Philosophical Thoughts on ieaislal | | Education ° Learning Outcomes: At the end of this Chapter, you should be able to discuss at least 6 philosophical thoughts on education. er ee ‘A. Read this conversation then answer the question in the ANALYSIS phase of this Lesson. Read These In a Grade 3 Science class: Teacher: What is the function of the mouth? Student; To break the food into smaller pieces. Teacher : Very good! What about the stomach? Student : To digest the food. Teacher: Very good! Perfect! And the small intestines? Student: To absorb the food nutrients.sme Teacher wd tho Comemursy, School Culture and Organtraonal Leaders (Qos What classroom scenario is/are being depicted by the comic strip and the teacher-student question and answer. Tere eet Isolated Facts and the Banking Method Depicted in the question and answer proceeding in class are a common classroom scenario. Most lessons are devoted to teacher asking low-level questions and students answering with What they memorized the night before. Teacher deposited these facts a day before and withdraws them the next day. A perfect example of the banking system of education that Paulo Freire is very much against as it does not make the learner reflect and connect what he/she was taught to real life. We have nothing against facts. But isolated facts make no sense but become meaningful when seen in relation to other facts. These facts when combined with other facts (with further questioning from the teacher) help the learner sec meaning and connection to his/ her life, Example; The pupil learned that food is broken down into small pieces, which is digested by the stomach and is absorbed by the intestine. To connect the facts, teacher should ask more questions like: “What if the food is not chewed in the mouth, what happens to food in the stomach and to the stomach itself? What if the stomach fails to digest food from the mouth, what happens to the food in the small intestines? Will the small intestines be able to absorb food, ete. Below are summaries of thoughts of education philosophers 0” what should be taught and how learners should be taught A. John Locke (1632-1704) : The Empiricist Educator * Acquire knowledge about the world through the senses - learning by doing and by interacting with the environment . * Simple ideas become more complex through comparison, reflection and generalization- the inductive method * Questioned the long traditional view that knowledge cant exclusively from literary sources, particularly the Greek and Lonn classics he * Opposed he “divine right of kings” th which held that ¥ monarch had the right 19 be an unquestioned and absolute rule? 9S.over his subjects * Political order should be based upon a contract between the people and the government + Aristocrats are not destined by birth to be rulers, People were ta establish their own goverment and select their own political leaders from among themselves; civic education is necessary + People should be educated (0 govern themselves intelligently and responsibly (Ornstein, 1984) Comments: * For John Locke education is not acquisition of knowledge contained in the Great Books. It is learners interacting with concrete experience, comparing and. reflecting on the same concrete experience, comparing. The learner is an active not a passive agent of his/her own learning. * From the social dimension, education is seeing citizens participate actively and intelligently in establishing their government and in choosing who will govern them from among themselves because they are convinced that no one person is destined to be ruler forever. \B. Herbert Spencer (1820-1903): Utilitarian Education + Spencer's concept of “survival of the fittest” means that human | theory cated development had gone through an evolutionary series of stages | “Socal ffrom the simple to the complex and from the uniform to the more | Darwinism?” ‘specialized kind of activity. * Social development had taken place according to an evolutionary process by which simple homogeneous societies had evolved to ‘more complex societal systems characterized with humanistic and classical education. Industrialized society require vocational and _ professional ‘education based on scientific and practical (utilitarian) objectives rather than on the very general educational goals associated with humanistic and classical education. * Curriculum should emphasive the practical, utilitarian and scientific subjects that helped human kind master the environment. * Was not inclined to rote learning; schooling must be related to life and to the activities needed to earn a living. * Curriculum must be arranged according to their contribution to human survival and progress. * Science and other subjects that sustained human life and Pi should have curricular priority since it aids in the formance of life activities. irctovdual competition leads to social progress. He who is fittest survives. (Omstein, 1984}rhe Teachat and the Community. Schaol Culture ani Organizational Leadership Comments: Specialized Education of Spencer vs. General Education * To survive in a complex society, Spencer favors special. education over that of general education. We are in Reed social engineers who can combine harmoniously the finding, of specialized knowledge. This is particularly true in the field medicine. © The expert who concentrates on a limited field is useful, but y he loses sight of the interdependence of things he becomes man who knows more and more about less and less. We muy, be warned of the deadly peril of over specialism. Of course We dy not prefer the other extreme; the superficial person Who know, | less and less about more and more. | Spencer's Survival of the Fittest * He who is fittest survives. Individual competition leads social progress. The competition in class is what advocates whole-child approach and Socio-emotional Learning (SEY, atmosphere negate. The whole child approach a powerfl | tool for SELF-focused schools has as tenets - ‘each student learns in an environment that is physically and emotionally safe for students and adults” and “each student has access to” personalized learning and is supported by qualified and cariag adults...” (Frey, N. 2019) The highlighted words point to ne competition for competition works against an emotionally safe environment. C, John Dewey (1859-1952); Learning through Experience * Education is a social process and so school is intimately ri to the society that it serves. Children are socially active human beings who want to expott their environment and gain control over it. * Education is a social process by which the immature members the group, especially the children, are brought to participate it ™ society, * The ied is a special environment established by members 4 Society, for the purpose af simplifying, purifying and integr® the social experience of the group so that it ean be undi examined and used by its children. od * The sole purpose of education is to contribute to the persona! rea growth of individuals. of . steps of the scientific or reflective method which extremely important in Dewey's educational theory & ™) jThe leamer = has a@ “genuine situation of experience’ Se nae Nh aha i erased, ® Within this experience the leamer has a “genuine problem” that stimulates thinking. rol acquire the information to solve the problem. ™ The leamer develops possible and tentative solutions that may solve the problem. & The leamer tests the solutions by applying them to the © problem. In this one way one discovers their validity for oneself «The fund of knowledge of the human race-past ideas, discoveries and inventions was to be used as the material for dealing with This accumulated wisdom of cultural heritage has to be tested. If it served human purposes, it becomes part of a reconstructed experience. * The school is social, scientific and democratic. The school introduces children to society and their heritage. The school as @ miniature society is a means of bringing children into social participation. * The school is scientific in the sense that it is a social laboratory in which children and youth could test their ideas and values. In here, the learner acquires the disposition and procedures associated with scientific or reflective thinking and acting. The school is democratic because the leamer is free to test all ideas, beliefs and values. Cultural heritage, customs and institutions are all subject to critical inquiry, investigation and reconstruction. ‘ * School should be used by all, it being a democratic institution. No barrier of custom or prejudice segregate people. People ought to work together to solve common problems. The authoritarian or coereive style of administration and teaching is out of place because they block genuine inquiry and dialogue. + Education is a social activity and the school is a social agency that helps shape human character and behavior. Values are relative but sharing, cooperation, and democracy are significant human vaiues that should be encouraged by schools. (Ornstein, A. 1984) . Comments: und of Knowledge of the Human Race a ri et doce not daregard the accumulated wisdom of the pas These past ideas, discoveries and inventions, our culturaland the Community, Sona Culture and Organizational Leadership he ene itage, will be used as the material for dealing with probje, wef oe mill be teated. Wf they are of help, they become par a a reconstructed experience. If they are not totally a they will still-be part of a reconstructed experience. This m, that the ideal learner for Dewey is not just one who can | ‘by doing, ¢g., conduct an experiment but one who can Conneeg accumulated wisdom of the past to the present. ‘Schools are For the People and By the People + Schools are democratic institutions where everyone Tegardiesy of age, ethnicity, social status is welcome and is ‘encouraged to participate in the democratic process of decision-m; Learners and stakeholders practice and experience democracy, in schools. D. George Counts (1889-1974): Building a New Social Order * Education is not based on eternal truths but is relative toa particular society living at a given time and place. By allying themselves with groups that want to change society, schools should cope with social change that arises from technology. There is a cultural tag between material progress and social institutions and ethical values, Instruction should incorporate a content of @ socially useful nature and a problem-solving methodology, Students are encouraged to work on problems that have social significance, Schools become instrument far social improvement rather than an agency for preserving the status quo, Teachers should tead society rather than follow it. Teachers aré agents of change. Teachers are called on to make important choices in the controversial areas of economics, politics and morality because if they failed to do so, others would make the decisions for them. * Schools ought to provide an education that afford equal teaming pportunities to ail students, (Ornstein, A. 1984) Comments: Schools and Teachars as Agents of Change * For George Counts, schools and teachers should be of a Schools are con: instruments forthe better not just change for the sake of change. . Peters are called 10 make decisions on controversial isvocs to make a decision is to actually making a decision. * Like Dewey, problem solving, should be the dominant method for instruction, Lag Between Material Progress and Ethical Values Counts asserts that “there is a cultural lag between material progress and social institutions and ethical values.” Material progress of humankind is very evident but moral and ethical development ‘seem to have lagged behind. A friend once wrote: “The Egyptians had their horses. Modern man has his jets but today it is still the same moral problems that plague humankind." Indeed with science and technology, we have become very powerful and yet powerless. We have conquered a number of diseases and even postponed death for many, we have conquered aging. the planets, the seas but we have not conquered ourselves. E. Theodore Brameld (1904-1987) - Social Reconstructionism | * As the name implies, social reconstructionism is 9 philosophy that emphasizes the reformation of society. The social reconstructionists contend that: «. humankind has moved from an agricultural and rural society fo an urban and technological society... there is @ serious lag in cultural adaptation to the realities of a technological society. | Humankind has yet to reconstruct its values in order to catch up with the changes in the technological order, and organized education has a major role to play in reducing the gap berween the values of the culture and technology. (Omstein, 1984) So the social reconstructionist asserts that schools should: critically examine present culture and resolve inconsistencies, controversies and conflicts to build a new society not just change society... do more than reform the social and educational status quo, It should seek to create a new society... Humankind is in a state of profound cultural crisis. If schools reflect the dominant social values... then organized education will merely transmit the social ills that are symptoms of the pervasive problems and afflictions that beset humankind... The only legitimate goal of a truly human education is to create a world order in which people are in control of their own destiny. in an era of nuclear weapons, the social reconstructionists see anre Teacher and ne Commit Schoo! Cultre and Orpanizatonal Leadership | urgent need for society to reconstruct itself before it destroy, aself, (Omstein, A. 1984) « Technological era is an era of interdependence and 39 education must be international in scope for global citizenship. = For the social reconstructionists, education is designed “to awaken students’ consciousness about socal problems and tp engage them actively in problem solving’. (Omstein, 1984) + Social reconstructionists are firmly committed to equality or equity in both society and education. Barriers of socio-economic class and racial discrimination should be eradicated. i « They also emphasize the idea of an interdependent world. The quality of life needs to be considered and enhanced on a global basis. (Omstein, A. 1984) ‘Comments: © Like John Dewey and George Counts, social reconstructionist Brameld believe in active problem- solving as the method of teaching and learning. * Social reconstructionists are convinced that education is not a privilege of the few but a right to be enjoyed by all. « Education is a right that all citizens regardless of race and social status must enjoy. F. Paulo Froire (1921-1997) - Critical Pedagogy Critical Pedagogy and Dialogue vs. the Banking Model of Education + Paulo Freire, a criticul theorist, like social reconstructionists, believed that systems must be changed to overcome oppression and improve human conditions. | Education and literacy are the vehicle for social change. In his view, humans must leam to resist oppression and nat become its victims, nor oppress others, To do so requires dialogue and critical consciousness, the development of awareness to overcome domination and oppression. * Rather than “teaching as banking," in which the educator | deposits information into students’ heads, Freire saw teaching and leaming as a process of inquiry in which the child must invent and reinvent the world. * Teachers must not see themselves as the sole possessors of knowledge and their students as empty receptacles . He calls this pedagogical approach the “banking method” of education * A democratic relationship between the teacher and her students |‘Chapter 1 ~ Pridcsopmcal Thoughas om Esucstion fs necessary in order for the ‘conselentization procese to take, place. Freire's critical pedagogy és problem-posing education, A central element of Freire’s pedagogy is dialogue. It is love and respect that allow ws to engage people in dialogue and to discover ourselves in the process and learn from one another. By its nature, dialogue és not something that can be imposed. Instead, genuine dialogue is characterized by respect of the parties involved toward one another, We develop a tolerant sensibility during the dialogue process, and it is only when we come to tolerate the points of view and ways of being of others that we might be able to learn from them and about ourselves in the process. Dialogue means the presence of equality, mutual recognition, affirmation of people, a sense of solidarity with people, and remaining open to questions. Jf Dialogue is the basis for critical and problem-posing pedagogy, as opposed to banking education, where there is no discussion, only the imposition of the teacher's ideas on the students. (Ornstein, 1984) ‘Comment: © All of these education philosophers, point to the need af interacting with others and of creating a “community of inquiry” as Charles Sanders Peirce put it. The community of inquiry is “a group of persons involved in inquiry, investigating more or less the same question or problem, and developing through their exchanges a better understanding both of the question aa well as. the probable solutions.” (Lee, 2010) A community of inquiry will engage learners in active problem solving.The Tencter an be Community, Schoct Cure and Organizatons! Leaders: 1, The modern explosion of knowledge has led to an age of special izatin, with this concomitant quip: |A specialist knows more and more about less and less, An expert knows more and more about less and less until he or she knows everything about nothing. A related joke cleverly twists this saying: A generalist knows less and less about more and more | until he or she knows nothing about everything. | Should schools produce generalists or specialists? Defend your answer. 1 2. Spencer is convinced that he who is most fit survives ang So encouraged individual competition. Read this article about ‘Singaporean education today and find out with whom you agree ~ Spencer's individual competition or Singaporean educational system where competition is mot encouraged. Learning is not a competition: No more 1", 2™ or last in class for primary and secondary students: SINGAPORE - Whether a child finishes first or last will no longer be indicated in primary and secondary school report books from next year - a move which Education Minister Ong Ye Kung hopes will show students that ‘learning is not a camperizion” t books will not just stop showing a student's position mn relation to class or cohort. The information to be dropped includes: * Class and level mean * Minimum and maximum marks . ‘and/or colouring of failing marks Pass/fail for end-of-year result Mean subject grades * Overall total marks LIRS (English plus five relevant subjects), L1R4, EMB3 (English, maths, best three subjects) and EMBI for lowe? The Ministry of Education (MOE) said on Friday that tht 2 change i © alow each student to facus on his at Por trong Drees3. The following is an excerpt of the keynote Address of Senator Shahani before the National Academy of Science and Technology at ts 15* Annual Scientific Meeting, 7 July 1993, Manila. Read it. Underline those parts that emphasize development in moral and ethical values as most necessary to effect change. Do you agree with her thoughts in these underlined sentences? Keynote Address of Senator Shahani before the National Academy of Science and Technology at its 15th Annual Scientific Meeting, 7 July 1993, Manila. In essence, the Moral Recovery Program is a movement which aims to mobilize Filipinos for nation-butlding through practical exercise of human values in our daily lives as citizens, and to awaken us to the power of these values in achieving our individual and national goals. Those values are free of charge; we do not haw to borrow, nor to beg regularly and constantly from the outside world to obtain them; we only have to look inward, intemalize these values for our own self transformation, then externalize them for our individual lives and for building our nation. To use current terminology, the Moral Recovery Program seeks to empower people - the poor, the middle-class and the nich - trough the sustained application of human values and virtues to overcome our problems and build our country in accordance witl] our collective vision. We can also see the Program as an attempt to complete the complex picture of nationalism. If nation-building has its political, economic and cultural dimensions, it also has its moral and ethical imperative. This imperative is a most compelling dimension of nation-building. It goes beyond mere legislation of antigraft measures or Congressional investigations of wrongdoing in the Goverment. We need to go back to the basics and ask the fundamental questions: what is our vision of ourselves and of Filipino society? how do alternative strategy for national development. Ethics and Politics The close interrelationship between ethics and politics is obvious in our many problems -our large foreign debt; the state of permanent disrepair of our roads and public toilets; graft and corruption in Government; the intramurals between“Tne Teachor and tha Community, Schoo! Culture and Organizational Leadership Vision The overall vision I have for our country has the following essentiai elements: reverence for all farms of life and the primacy of human values; @ priority given to cultivation of the spiritual and culturat life of the nation; the democratization of power, resources and wealth; the right combination of a free market economy and Government intervention in appropriate areas at appropriate stages to provide for the basic needs of its citizens; a Government which works for the good of the people, | the development of our agricultural resources and an environmentally conscious industrialization plan; a well-implemented agrarian referm | program; respect for human rights, including the rights of women; and an independent foreign policy within the framework of global cooperation, in other words, we should have a vision which represents strong combination of human dignity, sustainable development and appropriate ecanomic growth; national interest; and global orientation. A tall order indeed, but ¢ vision must inspire over the long-term, shed light in the midst of darkness and make possible the seemingly impossible. Individual and Nationa! Transformation At this point, we come to the question: what is to he transformed or changed: the structures of soclety or the inelividual? In my view, both should be transformed, each dynamically affecting the other, but the starting point is always the individual, or a group of individuals within institutions. The empowerment of the poor must come from the poor themselves; the poor must help themselves; others can only help them to help themselues, There is a weicome opportunity in this country to help ‘empower the poor, and such empowerment is vital to the creation of mare just social and economic structures. Human Values: Powerful Building Blocks Ht is obvious from what I have said that human values are powerful building blocks in the development of a nation. Yet the non-economic and nom-budgetary dimensions of progress and growth, ie. the moral and Geultural elements, have been conveniently overlooked or disregarded ‘by the learned technocrats and theoreticians of development perhaps to make way for smootJ1, non-controversial discussions of the development development, which like equity, social justice, distributive justice when re again wit rae peated over and oveT be mane Rout any explanation of the painful ethical choices which have f0 tikichi aid individuals and governments in order to achieve them cannot ‘nd the poor oe cnt minds of the popular, the rich, the middle-class is, after all tam the burden of transformation rests. Development lobiiontion for (eessoasoriented process and a challenge in mass . for the peopte and not for political expedi4, “H you cannot bring the learners to the world, bring the world fo tho classroom.” Will this go with John Dewey's Philosophy of education: Explain your answer . Considering DepEd mission statement “to protect and promote the right of every Filipino to quality, equitable, culture-based, and complete basic education” ean we say that Philippine educational system is in a sense equitable? What actions and what recent legislations are proofs that the Philippines gives equal access to quality education to its citizens? 6. Is free tertiary education really pro-poor in the sense that it is the poor who are indeed benefited? Justify your answer. Freire opposed the banking method of education and favored critical pedagogy, Why? The banking method is characterized as a vertical relationship while critical pedagogy is characterized by a horizontal type of relationship. Be guided by the Figure below. teacher ! student teacher ++ student John Locke - the empiricist * Education is not acquisition of knowledge contained in the Classics. It is learners interacting with concrete experience. The learner is an active not a passive agent of his / her own learning, * From the social dimension, education is secing citizens participate actively and intelligently in establishing their government and in choosing who will govern them from among themselves. They are of the thinking that no one person is destined to be miler forever. This is in keeping with the Anti-Political Dynasty Bill ‘Spencer — the utilitarianist ‘* To survive in a complex society, Spencer favors specialized education over that of general education. * “The expert wha concentrates on a limited field is useful, but if he loses sight of the interdependence of things he becomes a man who knows: more and more about less and less. We must be warned of the early peril of over-specialism. Of course we do not prefer the other extreme, |‘The Teacher and the Communty, Schoot Culture and Organizational Leadership the superficial person who every day knows less and less about more and more. Who is fittest survives. Individual competition leads to social progress. The competition in class is what advocates of whole-child approach and Socio-emotional Learning (SEL) atmosphere approach and Socio- emotional Learning (SEL) atmosphere and Socio-emotiona! Learning (SEL) atmosphere negate, The whole child approach, a powerful toal for SEL- focused schools has as tenets - “each student learns in an environment that is physically and emotionally safe for students and adults” and “each student has access to personalized learning and is supported by qualified and caring adults..." (Frey, N. 2019) * The highlighted words - emotionally safe and caring adults point to No competition for competition works against an emotionally safe environment. John Dewey - experience * Dewey does not disregard the accumulated wisdom of the past. These past ideas, discoveries and inventions, our cultural heritage, will be used as the material for dealing with problems and so will be tested. If they are of help, they become part of a reconstructed experience. If they are not totally accurate, they will still be part of a reconstructed experience. This means that the ideal learner for Dewey is not just one who can learn by doing, ¢.g., conduct an experiment but one who can connect accumulated wisdom of the past to the present. * Schools are for the people and by the people. Schools are a democratic institution where everyone regardless of age, ethnicity, social status is ‘welcome and is encouraged to participate in the democratic process of decision-making. Learners and stakeholders practice and experience democracy in schools. George Counts ~ Building a new social order * Schools and teachers should be agents of change. Schools are considered instruments ‘for social improvement rather than as agencies for preserving the status quo, Whatever change we work for should always be change for the better not just change for the sake of change. * Probiem-solving, like Dewey, should be the dominant method for instruction. “There is a cultural lag between material Progress and social institutions. and ethical values.” Material progress of humankind is very evident but moral and ethical development seem to have lagged behind. + is very evide moral 2 ae mt but and ethical development seem to have laggedTheodore Beepaid — the Social Reconstructl * Social reconstructionists critically examine present culture and resolve inconsistencies, controversies and conflicts ta build a new society not just change society, * Technological cra. is an era of interdependence and. so education must be international in scope for global citizenship. Paulo Freire - Critical pedagogy vs. Banking method Employ critical pedagogy and dialogue in contrast to the banking system of education. + Learners are not empty receptacles to be filled. ‘Or 1. Explain in a sentence why each education philosopher was associated with these given words: a) John Locke - the empiricist b) Spencer — the utilitarianist ¢) John Dewey - experience d) George Counts - Building a new social order ¢) Theodore Brameld - the Social Reconstructionist f) Paulo Freire - Critical pedagogy vs. Banking method Ce ELL, 2. Make a table summary of the philosophies of education.‘The Teacher and the Community, Schoo! Culture and Organizational Leadership (= LET Clinchers 1. Which is NOT TRUE of social reconstructionists? A. Use of problem-solving B. Study of the Great Books C, School as an agent of change D. Introduce a new society 2.Which teaching practice goes with the “banking syst education which was contrary to Paulo Freire’s educational thought? A, Rote memorization B. Project-based learning €. Problem-based learning D. Community of inquiry 3. For which teaching will social reconstructionists be? A. Stress on isolationism B. Inequality and inequity as normal for an international socie'Y C. Building of an interdependent world that is international in scope D. Narrow concept of nationalismA i ict Vcoeal satpro B. He stressed on general educational goals associated with humanistic and classical education. c. He stressed a balance of specialized and general education in the curriculum. D. He eliminated the vocational and professional education component of the curriculum. j 5. For which educational practice was John Dewey? AL Problem-solving B. Banking method C. Emphasis on the Humanities D. Teaching of the Classics