LIVING WATER ESSENTIAL COLLEGE INC

(Formerly Javier E. Garde Essential Colleges Inc.)

VALUES, ARTS AND LANGUAGE SCHOOL
PALOMARIA, BONGABON, NUEVA ECIJA

LESSON TITLE: Philosophical thoughts on Education

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
1. Discuss at least six (6) philosophical thoughts on education.
2. Identify the significant educational philosophies each philosopher contributed
3. Relate the philosophical thoughts to the application of teaching and learning.

Introduction
This lesson dwells on philosophical thoughts on education – what should be taught for the socialization of
the individual and how these should be taught. Get ready.

Concept Note:
Isolated facts and the banking method
 Depicted in the questions 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 then 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 see 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
intestines. To connect the facts, the 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, etc.?... Here are summaries of thoughts of education
philosophers on 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 came exclusively from literary sources,
particularly the Greek and Latin classics
 Opposed the “divine right of kings” theory which held that the monarch had the right to be an
unquestioned and absolute ruler over his subjects
 Political order should be based upon ta contract between the people and the government
 Aristocrats are not destined by birth to be rulers. People were to establish their own government
and select their own political leaders from among themselves; civic education is necessary
 People should be educated to govern themselves intelligently and responsibly (Ornstein, 1984)
B. Herbert Spencer (1820-1903) – Utilitarian Education
 Spencer’s concept of “survival of the fittest” means that human development had gone through an
evolutionary series of stages from the simple to the complex and the uniform to the more specialized
kind of activity
 Social development had taken the 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 o scientific and practical
(utilitarian) objectives rather than on the very general educational goals associated with humanistic
and classical education.
 Curriculum should emphasize the practical, utilitarian and specific 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
THE TEACHER AND THE COMMUNITY, SCHOOL CULTURE AND ORGANIZATIONAL LEADERSHIP
  Curriculum must be arranged according to their contribution to human survival and progress.
 Science and other subject that sustained human life and prosperity should have curricular priority
since it aids in the performance of life activities.
 Individual competition leads to social progress. He who is fittest survives. (Ornstein, 1984)
C. John Dewey (1859-1952) – Learning through Experience
 Education is a social process and so school is intimately related to the society that it serves.
 Children are socially active human beings who want to explore their environment and gain control
over it.
 Education is a social process by which the immature members of the group, especially the children,
are brought to participate in the society.
 The school is a special environment established by members of society, for the purpose of
simplifying, purifying and integrating the social experience of the group so that it can be understood,
examined and used by its children.
 The sole purpose of education is to continue to the personal and social group growth of
individuals,
 The steps of the scientific or reflective method which are extremely important in Dewey’s
educational theory are as follows
→ The learner has a genuine situation of experience – involvement in an activity in which he/she is
interested
→ Within this experience the learner has a genuine problem that stimulates thinking
→ The learner possesses the information or does research to acquire the information needed to solve
the problem
→ The learner develops possible and tentative solutions that may solve the problem
→ The learner tests the solutions by applying them to the problem. In this way one discovers their
validity of oneself
 The fund of knowledge of the human race-past ideas, discoveries and inventions was to be used as
the material for dealing with problems. 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 a 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 learner 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.
 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 values that
should be encouraged by schools (Ornstein, A. 1984)
D. George Counts (1889-1974) – Building a New Social Order
 Education is not based on eternal truths but is relative to a particular society living as a given time
and place.
 By allying themselves with groups that want to change society, schools cope with social change
that arises from technology.
 There is a cultural lag between material progress and social institutions and ethical values.
 Institution should incorporate a content of a socially useful nature and a problemsolving
methodology. Students are encouraged to work on problems that have social significance.
 Schools become instrument for social improvement rather than an agency for preserving the status
quo.
 Teachers should lead society rather than follow it. Teachers are 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 learning opportunities to all students.
(Ornstein, A. 1984)
THE TEACHER AND THE COMMUNITY, SCHOOL CULTURE AND ORGANIZATIONAL LEADERSHIP
 E. Theodore Brameld (1904-1987) – Social Reconstructionism
 As the name implies, social reconstructionism is a philosophy that emphasizes the reformation of
society. The social reconstructionist contend that …humankind has moved from an agricultural and
rural society to an urban and technological society… there is a 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 between the values of the culture and technology. (Ornstein,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 transit 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 reconstructionist see an urgent need for society to reconstruct itself
before it destroys itself. (Ornstein, 1984)
 Technological era is an era of interdependence and so education must be international in scope for
global citizenship.
 For the social reconstructionist, education is designed “to awaken students’ consciousness about
social problems and to engage them actively in problem solving.”
 Social reconstructionist are firmly committed to equality and equity in both society and education.
Barriers of socio-economic class and racial discrimination should be eradicated.
 They also emphasize the idea of an interdependent world. The quality of life needs to be
considered and enhanced on a global basis. (Ornstein, 1984)
F. Paulo Freire )1921-1997) – Critical Pedagogy Critical Pedagogy and Dialogue vs. the Banking
Model of Education
 Paulo Freire, a critical theorist, like social reconstructionists, believed that systems must be
changed to overcome oppression and improved human conditions.
 Education and literacy are vehicle for social change. In his view, humans must resist oppression
and 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 learning 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 is necessary in order for the
conscientization process to take place.
 Freire’s critical pedagogy is problem-solving education.
 A central element of Friere’s pedagogy is dialogue. It is love and respect that allow us to engage
people in dialogue and to discover ourselves in the process and learn from one another. But its
nature, dialogue is 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.
 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)

STUDENT’S ACTIVITY

Direction: Answer the following questions regarding with your understanding.

1. In your own opinion, what do you mean by “divine right of kings” theory?
2. What does John Dewey mean by “learning through experience”?
THE TEACHER AND THE COMMUNITY, SCHOOL CULTURE AND ORGANIZATIONAL LEADERSHIP
 3. How will you explain that “teachers are agents of change”?

THE TEACHER AND THE COMMUNITY, SCHOOL CULTURE AND ORGANIZATIONAL LEADERSHIP