Leonardo Z. Camboja Jr. The
Teaching Profession
BEE
– 2 Olga
C. Alonsabe, Ph.D.
December
3, 2012
Philosophies
of Education
John Dewey - Progressivism
John Dewey
(1859-1952) applied pragmatist philosophy in his progressive approaches. He believed
that learners must adapt to each other and to their environment. Schools should
emphasize the subject matter of social experience. All learning is dependent on
the context of place, time, and circumstance. Different cultural and ethnic
groups learn to work cooperatively and contribute to a democratic society. The
ultimate purpose is the creation of a new social order. Character development
is based on making group decisions in light of consequences.
For
Pragmatists, teaching methods focus on hands-on problem solving, experimenting,
and projects, often having students work in groups. Curriculum should bring the
disciplines together to focus on solving problems in an interdisciplinary way.
Rather than passing down organized bodies of knowledge to new learners,
Pragmatists believe that learners should apply their knowledge to real
situations through experimental inquiry. This prepares students for
citizenship, daily living, and future careers.
John Dewey was its foremost
proponent. One of his tenets was that the school should improve the way of life
of our 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.
JohnB. Watson - Behaviorism
Watson coined the term "Behaviorism" in 1913. Behaviorism
assumes that behavior is observable and can be correlated with other observable
events. Thus, there are events that precede and follow behavior. Behaviorism's
goal is to explain relationships between antecedent conditions (stimuli), behavior
(responses), and consequences (reward, punishment, or neutral effect). His
theory was more concerned with effects of stimuli. He derived much of his
thinking from Pavlov's
animal studies (classical conditioning). This is also referred to as
"learning through stimulus substitution," a reference to the
substitution of one stimulus for another. For example, the ringing of a bell
eventually produced the same response as food for Pavlov's dogs.
Aspects of Watson's theory:
• He opposed mentalistic concepts
• He used contiguity to explain learning
• He considered emotion to be just another example of classical conditioning
• He rejected the notion of individual differences
• He thought complex behaviors came about through combinations of identifiable
reflexes
• He was a chief proponent of "nurture" and believed that all human
differences were the result of learning
• He believed that practice strengthens learning
Popularizing Behaviorism
John B. Watson is generally given credit for creating and
popularizing the term behaviorism with the publication of his seminal
1913 article "Psychology as the Behaviorist Views It." In the article,
Watson argued that psychology had failed in its quest to become a natural
science, largely due to a focus on consciousness and other unseen phenomena.
Rather than study these unverifiable ideas, Watson urged the careful scientific
study of observable behavior. His view of behaviorism was a reaction to
introspection, where each researcher served as his or her own research subject,
and the study of consciousness by Freud and others, which Watson believed to be
highly subjective and unscientific.
William Bagley -
Essentialism
The essentialists offered several basic
educational principles. First, they recognized the right of an immature student
to the guidance of a well-educated, caring, and cultured teacher. Second, they
proposed that an effective democracy demanded a democratic culture in which
teachers impart the ideals of community to each succeeding generation of
children. Third, they called for a specific program of studies that required
thoroughness, accuracy, persistence, and good workmanship on the part of
pupils. Bagley's basic point with his role in the founding of essentialism was
that the currently dominant theories of education were feeble and insufficient.
He wanted these dominant theories complemented, and perhaps replaced, with a
philosophy that was strong, virile, and positive. He did not, however, want to
destroy completely the dominant theories that he was critiquing. Throughout his
life, he supported both the academic disciplines and certain basic tenets of
Progressive education.
Jean Paul Sartre -
Existentialism
Sartre's
1946 lecture L'Existentialisme
est un humanisme ("Existentialism
is a Humanism") offers a convenient summary of his
basic views. The most fundamental doctrine of existentialism is the claim
that—for human beings at least—existence precedes essence. As an atheism,
Sartre demands that we completely abandon the traditional notion of human
beings as the carefully designed artifacts of a divine creator. There is no
abstract nature that one is destined to fill. Instead, each of us simply is in the world; what we will be is then entirely up to
us. Being human just means having the capacity to create one's own essence in
time.
Robert Maynard Hutchins -
Perennialism
An education
which consisted of the liberal arts as understood through great books and of
great books understood through the liberal arts...It must follow that if
we want to educate our students for freedom, we must educate them in the
liberal arts and in the great books.
.
Hutchins believed in order to educate students for freedom, that they must be
educated in the liberal arts. This belief gave way to the Chicago College
Plan which consisted of a strict liberal arts curriculum at the University of
Chicago. He viewed the liberal arts as indispensable for preparing for
life. To Hutchins, teaching everyone to think, and to think well, was the
ultimate in democratic education.
. His
educational reform helped to define perennialism. For it was Hutchins,
the ultimate perennialist and idealist, who said, * Education implies
teaching. Teaching implies knowledge as truth. The truth is
everywhere the same. Hence, education should be everywhere the same.
