

o To develop thinking and reasoning

o To develop the ability to live a life of reason

o To learn to live a life in a higher place.

WEAKNESS

- The realist’s point of view is that man isan animal to be conditioned andmanipulated.

- The concept ignores the real nature ofman as a rational being.

3) THE PHILOSOPHY OF HUMANISM

- Humanism has its roots in the life andthought of ancient Greece and Rome.

- It is a way of looking at our world whichemphasizes the importance of man – hisnature is the center of their study.

- Humanism teaches that all persons havedignity and worth.

- True humanism must concern itself withthe achievement of the highest concept ofhuman welfare, of the freedom, anddignity of man.

HOW TO TEACH?

- Every school, especially the university,must regard itself as a partner of thenational leadership in a common task.

- In education, humanism presents thetraining of ideal gentlemen or universalman. Such a person is skilled in many fieldof knowledge.

- Many educators and philosophers believethat the greatest challenge to humanism,and indeed a threat to the safety ofsociety, comes from too great andemphasize on science and technology.

- But they also believe that humanism mustteach them how to use the power andknowledge in a normal human way, becauseKNOWLEDGE must be used NOT toDESTROY but to PROMOTE growth anddevelopment.

- The modern humanistic ideal of education isthe development of a well balanced person,who had knowledge, knew how to live withhis fellowmen, who appreciated beauty, andwho had high standards of humanjudgment.

- In the school of philosophy, Humanism, theobjective of teaching and learning is todiscover the emotional order of subjectmatter and the order of learning.

- According to this educational philosophy,learning starts with the child’s experience.This educational concept is based on thelaw of Apperception of Herbart – thatlearning is easier if it starts with the pastlearnings of the child which are related towhat is to be learned.

4) PHILOSOPHIES OF EXPERIMENTALISM AND PRAGMANTISM

- In general the philosophy of pragmatism isgrouped under the general termExperimentalism. They supplement andcomplement each other.

- To both schools of philosophy, reality isdetermined by individual differences.

- Dr. John Dewey, who is a believer of thephilosophy of Pragmatism, might properlybe called experimentalist, because heinsists that ideas must always be tested byexperiment.

- His notion that ideas are plans of actiondetermine his theory of truth. To Dr.Dewey, ‘IF AN IDEA DOEA WHAT ITINTENDS AS PLAN OR ACTION, IT ISTRUE. IF IT FAILS, IT IS FALSE.’

How to teach?

- According to the philosophy ofexperimentation and pragmatism,education must be problem centered. Thisproblem must be felt by the learner andshould be centered upon his abilities,needs, and interests.

- The curriculum of the school must beformulated in terms of activities orprojects relevant to the students’abilities and community needs.

- The fact that man learns throughexperience, the experimentalist andpragmatist suggest an education whichstresses learning by doing and living.

- The aim of education is the development of the total child through experiencing or through the use of the theory of self-activity. And that experience is the source of all knowledge.

- Their educational concept are based on the educational philosophy of John Dewey which expressed in the following terms; ‘Education is life, education is growth, education is a social process and education is the construction of human experience.’

5) THE PHILOSOPHY OF SCHOLASTICISM

- It is the official of the Roman CatholicChurch since the early history of CatholicChurch.

- The chief exponent of this philosophy ofSaint Tomas Aquinas.

- This philosophy stresses the idea that man isa national being possessing a body and soul.

- This school of philosophy believes that notall truth can be known by reason becauseof the restrictions present in sense ofknowledge. Some truths can be achievedthrough the gift of faith.

- This school of philosophy believes in theuse of reason in accomplishing truth.

- This school believes that man first knowthe good in order to will good.

- Every man must develop the habits ofgood action by which he chooses good. Itis within his natural potentialities tochoose good rather than evil because Godis the ultimate good and final end of everyman.

- He must therefore, live his life so as tosubordinate his physical nature to hisspiritual being in fulfilling his moralresponsibility to himself, to humanity, andto his God Almighty.

HOW TO TEACH?- The aim of education, according to

scholastic philosophy, must be directed tothe development of the whole man.

- Education must aim to the development ofthe whole man – that a person must bedeveloped mentally, physically,emotionally, socially, and spiritually. Andmust aim the development of the wholechild by including both the preparation forhis life and the life to come.

- Every man must develop his reason andstrengthen his will. To accomplish thisaim, the school curriculum must includereligion and the study of the humanities.

- This school of philosophy believes in theimportance of general education whichprovides an opportunity for thedevelopment of the virtue of wisdom.

- It can also be sold that religion is veryimportant in the life of man for religiongives us direction and point of destinationin developing our present and future lives.

WEAKNESS

- The scholastic philosophers agree thatman is a rational animal.

- Because of his rationality, the aims ofeducation are many so reasoning is more arational part of man than is his feeling orlearning.

6) THE PHILOSOPHY OF PROGRESSIVISM- This philosophy is closely related to the

Pragmatic philosophy of education.

- According to this educational philosophy, the child grows and develops as a whole through his own experience or through self-activity.

- Outstanding leaders;

Horace Mann Stanley Hall

Francis Parker John Dewey

William Kilpatrick

- From the Progressivists, learning is anactive process, in which the learnerhimself is definitely involved. This point ofview state that the learning process isessentially experiencing, doing, andunderstanding.

- This concept calls for active doing whichinvolves the mind, the body and theemotion of the individual.

- In other words, learning is in itself anatural experience. This simply meansthat the child learns what he lives, acceptit to live by, and that he learns thisresponse in the degree that understandsand accepts it.

THE OUTSTANDINGCHARACTERISTICS OF THE PHILOSOPHY OF PROGRESSIVISM ARE THE FOLLOWING:

a) The child is made the center of theeducative process, and not the subjectmatter.

b) Learning by doing and experiencing areemphasized in the educative process.

c) Thinking and reasoning are wellemphasized.

d) The school curriculum is based onactivities and projects that are in line withthe pupils’ needs and abilities.

e) Individual differences are recognized bythis school of philosophy. Each individualis considered as a unique individual.

f) Emphasis is in group planning, discussion,and self-expression, creativeness andresponsibility. This concept is based on theprinciple that learning is a social process.

g) Evaluation is based on the flexiblestandards or that grading must be basedon the normal-probability-curve. Thismeans higher standard for the bright andlower standard for the slow pupils.

h) Guidance is made an integral part ofteaching and learning in this school ofphilosophy of progressivism.

7) THE PHILOSOPHY OF EXISTENSIALISM

- History of philosophy reveals that thisschool of philosophy is the most recent toappear upon the intellectual sense. Somephilosophers classify this as extremeindividualism.

- To this school of philosophy, reality is amatter of individual existence, that eachhuman being exists in a world that iswithout purpose and is fundamentallyabsurd.

- Each person is free to make whateverchoices he wishes.

- These decisions and commitments resultin the kind of person one becomes.

- This is his essence which is continuallybecoming.

- When man is aware of his identity as anindividual alone, he realizes the truereasons for his own existence.

- However, it is imperative that every humanbeing chooses and finds some significanceand meaning for himself in the act ofexisting.

- It can be said that some existentialistsassert that God exist. They, however,admit the impossibility of proving this byreason.

- Record show that majority of thebelievers of this school of philosophy(Existentialism) are either atheistic oragnostic in their belief.

- To them, when man is aware of theexistence of things and beings inthemselves, he is functioning upon thehighest level of human experience.

- ‘Existence is the basic value for man andthe values which are significant for eachindividual are relative to the individualcircumstances for the one’s existence.’

- To the Existentialists, the purpose ofeducation is to serve the individualhuman being by guiding him intoawareness of his condition andpromoting his successful commitmentto a significant existence.

-Likewise, complete individual freedom inthe classroom is recommended by thisschool of philosophy, and that theindividual child must choose for himselfthose activities which he believes aresignificant, and the teacher serve as aguide and a resource person.

- It is an accepted fact that it is throughindividual experience, by which thepupil enjoys the consequences of hisactivities, that he learns and chooses.This concept is based on the democraticprinciples of John Dewey.

8) ANALYTIC PHILOSOPHY

- This philosophy asserts that the function ofphilosophy is basically a type of logical andlinguistic analysis.

- This philosophy is otherwise known aslogical analysis.

- According to this school of philosophy,reality consists of what is knowable, that is,verified by experience.

- This school of philosophy also asserts thatman is different from other animals to theextent that he has the capacity to engagein reflection.

- The use of symbols is valuable to theextent that one can reason to the logicalvalue of the symbols.

- Analytic philosophy also asserts that themethod of philosophy must be themethod of science for things areknowable only through experience,which verifies the truth that isapprehended.

- The scientific attitude of open-mindedness, objectivity, and criticalreflection in thinking are necessary oressential for correct thinking.

- It is known that man is a rational beingand that his reason is his mostimportant distinction.

HOW TO TEACH?

- In this philosophy, the aim of education isto promote the intellectual and socialdevelopment of the individual.

- This concept of education is based on theprinciple that an individual is a socialbeing.

- This aim of education can beaccomplished by developing the scientificattitude of open-mindedness andobjectivity in each pupil or student.

- To the believers of this school ofphilosophy, education must be based onthe experiences of the learner. Like thepragmatists, they believe or recognize theimportance of human experiences indeveloping the growth of the individual.

GUIDE QUESTIONS FOR READING AND DISCUSSION

1. Explain the philosophy of idealism. What isthe outstanding educational conceptcontributed by this school of thought?

Ans.

Idealism is a subject matter centered andemphasizes the mind and spirit of thepupils/students.

Character development.

2. Explain the philosophy of realism andthe educational concepts based on thisschool of philosophy.

Ans.

It is also a subject matter centered butaccording to this philosophy, knowledgeis derived through sense experience.

This philosophy recognizes theimportance of individual differenceswhich calls for different techniques inteaching.

Ans.

The curriculum is selected andorganized logically and psychology.

3. Discuss the philosophy of humanismand the educational concepts derivedfrom the philosophy.

Ans.

Humanism must teach the studentshow to use the power and knowledge ina normal human way.

Ans.

In this school of philosophy, humanism,the objective of teaching and learning isto discover the emotional order ofsubject-matter and the order oflearning.

‘Learning starts with the child’sexperience’ (Law of Apperception ofHerbart)

‘Learning is easier if it starts with the pastleanings of one child which are related towhat is to be learned.

(step by step)

By levels of learning

4. What is the relationship betweenexperimentalism and pragmatism inrelation to education? Explain youranswer.

Ans.

The relationship between these two isthat, education must be problemcentered.

That the development of the total childthrough experiencing or through the useof the theory of self-activity.

Ans.

That for them, EXPERIENCE is themajor source of all knowledge.

5. Explain this statement “The CatholicChurch is guided by the philosophy ofScholasticism”.

Ans.

Because Scholasticism is the official ofthe Roman Catholic Church since theearly history of the Catholic Church.

Saint Tomas Aquinas, chief exponent ofthis philosophy.

Ans.

Because this philosophy believes thatnot all truth can be known by reasonbecause of the restrictions present insense of knowledge. And some truthscan be achieved through the gift offaith.

Scholastic philosophy believes that manmust first know the good in order to willgood.

And that every man must develop thehabits of good action by which hechooses good. It is within his naturalpotentialities to choose good ratherthan evil because God is the ultimategood and final end of every man.

6. Why is the philosophy of Pragmatismclosely related to progressivism?

Because these philosophies believe thatthe child grows and develops as a wholethrough his own experience and throughself-activity.

7. What school of philosophy has thegreatest contributions to education inthis country? Explain your answer.

Ans.

Well for me, Experimentalism andPragmatism and Progressivism.

Self-activity

Experiences

Involvement

Learning by doing.

ENDTHANK YOU!