ALLAMA IQBAL OPEN UNIVERSITY, ISLAMABAD

Name: Zeeshan Danish

User ID: 0000447042

Contact # 03130908369

Email: [Link]@[Link]

Course: Educational Philosophy (8609)

Course Code: 8609

Semester: Spring, 2024

Assignment No. 2
“IN THE NAME OF ALLAH, THE MOST BENEFICIENT AND MERCIFUL”
Introduction

Ancient Greek philosophy arose in the 6th century BC and continued throughout the

Hellenistic period and the period in which Ancient Greece was part of the Roman

Empire. It dealt with a wide variety of subjects, including political philosophy, ethics,

metaphysics, ontology, logic, biology, rhetoric,

Knowledge is the Goal of Life.
and aesthetics.

Many philosophers today concede that Greek philosophy has influenced much of

Western culture since its inception. Some claim that Greek philosophy, in turn, was

influenced by the older wisdom literature and mythological cosmogonies of the

ancient Near East. Philosophy as we understand it is a Greek creation. Philosophic

tradition was so influenced by Socrates that it is conventional to refer to philosophy

developed prior to Socrates as pre-Socratic philosophy. The periods following this

until the wars of Alexander the Great are those of "classical Greek" and "Hellenistic"

philosophy. In the Western tradition, ancient philosophy was developed primarily by

Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle.

Socrates

Born in Athens in 469 B.C. Socrates was the son of poor parents. His father was a

sculptor and mothers a mid-wife. Nothing is known about the early education of

Socrates. He grew as an adult very much unnoticed by the people around him and
took up the occupation of his father. But soon, Socrates felt a divine vocation to

examine himself by questioning other men. Thus he used to visit people in the streets,

in the market places, in the gymnasia, and at other places and engaged them in

discussion concerning war, politics, marriage, love, house-keeping, friendship, arts

and trades, poetry, science, religion etc. His main topics of discussion were the moral

aims and ideals and virtues.

His range of knowledge and discussion covered almost the entire life, theoretical as

well as practical. He was not interested in the physical world. The subjects of his

enquiries were the human life itself particularly the life of reason. He gave so many

examples of great physical and moral courage. This was seen in his performance in

war time. He was kind and gentle and had a great sense of humour. He was however,

keenly interested in exposing the quacks and humbugs of the society around him and

show them how ignorant they were. This gradually increased the number of his

enemies. The prediction of the oracle of Delphi that Socrates was the wisest man of

Athens also caused the arousal of so many enemies around him. The people around

him, gradually started talking against him. As the number of his admirers grew so also

grew the number of his enemies.

Ultimately, a complaint was lodged with the state that Socrates was corrupting the

youth and propagating atheism. He was tried in the court and so many witnesses were

produced. In this trial the words of Socrates concerning death, virtue and so many

other important things have become historical. However, he was condemned to death.

In jail, his friends tried to persuade him to escape. He, however, refused and pointed

out that everyone must obey the laws of the state even at the cost of his death. He was

given hemlock which he drank cheerfully and embraced death.

In the whole history of humanity there had been no greater humanist, philosopher and

lover of wisdom than Socrates. This short, stocky, stout, blear-eyed and snub-nosed

man, with a large mouth and thick lips, careless in his dress, clumsy and uncouth, was

perhaps the most beloved teacher of his disciples. This is amply clear by the writings

of his main disciple Plato.

The Sophists Predecessors

About the fourth or the third century before the Christian era, a new school of

teaching came into being in Greece. The enlargement of the intellectual horizon

resulting from the unrest that ensued demanded a class of men who could impart

quickly every kind of knowledge. All sorts of conditions were pressed into the service

of education and classed under the general title 'Sophist' to satisfy this demand. The

teaching of the sophists was unsystematic. It was also limited to the few who could

pay for it. Socrates said, 'As for myself, I am the first to confess that I have never had

a teacher; although I have always from my earliest youth desired to have one. But I

am too poor to give money to the sophists, who are the only professors of moral

improvement. As they accepted payment for their services there was a certain

prejudice against the sophists, for this enabled those who could afford their instruction

to acquire a definite superiority over their fellowcitizens.

Objectives of Greek Education

The prejudice against the sophists was intensified by the fact that they degraded

knowledge by making its aim direct utility. Education was with the Greeks training

for leisure, not for a livelihood. It was asked the Protagoras, 'Why may you not learn

of him in the same way that you learned the arts of grammarian or musician or trainer,
not with the view of making any of them a profession, but only as a part of education

and because a private gentleman ought to know them?

The Socratic Method

Socrates recognized the unscientific nature of the methods of the sophists, his own

method was essentially systematic and founded on general principles. According to

Aristotle, "There are two things which we may fairly attribute to Socrates, his

inductive discourses and his universal definitions. Inductive reasoning was his method

of arriving at a definition. The result attained by his method could not be regarded as

satisfying the requirements of scientific exactness, but this did not disturb Socrates,

for he himself continually and emphatically disclaimed the possession of any

knowledge, except perhaps the knowledge of his own limitations." The intoxicated

Alcibiades says of him in the Symposium, 'He knows nothing' and is ignorant of all

things—such is the appearance which he puts on.' Although not possessing

knowledge himself, Socrates claimed to have the gift of discerning its presence in

others, and of having the power to assist them to bring it to light.

The first task of Socrates was to arouse men from that false self-satisfaction which

was by him believed to be the cause of their misery, and to lead them to self-

examination and self-criticism. He says "Herein is the evil of ignorance, that he who

is neither good nor wise is nevertheless satisfied with himself: he has no desire for

that of which he feels no want." Socratic Mission was to make men feel this want, to

teach others what the utterance of the Delphic oracle had taught him—his own

ignorance; to imbue them with a divine discontent; to make them feel, as Alcibiades

puts it the serpent's sting', 'the pang of philosophy'. In his defence, Socrates neither

disowned his mission nor his method. 'I am that gadfly', he told his judges, 'which
God has attached to the state, and all day long and in all places am always fastening

upon you, arousing and persuading and reproaching you."

The Dialectic Method

About the words of Socrates, Plato said, "You will find his words first full of sense, as

no others are; next, most divine and containing the finest images of virtue, and

reaching farthest, in fact reaching to everything which it profits a man to study who is

to become noble and good."

Salient Features of Dialectic Method

Following are the salient features of this method:

[Link] Doubt. Socrates used to begin his conversation by pretending

ignorance about the real meaning of a concept and wanted others to enlighten him on

the subject. This pretence of ignorance is known as Socratic Irony in as much as

Socrates exposed others to be ignorant and himself wise in spite of his earlier

declaration to the contrary.

[Link]. Another feature of the method which Socrates used is the use of

dialogue or conversation for the development of ideas.

[Link] feature of Socratic Method is also referred to as intellectual midwifery. The

stimulation and incentive provided by an engaged conversation usually helps to bring

to surface the latent ideas in the minds of men. Therefore, as a midwife delivers a

child from the womb of the mother, intellectual converse delivers the latent ideas

from the four walls of the unconscious mind.

[Link] and Semantic Socrates used to stress the need for correct and precise of

definitions of the concepts. Like modern logical positivists and linguists, Socrates
realised the paramount need for giving precise connotation and meaning to the

concepts used in philosophy. In order to determine the meaning of a concept we have

to abstract the general and universal features of things from their particular and

individual aspects. Socrates tried to find precise meaning of the concepts like "justice",

"courage", "companion", "knowledge", "virtue", "friendship", "love", etc. As the main

emphasis of Socrates in philosophy is upon the correct and precise use of the concepts,

he did not do what modern semantics tries to do today.

[Link] or Inductive. The subject matter of philosophic conversation of Socrates

was provided by day-to-day affairs. This enquiry was always connected with some

specific and concrete problem. For example, Socrates would urge others to define

what is the meaning of friendship and by examining various forms of friendship try to

discover something common to all of them. Therefore, the enquiry of Socrates was

both empirical and inductive.

[Link]. Lastly, the enquiry of Socrates has the feature of being deductive.

Though Socrates used to begin his enquiry with common place definition and

examine all the popular ideas, his aim was the attainment of objective and universal

truths. Therefore, he was not satisfied till he was able to establish deductively certain

truths.

[Link] sum up, the dialectical method as employed by Socrates clearly displays the

characteristics of

1. Methodological doubt;

2. Intellectual dialogue;

3. Semantic precision, and

4. Deductive and inductive determination of truth

Theory of Knowledge

The chief problem which engaged concentrated attention of Socrates was the

challenge posed by the Sophists to objective truth and morality. Sophist means a wise

man; and Sophists indeed were learned men who offered to teach against suitable

payment the art of rhetoric’s and argumentation. They believed that there was no

objective truth and morality and that each view was no more than one opinion of a

particular person. Therefore, superiority of an opinion is not to be proved by its

inherent character but by the manner and force of an argument. Accordingly, they

placed utmost emphasis on the art and science of argumentation. For them, "man (an

individual) was the measure of everything" (Homo Mensura) and that truth is

particular, individual and contextual. The belief in objective universal truth was a

belief in chimera. It is obvious that such views are subversive of both philosophy and

morality and open floodgates of opportunism and chicanery in politics. Socrates

acknowledged that there was diversity of human opinions and that everybody

unreflectively considered his opinion to be true. But, according to him, this was a very

superficial view and that the popular fallacy about the nature of truth sprang from an

utter misconception about the nature and meaning of truth. The problem of knowledge

was the key to everything. The sceptics have no faith in human reason's capacity to go

beyond the particular. Socrates was convinced that human reason ultimately prevails

and that man is capable of discovering the object and the universal.

In order to reach the truth, man must indeed be sceptical about all sorts of opinions

entering his head. He should be able to cut through the false layers of prejudice and

arbitrary assertion in order to pierce the truth. The foremost condition of reaching the

truth is, according to Socrates, to make our ideas clear and know exactly what we are

talking about. Thus, for Socrates, we obtained our knowledge through concepts. In
order to appreciate fully the Socratic theory of knowledge, we must examine firstly

his theory of concepts.

Theory of Concepts

Socrates believed that knowledge was gained through the medium of concepts. A

concept is an idea representing the characteristics common to all members of a class.

A concept is opposed to a percept. A percept is an idea based on the observation of a

particular thing, whereas a concept is an abstraction intellectually derived by

considering the common features in a class of things. To illustrate: if we say that this

is a book on philosophy, we have the percept of a particular book; but if we say books

are printed materials designed to convey some ideas or information on some subject,

the term 'Book' is a concept. When we say "book" we use a term applicable to all

members of its class, whereas "this book" applies to "this" and no other book. A

concept includes in it those qualities alone which are common to all members of a

class; it must also have in it a quality which distinguishes it from other classes,

otherwise the concept will be vague and ambiguous.

For example, the concept "man" has quality of rationality and animality. However; if

there were other creatures who were animals and rational, the above concept of man

will be confusing. To illustrate; the concept of man as "biped (two footed) animal" is

quite adequate, but the trouble arises when we note that all birds are two footed. The

term "rational animal" is inadequate because we know of no animal which is rational.

A concept, as we have noted, included only common or genetic features, the natural

corollary from this point is that we cannot include those features in a concept which

are peculiar to one or some of its members. For example, it will be erroneous to

describe man as white- skinned, crazy, and stupid, genius, anglophile, misogynist or
bigamist, because though some men no doubt have one or more above mentioned

qualities, they are not found in other men.

Socrates tries to construct a concept or definition of concept by using familiar

examples, and then, by a process of induction and the aim of suitable example,

ventures to form a provisional definition. The provisional definition, in turn, is tested

by trying to discover the exceptions. This process of definition, in turn, is tested by

trying to discover the exceptions. This process is carried on till a wholly satisfactory

definition is found. As Frank Thilly has observed, "The aim is always to discover the

essential characteristics of the subject to be defined, to reach clear and distinct notions,

or concepts. At times Socrates tests the statements made by going back at once first

principles, criticizing statements in the light of basic definitions assumed to be

correct."

In order to establish the universality of knowledge, Socrates emphasized the

importance of precise and clear definitions. By definitions we secure fundamental

elements of things. As a matter of fact, definitions are nothing but linguistic

expressions of concepts. The abstract concepts are in the mind and when these are

clothed in language, these become definitions. The definition accordingly, has same

elements and features as found in concepts. The definitions mention generic or

common characteristics of a class and also mention its distinguishing mark. Without

exactitude and precision in definitions, we must know the meaning of justice and the

meaning should be such that no important aspect of justice is ignored in it an,

moreover, it should be free from superfluity and ambiguity. For example, if we say

that justice consists in paying back one's debts, we have to ask ourselves if there are

no special circumstances where paying back of debt may be immoral or unjust. To

return a man's pistol who is under a fit of anger is a dangerous proposition. Therefore,
we should define justice more adequately. Similarly, as we saw above we had to

define reason as a universal power in man, because otherwise the statement that

Sophists decried the role of reason in knowledge will be misleading, because, as we

know, even perception involves definite cognitive elements. Sophists were not

unaware of this, but what they denied was that reason was a faculty which is common

and same in everyone. They denied its universal nature. Thus we presume that reason

and definition are two elements of paramount importance in knowledge.

Knowledge and Virtue

The paramount interest of Socrates was ethical or practical. He wanted that

knowledge should enlighten the path of each man's life. Accordingly, he regarded

upright conduct to be of highest value and considered all else subservient to it. Virtue,

for Socrates, was the summum bonum of life. He, however, considered the two to be

identical. For him, knowledge is virtue or knowledge of what is good and right in

conduct. He believed that no one did any wrong knowingly and that wrong action was

bred by ignorance. This doctrine of Socrates is a little difficult to comprehend,

because we find numerous examples of bad actions done knowingly. Socrates, as a

matter of fact, overstressed reason and failed to appreciate the strength of irrational in

man. Following words express the theory that knowledge is virtue.

"Then if virtue is one of the things in the soul, and if it must necessarily be helpful, if

must be wisdom; since quite by themselves all the things about the soul are neither

helpful nor harmful, but they become helpful or harmful by the addition of wisdom or

senselessness."

"But if we have ordered all our enquiry well and argued well virtue is seen as coming

neither by nature nor by teaching, but by divine allotment incomprehensible to those

to whom it comes."

Socrates firmly believed that right knowledge is the key to right conduct. As a matter

of fact he held that no one ever committed any wrong knowingly, that vice was bred

by ignorance about the nature of things rather than from the defect of the will. For

example, ordinarily we attribute selfishness, aggressiveness, irritability etc. to his self-

love and hatred of others. But according to Socrates, these traits are due only to lack

of selfknowledge. Hence, the first dictum of Socrates' moral theory is "know you".

Principles of Socratic Education

[Link] is the Goal of Life. The concern of Socrates is to define and describe the

concept of good or summum bonum. There are various views with regard to the goal

of human life.

According to some, it is pleasure, and according to others it is happiness. Still some

other philosophers believe that the highest good is to follow the rules of Elders. But

Socrates considered knowledge to be the Highest Good and therefore the true aim of

life. This was so because he believed that knowledge was a sine qua non of all virtues

and that if we knew what is right, we cannot do the wrong. Therefore, the knowledge

of self and society was the key to moral life. Virtue is nothing else than knowledge.

Socrates used to say that "knowledge is virtue" and he tried to establish the

proposition thus: Every man seeks happiness and happiness results from good deeds.

In order to do good one must know what is good. That is, one must have the

knowledge of the good. Therefore, knowledge is a condition sine qua non of moral

conduct.

2. Virtue can be taught. Virtue is concerned with 'will' and 'will' becomes virtuous by

habit and practice. Accordingly, we believe that it is not by reason but by repeated
performance of good deeds, that we develop virtue. But Socrates held quite an

opposite view. According to him virtue was knowledge and since knowledge was a

system and a science, it could be taught. We sometimes give up many bad practices

on learning their true nature. But, on the other hand, this is also a well- known fact

that we know better but do worse. Whether virtue is a matter of practice or matter of

knowledge is a difficult question. Some emphasize the former whereas philosophers

like Socrates stress the latter. However, as a matter of fact, there are both elements in

virtue.

[Link] is one. The traditional Greek moral theory held that there are four virtues:

Wisdom, Courage, Temperance and Justice. Socrates, however, believed in a single

virtue, that of knowledge. According to him, knowledge was the virtue of virtues and

all virtues were progeny of knowledge.

[Link] is Bliss. Accordingly, to Socrates there can be no happiness without virtue

and no happiness is equal to that of virtue. Therefore, virtue, according to him, is bliss.
 Q. 2 During the medieval times, John Lock has reshaped the education in

Europe. Discuss in detail.

Introduction

The word "philosophy" comes from the Greek philosophic, which literally means

"love of wisdom". Philosophy can be defined as the study of general and fundamental

problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind,

and language. It is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its

critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational argument. Medieval

philosophy is the philosophy of Western Europe during the Middle Ages, roughly

extending from the Christianization of the Roman Empire until the Renaissance

John Locke

John Locke was born on 29 August 1632 at Wrington in the county of Somerset in the

south-west of England. His father was a lawyer and small landowner. Little is known

about John Locke’s early education. However, at the age of 15 in 1647, he was sent to

Westminster School in London. Locke’s studies at Westminster were centred upon the

classical languages of Latin and Greek, and he also began to study Hebrew. He was a

hardworking boy and in 1650 was elected to a King’s scholarship. This gave him the

right to free lodgings within the school, and also access to major scholarships at both

Oxford and Cambridge. In 1652 Locke’s diligence was rewarded when he was elected

to a £20 scholarship to Christ Church, Oxford.

Locke’s formal course at Oxford would have included classics, rhetoric, logic, morals

and geometry, and he took his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1656. This was followed by

further study for the Master of Arts degree, taken two years later, in June 1658. Other
subjects of study with which he was concerned were mathematics, astronomy, history,

Hebrew, Arabic, natural philosophy, botany, chemistry and medicine. In 1667, at the

age of 35, Locke left the University of Oxford to take up a post in the household of

the Earl of Shaftesbury at Exeter House in London.

All Locke’s published works, including those that had been issued anonymously,

were bequeathed to the Bodleian Library, Oxford. His work in the field of education

is anessay concerning human understanding (1690), two treatises of government

(1690), and some thoughts concerning education (hereafter referred to as Thoughts).

A Theory of Knowledge

Although the Thoughts was most immediately concerned with education, by far the

most important of Locke’s writings, and one which had great significance for

education, was the Essay concerning human understanding (hereafter referred to as

the Essay). The Essay originated in 1671 when, a group of five or six friends met to

discuss a point in philosophy. Locke’s purpose was to examine the nature and extent

of human knowledge and the degree of assent which should be given to any

proposition. He began by rejecting the doctrine of innate ideas, associated with Plato,

and also in his own day with Descartes; indeed, the first book of the Essay was largely

devoted to accomplishing this task. Unfortunately, Locke’s alternative image of the

mind as a ‘white paper void of all characters’ (Essay, 2.1.2) has often been interpreted

as meaning that all human beings start as equals. Locke did not believe this; on the

contrary, he was conscious that the differing personalities and mental and physical

capabilities of individuals were to some extent a product of nature rather than of

nurture.
Locke’s rejection of innate ideas even extended to moral principles. Justice and faith

were not universal, nor was the idea of God. Differences in the ideas of people

stemmed not from differences in their abilities to perceive or release their innate ideas,

but from differences in their experiences.

How then was knowledge acquired? How might men come to universal agreement?

‘To this I answer, in one word, from experience’. But experience itself, gained via the

senses, was not sufficient of itself for knowledge. That also required the active agency

of the mind upon such experience.

Locke, however, was neither a dogmatist nor a builder of systems. He acknowledged

the possible existence of certain eternal verities—God, morality, the laws of nature—

whose essence might be confirmed, rather than discovered by experience and reason.

He also admitted the existence of some innate powers or qualities, recognizing that

some children seem to be from birth innately more adept than others in certain

respects. Nevertheless, in spite of these qualifications, Locke inclined towards nurture

rather than nature and may be categorized as the founder of empiricism, a tradition

that has predominated in English philosophical and educational thought until this day.

Parents and Children

Locke brought to the practice of education his own considered views on such subjects

as philosophy, psychology, Christianity and government. His medical knowledge

contributed to a concern for the physical, as well as the mental and spiritual, well-

being of children. He was not only a founder of empirical thought, with all that meant

for ways of learning, but he also may be counted as a pioneer of scientific psychology.

He believed in the importance of observing children, and of tailoring education to

their needs and capacities. Above all, though he was aware of innate differences
between individuals, he was a firm believer in the power of education. As he stated in

the first paragraph of the Thoughts: ‘Of all the men we meet with, nine parts of ten are

what they are, good or evil, useful or not, by their education’ (Thoughts, s. 1).

The opening phrase of the Thoughts, ‘A sound mind in a sound body is a short, but

full description of a happy state in this world’, a quotation from Juvenal, and indeed

given in Latin in the letter to the Clarke family and in manuscripts prior to the first

edition, launches the book into a discussion about the health of the child. Locke’s

advice in this respect was generally sensible, if at times a trifle idiosyncratic. Thus his

views on ‘plenty of open air, exercise and sleep; plain diet, no wine or strong drink,

and very little or no physick’ (Thoughts, s. 30) would command general support today,

though his advice on toughening the feet by wearing thin or leaky shoes so that

gentlemen’s sons might acquire the ability, if necessary, to go barefoot as the poor do,

might seem to be somewhat harsh. Locke’s advocacy of the benefits of cold water

extended to teaching children to swim, both for the general promotion of their health

and for the preservation of life (Thoughts, s. 8).

Food for children, according to Locke, should be plain and wholesome, with sugar,

salt and spices used sparingly. Locke was generally in favour of fruit—apples, pears,

strawberries, cherries, gooseberries and currants were encouraged—but he was less

keen on melons, peaches, plums and grapes. Clothes should not be too tight, neither

for boys nor girls—important advice in an age when swaddling was still prevalent.

Other recommendations designed to accustom children to cope with minor physical

adversity were that beds should not be excessively comfortable, nor mealtimes

necessarily regular. One element of regularity, however, enjoined by Locke at

somelength, was the importance of regular bowel actions.

From the body Locke turned to the mind. He believed that parents should personally

exercise firm and close authority over their children from an early age, with a view to

relaxing this as they grew older: ‘Fear and awe ought to give you the first power over

their minds, and love and friendship in riper years to hold it’ (Thoughts, s. 42). Locke

criticized the over-indulgence of little children, and abhorred obstinate crying on their

part, but had little use for any form of physical chastisement. Instead he recommended

the careful application of ‘esteem’ and ‘disgrace’ (Thoughts, s. 56), enjoined parents

to set a good example, and warned against the interventions of servants who ‘by their

flatteries they take off the edge and force of the parents’ rebukes and so lessen their

authority’ (Thoughts, s. 68).

He advised parents and tutors to study their children and to note their dispositions and

dislikes: ‘for a child will learn three times as much when he is in tune, as he will with

double the time and pains, when he goes awkwardly, or is dragged unwillingly to it’

(Thoughts, s. 74). Toys should be simple and sturdy, possibly fashioned by the

children themselves, rather than expensive and fragile.

Understandably, given his own experiences and roles in life, Locke urged upon the

Clarkes the merits of a tutor rather than a school. For Locke, the best means of

education was that ‘children should from their first beginning to talk, have some

discreet, sober, nay wise person about, whose care it should be to fashion them aright,

and keep them from all ill, especially the infection of bad company’ (Thoughts, s. 90),

and he advised parents to ‘spare no care nor cost to get such an one’ (Thoughts, s. 92).

A good tutor, or indeed a good parent, would be able to encourage and to satisfy the

proper and persistent questions of children, to guide them away from cruelty towards

animals or other children, and to teach them the value of truth.

The Thoughts were written for a specific purpose: the education of the son of a

country gentleman. Fundamental features of that education—the employment of a

tutor, the close supervision by parents, the curriculum, even the details of diet—would

have been available only to a very small proportion of the parents and children of

seventeenthcentury England. Locke was well aware of the niceties of rank and fortune,

and proposed different routes for the son of a prince, a nobleman, and an ‘ordinary

gentleman’s son’. Locke believed in a top-down approach to education, and that

priority should be given to the sons of the gentry. In the dedicatory epistle to the

Thoughts, he stated that ‘if those of that rank are by their education once set right,

they will quickly bring all the rest into order’.

Locke never wrote about popular education as such. Although in 1697, in his capacity

as a Commissioner of Trade, he was involved with schemes for the establishment of

workhouse schools which would have provided for destitute children aged 3 to 14

food, church attendance and craft training, Mason (1962, p. 14) concludes that ‘these

proposals represent Locke’s contribution as an administrator rather than as an

educationist’.

But although Locke was writing for a small minority of the population of his day, all

boys and girls had parents, even though few children might go to school. Moreover,

the theory of knowledge set out in the Essay was of universal application. In

consequence, it is possible to argue that much of the advice to parents given in the

Thoughts—good habits at an early age, paying attention to the child’s real needs, the

use of esteem and disgrace rather than of corporal punishment to discipline children,

the importance of good parental example—was applicable to all ranks in society.

Yolton and Yolton (1989, p. 18) have argued that, though the Thoughts are concerned

with the education of a gentleman’s son, the ‘treatise is less about gentlemen than it is
about developing a moral character. Morality was not limited to gentlemen.’ This

wider application was acknowledged by contemporaries, both within England and

without.

Priorities in Education

Locke’s hierarchy of values in the education of a gentleman’s son was contained in

four elements: virtue, wisdom, breeding and learning. Virtue was placed first in the

education of a gentleman by Locke as ‘absolutely requisite to make him valued and

beloved by others, acceptable or tolerable to himself’ (Thoughts, s. 135). Such virtue

depended upon ‘a true notion of God’ and a love and reverence for ‘this Supreme

Being’ (Thoughts, s. 136), which was to be promoted by simple acts of faith—

morning and evening prayers, the learning and recitation of the Creed. It also required

the development of ‘a power of denying ourselves the satisfaction of our own desires,

where reason does not authorize them’ (Thoughts, s. 38). Virtue, for Locke, was of

supreme importance. Wisdom was to be of a practical kind: ‘a man’s managing his

business ably and with foresight in this world’ (Thoughts, s. 140). It did not mean

being crafty or cunning, but rather to be open, fair and wise. Such wisdom Locke

placed above the immediate reach of children, but children should be encouraged to

strive towards this goal by becoming accustomed to truth and to sincerity, by

submitting to reason and by reflecting upon the effects of their own actions. True

wisdom involved the application of both reason and experience.

Good breeding was a subject upon which Locke had much to say. He sought to avoid

a ‘sheepish bashfulness’ on the one hand and ‘misbecoming negligence and disrespect’

on the other (Thoughts, s. 141). Locke’s maxim for avoiding such faults was simple:

‘Not to think meanly of ourselves, and not to think meanly of others’ (Thoughts, s.
141). The best way to cultivate a proper conversation and behaviour was to mix with

people of genuine quality. There is a foretaste of Newman’s ideal of a gentleman in

Locke’s advice that two qualities are necessary: the first a disposition not to offend

others; the second the ability to express that disposition in an agreeable way. A well-

bred person would exhibit goodwill and regard for all people and eschew the habits of

roughness, contempt, censoriousness, contradiction and captiousness. Not that

children should be encouraged to an excess of ceremony, the ‘putting off of their hats

and making legs modishly’ (Thoughts, s. 145).

Finally, Locke came to learning. He acknowledged that some might be surprised that

this was to be placed last, especially by such ‘a bookish man’ (Thoughts, s. 147).

Locke, of course, wanted all sons of gentlemen to acquire the basics of learning—to

read, to write, to express themselves clearly and to count. But he did question the

wisdom of trying to bring everyone to a knowledge of Latin and Greek, especially if

such knowledge was to be instilled by fear and physical punishment.

Mason (1965, p. 70–71) has suggested that it is possible ‘to regard each of Locke’s

essentials of a good education as the culmination of those broad influences

conveniently termed the Christian, the Humanist, Courtesy and rationalist traditions’.

This is a useful analysis but the identification should not be pressed too closely. The

more important point to be made about Locke’s list is that he gave priority to those

concerns (virtue, wisdom, breeding) which continue throughout life, rather than to

that type of ‘learning’ which is frequently associated with the formal schooling of the

young.

The Curriculum Consideration of Locke’s views on priorities in learning leads

naturally to an examination of his proposals on the curriculum. Locke had an overall

view of the curriculum which was coupled with teaching methods. He believed in
starting with the plain and simple, and of building, as far as possible, upon children’s

existing knowledge, of emphasizing the interconnections and coherence of subjects.

Children should be taught to read at the earliest possible age—as soon as they can talk.

But the learning should not be irksome; on the contrary, Locke believed that it would

be better to lose a whole year rather than to give a child an aversion to learning at this

early stage. Locke commented upon how much energy, practice and repetition

children happily put into play, and therefore suggested ‘dice and play-things with the

letters on them, to teach children the alphabet by playing’ (Thoughts, s. 148). From

letters they should proceed to syllables and then to easy and pleasant books, such as

Aesop’s Fables, preferably in an edition which included pictures. Locke advocated the

use of ‘pictures of animals with the printed names to them’ (Thoughts, s. 156). In

recognition of the difficulties inherent in such essential learning as The Lord’s Prayer,

Creeds and Ten Commandments, Locke recommended that these should be learned

not from the printed word but orally and by heart. Locke warned against the use of the

Bible as a reading book for children, a most common practice in his day, ‘for what

pleasure or encouragement can it be to a child to exercise himself in reading those

parts of a book, where he understands nothing?’ (Thoughts, s. 158).

Writing should begin with correct holding of the pen and the copying of large letters

from a sheet. Writing would lead naturally to drawing, with due attention to

perspective, a most useful skill for those who would engage in travel, so that buildings,

machines and other interesting phenomena might be quickly sketched. Locke believed

that a good drawing was more useful in conveying an idea to the mind than several

pages of written description. Locke also urged the value of shorthand for the purpose

of making quick notes.

As soon as children could speak English they should begin French, by the

conversational method. Once children could speak and read French well, a task which

Locke envisaged would take but a year or two, they should begin Latin. Latin, Locke

declared, was ‘absolutely necessary to a gentleman’ (Thoughts, s. 164), and once

again he advised that it should be taught by the conversational method. Locke was

against plunging children into a mass of grammatical rules, observing that if English

could be learned naturally then the same must be true of other languages. He was also

against the common practice of writing elaborate themes and verses in Latin. If there

was a difficulty in securing a tutor who could teach through conversation, then Locke

recommended the use of easy and interesting books in Latin, with the literal English

translation written between the lines of Latin. Latin, of course, was still essential for

certain professions and for attendance at the universities, for many lectures and books

were provided only in Latin.

But Locke also recognized that Latin (and Greek) occupied too large a part in the

curricula of his day, particularly for boys who were intended for trade or farming.

These would be better employed in learning to write a good hand and to maintain

accounts, skills not generally taught in seventeenth- century grammar schools. Locke

was also doubtful about the value of memory training, particularly the practice of

learning pages of Latin by heart to promote this faculty. If children were to learn by

heart it should be the learning of maxims, rules and other knowledge which had a

direct utility in itself.

Other subjects which Locke commended for a gentleman’s son included geography,

arithmetic, astronomy, geometry, chronology, and history, and generally in that order.

Locke was particularly keen on this last: ‘as nothing teaches, so nothing delights more

than history’ (Thoughts, s. 184). History would naturally lead on to a study of law and
government, subjects of importance for future gentlemen who might be required to

assume public office, either locally as Justices of the Peace, or at Westminster as

Members of Parliament. Reasoning and eloquence, other skills necessary for public

life, Locke urged, were best gained by practice and not by formal studies in rhetoric

and logic.

In respect of science, which in the seventeenth century was usually referred to as

natural philosophy and lacked disciplinary organization as such, Locke urged the

study of the several manifestations of nature even though ‘all the knowledge we have

cannot be brought into a science’ (Thoughts, s. 193).

The curriculum should also include other types of accomplishment. Dancing was

recommended from an early age, though learning to play a musical instrument was

not encouraged as ‘it wastes so much of a young man’s time’ (Thoughts, s. 197). The

two military exercises of fencing and riding the ‘great horse’ or charger were

commended, though Locke feared that fencing might lead to duelling and on that

ground suggested wrestling as an alternative.

Locke also advised that every gentleman’s son should learn at least one manual trade,

and preferably two or three. Such a skill might be useful in itself, should the

gentleman fall on hard times, but also promoted physical well-being and was a useful

antidote to too much bookish study. Locke, who was himself a keen gardener,

recommended ‘gardening or husbandry in general, and working in wood, as a

carpenter, joiner or turner, these being fit and healthy recreations for a man of study,

or business’ (Thoughts, s. 204). Other recommended pursuits included varnishing,

engraving and working in base and precious metals. Locke advised all gentlemen and

their sons to learn merchants’ accounts.

Conclusion
Though Locke put much store by recreation, he warned against such sedentary and

potentially ruinous pastimes as cards and dice. On the other hand, he was a keen

advocate of foreign travel, though he thought that this usually took place at the wrong

age—between 16 and 21. Locke urged that children should either go abroad, with a

tutor, between the ages of 7 and 14, so that they might learn foreign languages quickly

and effectively, or after the age of 21 when, as young men of some maturity and

experience, they might travel without supervision (Aldrich, 1994).

 Q. 3: Compare and contrast the educational philosophies given by Imam Ghazali

and Ibne Khaldun.

Introduction

In the field of education, there are enormous contributions of Muslim philosophers. It

is not necessarily concerned with religious issues. Muslim philosophers emphasized

on logic, reality, freedom of will, sources of knowledge and many more. The Quran

and Greek philosophy has very much influenced Muslim philosophers. Muslim

Philosophers tried to harmonize the philosophical perspectives of Greek philosophy

with the tenants of Islam. Muslim Philosophers have generally tried to synthesize

science , religion and philosophy and attempted to define their subject matters in such

a manner that they are found to be balancing to one another rather than coming in

conflict with one another.

Muslim Philosophers tried to answer the enduring questions of philosophy. The nature

of reality, the functions, and limits of the human reason, truth, freedom, ethics and in

essence, how we should live are fundamental questions that have never left the stage

of philosophy. This unit entails in detail the contributions of Muslim philosophers in

education.

IMAM GHAZALI (1058-1111)

Abu Hamid Al-Ghazzali is one of the most important scholars of Islamic thought. He

was a philosopher, a legal scholar, a theologian and a mystical thinker. Imam Ghazali

was an expert in the field of fiqh al-Syafii’ and Kalam al-Asy’ari. Coming at a time

when there were many disputations between philosophers and theologians, between
rationalists and traditionalists and the Mystical and the orthodox, he tried to bridge

these divisions. His IhyaUlum al-Din, The Revival of Religious Sciences embarks on

a massive endeavor to find a golden mean between all these diverging trends. Imam

Ghazali was a teacher at University of Nidzamiyah, Baghdad.

Al-Ghazali's philosophy of education is based upon Islamic perspective on education,

in which Al-Ghazali's predisposition towards understanding and integration of

numerous intellectual schools is apparent. He got recognition as mystical, legal and

philosophical educational thinker.

For Al-Ghazali, the aim of education is to nurture human beings so that they abide by

the teachings of religion and henceforward will be rewarded in the life hereafter.

Children learn from society and the surrounding environment. These elements play

vital role for the development of their behaviors and personality. The children are also

under the influence of their families, their customs, traditions, language and religious

traditions. Therefore, the major responsibility for children's education rests on the

parents. However, this responsibility is subsequently shared by the teachers. Al-

Ghazali emphasized the significance of childhood in character building. A good

brought up will result in a good character and help them to live a good life; while, a

bad brought up will spoil the character of children and it will be difficult to bring

them back to the straight path. Therefore, it is necessary to understand the significant

characteristics of this period so that children can be dealt in a sound and effective

manner.

Al-Ghazali emphasized on early childhood education. He stressed that parents should

observe their children’s education since birth. According to Al-Ghazali, children are

theresponsibilities of their parents. If they brought up of children is in a good manners

and in a good environment, they will become good human beings. On the other hand,
if children are exposed to bad behaviour and their education is overlooked, they

would grow up as bad people and their sins would be borne by their parents and their

care takers. AlGhazali advised parents to send their children to schools so that they

could learn the recitation of Quran, understand Hadith, and listen to the stories and

life history of pious people so that children could take them as examples.

Al-Ghazali emphasized to reward children. He explained that when children

demonstrate good manners, they should be rewarded and praised so that they would

become happy. Moreover, when children accidentally commit mistakes, parents

should pretend as if they have not notice the mistake and do not ever embarrass them

by telling other people about the mistakes done. However, if children repeat the same

mistake for the second time, parents should talk to them discreetly and tell them that

they should not do such things. At elementary stage, children must be trained to be

obedient to their parents, teachers, and elders. They must also behave well towards

their fellow students. They should be prohibited from boasting to their peers about

their clothes, the economic status of their parents the food they eat, and accessories

they have. Rather, they should be taught generosity, modesty, and civility. Attention

must also be paid on their company as it affects their character. Therefore, they must

advise to have intelligent and truthful friends.

Al-Ghazali stressed that education is not limited to train or fill the mind, instead it

involves all aspects of learner such as religious, intellectual, physical and moral. True

learning affects behaviour of learner. It enables learner to apply practical use of

his/her knowledge. Teachers must concentrate on the religious education. children

must also be taught everything they need to know about the precepts of religious law,

and must learn not eat forbidden food, steal some one others things, act disloyally or

do anything which is not appropriate for them. Al Ghazali said that teachers should
consider the differences in ability and character among students, and deal with

everyone appropriately. The teachers should not force the students beyond their

capability, nor try to bring them to a level of knowledge that they cannot absorb.

Al-Ghazali has described following classifications of sciences according to:

1. Classification according to ‘nature’:

a. theoretical (religious and theological) and

b. practical (politics, home economics and ethics),

2. Classification according to their ‘origin’:

a. Revealed sciences, taken from the prophets (exegesis, unity of God, customs, rites,

morality) and

b. Rational sciences, produced by human thinking and reason (natural sciences,

mathematics, theology, etc.)

For Al-Ghazali the revealed and the rational sciences complement each other.

[Link] according to their purpose or aim

a. Science of transaction (governing the behaviour and actions of human beings—the

sciences of customs and rites) and

b. science of unveiling (essence of things and pertaining to the apprehension of the

reality)

Al-Ghazali divides the philosophical sciences into six categories:

i. logic

ii. Mathematics,

iii. Natural sciences,

iv. Politics

v. Metaphysics, and

vi. Ethics.
Al-Ghazali's emphasized that education is not only a process whereby the teacher

imparts knowledge. Rather, it is an ‘interaction' affecting and promoting teacher and

student equally, the former gains merit for giving instruction and the latter cultivates

himself/herself through the acquisition of knowledge.

Al-Ghazali also emphasized the great significance of climate in which teaching takes

place, and to the kind of relations that are required in doing so. For Al-Ghazali, the

teacher should be an example and a model. The teacher is not limited to the teaching

of a particular subject matter; rather, it should incorporate all aspects of the

personality and life of the student. The student, in turn, has a duty to consider the

teacher as a father, to whom he owes obedience and respect.

Al-Ghazali stresses that learning is only effective when it is put into practice, and is

aimed at inculcating the right habits rather than simply memorizing information. Al-

Ghazali recommended that the teacher before moving to next subject matter, teacher

must ensure that the students have mastered the first subject matter. Teacher should

consider the interconnectedness of knowledge and the relations between its various

branches.

For religious education, Al-Ghazali recommended an early introduction to the

fundamentals of religion through memorization, inculcation, and repetition. In the

subsequent stage, understanding, explanation, and conscious practice must be carried

out.

At the age of fifty five, Al-Ghazali died. Surely, he is considered to be one of the most

significant and profound Islamic thinkers. He had introduced many principles of

philosophy and logic into the disciplines of fiqh and kalam. His famous works are

alMunqidh min a-alal ,Ihya' ‘Ulum ad-Din, and Tahafut al-Falasifa.

IBNE-KHALDUN (1332-1406 AD)

Ibne Khaldun was a philosopher of history and the first social scientist. Ibn e Khaldun

has made three most significant contributions to social sciences. Heobtained his basic

education from his father who was a renowned scholar. He was keenly interested in

tradition, grammer, poetry, language and law. He also studied Philosophy, theology,

logic, and other Islamic subjects. He learnt Quran by heart. Ibn e Khaldun was an

expert in fiqh, nahu, hadith, rhetoric, poetry and philosophy.

Ibne Khaldun had described the educational process in the perspective of the

development of society. He illustrated his theory of education in the framework of

Islamic society and focused his attention on the education from a religious and ethical

point of view but at the same time he also highlighted the sociological point of view.

The Muqaddima contains a systematic treatment of philosophy of history. Besides this

it contains his views on the aspects of state, society and education.

According to Ibne Khuldun, thinking ability is human beings’ special gift of God. The

faculty of reflective thinking is the source of knowledge. It distinguishes man from

animals. It is of three types:

i. Discerning intelligence: it enables man to understand the order of things

ii. Experimental intelligence: it enables man to be receptive to opinions and teaches

him rules of conduct

iii. Speculative intelligence: it gives insight about the general idea of things existing

according to species, classes and their primary and secondary causes.

Ibne Khaldun stressed upon UlumNaqliyyai-e The Quran, interpretations of Quran,

tradition, jurisprudence and speculative theology which are wanted per se. Ibne

Khaldun also emphasized on UlumAqliyyai-e philosophy and physical sciences. Ibne

Khaldun warns the scholar that they should study the sciences that are wanted per se
in greater detail.

Ibne Khaldun believed that the attainment of knowledge was the natural urge of

human beings because they possess the power of reasoning and thinking. He believed

that reality should be known by revelation instead of intellectual effort as believed by

philosophers. Therefore for Muslims the first condition for knowing the reality is the

Quran and the prophet Muhammad (P.B.U.H). The aim of education for Ibne Khalun

is to make Muslims firm believers in God through the study of Quran and religious

sciences. Knowledge of God and faith in Islamic laws will make Muslims know the

reality which in turn will lead to good action and possession of good character. Ibne

Khaldun had described that children should not be taught difficult matters. Ibne

Khaldun had emphasized that children drill method and teaching aids must be used to

make children learn. Moreover, concepts must be taught from the easiest to the most

difficult in stages. Moreover children must not burden with things beyond their

capability. Ibne Khaldun had discussed the concepts of motivation, learning

willingness and reinforcement.

For Ibne Khaldun, education is a social enterprise and includes upbringing strategies

according to firm laws. Ibne Khaldun integrated the educational programs with the

behavioural ones. Ibne Khaldun advised that children should first be taught

calculation.

According to Ibne Khaldun instruction must be started with calculation, because it is

concerned with simple knowledge and systematic proofs and it produces an

enlightened intellect. Moreover, calculation has a sound basis and requires self-

discipline, soundness and self-discipline.

Ibne Khaldun dividing sciences into two categories:

i. Primary sciences: that man realized by instinct

ii. Secondary sciences: acquired through education

a. Mental sciences: These are also called sciences of philosophy and wisdom.

These consisted of four different sciences or intellectual sciences:

1. Logic: It protects the mind from error, as it attempts to know from the available

known facts.

2. Physics: It is the study of the elemental substances perceivable by the senses.

3. Metaphysics: It is the study of spiritual and metaphysical matters.

4. Measurement: It comprises four different sciences:

a. Mathematical sciences

b. Geometry

c. Arithmetic

d. Music and astronomy.

Ibne Khaldun had explained each kind of sciences alongwith its subjects and aims.

Ibne Khaldun classified education and children’s upbringing into three different types.

i. Psychological information: it provides bases for education and learning theories

ii. Historical information: it explains the means of education and bringing up children

in different countries

iii. Practical instructions: These identified rules that parents and teachers should

follow.

Ibne Khaldun presented theory of “specialization and perfection in learning”. It

provided bases for Ibne Khaldun’s opinion on education and rearing. Ibne Khaldun

did not limit his realistic observations to individuals only, but he studied the

psychological effect of groups and societies. Ibne Khaldun used the word “first and

second education” in his book. He referred the first stage of learning as the period

before adolescence and second stage to what is learned later on.

Ibne Khaldun had presented several principles of education. Some of these are

summarized as follows:

a. Education should be taken gradually in order to be useful.

b. Different sciences must be taught at different times.

c. A student, who specializes in a specific science efficiently, will be ready to learn

another easily

d. The process of education should be done permanently and within fixed periods so

that children would not forget what they had learned.

e. Being hard with students would lead to negative results such as weakening the

students’ enthusiasm and leading to laziness, encouraging lying and teaching

dishonesty and wickedness.

f. Travelling in order to seek knowledge, education and to meet with scholars would

increase people’s learning because each one would add to his/her own means of

research and investigation.

g. Basic sciences such as Shari’a, Tafsir, Hadith, Fiqh, Physics and Theology should

be studied more and investigated. On the other hand, the secondary sciences such as

Logic, Arabic, and Mathematics should be studied as complementary courses

According to Ibne Khaldun, the best education is the interaction of minds, between

people of different professions, different religions, different civilizations, and

different social sectors. Ibne Khaldun emphasized that the aim of education was not to

have specialists in limited or narrow subjects, but was mainly the desire to provide

students with sciences that would help them to live a good life. Ibne Khaldun has

presented philosophy for early childhood education. He emphasized the need for

practice, observation and individual differences. According to Ibne Khaldun small

children must be taught Quran. He forbade teachers from teaching tafsir, regulations

and others except reciting until the children are matured enough.

Ibne Khaldun also presented ways to teach children. He has forbidden teachers or

parents from teaching children with cruelty because it could make children lazy, liars,

and pretentious in order to hide the truth. Such attitude could become a habit and

children would lose sense of humanity.

Ibne Khaldun described that learning time should not be too long because it would

make children forget. Teaching within a short time using the right method could

generate better learning. In terms of language, he stated that language is the

foundation of all knowledge. Language teaching started from writing and reading, and

then words are related to meanings.

 Q. 4: Discuss the role of a teacher as specified by different educational

philosophies.

Introduction

Foundations are the basis for curriculum developing process. Philosophical

foundation provides teachers, educators, and curriculum makers a framework for

planning, implementing and evaluating curriculum in schools. It facilitates in

answering what schools are for, what subjects are important, how students should

learn and what materials and methods should be used? Philosophy provides the

starting point in decision-making, and is used for the succeeding decision-making.

Educational Philosophies lays the strong foundation of any curriculum. A curriculum

planner or specialist, implementer or the teacher, school heads, evaluator anchors

his/her decision making process on a sound philosophy.

The contemporary philosophies support social theory for a philosophy of education,

training students to be independent and critical thinkers. The contemporary

philosophies lay stress on schools to play a central role in the life of students and the

community. Educational institutions must function as a bridge between teachers,

students, parents, the business community, and politicians. The contemporary

philosophies emphasize that curriculum must address the emotional and physical

needs of students, providing them with a balance of social and technical skills.

Therefore curriculum planner must introduce such curriculum in education system,

which inculcate true knowledge and preserve the culture of society in new generation.

Perennialism
Perennial means "everlasting," like a perennial flower that comes up year after year.

The educational philosophy of perennialism is derived from both idealism and realism.

From idealism comes the combination of ideas that truth is universal and unchanging.

It is independent of time, place, and the immediate physical reality that surrounds us.

From realism comes an emphasis on rationality and the importance of education in

training of intellect in the search for truth. The roots of perennialism lie in the

philosophy of Plato and Aristotle, as well as that of St. Thomas Aquinas. Advocates

of this educational philosophy are Robert Maynard Hutchins who developed a Great

Books program in 1963 and Mortimer Adler, who further developed this curriculum

based on 100 great books of western civilization.

According to Perennialists, when students are immersed in the study of those

profound and enduring ideas, they will appreciate learning for its own sake and

become true intellectuals. For Perennialists, the aim of education is to ensure that

students acquire understandings about the great ideas of Western civilization. These

ideas have the potential for solving problems in any era. The focus is to teach ideas

that are everlasting, to seek enduring truths which are constant, not changing, as the

natural and human worlds at their most essential level, do not change. Teaching these

unchanging principles is critical. Perennialists believe that the focus of education

should be the ideas that have lasted over centuries. They believe the ideas are as

relevant and meaningful today as when they were written. Humans are rational beings,

and their minds need to be developed. Thus, cultivation of the intellect is the highest

priority in a worthwhile education.

Perennialists Curriculum

The focus in the curriculum is classical subjects, literary analysis and considers

curriculum as constant. The demanding curriculum focuses on attaining cultural

literacy, stressing students' growth in enduring disciplines. The loftiest

accomplishments of humankind are emphasized– the great works of literature and art,

the laws or principles of science.

Role of Teacher

The role of the teacher, who has been trained in the same type of academic curriculum,

is that of moral and intellectual authority figure. Perennialists hold that courses in

academic subjects are a far more important part of teacher education than courses in

how to teach. Teachers should be role models of educated people. Perennialism has its

roots in the Greek classics. Perennialists recommend that students learn from reading

and analyzing the works by history's finest thinkers and writers. Perennialist

classrooms are also centered on teachers in order to accomplish these goals. The

teachers are not concerned about the students' interests or experiences. They use tried

and true teaching methods and techniques that are believed to be most beneficial to

disciplining students' minds. The perennialist curriculum is universal and is based on

their view that all human beings possess the same essential nature. Perennialists think

it is important that individuals think deeply, analytically, flexibly, and imaginatively.

They emphasize that students should not be taught information that may soon be

outdated or found to be incorrect. Perennialists disapprove of teachers requiring

students to absorb massive amounts of disconnected information. They recommend

that schools spend more time teaching about concepts and explaining to make these

concepts meaningful for students.

Progressivism

The Progressive education philosophy was established in America from the mid

1920s through the mid 1950s. The philosophical base of progressivism is

“pragmatism”. John Dewey was its foremost proponent began to channel his interests

toward education, challenging the long-standing grip of perennialism on American

education. Although such individuals as Rousseau and the Swiss educational reformer

Johann Pestalozzi were forerunners of progressive views of education, it was Dewey

who systematically developed and tested the tenets of American progressivism. As the

chairman of the departments of psychology, philosophy, and pedagogy at the

University of Chicago, Dewey established his famous laboratory school in 1895. The

two announced purposes of the school were to exhibit, test, and criticize ideas about

how children learn and to watch children to discover how they learn. Such an

approach was in Stark contrast to the static, tradition-oriented views of perennialism.

One of these tenets was that the school should improve the way of life of citizens

through experiencing freedom and democracy in schools. Shared decision making,

planning of teachers with students, student-selected topics are all aspects. Books are

tools rather than authority.

Progressivism purports that the purpose of education is to prepare children to live in

society, but that since society is in a constant state of change, schools should prepare

students to confront the changing world. Dewey rejected the notion that reality and

ways of knowing and behaving are absolute and of divine origin. Rather, he argued,

reality is continually reconstructed, based on an ever-changing universe and the

changing needs and interests of human beings. This, progressivism maintains, is the

world for which children should be prepared. Whereas the curriculum emphasized by

perennialists is academic and teacher centered, that proposed by progressives is highly

social and student centered. Rejecting the notion that the function of schools is simply

to train the intellect, Dewey argued that children should acquire knowledge through

meaningful activities and apply it to real social situations. Thus, progressivism rejects
classroom practices that involve children passively learning information "poured" into

them by authoritarian teachers or from books. Further, progressivism stresses the

importance of addressing the needs and experiences of the whole child, not just a

child's intellect. As much as possible, what a child studies should be determined by

his/her own experiences and interests.

Progressivists Curriculum

The content of progressivists curriculum is derived from student interests and

questions. The scientific method is used by progressivist educators so that students

can study matter and events systematically and first hand. The emphasis is on process-

how one comes to know. Progressivists curriculum involves the application of human

problems and affairs. Interdisciplinary subject matter is used. Activities and projects

are also important part of progressivists curriculum.

Role of Teacher

Teacher is a guide for problem solving and scientific inquiry. Progressivism maintains

that the role of the teacher is as a facilitator who helps children to examine their

experiences as they interact with the physical and social worlds and to sort out for

themselves a satisfactory role in society. Teachers are not considered authority figures

handing down knowledge and precepts by which children should live. Rather, it is

important that they prepare a wide repertoire of classroom activities to stimulate and

satisfy the interests of all their students. They need to give students as much contact

with real-life situations as they possibly can so students can test their ideas, and learn

from their experiences.

Essentialism

Beginning in the 1930s and reemerging with increased strength in the 1950s and 1980,
essentialism has criticized progressivism's focus on how children learn rather than on

what children learn. Essentialism began to protest against the downfall of the

standards of the schools. Essentialist often bases their critiques of American education

standards from other counties like Japan and Germany. They criticized progressivists

for not teaching American culture. Essentialism is a kind of neo perennialism with

roots in both idealism and realism. Essentialism maintains that the purpose of schools

is both to preserve the knowledge and values of the past and to provide children with

the skills essential to live successful and meaningful lives in present society. An

educational theory that focuses on an essential set of learning prepares individuals for

life by concentrating on the culture and traditions of the past. Essentialism, which in

the post-World War era has come to replace perennialism as the dominant educational

philosophy in American public schools, holds that the purpose of the schools is to

prepare students for their roles in society through a curriculum focused on basic skills

and traditional academic content, taught by teachers who expect respect for authority

and discipline. William C. Bagley (1874–1946) was the founder of existentialism. The

proponents of Essentialism are: James D. Koerner (1959), H. G. Rickover (1959),

Paul Copperman (1978), and Theodore Sizer (1985).

Essentialist Curriculum

The core of the curriculum is essential knowledge and skills and academic rigor.

Although this educational philosophy is similar in some ways to Perennialism,

Essentialists accept the idea that this core curriculum may change. Essential skills

(Three Rs) and essential subjects (English, arithmetic, science, history and foreign

language) are part of essentialist’s curriculum. Schooling should be practical,

preparing students to become valuable members of society. It should focus on facts-

the objective reality out there--and "the basics," training students to read, write, speak,
and compute clearly and logically. Schools should not try to set or influence policies.

Students should be taught hard work, respect for authority, and discipline.

Essentialism as an education philosophy seeks to instill essential topics and character

traits that make students productive members of society. Essentialism stresses the

importance of the core topics such as mathematics, reading, foreign languages,

science, and history while also advocating respect for authority, discipline, and duty

as desirable character traits. Essentialism is primarily teacher centered; teachers

impart traditional knowledge to students because they have mastery of the subject,

and they are also examples to students through their exemplary character.

Essentialism often advocates the use of summative assessment and standardized tests

to determine students’ mastery of topics and to gauge their ability levels; students

who have not mastered the topics of one grade must repeat this subject before they

can progress to the next because they have not gained information that is essential to

their continued learning.

Role of Teacher

Teacher is authority in his or her field, explicit teaching of traditional values are the

main focus of teaching. Essentialists urge that the most essential or basic academic

skills and knowledge be taught to all students. Traditional disciplines such as math,

natural science, history, foreign language, and literature form the foundation of the

essentialist curriculum. Elementary students receive instruction in skills such as

writing, reading, measurement, and computers. Even while learning art and music,

subjects most often associated with the development of creativity. The students are

required to master a body of information and basic techniques, gradually moving from

less to more complex skills and detailed knowledge. Moreover, essentialists maintain
that classrooms should be oriented around the teacher, who ideally serves as an

intellectual and moral role model for the students.

Deconstructionism

That word can only refer to other words; and attempts to demonstrate how statements

about any text weaken their own meanings. Derrida's thinking was influenced by the

Phenomenologist’s Edmund Husserl and Martin Heidegger. Although the early work

of Derrida's was mainly an elaborate critique of the limitations of Phenomenology. He

also claimed that Friedrich Nietzsche was a forerunner of Deconstruction in form and

substance.

The term “Deconstructionism” has been used by others to describe Derrida's

particular methods of “textual criticism”, which involve discovering, recognizing and

understanding the underlying assumptions (unspoken and implicit), ideas and

frameworks that form the basis for belief and thought.

Deconstructionism is not destructive at all, but rather simply a question of being alert

to the implications, historical deposits of the language we use. In other words,

deconstruction seeks to peel away the multiple, layered connotations and meanings of

language and thought to get at the meanings underneath the shallow interpretations of

normal analysis. Without deconstruction, we cannot make way for new and different

ways of thinking.

Deconstructionism Curriculum

Deconstructionists in curriculum theory aim to create new 'spaces' for meaning and

understanding through phenomenological or post structural investigations.

Deconstructionism involves demystifying a text to reveal internal arbitrary hierarchies

and presuppositions. Deconstructionism is about the deconstruction of tangible

artifacts or about the public deconstruction of a concept. Deconstructionist texts can,

in turn, easily be deconstructed, highlighting the infinite regress, constant deferral and

indeterminacy of meaning.

Role of Teacher

The teacher engages the students in discussing the main communicative purpose and

the main ideas of a text and how the writer organizes these ideas systematically

through different stages in order to achieve the main communicative purpose. The

focus is on guiding students to notice the global genre structure of the text and to see

how the academic content (i-e field) unfolds through the different stages of genre.

When the teacher jointly reads the text with the students, the teacher does the

“Deconstruction” or analysis of the text together with the students by drawing the

student’s attention to these global genre stages of the text.

Pragmatism

The word Pragmatism has Greek roots (pragma, matos = deed, from prassein = to

do).Pragmatism means action, from which the words practical and practice have come.

In late 19th century American philosophy, the focus is on the reality of experience.

Unlike the Realists and Rationalists, Pragmatists believe that reality is constantly

changing and that we learn best through applying our experiences and thoughts to

problems, as they arise. The universe is dynamic and evolving, a "becoming" view of

the world. There is no absolute and unchanging truth, but rather, truth is what works.

Pragmatism is derived from the teaching of Charles Sanders Peirce (1839-1914), who

believed that thought must produce action, rather than linger in the mind and lead to

indecisiveness.
It is the product of practical experiences of life. It arises out of actual living. It does

not believe in fixed and eternal values. It is dynamic and ever-changing. It is a revolt

against Absolutism. Reality is still in the making. It is never complete.

Pragmatism and Curriculum

The aims of education are reflected in the curriculum. The pragmatic aims can only be

reflected in a pragmatic curriculum. The curriculum should be framed on the basis of

certain basic principles. These are utility, interest, experience and integration.

Practical utility is the watchword of pragmatism.

Hence those subjects, which have utility to the students should be included in the

curriculum. The subjects which carry occupational or vocational utility should find a

place in the curriculum. Language, hygiene, history, geography, physics, mathematics,

sciences, domestic science for girls, agriculture for boys should be incorporated in the

curriculum.

While deciding the subjects of curriculum the nature of the child, his tendencies,

interests, impulses at the various stages of his growth and multiple activities of daily

life should be taken into consideration. The subjects like psychology and sociology

which deal with human behaviour should be included in the curriculum.

Role of Teacher

In Pragmatism the teacher is not either of the two. He stands midway. According to

Pragmatism a teacher is useful, even though not indispensable.

The position of the teacher is of a guide and adviser. He is the helper and prompter.

He should teach “his pupils to think and act for themselves to do rather than to know,

to originate rather than to repeat.”

His importance lies in the fact that he has to suggest suitable problems only to his

students and to motivate them in such a way that they can solve the problems with tact,
intelligence and cooperation. He is not required to provide raw information to the

students from the textbooks. The pupils will gain knowledge and skill at their own

initiative. Doing is more important than knowing.

Teacher works as a friend and guide to the children. Teacher knows students interest

and understanding regarding the conditions of changing society. The teacher puts

problems in front of students which are interesting and students are expected to solve

it. Acts as a facilitator and helps guide students in the right direction. Pragmatism

believes in social discipline based on child’s interest, activities and sense of social

responsibility. It condemns enforced discipline. Schools philosophy is having students

gain real experiences of actual life which develop social sense and sense of duty

towards society and the nation. It is not only a sense of education but a sense of

community. The school focuses on preparing students to be better citizens.

A pragmatist teacher requires only the child and his “physical and social

environment”. Rest will follow. The child will react to environment, will interact on

and thus gain experiences. The pragmatist does not, however, fix up his methods once

and for all. His methods are dynamic, varying from time to time and class to class. If

the essentials of teaching-learning situation are present the method will automatically

follow.

The most general method of a pragmatist teacher, according to Ross, is “to put the

child into situations with which he wants him to grapple and providing him, at the

same time, with the means of dealing with them successfully.”

Pragmatism does not believe in external restraint and discipline enforced by the

superior authority of the teacher and the award of punishments. It advocates discipline

based on the principles of child’s activities and interests. It upholds discipline based
on social and mutual understanding. It believes in engaging the children in free and

purposeful real activities of human life.

“In pragmatic scheme of education the children are expected to work in cooperation

with one another. They are to take up a project on real problem, and to work at it as a

team. These cooperative activities impart to them very useful qualities of social life —

sympathy, give and take, fellow-feeling, spirit of sacrifice and toleration — which

constitute an invaluable moral training for them.”

The school is the representative of the greater community. It is a society in miniature.

Therefore, the school has to provide for all those activities which constitute the

normal life of the community. It has to provide for the socialized, free and purposive

activities. These activities provide the pupils a very useful training in citizenship.

Existentialism

Existentialism in the broader sense is a 20th century philosophy that is centered upon

the analysis of existence and of the way humans find themselves existing in the world.

The notion is that humans exist first and then each individual spends a lifetime

changing their essence or nature. The philosophical base of existentialism is “idealism

and realism”.

In simpler terms, existentialism is a philosophy concerned with finding self and the

meaning of life through free will, choice, and personal responsibility. The belief is

that people are searching to find out who and what they are throughout life as they

make choices based on their experiences, beliefs, and outlook. And personal choices

become unique without the necessity of an objective form of truth. An existentialist

believes that a person should be forced to choose and be responsible without the help

of laws, ethnic rules, or traditions.

Existentialist Curriculum

Related to education, the subject matter of existentialist classrooms should be a matter

of personal choice. Teachers view the individual as an entity within a social context in

which the learner must confront others' views to clarify his or her own. Character

development emphasizes individual responsibility for decisions. Real answers come

from within the individual, not from outside authority. Examining life through

authentic thinking involves students in genuine learning experiences. Existentialists

are opposed to thinking about students as objects to be measured, tracked, or

standardized. Such educators want the educational experience to focus on creating

opportunities for selfdirection and self actualization. They start with the student,

rather than on curriculum content.

Role of Teacher

An existentialist classroom typically involves the teachers and school laying out what

they feel is important and allowing the students to choose what they study. All

students work on different, self-selected assignments at their own pace. Teachers act

as facilitators, directing students in finding the most appropriate methods of study or

materials, and are often seen as an additional resource, alongside books, computers,

television, newspapers, and other materials that are readily available to students. The

teacher creates an environment for independent action and enables students to make

choices and accept responsibility for behavior.

By focusing on student-centered philosophies school systems and educators will be

able to make necessary changes to create effective and life transforming environments

for students.
 Q. 5: Narrate the services of Maria Montessori, especially for institutionalizing

early childhood education.

Introduction

Early childhood is a period when the foundations of thinking, being, knowing and

acting are becoming ‘hard wired’, and relationships – with others and with the

environment – are becoming established. It is also a time for providing significant

groundings for adult activism around environmental issues.

Maria Montessori (1870-1952)

Maria Montessori was born on August 31, 1870, in the provincial town of Chiaravalle,

Italy, to middle-class, well-educated parents. Montessori graduated with high honors

from the medical school of the University of Rome in 1896. In doing so, Montessori

became the first female doctor in Italy graduated from the University of Rome. She

first became involved with education as a doctor treating underprivileged children.

After studying the work of Itard and Sequin and after much compassionate

observation of young children, she designed special materials and a scientifically

prepared environment. These succeeded brilliantly and won world acclaim. She

devoted her energies and further studies to the field of education for her remaining life.

The first "Casa Dei Bambini" or the "Children's House" was opened in 1907 and since

then Montessori schools have been established in over fifty countries. Her work has

made a significant contribution to improving the standards of education for young

children, and her methods and materials have been adopted in public and private
schools around the world.

Maria Montessori’s Method and Philosophy

The foundation of Maria Montessori's approach is respect for the child as a worthy

individual, occupied with the task of developing himself into a mature human adult.

She observed children's need for independence, for self-confidence as adequate

people, for control over their own impulses and emotions and a natural curiosity and

desire to learn.

She observed in young children a phenomenon she called the "absorbent mind".

Children can absorb information from their surroundings without any conscious,

tedious effort. Learning does not have to be forced upon them. If the environment is

orderly and readily accessible and if the children are free to work through their own

cycles of activity at their own pace, they can learn to read, write and calculate in the

same natural way that they learned to walk and talk.

What is Montessori?

Montessori is a special way for children and adults to be together. Every aspect of the

experience is planned to help children become confident, capable, creative, caring and

happy people who are a delight to be with. The Montessori philosophy of education

influences all aspects of child's experience. All activities are carefully planned to

make it easy for children to become that special person each child can be.

The First Six Years

According to Montessori,, '’the most important period of life is not the age of

university studies but the period from birth to age six." It is now commonly accepted
that from conception to age 4 the individual develops 50% of his/her mature

intelligence; from ages 4 to 8 another 30%. This indicates the rapid growth of

intelligence in the early years and the importance of the early environment on this

development. It is also true that children mature at very different rates and their

periods of readiness for academic subjects vary greatly. Montessori observed that a

young child has periods of intense fascination for developing various skills such as

climbing stairs or counting. During these sensitive periods it is easier for the child to

acquire particular skills than at any other time in his/her life. The Montessori

classroom allows each child freedom to select activities which correspond to his or

her own periods of interest and readiness.

Every child, by instinct, wants to learn and grow to the limit of his abilities. In the

first six years of life he does this by imitating those around him. To support this need

we must carefully prepare the physical and social environment, provide tools that

enable the child to work to create himself, watch for those first tentative moments of

concentration, and get out of the way, following the child as his path unfolds.

By answering a child's needs as they arise, some children in a Montessori class begin

to read and calculate at a very early age. However, early learning was not Maria

Montessori's objective. Her ideal was that the learning experience should occur

naturally and joyfully at the proper moment for each individual child. "It is true we

cannot make a genius," she wrote. “We can only give each individual the chance to

fulfill his/her potential to become an independent, secure and balanced human being”.

What is the Montessori Philosophy?

According to Dr. Maria Montessori, “A child's work is to create the person she/he will

become.” Children are born with special mental powers which aid in the work of their
own construction. But they cannot accomplish the task of self-construction without

purposeful movement, exploration, and discovery of their environment—both the

things and people within it. They must be given the freedom to use their inborn

powers to develop physically, intellectually, and spiritually. A Montessori classroom

provides this freedom within the limits of an environment which develops a sense of

order and selfdiscipline.

The focus of Montessori education continually changes to adapt to the child's natural

stages of development. The Montessori approach is concerned foremost with the

development of human potential. This approach is based on "following the child", on

recognising the developmental needs and characteristics of children of each age group

and constructing the corresponding environment that best meets these needs. Maria

Montessori observed that the child moves to adulthood through a series of

developmental periods which described as Planes of Development. Each period is

different but is built on the foundation of the preceding one with the Montessori

environment and approach tailored to meet the child's needs at each stage. There are

four planes of development. This Planes of Development are the basis for the three

year age groupings found in Montessori school classes: ages three to six; six to nine;

nine to twelve; and twelve to fifteen.

In the first plane from birth to age six, the child is characterised by his or her

'absorbent mind', absorbing all aspects of his or her environment, language and

culture.

In the second plane from age six to twelve, the child uses a 'reasoning mind' to

explore the world with abstract thought and imagination.

In the third plane from twelve to eighteen, the adolescent has a 'humanistic mind'

eager to understand humanity and the contribution he or she can make to society.
In the last plane of development from age eighteen to twenty four, the adult explores

the world with a 'specialist mind' taking his or her place in the world.

Maria Montessori believed that if education followed the natural development of the

child, then society would gradually move to a higher level of co-operation, peace and

harmony.

Dr. Montessori (1972) stated that in order for the child to develop two factors must be

present. One factor is a prepared environment that looks after the child’s physical

health as well as the spiritual life.

The second factor is the ability of the child to move freely in his/her environment

where there can be found constructive activities for the child’s development.

These two factors allow the child to learn and enjoy more fully such things as:

movement in education, sensory education and music, and intellectual education. She

also stated that the child needs an adult who is to give him/her guidance with his/her

work and who will take into account the child’s needs. Dr. Montessori further stated

that in such an environment the child works very hard, is observant and is not

destructive.

Prepared Environment

Human beings are continuously reshaping the environment they live in, in order to

make their surroundings more practical for their work, or better suited for relaxation.

In other words, the environment is changed in order to look after specific physical or

spiritual needs that humans have. But is the same environment equally good for all

human beings? Dr. Maria Montessori (1966) stated that “[a]n adult environment is not

a suitable environment for children” (p. 109). She believed that little children should

not have to live in an adult environment, instead, there should be an environment

specially prepared for them. Montessori (1912) stated that in order for children to

develop properly, it is necessary to reduce all obstacles around them to a minimum.

This included creating the right environment for children indoors and outdoors. In

order to get a clearer understanding of what Dr. Montessori meant by a prepared

environment, we need to examine the schoolhouse or “Children’s House” which she

taught in. For example, the office sized furniture pieces originally placed in the

schoolhouse were too big and too heavy for the little children. The children could not

reach the high shelves nor could they move the large chairs. Dr. Montessori designed

and had manufactured little furniture such as chairs, tables, washstands and cupboards

that preschool children could use easily.

Freedom in Education

Freedom to Maria Montessori (1966) does not mean that we leave a child on his/her

own to do whatever he/she wishes to do: rather it means that we need to remove all

obstacles which might hinder the child’s “normal” development. In a Montessori

environment the adult does not dictate to the child what activity he/she should do but

freedom means that the child is free to choose an activity within a prepared

environment. It also means that the child is free to choose a place where to perform

the work within that prepared environment. When children worked in the “Children’s

House” they had a choice as to sit for example, on a chair by a small table or use

carpeted floor for their work space.

The adult in the Montessori environment does not schedule changes in activities for

the child but gives freedom to the child to be able to work on the activity until its

completion regardless of the time it takes, as well to repeat the activity as many times

as the child finds it necessary. Freedom in a Montessori environment also means for a
child to freely walk around and get a new activity when he/she so desires, and

“greatest” of all, it means freedom to observe another child and learn by observing.

Freedom in education for Montessori was very important since the child needed to

develop into a fully grown human and be able to take his/her place in society. As she

so eloquently wrote, “Education must foster both the development of individuality

and that of society. Society cannot develop unless the individual develops, as we learn

from observing. Most of our actions would have no reason for being if there were no

other people around us, and we do most of the things we do because we live in

association with others”.

Movement in Education

Movement in education was important for Dr. Montessori. It was to be done indoors

as well as outdoors. Indoors, Dr. Montessori taught children to walk gracefully

without bumping into any objects. She taught them to walk and march. For one of the

indoor activities Maria Montessori constructed out of paper a set of circular tracks.

She had the children walk in a circle trying not to step outside of the tracks. Dr.

Montessori believed that children should play outdoors so that they could be kept

healthy and grow. She wrote that children need to be active so that their bones and

muscles develop. For example, she recommended free games where children would

play “with balls, hoops, bean bags and kites” (Montessori, 1966, p.144). She also

recommended other educational gymnastics which included gardening and taking

“care of plants and animals (watering and pruning the plants, carrying the grain to the

chickens, etc.)”.

Dr. Montessori believed that exercise was important not only for children but

everyone. She stated that “[e]very individual should take sufficient exercise to keep
his muscles in a healthy state” (Montessori, 1966, p. 97). The children in the

Montessori schools also learned to look after themselves and thus be more

independent of adults. For example, little children learned to undress and dress

themselves. They hung their outdoor garmentson hooks which were placed on the

wall within their reach. The small washstands were also within the children’s reach so

they could wash their hands, and comb their hair. Dr Montessori believed that hands

are of special importance to human beings. Since a child “develops himself through

his movements, through the work of his hands, he has need of objects with which he

can work that provide motivation for his activity”.

Maria Montessori did not make use of toys for teaching purposes; learning in the

Children’s House was with genuine utensils. She believed that using genuine utensils

and objects purposefully designed for learning was the child’s work through which

he/she developed into an adult. Dr. Montessori developed many educational activities

and tools for the little children to use. For example she had fabric with buttons

fastened on one side and button holes on the other side so that the little children could

practice buttoning. All the teaching was done through action, not words. She also

designed a variety of didactic materials for the children to work with and get

themselves prepared for writing and arithmetic.

The End
Thanks