Philosophy of Education

                                                                                    

Philosophy of education is connected with the general philosophy, partly by its purpose but more by its methods. It is a higher-order activity that has the theory and the practice of education. To explain this, it is important to look at the nature of philosophy. In the past, the philosopher’s job was to deal with certain issues like the existence of God, nature of reality, immortality of the soul and the purpose of the universe. Plato, Aristotle, Descartes and others were at large place in philosophy, but the problem is that each philosopher gave a different account and no account was considered to be satisfactory. Scientists have worked to solve all their problems whereas philosophers have rarely solved this. This is because scientists have real problems to solve them with effective methods. While philosophers did not solve their problems because they were not really problems, they were pseudo-problems caused from a misuse of language.

Philosopher of education tried to answer questions about the curriculum, teaching methods, social considerations as the need for equality, freedom, authority and democracy in education. So it is about talking about the functions of education in society, about what philosophers of education are trying to do.

From what has proceeded, it is shown that philosophy of education has an important social role holding an intrinsic value and interest. (T.W Moore, 2010)

The following quotation shows how education promotes social development:

“Education is the single most vital element in combating poverty, empowering women, promoting human rights and democracy, protecting the environment and controlling population growth” (quoted in Hall and Midgley, 2004, 153). This is trying to show that the effects of education on development is not related only to the quantity of formal education but also to its quality aspects. And such thing appears when looking for changes occurring in the society to be a support for the education systems’ efforts for promoting changes. (Tuomas Takala, 2010)

On the other side, education can have a negative impact on the society where it is not considered positive to have more people with a higher level of education within a poor economy, where the increased number of highly educated individuals results in increased competition in the job market. Another negative impact of education is to have self-centered individuals who do not give time for the well-being of the society they live in. being worried about “me, mine and myself” and not caring about the overall well-being of the society. This results with a lack of innovation, restriction of knowledge use, failure of democracy, etc.

From what is already stated, many questions can be raised to have many debates and discussions. Should education strive for changing society? Or should it try to maintain our social and cultural norms? In other words, how we must deal with education? Whether we must consider it a force for change or a force for maintaining the good old days.

These questions are important questions and their answers are at the same level of importance, the way of answering them will have many social consequences.

Here are some western philosophers that support their thoughts and point of views around education:

Plato: He said that every individual should devote his life to what is best fitted for him to do. To know that the important function of education is to determine what every individual is by nature capable of doing things. He stated that his dystopia, the entire perfect society, was following changes to satisfy the will of the rulers in a way to satisfy the will of the mind and that after directing the entire soul.

Aristotle: His concept of the “Golden Mean”; the state to keep in balance, was effective where having good education helps in changing one’s behavior in life by avoiding extremes and working to be at average (ideal case). In other words, good education contributes in achieving the Golden Mean by promoting a balance between the mind and the body.

Francis Bacon: He mentioned in his philosophy the importance of using “the inductive method” in education, blaming other philosophers (as Aristotle) for their slow move in science; being lethargy due to their limited knowledge when using the “deductive method”; from general to specific. So he emphasized the use of the inductive method; from specific to general as a way for gaining knowledge based on systematic observation. In addition to his thoughts about the “four idols”, where society will not go forward and be improved unless these idols are destroyed. He emphasized to get rid of them and not to be strict for old things.

On contrast, different eastern philosophers have considered the main function of education is to maintain the values and norms in the society. Stating that education is a mean for teaching individuals specific skills and morals necessary for future occupations. Also, it is argued that education transmits a dominant culture which serves the interests of the society as a whole. So it is about ensuring value consensus.

Sciences and technological advancements are showing the importance of morals, values, and ethics in the social life. How they must be maintained? And what benefits they offer in society? The objective of moral education is to develop shared feelings with others, make one committed to others’ own personal responsibilities and actions (Campbell, 2008).

Morality, values and ethics are connected and interrelated to society. They are part of a way of life and cannot be separated from other aspects of life experiences. Moral education aims to promote students’ moral development and character formation. Ethics is the branch of philosophy which manifests our moral choices and actions (Taylor and Francis, 2010).

Also, it is knew that a sustainable development in future is based on the early childhood education. So it is about going back to basics in our living and lifestyle for preserving values and norms in society. It is about adapting traditional practices in order to create better conditions for sustainable development. Such thing cannot be accomplished unless children, in their early education, are given the opportunity to develop a strong foundation for moral, social and lifelong learning (Mohammad Chowdhury, 2016).

All what is proceeded give us an image of having a sustainable society as an inclusive society, this is achieved when people are united through their common humanity and when differences are respected and valued. A good society will be maintained when all groups of people, regardless to their difference in age, gender, places of residence… participate together in finding solutions and constructing preservative society.

It is important to highlight “the golden era of education” which refers for “the good old days”. These days present the good education where the social and cultural norms are maintained. The following philosophers support what is already stated:

Mahatma Gandhi: He focused in his philosophy on morals, justice, peace and equality. He stated that knowledge is gained and truth is reached through practicing nonviolence. He also ensured that religion should be practical considering it a way of life. Moreover, he gave equal rights for women and promoted all people to enter schools. He strongly encouraged manual labor for everyone. And he outlawed the concept of “untouchables” which literally means “broken people” considering such term impolite to use where it is against humanity.

Siddhartha Gotama: known by “The Enlightened One”, he talked about “life’s sufferings” where he decided to seek enlightenment to free himself from such suffering. He believed that people can get rid from suffering by reaching nirvana; a state of complete happiness and peace. Nirvana is achieved by being far away from desires for worldly things. He mentioned in his philosophy how to deal with the problem of suffering and how to overcome it by stating the “Four Noble Truths”. These truths had concentrated on having true thinking, good personality, pure mind, wise behavior and moral issues. And those were used in the educational systems to result in a good teaching-learning process.

Confucius: He cared about building character for students in order to be able to criticize the ruler. He emphasized in his philosophy that students must not follow blindly their ruler, they must give the good as well as the bad signs of him and sure this will be done with a total respect. He developed “Five Constant Virtues”, concentrating on benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom and sincerity as basics to have in education emphasizing students to have: right attitude, right procedure, right knowledge, right moral courage and right persistence aiming to result with a society based on the principles of justice and wisdom.

After stating the philosophy in education for each, the west and the east. It is the time to show my preference. Frankly, I cannot support totally one philosophy and ignore the other one. Everything in life has strengths and limitations, so we must always look at the positive side of things and support them. For me, generally both philosophies were good in education but they have negative signs in certain domains.

In a conclusion, first we must know what we have, to know then what must undergo changes. We have to promote a change in the society, but such change must maintain the values, morals and norms. Changes must be done to have good and useful things in our life. It is not logic or acceptable to use technology in bad things that may result with the human destruction. If we want the adults of the future to achieve the goals of freedom, equality, and community, while they are children, we must first have them imitate, follow, and revere. So, we prepare a society based on living human rights, a culture of democracy, cooperation and equality.

And we must focus on two purposes, the first one is to believe that education is a preparation for life as active citizens and democratic societies of today and tomorrow. While the second one is to consider education a mean for person development. But the questions that must be kept in our minds, are we doing the right things in and with education? Does our practice of education reflect and represent the vision of society we wish to promote?

References:

-              T.W. Moore, Philosophy of Education, 2010, 14, 1-76, available at: www. eBookstore. Tandf. Co. uk.

-              Tuomas Takala, Contributions of Formal Education to Social Development- What Do We Know on the Basis of Research Evidence? 2010, 2, 1-8, available at: www.nepjol.info

-              Rudolf Steiner (1997), Education as a Force for Social Change, Robert Dulang, 1861-1925, available at: www.rsarchive.org

-              Brigitte Besson et al, Education for Change- Change for Education, 2014, 2014, 1-42, available at: www.coe.int

-              Taylor and Francis, The Function of Education in Achieving and Maintaining a Social Order of Integrated Persons, 2010, 29, 271-281

-              Michael Fullan (2006), Change Theory: A Force for School Improvement, John Burger, 1-15, available at: trove.nla.gov.au

-              Mohammad Chowdhury, Emphasizing Morals, Values, Ethics, and Character Education in Science Education and Science Teaching, 2016, 4, 1-16, available at: www.moj-es.net