AIOU
Course
Code: 8609
Semester: 3r
Assignment: 2nd
Q #1
Analyze Plato’s theory of Education.
Answer:
Who was Plato?
Plato
was born in 427 B.C., the son of noble parents. He first studied music, poetry,
painting, and philosophy with other masters and became a pupil of Socrates in
407 B.C., remaining with him until the latter's death (399 B.C.) when he
accompanied Socrates to Megara. He founded a school in the groves of Academus,
the Academy, where he taught mathematics and the different branches of
philosophy, by means of connected lectures and the dialogue. His death occurred
in 347 B.C. The life of Plato can be divided into three ages. In the first age
he received the education from his great master Socrates besides some other
minor teachers. He lived with Socrates for eight years and received instruction
and ideas in different fields of human thought. After the death of Socrates,
perturbed as he was Plato went on his journey through Egypt, Cyrene, Italy and
Cicley etc. For ten years he was roaming in different countries, observing
their ways of life, social and political structures and institutions and
discussing with scholars of different countries. It was in this age that he
planned his important dialogues. During this period Plato's thinking was
generally centered on ideas, the universals. The dialogues written during this
period do not exhibit much literary excellence. The important dialogues written
during this period were Gorgias, Theaetetus, Sophists, Statesman and
Parmenides. After ten years of journey in different countries Plato's mind was
almost settled. He now returned to Athens and started third and the most important
age of his life. He established an institution known as Academy of Gymnasium.
Here he started to live as a teacher, a mathematician and a philosopher. For 40
years he educated hundreds of illustrious disciples and created dozens of
dialogues up to his death at the age of 82 (Hummel, 19930.
Theory of Education:
According
to Plato, man's mind is always active. Man is attracted towards all things that
he sees in his surroundings and he runs after them. The educator should take
advantage of this propensity in the child and educate him. He should pay
attention to the objects which surround the child. Such objects should be
beautiful so that the child is naturally attracted to them and his curiosity is
aroused. The process of education advances through this constant interaction
between the stimuli by which the mind develops. For this reason the child
should be kept in beautiful environment. In fact, the human individual requires
such an environment not only in infancy but through his entire life, because, according
to Plato, the process of education is never complete. It continues throughout
one's life. Plato has laid the greatest stress on mental development in
education. He conceives of the state as an advanced mind. Education aims not
merely at providing information but at training the individual in his duties
and rights as a citizen. Just as the state evolves from the mind, the mind
itself passes through all those stages of development through which the state
passes. In Plato's opinion, the aim of education is human perfection.
Plato's education
has its objective in the realization of truth, a truth which is comprehensive,
not limited or narrow. Plato, therefore, believes that development of the mind,
body and soul is essential. For this reason, he has divided the curriculum into
three parts: 1. Bodily Development. Plato's philosophy believes bodily
development to be of the utmost importance in education, but this bodily
development is achieved not merely through exercise and gymnastic activity, but
also through a regulated and controlled diet. The educator must guide and train
the educand to attend to his food. He must be a kind of doctor who advises a
particular kind of diet after acquainting himself with weaknesses of the
educand's body. This must be done in order to get rid of these debilities and
finally to lead to complete development of the body. 2. Educational
Impressions. But it must be remembered that bodily development is only a means
to mental development, because a healthy mind resides only in a healthy body.
Although much importance is attached to bodily development, even greater
importance is attached to mental development. Being under the influence of
Pythagoras, Plato recommended the teaching of mathematics as of supreme
importance. The first step in the teaching of mathematics is the teaching of
arithmetic. Geometry and algebra should then be taught. Plato believed that the
teaching of mathematics can remove many mental defects. In addition to
mathematics, Plato considered the teaching of astronomy as of great
significance, as part of higher education. 3. Training in Music. In order to
achieve balance in education, Plato stressed the value of musical training as a
supplement to training in gymnastics. Exercise is the source of bodily
development while music helps in the development of the soul. But music and
literature taught to the student must be capable of building character. Plato
suggested that the child's curriculum should be purged of all literature and
musical epics which tended to generate such qualities as cowardice, weakness,
selfishness, egoism etc. He was critical of the epics of Homer and other
contemporary poets on this ground. Plato considered balance in human life to be
of the greatest importance, because in the absence of such a balance, man
should neither fulfil his social obligations nor enjoy his own private life to
the full. Hence it can be concluded that Plato suggested a balanced curriculum
for education. Plato's plan of education,
the educator is considered to have the greatest importance. He is like the
torch bearer who leads a man, lying in a dark cave, out of the darkness into
the bright light of the outside world. His task is to bring the educand out of
the darkness of the cave into the light of the day. He is thus the guide. In
his methods of teaching Plato believes imitation to be of the greatest
importance, for he realizes that the child learns a great deal through
imitation. He will acquire the behavior of the people among whom he is make to
live. Hence, keeping in mind the status of the child, he should be made to live
among people from whom he can learn good habits and avoid bad ones
Education
According to Classes Plato's plan of education does not envisage uniform
education for one and all. He accepted the concept of social stratification,
and suggested that since different individuals had to perform different tasks
in society, they should also be educated differently, in order to train each
one in his own respective sphere. He believed that different individuals are
made of different metals. Those made of gold should take up administration and
government, while those made of silver were best suited for trade and defense.
Others made of iron and baser metals should become laborers and agriculturists.
The state must make different arrangements for the education of these different
kinds of people, although Plato implicitly agrees that education of governing
classes is of the greatest importance. The education of the other classes in
society does not concern him very much. Faced with the problem of determining
the class of each individual, Plato suggested various kinds of tests to be
conducted at different age levels. In the first place, primary education will
be given to all between the ages of seven and twenty, following which a test
shall be administered to everyone. Those who failed the test are to be sent to labor
in the various occupations and productive trades. The successful candidates
will be sent to the armed forces where training will be imparted to them for
the next ten years. This will again be followed by a test; the failures will be
compelled to remain in the armed forces while the successful ones will be sent
to join the government. Then this governing class will be subjected to further
education in science. Later on, one from among the governing class will be
elected as the philosopher administrator whose task will be to look after the
government and education of the state. This individual will occupy the highest
position in the land, his word will be the law of the land. Apart from this
supreme individual, all other members of the governing class will continue to
receive education throughout their lives.
Q#2
Describe John Dewey’s philosophy on Modern
Education.
Answer:
Who is JOHN DEWEY?
John Dewey, is greatest scholar of the
pragmatists and generally recognized as the most outstanding philosopher his
country has yet produced, made significant contributions to virtually every
field of philosophy as well as to such other areas of inquiry as education and
psychology. Active for 70 years as a scholar, he was a prolific writer
publishing approximately fifty books and more than eight hundred articles. Many
of these have been translated into various foreign languages. New volumes are
still coming out with more Dewey material, mainly correspondence, and books and
articles on him are appearing at a rapidly increasing rate. Philosophy of
Education 1. Analysis of reflective inquiry. Perhaps the most important single
emphasis of John Dewey is his insistence upon applying reflective or critical
inquiry to problems or indeterminate situations. What is involved in problem
solving or thinking through a problem? What is critical inquiry? How does one
apply intelligence to human affairs? Dewey's answer to these questions is set
forth in its simplest terms in How We Think, and a more sophisticated version
is given in Logic; The Theory of Inquiry. In a sense the phases or steps in a
complete act of reflective thinking afford an outline for each of his major
works, and he had a lifelong concern with what is involved in reflective
thinking. 2. View of experience. Experience is one of the central concepts in
Dewey's thought, occurring and recurring throughout his writing. Though he
finally concluded that he might have done better to use another term, many of
his most important works are concerned with clarifying it—for example, his
Casus Lectures: Experience and Nature or his Art as Experience or Experience
and Education. For him experience constitutes the entire range of men's
relations to, or transactions with the universe. We experience nature and
things interacting in certain ways made up of experience.
Impact
on Modern Education
Many
of Dewey's ideas have had great impact on modern education. Some important
facts in this connection are:
Ø Impact
on the aims of education. Nowadays, one of the important aims of education is
the teaching of democratic values. Dewey insisted on developing social
qualities in the child. In modern schools these aims of education have been
accepted as valid.
Ø Impact on educational methods. The greatest
impact of Dewey's ideas is seen in the methods of education in more recent
times. Dewey suggested that education should be based on the child's own
experience, and also that the method of teaching should vary according to the
interests and inclinations of each individual child. These ideas influenced
modern teaching techniques and led to active teaching in schools. One such
school is the Activity School. The project method is also a result of Dewey's
ideas. Even in the other schools, attention is paid to the principles of child
psychology which guide the educator in creating an atmosphere suitable for
developing social consciousness in the educand.
Ø Impact
on curriculum. The impact of Dewey's ideas on the subject of curriculum led to
the introduction of manual skill subjects into modern curricula. Special
importance is now being attached to various kinds of games, objects, the use of
certain tools and implements, etc. In selecting the subjects to be taught,
attention is now paid to the individual interests and abilities of the child.
Ø Impact on discipline. As a result of Dewey's
theorizing on the subject of discipline, now the educand is entrusted with much
of the work done in the school. In this manner the educand is trained in
self-control and democratic citizenship. Apart from this, once the educand has
to face responsibility, he is compelled to think scientifically and reason out
things for himself.
Ø Universal
education. Dewey's thinking and ideal also led to faith in universal and
compulsory education. Education aims at the development of personality. Hence
every individual must be given the opportunity to develop his personality
through education. The current stress on the scientific and social tendency
owes much to Dewey's influence. He pointed out that education was a social
necessity, in that it was not merely a preparation for life, but life itself.
It aimed at the development of both the individual as well as society. This
leads to the comprehensive development of the individual.
Q# 3
Develop a teaching method based on Muslim
philosophy of education.
According
to Muslim philosophy, 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.
Stressed upon UlumNaqliyyai-e The Quran,
interpretations of Quran, tradition, jurisprudence and speculative theology
which are wanted per se. Muslim philosophy also emphasized on UlumAqliyyai-e
philosophy and physical sciences. Muslim philosophy warns the scholar that they
should study the sciences that are wanted per se in greater detail.
Muslim
philosophy 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 Muslim philosophy 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.
Muslim
philosophy had described that children should not be taught difficult matters. Muslim
philosophy 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. Muslim philosophy had discussed the concepts of
motivation, learning willingness and reinforcement.
For
Muslim philosophy, education is a social enterprise and includes upbringing
strategies according to firm laws. Muslim philosophy integrated the educational
programs behavioral ones. Muslim philosophy advised that children should first
be taught calculation. According to Muslim philosophy 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.
Muslim
philosophy dividing sciences into two categories:
i.
Primary
sciences: that man realized by instinct
ii.
Secondary sciences: acquired
through education
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.
Muslim
philosophy had explained each kind of sciences along with its subjects and
aims. Muslim philosophy 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
ii.
Practical instructions: These identified
rules that parents and teachers should follow.
Muslim
philosophy presented theory of “specialization and perfection in learning”. It
provided bases for Muslim philosophy opinion on education and rearing.
Muslim
philosophy did not limit his realistic observations to individuals only, but he
studied the psychological effect of groups and societies. Muslim philosophy 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.
Muslim
philosophy 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 Muslim philosophy, the best education is the interaction of minds, between
people of different professions, different religions, different civilizations,
and different social sectors. Muslim philosophy 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.
Muslim
philosophy has presented philosophy for early childhood education. He
emphasized the need for practice, observation and individual differences.
According to Muslim philosophy small children must be taught Quran. He forbade
teachers from teaching tafsir, regulations and others except reciting until the
children are matured enough.
Muslim
philosophy 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.
Muslim
philosophy 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
Compare the curriculum developed
on the bases of modren philosophies of education.
Philosophy of education
As
an academic field, philosophy of education is the philosophical study of
education and its problems. The philosophy of education may be either the
philosophy of the process of education or the philosophy of the discipline of
education. That is, it may be part of the discipline in the sense of being
concerned with the aims, forms, methods, or results of the process of educating
or being educated; or it may be metadisciplinary in the sense of being
concerned with the concepts, aims, and methods of the discipline. As such, it
is both part of the field of education and a field of applied philosophy,
drawing from fields of metaphysics, epistemology, axiology and the
philosophical approaches to address questions in and about pedagogy, education
policy, and curriculum, as well as the process of learning, to name a few. it
might study what constitutes upbringing and education, the values and norms
revealed through upbringing and educational practices, the limits and
legitimization of education as an academic discipline, and the relation between
educational theory and practice.
Modren Philosophical Forms of
Naturalism From the standpoint of philosophical principles, the
following three forms of naturalism are distinguished:
(i) Naturalism
of physical world. This principle seeks to explain human actions, individual
experiences, emotions and feelings on the basis of physical sciences. It seeks
to explain the entire universe in the light of the principles of physical
sciences. It has little or no influence in the sphere of education, because all
that it has done is to place knowledge of science above every kind of
knowledge. It points out that not only is science one form of knowledge, but
that it is the only form of valid knowledge. It is a concept of positivism, and
it holds that even philosophical knowledge is worthless.
(ii) Mechanical positivism.
According to this principle, the entire universe is a machine made of matter
and is possessed of a self-driving energy that ensures its functioning. This is
materialism, for it suggests that matter is the only reality, and anything that
exists is a form of matter. The human being is conceived of as nothing more
than an active machine which is activated by certain environmental influences.
The impact of this kind of positivism led to the emergence of the behavioural
school in psychology which explained all human behaviour in terms of stimulus
and response. Behaviourists do not believe in the existence of any
consciousness distinguished from the material element. All processes of the
mental faculty such as imagination, memory, winking, etc., are explained in
physiological terms. This school also makes no distinction between human and
animal, because both can be explained in terms of stimulus and response.
Behaviourism thus seeks to explain the entire range of human activity as a
mechanical process. As naturalism it has had a tremendous impact on education.
(iii)
Biological naturalism. It is naturalism in this form, as biological
naturalism, which has had the greatest impact upon education. It has elaborated
the theory of the natural man, and has explained that the evolution of man and
animal is a single process. It refuses to admit the spiritual nature of man and
expounds that his nature is the heritage he has received from his ancestors.
That is why it traces many similarities between human and animal behaviour.
Biological naturalism contends that all the processes of Nature and the entire
existence of the universe cannot be explained in terms of mechanical and
physical processes, because in the biological world, evolution is a more
important phenomenon. All living beings have an instinct to live and for this
reason life evolves from lower forms to higher and more ix complex ones. One
can find all the characteristics of evolution in man's life. The principles
underlying evolution can explain the form that a human being will ultimately
assume and the manner in which he will progress. At the animal level, the
process of evolution stops at the material or physical level, but in the case
of human beings it is also manifested in the mental, moral and spiritual
levels. This instinctive evolution is found not only in individual human beings
but also in groups of human beings, because these groups also evolve to a stage
of greater complexity. But this evolution is also governed by the same
principles which govern the individual's evolution. In this process of
evolution, the principles of struggle for existence and survival of the fittest
have been considered the most important by Charles Darwin, because in his
opinion the principle of selfpreservation is the strongest law of nature.
Curriculum:
As a system of philosophy, naturalism has been
exceptionally susceptible to the development of science, and by virtue of this
influence it has attached much importance to evolutionary theory, empirical
teaching and scientific analysis, etc. As a result of the significance ascribed
to scientific study naturalists want to introduce physical and social sciences
at every level of education because they believe these to be more important
than the humanities. Language and mathematics for the naturalists, are tools
for the learning of science and both should be taught only so long as they
assist the learning of science. Literature, in any case should not completely
absorb the students' interest and attention. Curricula should be so constructed
as to encourage the educand to take an interest in science and to gain
knowledge which is factual and objective. Granting that the present is more
important than the future, the naturalists have not fallen into the mistake of
neglecting the past, because the past contains many valuable suggestions for
the educand. For this reason, naturalists believe in the value of historical
study. Such a study will enable them to construct a new social structure and
thus plan for the future. Since evolutionists believe man to have developed or
evolved, from the animal stage, and since they also believe that there is no
gap or discontinuity in the transition from the animal to the human, they want
education to develop the instincts and emotions. On the subject of curriculum,
naturalists have expressed theories which differ from each other to some
extent. Comenius wanted the educand to study every subject, without making any
selection. Locke refuted this notion by demonstrating that every individual
cannot be made to study the same subject, because of certain natural handicaps.
Hence, much emphasis was laid upon modifying the curriculum to suit the needs
of the individual. Herbert Spencer arranged the curriculum with science as its
nucleus and tried to synthesise the other subjects to science. The arts were
given a secondary place in his programme because he believed that one must
first create the basic elements before refining or making them sophisticated.
In fact, he wanted to synthesise all subjects to the study of science, arriving
at a conception of liberal education arranged around science. T.H. Huxley,
another naturalist, attached greater importance to the cultural aspects of life
than to the study of science. Thus, his conception of a liberal education
differed materially from that of Spencer. In contrast, modern naturalists do
not stress the importance of any one subject against that of any other,
although more importance is attached to the sciences. Yet, the arts are not
neglected, but given an important place in the curriculum so that it may acquire a definitely wide base.
Q#5
Describe the Montessori system of
early childhood education.
Who was
MARIA MONTESSORI ?
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.
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.
Today
the importance of the formative first six years of life is common knowledge.
During this time a child becomes fully a member of their particular culture and
family group, absorbing language, attitudes, manners, values, of those in which
he or she comes in daily contact. A child, who spends the first six years in a
loving and supportive environment, learns to love himself/herself and feels
safe in the world. A child who has experienced the joy of making a contribution
to her family or group, learns to love making an effort, and feels needed
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”.
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 self-discipline.
Also
basic to Montessori's philosophy is her discovery of Sensitive Periods in
children's development. During these periods children seek certain stimuli with
immense intensity, to the exclusion of all others. So it is during this time
that a child can most easily master a particular learning skill. Dr. Montessori
devised special materials to aid children in each Sensitive Period. It is the
responsibility of the teacher to recognize these periods in individual children
and put them in touch with the appropriate materials in the classroom
environment.
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 recognizing 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.
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