Education, today, is concerned with many issues. Some of them regard the curriculum; what should and should not be included in it, others whether the beliefs of various ideologies and philosophies should be applied to educational process or not while, others try to decide if the state or the parents should have a main role in the students’ education. And there are the advocates and defenders of these issues who try to convince that their educational ideologies should be applied to the educational processes and, those who oppose to them. But there is an issue for which it can be said that no one can oppose to. This issue refers to the teachers’ competency. Because, apart from those issues mentioned above and some others, the persons who influence and affect the educational process are mainly the teachers and hence, they should be competent in order to achieve the expected results and outcomes that concern the effective education of children. But what is meant by saying a teacher needs to be competent? The current essay will try to give an answer to this question and accordingly, it will define and describe four basic characteristics of the competent teacher.
To begin with, a basic characteristic of a competent teacher constitutes the ability to develop and promote consciousness to students. If a teacher possesses this characteristic, consequently he/she possesses some others too. What is meant by this, is that a teacher who is competent since, he/she develops and promotes consciousness to students he/she accordingly, has also the ability to promote and develop dialogue, critical thinking, and communication to students. Because, a basic presupposition for consciousness to be developed constitutes the development of dialogue and critical thinking, as well as the development of communication. A competent teacher is one who abandons the educational “chain” of depositing, receiving, memorizing and repeating knowledge on the students’ behalf. On the contrary, a competent teacher promotes consciousness to students and helps them become conscious beings who adopt a concept of the consciousness upon the world (Cahn, 1997). Additionally, a competent teacher encourages students to reflect on social reality and empowers them to transform the existing conditions that shape their lives (Gutek, 2004). Moreover, a competent teacher is one who engages students in dialogue and manages through dialogue to achieve genuine learning. Because when students and the teacher are engaged in a shared critical dialogue, they can mutually create and construct knowledge instead of passively transmitting it since, they can share their knowledge and experiences, reflect upon them and finally make a critical evaluation of them regarding the way they, themselves, have obtained that knowledge and those experiences (Gutek, 2004).
“Paulo [Freire] claims it is dialogue that helps to move us from our egocentric and sociocentric positions. In dialogue we learn something about worldviews and values different from our own. We are moved out of our own frame of reference into a different one or, perhaps, a larger one of which ours is now just a part” (Noddings, 2007, p.102).In accordance with this, it is necessary to have in mind that teachers, too, can learn a lot from their students since, they do not know everything. Hence, it is important to be engaged in such kind of dialogues that examine students’ life experiences and especially those of the students who are or were marginalized, to discuss and find out the feelings and emotions they have or had when they felt rejection or suffered from such marginalization (Gutek, 2004). Moreover, it can be declared that through such kind of dialogues no one teaches another but rather, teachers and students teach each other, and they become responsible as a group and as a team that is based on dialogue and that accordingly, helps all of them to grow (Cahn, 1997). And as Freire noted, it is by this way, by engaging teachers and students in mutual learning, that true consciousness can be constructed and therefore, true and genuine education can be achieved (Gutek, 2004).
Going further, a competent teacher develops and promotes consciousness to students not only through their engagement in dialogues but also through critical thinking and communication. The concepts of dialogue, critical thinking, and the concept of communication are concepts related to each other and which together presuppose the development of consciousness to students. First of all, the competent teacher, as Freire supported, must come to know reality critically, needs to have a critical attitude towards reality and hence, needs to approach his/her teaching with a realistic awareness of those conditions and factors that restrain the potentialities of human freedom (Gutek, 2004). But critical thinking concerns the students, also. The competent teacher is not one who thinks for his/her students or imposes his/her thought on them but rather, is one who stimulates students’ critical thinking and makes use of the dialogue in order to help students become critical thinkers and co-investigators and hence, to abandon the role of the docile passive listeners (Cahn, 1997). Because teachers, apart from engaging students in heuristic and algorithmic processes they should also engage them into the logic of good reasons, of judgment and therefore, into the logic of critical thinking (Lipman, 2007).
Apart from these, a teacher can be characterized as competent only if he/she abandons and does not follow the notion of him/her being the one who possesses control over his/her students. Instead, he/she is competent when he/she makes reconciliation with the students and hence, resolves the teacher-student contradiction. By this way, the competent teacher transforms his/her and the students’ role, makes them both simultaneously teachers and students, and makes it possible for them both, to become the subjects of the educational process (Gutek, 2004). Moreover, when a competent teacher manages to resolve the teacher-student contradiction, he/she is therefore, a competent teacher who also allows, offers and promotes freedom to the students to practice it since, through the resolution of this contradiction and through the use of dialogue, new terms arise, and these are the terms of teacher-student with students-teachers, that substitute the existing terms of teacher-of-the students and students-of- the teacher (Cahn, 1997).
Except for these, a competent teacher is one who conducts education morally and thereby, tries to induce a moral sense in the students (Cahn, 1997). And in order to achieve this, a competent teacher should therefore, teach students the importance of moral values such as honesty, self-discipline, responsibility, fairness, respect, integrity, and courage.
A competent teacher is one who promotes cultural transmission and perpetuates civilizations by passing on as inheritage essential basic skills and subjects from one generation to the next (Gutek, 2004). Because it is necessary and crucial for the students to know about the culture and the world they live in, about cultures that existed before them while, it is also necessary for them to know about important and historical persons who made great discoveries or contributed in a major degree to the shaping of society. Additionally, it is necessary for teachers to present to the students an effective selection of the world they live in and, to work in cooperation with them in order to help them attain a competence in their own world of experience, in the world they live in (Noddings, 2007).
Summing up, a competent teacher is one who develops and promotes consciousness to students through the use of dialogue, critical thinking and through communication; resolves the teacher-student contradiction; develops a moral sense in students; and promotes cultural transmission. It can be said, that the first two characteristics and their presuppositions, constitute a theory of education and particularly, follow and adhere to the features and beliefs of a Liberation pedagogy as well as to the features and beliefs of a problem-posing education while, the last two characteristics adhere to the beliefs of the theory of Essentialism. These characteristics, apart from others, are basic ones and a teacher should attain them if he/she is going to be characterized as a competent one. Therefore, a teacher who is competent enough to act as an educator who follows and adheres to these characteristics, can be a successful one and can achieve the best education for students. Accordingly, schools, the curriculum and the students who are cooperating and working with competent teachers who attain and adhere to the characteristics that were defined and described previously, can improve the educational process and they can deal more effectively with all the educational issues relating to and impacting educational practice.
References
Cahn, S. (1997) Classic and contemporary readings in the philosophy of education.
New York: McGraw Hill.
Gutek. G.L. (2004) Philosophical and ideological voices in education. Boston:
Pearson Education.
Lipman, M. (2007) Education for Critical Thinking .In: Curren, R. (Ed.). Philosophy
of Education: An anthology. (pp.427-434). Malden, MA: Blackwell
Publishing.
Noddings, N. (2007). Philosophy of education (2nd ed). Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
Noddings, N. (2007) The One-Caring as Teacher .In: Curren, R. (Ed.). Philosophy of
Education: An anthology. (pp.372-376). Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.
Monday, April 25, 2011
The kind of cultural identity that public schools should promote
If we take a look at and make a search of the educational issues involving and impacting educational practice hundreds of years ago and those impacting the present, we will find a major common issue: What kind of cultural identity should public schools promote. This issue arose in the past, exists at the present including a larger number of related ideologies and philosophies and perhaps, it will still exist in the future. But looking at the present, and seeing the radical innovations and technological advances made in all sectors such as, medicine, industry, and business, it is a following consequent that this kind of changes and others will influence the sector of education too. Therefore, schools, and particularly public schools, must follow a reformed and renewed kind of education that need to provide their students with. Such kind of education adheres to and is based on five main features: (1) social change and intelligence; (2) freedom; (3) collaborative learning; (4) promotion of cultural continuity; and (5) traditional moral values. Next, follows a reflection on the kind of cultural identity that follows and adheres to these features and, that public schools should promote.
To begin with, public schools must promote a cultural identity that is open to social change. If this is achieved then, many positive effects can arise and improve students’ education. Cultural identity reflects culture and since, culture is influenced and based on occurred social changes, it is then a following consequent that public schools should be open to social change. Because, apart from their academic functions as academic institutions that provide the learning of basic skills and subjects, they should apply another function, more fluid, flexible and responsive to social change and problems and therefore, to become multifunctional and multipurpose institutions that create and provide a climate of multiculturalism (Gutek, 2004). This can be achieved, as Gutek supported, if public schools substitute racial segregation to racial integration, develop educational programs concerning major current social issues such as safe sex, drug and alcohol abuse, AIDS and also, if they provide for vocational preparation, health care, counselling and other social needs. The effective application of such kind of functions can produce great social, economic, and educational benefits to students and therefore, can strengthen their cultural identity.
Relative to social change is human and social intelligence. And this is so, because human and social intelligence enables individuals not only to adjust to social change but also to direct it in order to achieve as many social and economic benefits they can (Gutek, 2004). Therefore, it is the school’s goal through the education it provides to students, to develop, exercise and promote such kind of intelligence. And particularly, as Gutek noted, it must be included in the teachers’ role to encourage the development of social intelligence to students and this, can be achieved if they apply to their teaching methods open discussions and permission to share, question and doubt ideas.
Going further, a feature of the kind of cultural identity that public schools should definitely adhere to and promote, is freedom. Freedom of thought, freedom of expression and, freedom from religious controls. Because no cultural identity that an individual “owns” can be called even an identity if the individual has no freedom to do anything. The components involved in the educational process, meaning schools, teachers, students and the curriculum, should be places and sources of freedom of thought, of expression and of action. Particularly, teachers and students must be free to teach and learn respectively, without having their freedom limited by arbitrary controls while, the curriculum of public schools must be open to new ideas, subjects and methods of inquiry that will enable students to have the freedom to pose questions, challenge, doubt, make judgments and decisions, developing by this way important and necessary critical thinking skills (Gutek, 2004). Additionally, the students’ freedom to making choices in the future can be assured if they are taught mutual respect and, as Gutmann noted, students must be provided with those opportunities that will enable them to choose among good lives in the future (Cahn, 1997).
But freedom includes another issue relative to religion, which if applied to the educational process it can prevent the kind of freedom mentioned above. Since, different religions exist in today’s world and since, at schools attend children believing in various religions it is therefore, better that public schools be separated from church and hence, from religious dogmas. Because religious dogmas can restrain freedom of inquiry, it is necessary that public schools be free from religious controls and this can be achieved if religious instruction, observances, prayers and other religious issues are excluded from the educational processes in public schools (Gutek, 2004).
A necessary component of the kind of cultural identity that public schools should promote is collaborative or as Dewey called it associative learning, through which students can become responsible, a characteristic necessary for living in a democratic society. What is meant by collaborative learning is that students can cooperate and work together, share their own needs, interests, aspirations and knowledge in order to jointly solve a problem or face an existing situation. By this way, they not only give solution to the particular problem but they also learn how to work as responsible individuals who learn by doing, and as members of a particular group while, this group membership of them is flexible and can change based on their interests (Gutek, 2004).
Public schools should promote a kind of cultural identity that follows and is based on, as Bentham defined it, the principle of utility. This principle assumes that curriculum and instruction can be reformed by the incorporation of new areas of knowledge, of new subjects and skills and, the removal of obsolete ones, making by this way schools more relevant and efficient, producing better effects to students as well as to teachers and, making the curriculum and methods of instruction more relevant to socioeconomic changes that reflect technological innovations, advances and scientific discoveries (Gutek, 2004). In addition to these, as Gutek stated, basic skills such as reading, writing, and calculating can remain as they are but can be taught with innovative methods while, specific subjects such as, history, science, language, literature and mathematics can be reformed and revised by incorporating new developments and insights.
The above reflections on the kind of cultural identity that public schools should promote, presuppose some changes to be done from those holding the reins of the educational process, meaning schools, teachers, students and the curriculum. But there are also some already existing features that must be part of the cultural identity that public schools should promote. Because as with every sector, whether that is industry, medicine or business, similarly with education, you cannot produce changes or improvements without the existence of some underpinnings. You must build and make changes and improvements on those existing underpinnings.
Particularly, through the educational process, public schools can achieve various changes as long as those changes are linked to and reinforce the cultural heritage. It is unconceivable for students not to know and not to be informed about what existed before them, not to know about their cultural heritage. Hence, if public schools want to perform their function better, they must transmit this heritage (traditions, skills, knowledge and, values) to students and make sure that they promote cultural continuity through the teaching of specific subjects such as, language, history, literature, and the arts (Gutek, 2004). But students must know not only the traditions of their own subculture but also the traditions of other subcultures in order that they are given, by this way, the opportunity to understand, appreciate and, love what is good in those traditions (Appiah, 2007). This constitutes also a good way for providing students with a multicultural education.
In addition to these, the kind of cultural identity that public schools should promote must emphasize traditional moral values such as, honesty, fairness, self-discipline, personal responsibility, love of country, liberty and equality. Apart from basic skills and knowledge such as, reading, writing and history, students as Jefferson supported, must be educated also in their rights, interests, and duties as men and citizens and therefore, the goal of education should be to improve not only one’s faculties but also one’s morals (Gutek, 2004).
Democracy’s survival depends upon our transmitting to each new generation the political vision of liberty and equality that unites us as Americans…Such values are neither revealed truths nor natural habits. There is no evidence that we are born with them. Devotion to human dignity and freedom, to equal rights, to social and economic justice, to the rule of law, to civility and truth, to tolerance of diversity, to mutual assistance, to personal and civic responsibility, to self-restraint and self-respect-all these must be taught and learned (Galston, 1998, p.472).
Furthermore, if schools want to teach morality, and help students develop good moral and civic character and therefore, transmit to them a moral foundation, they must expose students to such kind of character and, this can be best achieved if the main instruments of the educational process embody sound convictions. “As Oxford’s Mary Warnock has written. “You cannot teach morality without being committed to morality yourself, and you cannot be committed to morality yourself without holding that some things are right and others wrong”” (Gutek, 2004, p.211). Additionally, if character education is going to be provided to students, it must be depended on the identification and description of exemplars (Noddings, 2006). Therefore, students must have some real persons whose behavior must “watch” in order that they identify, consider and hence, attain by themselves a particular moral value. And the best real persons that can be “offered” as exemplars to students are their teachers, principals and, parents.
In conclusion, the kind of cultural identity that public schools should promote and, that was defined and reflected previously, it can be said is mostly a liberal one, though it adheres some features of Conservatism. Public schools must make reforms but preserve some procedures, processes, features and, underpinnings of existing educational practice. Therefore, they must build on those underpinnings, promote, and provide by this way the best, most suitable and appropriate kind of cultural identity to their students that will accordingly, provide them with the best education as possible.
References
Appiah, K.A (2007) Culture, Subculture, Multiculturalism: Educational Options. In:
Curren, R. (Ed.). Philosophy of Education: An anthology. (pp.255-265). Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.
Cahn, S. (1997) Classic and contemporary readings in the philosophy of education.
New York: McGraw Hill.
Galston, W. (1998) Civic Education in the Liberal State. In: Rorty, A. (Ed.).
Philosophers on education: New historical perspectives (pp.470-480). New York: Routledge.
Gutek. G.L. (2004) Philosophical and ideological voices in education. Boston:
Pearson Education.
Noddings, N. (2006). Philosophy of education (2nd ed). Boulder, CO: Westview
Press.
To begin with, public schools must promote a cultural identity that is open to social change. If this is achieved then, many positive effects can arise and improve students’ education. Cultural identity reflects culture and since, culture is influenced and based on occurred social changes, it is then a following consequent that public schools should be open to social change. Because, apart from their academic functions as academic institutions that provide the learning of basic skills and subjects, they should apply another function, more fluid, flexible and responsive to social change and problems and therefore, to become multifunctional and multipurpose institutions that create and provide a climate of multiculturalism (Gutek, 2004). This can be achieved, as Gutek supported, if public schools substitute racial segregation to racial integration, develop educational programs concerning major current social issues such as safe sex, drug and alcohol abuse, AIDS and also, if they provide for vocational preparation, health care, counselling and other social needs. The effective application of such kind of functions can produce great social, economic, and educational benefits to students and therefore, can strengthen their cultural identity.
Relative to social change is human and social intelligence. And this is so, because human and social intelligence enables individuals not only to adjust to social change but also to direct it in order to achieve as many social and economic benefits they can (Gutek, 2004). Therefore, it is the school’s goal through the education it provides to students, to develop, exercise and promote such kind of intelligence. And particularly, as Gutek noted, it must be included in the teachers’ role to encourage the development of social intelligence to students and this, can be achieved if they apply to their teaching methods open discussions and permission to share, question and doubt ideas.
Going further, a feature of the kind of cultural identity that public schools should definitely adhere to and promote, is freedom. Freedom of thought, freedom of expression and, freedom from religious controls. Because no cultural identity that an individual “owns” can be called even an identity if the individual has no freedom to do anything. The components involved in the educational process, meaning schools, teachers, students and the curriculum, should be places and sources of freedom of thought, of expression and of action. Particularly, teachers and students must be free to teach and learn respectively, without having their freedom limited by arbitrary controls while, the curriculum of public schools must be open to new ideas, subjects and methods of inquiry that will enable students to have the freedom to pose questions, challenge, doubt, make judgments and decisions, developing by this way important and necessary critical thinking skills (Gutek, 2004). Additionally, the students’ freedom to making choices in the future can be assured if they are taught mutual respect and, as Gutmann noted, students must be provided with those opportunities that will enable them to choose among good lives in the future (Cahn, 1997).
But freedom includes another issue relative to religion, which if applied to the educational process it can prevent the kind of freedom mentioned above. Since, different religions exist in today’s world and since, at schools attend children believing in various religions it is therefore, better that public schools be separated from church and hence, from religious dogmas. Because religious dogmas can restrain freedom of inquiry, it is necessary that public schools be free from religious controls and this can be achieved if religious instruction, observances, prayers and other religious issues are excluded from the educational processes in public schools (Gutek, 2004).
A necessary component of the kind of cultural identity that public schools should promote is collaborative or as Dewey called it associative learning, through which students can become responsible, a characteristic necessary for living in a democratic society. What is meant by collaborative learning is that students can cooperate and work together, share their own needs, interests, aspirations and knowledge in order to jointly solve a problem or face an existing situation. By this way, they not only give solution to the particular problem but they also learn how to work as responsible individuals who learn by doing, and as members of a particular group while, this group membership of them is flexible and can change based on their interests (Gutek, 2004).
Public schools should promote a kind of cultural identity that follows and is based on, as Bentham defined it, the principle of utility. This principle assumes that curriculum and instruction can be reformed by the incorporation of new areas of knowledge, of new subjects and skills and, the removal of obsolete ones, making by this way schools more relevant and efficient, producing better effects to students as well as to teachers and, making the curriculum and methods of instruction more relevant to socioeconomic changes that reflect technological innovations, advances and scientific discoveries (Gutek, 2004). In addition to these, as Gutek stated, basic skills such as reading, writing, and calculating can remain as they are but can be taught with innovative methods while, specific subjects such as, history, science, language, literature and mathematics can be reformed and revised by incorporating new developments and insights.
The above reflections on the kind of cultural identity that public schools should promote, presuppose some changes to be done from those holding the reins of the educational process, meaning schools, teachers, students and the curriculum. But there are also some already existing features that must be part of the cultural identity that public schools should promote. Because as with every sector, whether that is industry, medicine or business, similarly with education, you cannot produce changes or improvements without the existence of some underpinnings. You must build and make changes and improvements on those existing underpinnings.
Particularly, through the educational process, public schools can achieve various changes as long as those changes are linked to and reinforce the cultural heritage. It is unconceivable for students not to know and not to be informed about what existed before them, not to know about their cultural heritage. Hence, if public schools want to perform their function better, they must transmit this heritage (traditions, skills, knowledge and, values) to students and make sure that they promote cultural continuity through the teaching of specific subjects such as, language, history, literature, and the arts (Gutek, 2004). But students must know not only the traditions of their own subculture but also the traditions of other subcultures in order that they are given, by this way, the opportunity to understand, appreciate and, love what is good in those traditions (Appiah, 2007). This constitutes also a good way for providing students with a multicultural education.
In addition to these, the kind of cultural identity that public schools should promote must emphasize traditional moral values such as, honesty, fairness, self-discipline, personal responsibility, love of country, liberty and equality. Apart from basic skills and knowledge such as, reading, writing and history, students as Jefferson supported, must be educated also in their rights, interests, and duties as men and citizens and therefore, the goal of education should be to improve not only one’s faculties but also one’s morals (Gutek, 2004).
Democracy’s survival depends upon our transmitting to each new generation the political vision of liberty and equality that unites us as Americans…Such values are neither revealed truths nor natural habits. There is no evidence that we are born with them. Devotion to human dignity and freedom, to equal rights, to social and economic justice, to the rule of law, to civility and truth, to tolerance of diversity, to mutual assistance, to personal and civic responsibility, to self-restraint and self-respect-all these must be taught and learned (Galston, 1998, p.472).
Furthermore, if schools want to teach morality, and help students develop good moral and civic character and therefore, transmit to them a moral foundation, they must expose students to such kind of character and, this can be best achieved if the main instruments of the educational process embody sound convictions. “As Oxford’s Mary Warnock has written. “You cannot teach morality without being committed to morality yourself, and you cannot be committed to morality yourself without holding that some things are right and others wrong”” (Gutek, 2004, p.211). Additionally, if character education is going to be provided to students, it must be depended on the identification and description of exemplars (Noddings, 2006). Therefore, students must have some real persons whose behavior must “watch” in order that they identify, consider and hence, attain by themselves a particular moral value. And the best real persons that can be “offered” as exemplars to students are their teachers, principals and, parents.
In conclusion, the kind of cultural identity that public schools should promote and, that was defined and reflected previously, it can be said is mostly a liberal one, though it adheres some features of Conservatism. Public schools must make reforms but preserve some procedures, processes, features and, underpinnings of existing educational practice. Therefore, they must build on those underpinnings, promote, and provide by this way the best, most suitable and appropriate kind of cultural identity to their students that will accordingly, provide them with the best education as possible.
References
Appiah, K.A (2007) Culture, Subculture, Multiculturalism: Educational Options. In:
Curren, R. (Ed.). Philosophy of Education: An anthology. (pp.255-265). Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.
Cahn, S. (1997) Classic and contemporary readings in the philosophy of education.
New York: McGraw Hill.
Galston, W. (1998) Civic Education in the Liberal State. In: Rorty, A. (Ed.).
Philosophers on education: New historical perspectives (pp.470-480). New York: Routledge.
Gutek. G.L. (2004) Philosophical and ideological voices in education. Boston:
Pearson Education.
Noddings, N. (2006). Philosophy of education (2nd ed). Boulder, CO: Westview
Press.
My own educational philosophy statement-What is real, true, good, beautiful, and logical
Education is not a mere piling up of more and more pieces of information. Rather, it is a process of deciding for ourselves what we believe. It is a process of autonomously deciding to understand what is and what is not real, true, good, beautiful, and logical. When a person realizes and understands the meaning of these terms, he or she will be at the right path that can lead him or her if not to the attainment of perfection to the ultimate development of his or her spirit or mind. The task of answering to the question of what is real, true, good, beautiful, and logical is not an easy one. But when an answer is been given many other issues and answers can be derived from this, that can give an explanation and an answer to other important life questions.
A deeper understanding of what is real can be better made if it is analyzed and answered in relation to the question of what is true. Real is a spiritual source from which all things originate and, due to the power of which all things exist (Gutek, 2004). What is real is universal, unchanging and eternally true and, is rooted in the universe’s underlying spirituality and intellectuality while, it is not based on time, place, environment, or situation (Gutek, 2004). Accordingly, as Plato noted, truth cannot be found in the world of matter because such a world is not permanent rather, it is changing (Ozmon and Craver, 2007)
Reality is an extension of a highly abstract universal idea, principle or concept, such as Plato’s form of the Good, Hegel’s Absolute or Emerson’s Macrocosm while, the truth that is present within us must be brought to consciousness, to our spiritual and mental surface through a process of knowing (Gutek, 2004).
In respect of the educational area, students must try and search inside themselves in order to find out what is true or i.e. the truth that is present to them. And here is where the teachers’ role lays its importance. Teachers must be the source from which students can derive motives in order to seek for truth. Teachers must provide students with an environment clear of false images created by consumerism and disinformation that characterize the image of society (Gutek, 2004). But in order for the teachers’ goal to be successfully achieved, students must at first be awakened from their home background about what is true. Parents must prepare their children before entering the school world and be “submitted” to the teachers’ hands, to take the first steps toward truth. Therefore, the true student having the teacher as a guide will be in a position ready to begin a spiritual and intellectual journey in order to find out not only what is real and true but also what is good and beautiful (Gutek, 2004).
As previously mentioned, since what is real and true is spiritual and nonmaterial it consequently follows, that true education must relate to ideas instead to matter. Based only on this assumption it will be possible through the contemplation of ideas for God to be reached, since God is a pure idea. And as Augustine pointed out, the search for truth is at the same time a search for God and respectively, a true education leads a person to God (Ozmon and Craver, 2007). Moreover, pure ideas consist the major components leading a person to the true knowledge. Particularly, true knowledge can be acquired through the recall of the ideas that are latently present in the human mind (Gutek, 2004). Apart from the recall of ideas, true knowledge can be achieved through reasoning and specifically, through the surpass of reason through faith. And as Augustine noted, it is only through faith that a person can achieve the acquisition of true ideas and true knowledge (Ozmon and Craver, 2007).
What is true must undoubtedly be characterized by lasting moral values. The search for truth requires personal discipline and a steady and loyal character (Ozmon and Craver, 2007). One can suppress discussion about moral values, but one cannot suppress the development of values and the formation of morals (Carter, 1984). The formation of morals it is of the basic components which lead to the self-discovery of truth. Hence, moral education goes on all over the school building-in the classrooms, in assemblies, in the gym. It strengthens the teacher-student relationship. Therefore, the school cannot but be a force for growth and for good in the moral life of the student and consequently, moral education is an inevitable role of the schools while for the teachers themselves, it comes with the territory (Carter, 1984). In addition to these, character development must also aim at motivating students to improve their thinking abilities in the deepest possible way. Students must direct their thinking toward more universal concepts than those employed in the day-to-day living matters, reaching by this way the ideal goal of wisdom and truth and therefore, the foremost goal of a good education (Ozmon and Craver, 2007).
From the above assumptions and the answer given to what is real and true, it can be said that the values of reality and truth are universal, permanent, unchanging and timeless. Consequently, they are not relative to particular cultures at given times or arise from personal and subjective choices as the Pragmatists’ and Existentialists’ supporters state respectively.
Going further, an also important issue involved with the particular educational philosophy that is currently being pointed out, is the one that answers the question of what is good. Plato, for example, defended the thesis that good is all those existing things that are imperfect copies of eternal, unchanging, immaterial archetypes, forms, or ideas (Gutek, 2004). What is good is evidently something complete. When humans manage to fulfil all the necessary presuppositions which relate to a situation they consequently, manage to bring the particular “situation” to a complete end and therefore, manage to attain good. Specifically, only when the end of something is completed, the chief good is achieved since, there are evidently more than one ends, some of which are not completed and from which humans make a choice of (Cahn, 1997). In accordance with these, a separation must be made between actions and making, because while making has an end other than itself, action cannot since for good action itself is its end (Cahn, 1997). But as Plato noted when the essential form of Good is perceived there comes beauty and specifically, in the visible world it gives birth to light and its master while in the intellectual world spreads out in the ultimate values of truth and reason (Gutek, 2004).
When humans act and do the good they can be characterized as good. Accordingly, when humans attain the excellences of the two parts of the soul, the one which has a rational principle in itself and, the other not having a rational principle in itself but is able to obey such a principle, they do the good and consequently, they can be called good (Cahn, 1997).
In respect of the education process, the good is when students are involved in a procedure of thinking about and realizing not only the purposes of life but also the ways through which they can become active participants in such kind of purposes (Ozmon and Craver, 2007). By this way, as Royce pointed out, students can become a part of the universal design and hence, can achieve the highest good since they are in a position of successfully developing a sense of loyalty to moral principles as well as to causes (Ozmon and Craver, 2007).
What is good consequently, relates to the good life. Because no one who has attained the good can act oppose it to it and therefore, not living a good life. When humans manage to realize what kinds of thing consist generally the good life then it can be said that they have practical wisdom, a “component” necessary for humans which, places them in a position to be able to deliberate well enough about what is good and expedient for them (Cahn, 1997). In addition to this, as Kant stated, humans are motivated and led to think and seek out the good only if they are been given the appropriate education, an education whose components, apart from others, include the great value of discipline (Ozmon and Craver, 2007).
The realization and attainment of the good is a consequent of the adherence to a good system of nurture, of the education’s creation of good natures which while receiving the help and guidance of a good education, grow even better than they once were (Cahn, 1997).
Going further, if we are in a position to characterize something as real, true, and good the consequently, we can not do otherwise but conclude that this something is also beautiful. It is impossible for something to be real, true, and good and not at the same time be beautiful. It can be added though that beautiful includes all those virtues of the soul which lead a person to act with wisdom, justice and honesty. The soul of the person is characterized by those habits that are healthy, beautiful and good and which constitute the significant value of virtue (Cahn, 1997).
What is real, true, good and consequently, beautiful is now and always has been real, true, good and beautiful and is not relative to changing times, situations and circumstances; rather, it is eternal, universal and unchanging (Gutek, 2004). The values of reality, truth, goodness, and beauty do not depend on anything but rather they are the same for all humans, regarding their colour, gender, ethnicity or social position. And this is an assumption contrasting to the one made by Dewey J., who supported the idea that values such as goodness, truth, and beauty are relative to particular circumstances, to people living at particular time and place, a notion he based on the idea that human experiences arise in concrete and particular situations (Gutek, 2004).
An also important issue is the one referring to logic. What is logical is apparently something that is specific which correlates with that which is general. A situation or something particular as a “unit” must said to obtain the trait of logic if only when compared to the whole in general is consistent with it. Hence, there is a strong and absolute relationship between the whole and the part which, in order to be called as a logical one must have its parts consistent with the whole (Gutek, 2004).
In respect of the educational field, logic constitutes a significant “component” and trait that needs to be flourished in students’ mind. Students must be in a position to think and act logically if they are going to obtain the ultimate values of reality, goodness, and beauty and if they are therefore going to be led to the self-discovery of truth and hence, achieve excellence and perfection. It is by this way that logic needs to be worked out in the education of children if we want to develop major, holistic ideas and concepts in the students’ mind (Gutek, 2004). Logic does not depend on the students’ choice as the supporters of Existentialism suppose, who state that logic is subject to choice and that students have the right to choose to be logical or illogical or be deductive, drawing their own conclusions (Gutek, 2004).
In conclusion, the above answer given to the question of what is real, true, good, beautiful, and logical describes an educational philosophy which, in a major degree applies and adheres the traits and points of view of the Idealistic educational philosophy. Education is about reality, truth, goodness, beauty, and logic which, in general are values being the same for everyone in everyplace on Earth (Gutek, 2004). And according to Plato since, truth is eternal and, perfect people in respect of the purposes of education, must aim at the acquisition of philosophical wisdom and the conception of true ideas (Ozmon and Craver, 2007). This comes to an opposition to Aristotle’s doctrine which supports that moral virtue, i.e. goodness of character is formed by habit and that one becomes good by doing good and additionally, wisdom is acquired by teaching and requires sophisticated intelligence (Cahn, 1997).
The terms real, true, good, beautiful, and logical are terms connected and related to each other, one leading to the other. The realization of these terms and therefore, the acquisition of reality, truth, goodness, beauty, and logic constitutes the right and appropriate path that can lead a person to the self-discovery of truth, to the attainment if not of perfection and excellence, to the major degree of achieving as much as a person can.
References
Cahn, S. (1997) Classic and contemporary readings in the philosophy of education. New York: McGraw Hill 0070096198
Carter, R.E. (1937) Dimensions of Moral Education. University of Toronto Press. Toronto Buffalo London
Gutek. G.L. (2004) Philosophical and ideological voices in education. Boston: Pearson Education 0205360181
Ozmon, H.A., & Craver, S.M. (2007). Philosophical foundations of education (8th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
A deeper understanding of what is real can be better made if it is analyzed and answered in relation to the question of what is true. Real is a spiritual source from which all things originate and, due to the power of which all things exist (Gutek, 2004). What is real is universal, unchanging and eternally true and, is rooted in the universe’s underlying spirituality and intellectuality while, it is not based on time, place, environment, or situation (Gutek, 2004). Accordingly, as Plato noted, truth cannot be found in the world of matter because such a world is not permanent rather, it is changing (Ozmon and Craver, 2007)
Reality is an extension of a highly abstract universal idea, principle or concept, such as Plato’s form of the Good, Hegel’s Absolute or Emerson’s Macrocosm while, the truth that is present within us must be brought to consciousness, to our spiritual and mental surface through a process of knowing (Gutek, 2004).
In respect of the educational area, students must try and search inside themselves in order to find out what is true or i.e. the truth that is present to them. And here is where the teachers’ role lays its importance. Teachers must be the source from which students can derive motives in order to seek for truth. Teachers must provide students with an environment clear of false images created by consumerism and disinformation that characterize the image of society (Gutek, 2004). But in order for the teachers’ goal to be successfully achieved, students must at first be awakened from their home background about what is true. Parents must prepare their children before entering the school world and be “submitted” to the teachers’ hands, to take the first steps toward truth. Therefore, the true student having the teacher as a guide will be in a position ready to begin a spiritual and intellectual journey in order to find out not only what is real and true but also what is good and beautiful (Gutek, 2004).
As previously mentioned, since what is real and true is spiritual and nonmaterial it consequently follows, that true education must relate to ideas instead to matter. Based only on this assumption it will be possible through the contemplation of ideas for God to be reached, since God is a pure idea. And as Augustine pointed out, the search for truth is at the same time a search for God and respectively, a true education leads a person to God (Ozmon and Craver, 2007). Moreover, pure ideas consist the major components leading a person to the true knowledge. Particularly, true knowledge can be acquired through the recall of the ideas that are latently present in the human mind (Gutek, 2004). Apart from the recall of ideas, true knowledge can be achieved through reasoning and specifically, through the surpass of reason through faith. And as Augustine noted, it is only through faith that a person can achieve the acquisition of true ideas and true knowledge (Ozmon and Craver, 2007).
What is true must undoubtedly be characterized by lasting moral values. The search for truth requires personal discipline and a steady and loyal character (Ozmon and Craver, 2007). One can suppress discussion about moral values, but one cannot suppress the development of values and the formation of morals (Carter, 1984). The formation of morals it is of the basic components which lead to the self-discovery of truth. Hence, moral education goes on all over the school building-in the classrooms, in assemblies, in the gym. It strengthens the teacher-student relationship. Therefore, the school cannot but be a force for growth and for good in the moral life of the student and consequently, moral education is an inevitable role of the schools while for the teachers themselves, it comes with the territory (Carter, 1984). In addition to these, character development must also aim at motivating students to improve their thinking abilities in the deepest possible way. Students must direct their thinking toward more universal concepts than those employed in the day-to-day living matters, reaching by this way the ideal goal of wisdom and truth and therefore, the foremost goal of a good education (Ozmon and Craver, 2007).
From the above assumptions and the answer given to what is real and true, it can be said that the values of reality and truth are universal, permanent, unchanging and timeless. Consequently, they are not relative to particular cultures at given times or arise from personal and subjective choices as the Pragmatists’ and Existentialists’ supporters state respectively.
Going further, an also important issue involved with the particular educational philosophy that is currently being pointed out, is the one that answers the question of what is good. Plato, for example, defended the thesis that good is all those existing things that are imperfect copies of eternal, unchanging, immaterial archetypes, forms, or ideas (Gutek, 2004). What is good is evidently something complete. When humans manage to fulfil all the necessary presuppositions which relate to a situation they consequently, manage to bring the particular “situation” to a complete end and therefore, manage to attain good. Specifically, only when the end of something is completed, the chief good is achieved since, there are evidently more than one ends, some of which are not completed and from which humans make a choice of (Cahn, 1997). In accordance with these, a separation must be made between actions and making, because while making has an end other than itself, action cannot since for good action itself is its end (Cahn, 1997). But as Plato noted when the essential form of Good is perceived there comes beauty and specifically, in the visible world it gives birth to light and its master while in the intellectual world spreads out in the ultimate values of truth and reason (Gutek, 2004).
When humans act and do the good they can be characterized as good. Accordingly, when humans attain the excellences of the two parts of the soul, the one which has a rational principle in itself and, the other not having a rational principle in itself but is able to obey such a principle, they do the good and consequently, they can be called good (Cahn, 1997).
In respect of the education process, the good is when students are involved in a procedure of thinking about and realizing not only the purposes of life but also the ways through which they can become active participants in such kind of purposes (Ozmon and Craver, 2007). By this way, as Royce pointed out, students can become a part of the universal design and hence, can achieve the highest good since they are in a position of successfully developing a sense of loyalty to moral principles as well as to causes (Ozmon and Craver, 2007).
What is good consequently, relates to the good life. Because no one who has attained the good can act oppose it to it and therefore, not living a good life. When humans manage to realize what kinds of thing consist generally the good life then it can be said that they have practical wisdom, a “component” necessary for humans which, places them in a position to be able to deliberate well enough about what is good and expedient for them (Cahn, 1997). In addition to this, as Kant stated, humans are motivated and led to think and seek out the good only if they are been given the appropriate education, an education whose components, apart from others, include the great value of discipline (Ozmon and Craver, 2007).
The realization and attainment of the good is a consequent of the adherence to a good system of nurture, of the education’s creation of good natures which while receiving the help and guidance of a good education, grow even better than they once were (Cahn, 1997).
Going further, if we are in a position to characterize something as real, true, and good the consequently, we can not do otherwise but conclude that this something is also beautiful. It is impossible for something to be real, true, and good and not at the same time be beautiful. It can be added though that beautiful includes all those virtues of the soul which lead a person to act with wisdom, justice and honesty. The soul of the person is characterized by those habits that are healthy, beautiful and good and which constitute the significant value of virtue (Cahn, 1997).
What is real, true, good and consequently, beautiful is now and always has been real, true, good and beautiful and is not relative to changing times, situations and circumstances; rather, it is eternal, universal and unchanging (Gutek, 2004). The values of reality, truth, goodness, and beauty do not depend on anything but rather they are the same for all humans, regarding their colour, gender, ethnicity or social position. And this is an assumption contrasting to the one made by Dewey J., who supported the idea that values such as goodness, truth, and beauty are relative to particular circumstances, to people living at particular time and place, a notion he based on the idea that human experiences arise in concrete and particular situations (Gutek, 2004).
An also important issue is the one referring to logic. What is logical is apparently something that is specific which correlates with that which is general. A situation or something particular as a “unit” must said to obtain the trait of logic if only when compared to the whole in general is consistent with it. Hence, there is a strong and absolute relationship between the whole and the part which, in order to be called as a logical one must have its parts consistent with the whole (Gutek, 2004).
In respect of the educational field, logic constitutes a significant “component” and trait that needs to be flourished in students’ mind. Students must be in a position to think and act logically if they are going to obtain the ultimate values of reality, goodness, and beauty and if they are therefore going to be led to the self-discovery of truth and hence, achieve excellence and perfection. It is by this way that logic needs to be worked out in the education of children if we want to develop major, holistic ideas and concepts in the students’ mind (Gutek, 2004). Logic does not depend on the students’ choice as the supporters of Existentialism suppose, who state that logic is subject to choice and that students have the right to choose to be logical or illogical or be deductive, drawing their own conclusions (Gutek, 2004).
In conclusion, the above answer given to the question of what is real, true, good, beautiful, and logical describes an educational philosophy which, in a major degree applies and adheres the traits and points of view of the Idealistic educational philosophy. Education is about reality, truth, goodness, beauty, and logic which, in general are values being the same for everyone in everyplace on Earth (Gutek, 2004). And according to Plato since, truth is eternal and, perfect people in respect of the purposes of education, must aim at the acquisition of philosophical wisdom and the conception of true ideas (Ozmon and Craver, 2007). This comes to an opposition to Aristotle’s doctrine which supports that moral virtue, i.e. goodness of character is formed by habit and that one becomes good by doing good and additionally, wisdom is acquired by teaching and requires sophisticated intelligence (Cahn, 1997).
The terms real, true, good, beautiful, and logical are terms connected and related to each other, one leading to the other. The realization of these terms and therefore, the acquisition of reality, truth, goodness, beauty, and logic constitutes the right and appropriate path that can lead a person to the self-discovery of truth, to the attainment if not of perfection and excellence, to the major degree of achieving as much as a person can.
References
Cahn, S. (1997) Classic and contemporary readings in the philosophy of education. New York: McGraw Hill 0070096198
Carter, R.E. (1937) Dimensions of Moral Education. University of Toronto Press. Toronto Buffalo London
Gutek. G.L. (2004) Philosophical and ideological voices in education. Boston: Pearson Education 0205360181
Ozmon, H.A., & Craver, S.M. (2007). Philosophical foundations of education (8th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
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