Table of Contents

ASSIGNMENT NO 01 ......................................................................................................... 3
INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................ 4
WESTERN PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION ............................................................................ 5
SOME WESTERN PHILOSOPHERS WHO CONTRIBUTE TO IMPROVE EDUCATION. ................ 5
PLATO (427-347)............................................................................................................... 6
AIMS OF THE EDUCATION ACCORDING TO THE PLATO.......................................................................... 7
CURRICULUM OF PLATO ................................................................................................................ 8
LEARNING TEACHING METHODS ..................................................................................................... 9
NATURE OF TEACHER ................................................................................................................. 10
NATURE OF STUDENT ................................................................................................................. 10
JEAN JAQUES ROUSSEAU (1712-1778)............................................................................. 11
AIMS OF EDUCATION.................................................................................................................. 12
CURRICULUM OF ROUSSEAU ........................................................................................................ 13
NATURE OF TEACHER ................................................................................................................. 14
NATURE OF STUDENT ................................................................................................................. 14
LEARNING TEACHING METHODS ................................................................................................... 14
JOHN DEWY (1818-1883) ................................................................................................ 15
AIMS OF THE EDUCATION ............................................................................................................ 16
CURRICULUM OF JOHN DEWY ...................................................................................................... 17
NATURE OF TEACHER ................................................................................................................. 18
NATURE OF STUDENT ................................................................................................................. 18
KARL MARX .................................................................................................................... 19
AIMS OF THE EDUCATION ............................................................................................................ 20
CURRICULUM ............................................................................................................................ 21
NATURE OF TEACHER ................................................................................................................. 22
NATURE OF STUDENT ................................................................................................................. 22
LEARNING TEACHING METHODS ................................................................................................... 22
MARIA MONTESOORI (1870-1952) .................................................................................. 23
AIMS OF EDUCATION.................................................................................................................. 24
CURRICULUM ............................................................................................................................ 25
NATURE OF TEACHER ................................................................................................................. 26
NATURE OF STUDENT ................................................................................................................. 27
LEARNING TEACHING METHODS ................................................................................................... 27
EASTERN PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION ........................................................................... 28
SOME EASTERN PHILOSOPHERS WHO CONTRIBUTE TO IMPROVE EDUCATION. ............... 28

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MAHATHMA GANDHI (1869-1948) .................................................................................. 29
AIMS OF THE EDUCATION ............................................................................................................ 30
CURRICULUM ............................................................................................................................ 31
NATURE OF TEACHER ................................................................................................................. 31
NATURE OF STUDENT ................................................................................................................. 32
LEARNING TEACHING METHODS ................................................................................................... 33
JULIUS NYERERE (1922) .................................................................................................. 34
AIMS OF EDUCATION.................................................................................................................. 35
CURRICULUM ............................................................................................................................ 36
NATURE OF TEACHER ................................................................................................................. 36
NATURE OF STUDENT ................................................................................................................. 36
LEARNING TEACHING METHODS ................................................................................................... 37
MAO ZEDONG ................................................................................................................ 38
AIMS OF EDUCATION.................................................................................................................. 39
REFERENCES ................................................................................................................... 40

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 Assignment No 01

Prepare an Assignment about the contribution of the below given great philosophers for the
improvement of education.
Western Philosophers

 Plato (427-347)
 Jean Jaques Rousseau (1712-1778)
 John Dewy (1818-1883)
 Karl Marxx
 Maria Montesoori (1870-1952)
Eastern Philosophers

 Mahathma Gandhi (1869-1948)

 Ma Tsetung (1893-1976)
 Julius Nyerere (1922)
Pay your kind attention under the following topics
1. Aims of Education
2. Curriculum
3. Nature of Teacher
4. Nature of Student
5. Learning Teaching Methods
6. Others

Due date : 27.05.2019

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 Introduction

Philosophy of education, philosophical reflection on the nature, aims, and problems of

education. The philosophy of education is Janus-faced, looking both inward to the parent
discipline of philosophy and outward to educational practice. The Western philosophical
tradition began in ancient Greece, and philosophy of education began with it. The major
historical figures developed philosophical views of education that were embedded in their
broader metaphysical, epistemological, ethical, and political theories.
The most basic problem of philosophy of education is that concerning aims:

 what are the proper aims and guiding ideals of education?

 What are the proper criteria for evaluating educational efforts, institutions,
practices, and products?
Many aims have been proposed by philosophers and other educational theorists.
They include the cultivation of curiosity and the disposition to inquire, the fostering of
creativity; the production of knowledge and of knowledgeable students, the enhancement of
understanding, the promotion of moral thinking, feeling, and action, the enlargement of the
imagination .ect.
The philosophy of education is a significant area of study both for Western and Indian
philosophers. Philosophy of education was not systematically set forth before the twentieth
century. In the west only Plato produced a notable philosophy of education (in his “Republic")
in pre-twentieth century. He was the first systematic philosopher to work in this field. Plato
along with John Dewey believes that philosophy of education occupied a central place in
philosophical thought. Dewey, in fact, once suggested that “philosophy may even be defined
as the general theory of education.” In the following pages we discuss the different views of
philosophy of education in some of Western and Eastern Philosophers contribute to improve
the Education.

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 Western Philosophy of education

The western philosophy of education is divided based on the origin of reality. The origin of
reality to the idealistic philosopher is quite different from the realistic or the pragmatic
philosophers. Therefore, the perspective towards the life for the idealistic philosopher is also
different from the other philosophers. Depending on the perspective towards the life, the aim
of education is also different for the different philosophers.

Some Western Philosophers who contribute to

improve Education.

 Plato (427-347)
 Jean Jaques Rousseau (1712-1778)
 John Dewy (1818-1883)
 Maria Montesoori (1870-1952)

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Plato (427-347)

Plato was the earliest most important Greek Philosopher and educational thinker. Plato thinks
education as a key for a society and he stress on education, for this purpose he want to go
to the extreme level even removing children from their mothers and rise them by the state,
he want to identify the skills of the children and give them proper education for that
particular skill which they have so they could be become a suitable member of the society
and fulfil their duty in society. Plato want to a search for intelligent and gifted children in the
whole society, Plato's don’t belief that talent belong to a limited class therefore he stresses
on education for all so the talented children get the chance to shine.

 Plato dedicated his life to the vindication of Socrates' memory and teachings.
 He wrote 34 dialogues, with The Republic in the middle.
 It is of general consensus that the first dialogues written by Plato were the
immortalization of his mentor’s thoughts, and indeed a uniquely distinctive Socratic
philosophy and philosophy of education is presented in these works.
 Beginning with the Republic and the following later dialogues, a Platonic philosophy
and philosophy of education is outlined.
 Plato remained at the Academy teaching, writing, and living comfortably until he died
in 347 B.C. at the age of 81.
 Aristotle eulogized his teacher by saying that Plato "clearly revealed by his own life
and by the methods of his words that to be happy is to be good.


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Aims of the Education according to the Plato

Plato Aims of Education to

 develop leader among the future rulers.

 To develop hard and competent workers.
 To produce leaders with military skill among the warriors.
 To produce future Civil Servants of the state.

The highest goal of education, Plato believed, is

the knowledge of Good; to nurture a man to a better human being it is not merely
an awareness of particular benefits and pleasures.

Plato’s educational theories have the practical aim of training for citizenship and leadership,
his chief interest is education for character.
An important maxim proposed by Plato is, "The quality of the State depends on the kind of
education that the members (groups) of the state receive"

According to Plato.

 Every individual must belong to a particular class. This depends on the native
endowment and inherited powers of the individual. So the fundamental aim of
education is to determine the native capacities of an individual for his assignment to
a particular social class.

 Education must secure fullest, harmonious and all-round development of the

potentialities of the individual. Plato in his Republic has opined that latent
potentialities of an individual can only be discovered when they function in human
mind. This means that potentialities are discovered through experiences and self-
expression. They are expressed through activities.

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Curriculum of Plato

Plato curriculum was consisting of gymnastic and music, where in gymnastic include physical
training and music used in broad term for dram, history, oratory and music in real term, he
defined different stages for the organization and curriculum:

1. Elementary School

Co-education at elementary level and teach them mathematics, poetry, music and
literature till the age of eighteen years.

2. Military Training

After elementary education two years of Physical education should be given to them
and select best of them for higher education; to prepare for the future guardians of
the state.

3. Higher Education

Higher education should be given from twenty to thirty-five years of age, he well
study the subjects at this stage mathematics, literature and philosophy. Later on he
would be opponent at a minor administrative position to get experience for the
future more important governing positions.

“The object of education is to turn the eye which the soul already possesses to the
light. The whole function of education is not to put knowledge into the soul, but to
bring out the best things that are latent in the soul, and to do so by directing it to
the right objects. The problem of education, then, is to give it the right
surrounding.” -(Plato’s Republic, Book vii, 518)

Nothing was more important to Plato in human life as education. He considers

education the greatest thing in human life as he mention in his book “the one great
thing”.
Plato’s Theory of education was an indispensable necessity for mankind. It was a
positive remedy for the problems and operation of justice in an ideal state.

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Learning Teaching Methods

 Plato recommended play method at elementary level; student should learn by doing.
And when he reached the higher level of education, his reason would be trained in the
processes of thinking and abstracting.
 Plato wants motivation and interest in learning. He is against the use of force in
education.
"Knowledge which is acquired under compulsion obtains no hold on the mind."

 In another place he writes "Do not then train youths by force and harshness, but
direct them to it by what amuses their minds so that you may be better able to
discover with accuracy the peculiar bent of the genius of each." – Plato
 Plato writes in his Republic
“Bodily exercise, when compulsory, does no harm to the body; but knowledge
which is acquired under compulsion obtains no hold on the mind”

Plato “The most effective kind of education is that a child should play amongst
lovely things.”
 Plato wants a place where children love to go and stay there and they play with
things which enhance their education by playing.
 Plato gives importance to nursery education, he thinks nursery education plays a
vital role in the education of man, it helps to build his moral character and state of
mind "The most important part of education is proper training in the nursery." –
 Plato think It will be hard to discover a better [method of education] than that which
the experience of so many ages has already discovered, and this may be summed up
as consisting in gymnastics for the body, and _music_ for the soul... For this reason,
is a musical education so essential; since it causes Rhythm and Harmony to
penetrate most intimately into the soul, taking the strongest hold upon it, filling it
with _beauty_ and making the man _beautiful-minded_.
 The above quotation of Plato show, how he sees education, he wants the total
development of a man, mind body and soul by using every possible mean. That why
in another place Plato writes;
 "But then, if I am right, certain professors of education must be wrong when they
say that they can put a knowledge into the soul which was not there before, like
sight into blind eyes.
They undoubtedly say this, he replied.
Whereas, our argument shows that the power and capacity of learning exists in the
soul already; and that just as the eye was unable to turn from darkness to light
without the whole body, so too the instrument of knowledge can only by the
movement of the whole soul be turned from the world of becoming into that of
being, and learn by degrees to endure the sight of being, and of the brightest and
best of being, or in other words, of the good." -Plato's Allegory of the Cave &
Exploring Plato's

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Nature of Teacher

 The educator is considered to have greatest importance.

 He is like torch bearer who leads a man lying in the dark cave, out of the darkness
into the bright light of the outside world.
 The teacher is thus the constant guide of the students.
 The teacher must be a person of high integrity and must be a person of high integrity
and must possess high self-worth.
 He must have pleasing personality, in depth knowledge and professional training,
 He should be deeply committed to his profession, have high sense of responsibility
and a true role model. Teachers should lead a true moral life.
 They should practice what they preach.

Nature of Student

Plato describes different stages of education in of student his republic.

 According to Plato the education of child should be start at the age of seven years and
before this stage the child should stay with their mother or elders and learn moral
education from them.

 After the age of six years both girls and boys should be separated and boys should play
with boys and girls with girls and they should be taught the use of different arms to
both sexes.

 This stage goes up to the age of seventeen years. During these years they should teach
them music and early education. After the age of seventeen years the youth should
be brought to battle filed to learn real life experiences.

 The four stages start at the age of twenty-five to thirty years and in this age they get
the training of Mathematical calculation and last for another ten years, after the
completion the selected one’s are admitted in the study of dialect.

 During fifth stage they study dialect for another five years and after that, at the sixth
stage one is ready to become a ruler and philosopher and the one enter in practical
life.

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Jean Jaques Rousseau (1712-1778)

 “Correct education disposes the child to take the path that will lead him to truth
when he has reached the age to understand it, and to goodness when he has
acquired the faculty of recognizing and loving it. – Rousseau” (Cunningham 21)

 Through all the centuries the theory and practice of education had been determined
from the standpoint of adult interest and adult social life. No one had dreamed there
could be any other point of view from which to approach the training of the young.

 Rousseau boldly assailed this basic assumption as not only utterly false but absolutely
harmful. In place of the ideas and views of adults, he substituted the needs and
activities of the child and the natural course of development.

 Rousseau’s conception of education is naturalistic. He is against a system of

conventional and formal education is man-made and hence not desirable. Rousseau
believed that the education from man and things must be subordinates to that the
natural powers, emotions and reactions are more trustworthy as a basis for action
than reflection or experience that comes from association with society.

 Types of Education according to Rousseau

Types of Education
according to
Rousseau

Positive Education Negative Education

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Aims of Education

 Ultimate aim of Rousseau was the preservation of the natural goodness, and virtues
of the heart, and of society which was in harmony with them.

 And also he aimed to enable the individual to enter whole-heartedly into all the
basic relationships of humanity.

According to Rousseau following aims should of education;

1. To develop individuality.
2. To struggle for survival successfully.
3. To self-expression.
4. To achieve social progress.
5. To secure present and past happiness.
6. To develop Efficiency and perfection of human machine.
7. To secure adjustment with environment.
8. To transformation, synthesis, sublimation or modification of instincts.

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Curriculum of Rousseau

Rousseau believes that following subjects should be included in curriculum.

1. Sciences which deal with nature should be included i.e. physics, chemistry, zoology
and botany etc.:
2. Mathematics and languages should be included in the curriculum because they are
considered tools for understanding science subjects.
3. Drawing should be included for free expression of ideas and speech.
4. For traditional subjects no place should be given.
5. He was in favored in moral training through the theory of natural experience.so he
emphasized on moral education.
6. He was favored in liberal education. He advocated that liberal education means free
cultivation of all human powers in the interest of perfect individual development.
7. Physical and health training should be given to the child i.e. Running, jumping,
climbing and swimming. The child must be allowed utmost freedom of movement.
8. For the past experiences history and social studies subjects should be included.

 Infancy
-
No Curriculum
-
Only Physical Development
 Childhood
- Learn from experiences and own action
 Boyhood
- Maths
- Language
- Physical science
- Drawing
- Carpentry
- Scientific instrument
 Adolescence
- Religious
- Moral activities
- Occupation
- Sex education
- Aesthetic
- History
- Physical education

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Nature of Teacher

Rousseau said that teacher should protect the child from mental conflicts, repressions, and
mental disorders of all kinds. He believed that teacher should not interfere with the
activities of the children.
The teacher duty is that he should see that the education of the students is the free
development of their interests and motives. Rousseau has not given the higher place to the
teacher.

Nature of Student

Another principle which Rousseau stressed was that the student should male his own
apparatus. After observing geographic facts, he is to make charts, maps, and globes. Finally,
Rousseau pictures the ideal boy at the end of this stage to be industrious, temperate,
patient, firm, and full of courage and endurance.

The mind of the child is limited to a low level of experience. He knows things but does not
know their relation to others or to man. He does not know himself, and in the consequence,
he cannot judge others. He is, accordingly, incapable of social and religious experience. It is
because of this reason that he cannot comprehend and appreciate the meaning of life. The
world of the spirit, morality, art, and philosophy is as yet sealed to him. Nevertheless, these
are the interests that raise mankind above the level of the savage.

Learning Teaching Methods

Rousseau has suggested the following methods for teaching:

 Example is better than perception

 Social knowledge should be imparted through social participation.
 Individual instructions should be given.
 Heuristic method should be applied.
 Direct experience should be given.
 Learning by doing method should be applied.

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John Dewy (1818-1883)

Dewey’s ideas mirror the effects of new the industrialized colonized society, fraught with
the problems and aftermaths of two World Wars. Dewey was largely inspired by Marx’s
theory of social struggle and conflict between classes. Marx’s theory of conflict is that the
society is stratified and layered with different strata and there is a competition within these
different classes.
Dewey’s main concern was a disparity between the experiences of child and the kind of
concepts imposed upon him.
He believed that this gap curbs a child’s natural experiences and abilities, forcing him to
follow the dictates of a formal education.
Dewey is equally critical of the progressive education which imposes concepts, such as the
right of free expression or free activity as these tenets of education also impose ideas upon
a child.
Dewey was deeply inspired by the vision of a liberal free society and realized the pressing
need of freedom and equality, emancipation from social bounds to liberate individual and
society from the structures of power.

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Aims of the Education

 Social Efficiency:
- According to John Dewey, the development of social efficiency is one of the aims
of education. To him, school is a social institution. The school should be
organized in such a way that the activities of the outer world are reflected.

 Education is Life
- Dewey emphasizes that education is not a preparation for life. it is life itself. The child
lives in the present. The future is meaningless to him. Hence it is absurd to expect him to
do things for some future preparation. As the child lives in the present, the educative
process will be naturally based on the present needs and interests of the child.

 Education is Experience
- Dewey favored an education by, of, and for, experience. Every new experience is
education. An old experience is replaced by a new experience. The human race has
gained experience in its struggle to meet the needs of life. This ‘struggle for existence’ is
a continuous process.

 Education should Combine Theory and Practice

- The aim of education, according to Dewey, should be to create a balance between
theoretical and practical activities. He has stressed equal importance to both action and
thought.

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Curriculum of John Dewy

The child goes to school to make things: to cook, to sew, to work the wood, and to make
tools through acts of simple construction; and in this context, and like consequence of those
acts it articulates the studies: reading, writing, and calculus.

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Nature of Teacher

 Facilitator
 Deliver Content and Background information
 Promote group inquiry and collaboration

The role of teachers is also perceived in a different light. A teacher is one who is
knowledgeable and authoritative. What would happen if students in such systems find the
teacher asking questions, or asking them to take lead? Students would naturally try to take
advantage of such teachers, and least of all, they would take teachers less seriously. In
Pakistan, students especially of professional colleges or business schools, are highly geared
towards grades and are marks-oriented. They would be lesser adherent to the process and
would like to find out the end-product. Such system would also put teachers under a lot of
pressure to motivate and involve passive and shy learners in projects or problem solving
discussions.

Nature of Student

 Project based learning

 Presentations
 STEM Activities
 Hands-on Experience
 Real word Application

Students actively participate in their own learning through encountering real life situation in which
they get firsthand information. This enhance learner's interaction and utilize pupil's curiosity. The
teacher acts as mentor, guides and creates an atmosphere, for active participation by make provisions
of real life situations making or providing the equipment, apparatus and resources for pupils to learn
with on their own.

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Karl Marx

 While Marx and Engels wrote little on education, the educational implications of Marxism are
clear.
 Education both reproduces capitalism and has the potential to undermine it. With respect to
reproduction, it is informative to look at key texts by Althusser and Bowles and Gintis (and the
latter’s legacy).
 Karl Marx never wrote anything directly on education – yet his influence on writers,
academics, intellectuals and educators who came after him has been profound. The power of
his ideas has changed the way we look at the world.

Marx says ‘Education means to us three things:

 Intellectual Development,
 Physical Development,
 Polytechnised Education which will give knowledge relative to the General
Sciences and principles of all productive processes’.

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Aims of the Education

 No discrimination will be made in respect of educational opportunities. Education is to be

given to all sections of the society irrespective of caste, creed, sex social and economic
status.
 Common education is to be provided to both men and women. Coeducation is an accepted
principle in Marxism.
 Education will be universal and compulsory.
 No discrimination is to be made among schools. Establishment of common school system is
the cherished goal of Marxism.
 Marxism advocates secular education in schools.
 In Marxist system of education there will be only one agency — the state. Private agency is
banned in Marxist educational administration.

Educational aims were viewed primarily in terms of this dialectical movement and the immediate
goals were to mode a socialist consciousness as well as a socialist society.

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Curriculum
Marxist curriculum is based on Marxist educational aims, objectives and values set forth earlier.

The following are the special features of Marxist Curriculum:

- Marxist philosophy and doctrines will be taught at all levels of education on compulsory basis.
The students should be made conscious about class division, unequal distribution of wealth,
exploitation of the working class by the capitalist class, etc.
- Those subjects are included in the curriculums which tend to develop skill instead of abstract
knowledge.
- Marxism lays stress on respect for labor and, as such, work-experience is regarded as an
integral part of education.
- The curriculum includes the socially useful subjects such as science, mathematics, geography,
life science, geology, astronomy etc. The history of communist movement and political
economy should also be included in the curriculum.
- At the primary level, only the mother-tongue should be taught. But at the secondary level the
curriculum should include foreign language.
- Creative work and co-curricular activities have been given an important place in Marxist
curriculum. These include physical exercise, music, painting, games and sports etc.

Curriculum

 Physical science and grammar were fit for schools

 Three-part curricular organization:

- Mental Education
- Physical Education
- Technological training

 School curriculum was not being simply what any group might establish, but what the vest
authority of the party established.
 Curriculum embodies dominant forms of culture in the way it reproduces the modes of
knowing, learning, speaking, style and manners of dominant social classes.
 Schools produce workers by reproducing the conditions of the workplace.
 School has a dual function:
- Provides skills and knowledge that made workers more economically valuable.
- Socializes people to existing economic structures by modeling the school after
the workplace.

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Nature of Teacher

 The role of the teacher is significant and crucial in Marxist education. He must be fully
equipped not only with the content of education but also the Marxist methodology of
teaching as well as Marxist aims of education.
 A Marxist teacher must entirely be different in attitude and temperament from a bourgeois
teacher. His philosophy of teaching will be the Marxist philosophy. He must be an active
member of the Marxist social order.
 Techers could be accomplished in their areas of study and understand clearly the political
aspects of their disciplines.
 Teachers were not allowed to introduce other materials or ideas into a classroom setting
unless previously approved, were not encouraged to innovate or to change established
educational policy.

Nature of student

 Children could be made into whatever the leadership chose to make them, provided that all
aspects of learning were controlled.

 In Marxist education the philosophic child is given the central position. Development of the
child mind is the ultimate aim. Education of the child depends to a great extent on the
education of the mother. So Marxist education aims at women’s education too. Communist
Manifesto declares free, universal, elementary education for all.

Learning Teaching Methods

 Emphasis is laid on practical aspect of education instead of theoretical aspect.
 Marxist education is based on the principle of learning by doing. Students should work both
in the agricultural farms and factories.
 Education should not be confined within the four walls of the school. The natural
environment and the community at large will also serve as great books and teachers.
 Marxist education emphasizes learning through personal experience of the child.
 It emphasizes group activity instead of individual activity. Marxist education intends to
promote cooperative spirit instead of competitive spirit among students.

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Maria Montesoori (1870-1952)

Maria Montessori worked for much of her life to develop a guiding philosophy intended to
better teach young children. It makes for a fascinating approach to education, and its
implications in the classroom are far-reaching.
Those of you teaching English as a second language may find some of her teachings to be
particularly inspiring, and maybe worth trying out in your own classrooms.

The Maria Montessori Philosophy of Education is a challenge to the traditional teacher-

student dynamic.

Rather than the teacher as the ‘knowledge holder’ and the child as nothing more than a vessel
to fill up with knowledge, it aims to treat children as naturally inquisitive individuals in place
of proscribing a ‘one size fits all’ approach.

The traditional approach is rather homogeneous and lacking in individualistic nuance, so the
Montessori method aims to bring a little more agency to a child’s learning in hopes of
facilitating greater understanding.

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Aims of Education

 Assist the child in his/her mental and physical ability to work appropriately in the
environment (normalization)
 Allow children to have freedom coupled with responsibility, which then leads to self-
respect, security, and creativity, which in turn leads to collaboration and cooperation
 Create in the child the sense of independence, self-discipline, concentration
motivation and sensitivity to things around him
 Educate the whole child, with activities and lessons designed to promote the
development of social skills, emotional growth, physical coordination, as well as
cognitive preparation
 Help children acquire a sense of common humanity that binds peoples of all races and
cultures together so that they might grow up to contribute to a more peaceful and
cooperative world
 Develop a positive attitude towards school and learning
 Develop a healthy sense of self-confidence
 Form extended habits of concentration, initiative, and persistence
 Provide a carefully planned, stimulating environment where children are free to
respond to their natural drive to work and learn
 Awaken the child’s sense of imagination
 Encourage the child’s desire for independence and high-self esteem
 Help the child develop the kindness, courtesy, and self-discipline that will allow
him/her to become a full member of society
 Help the child learn how to observe, question, and explore ideas independently
 Free the child to pursue knowledge and skills most relevant to him or her at a pace
that is most comfortable
 Encourage the child’s inherent love of learning
 Create a culture of consistency, order, and empowerment

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Curriculum

 From birth to 3 years’ old

The foundations for the child's future development are set during his/her first three years of life.
Montessori calls this period the one of a "spiritual embryo", in which the child does in the
psychological sphere what the embryo did in the physical sphere. This process is achieved thanks to
the child's "absorbent mind", which incorporates experiences, relations, emotions, images, language
and culture through his/her senses and by the simple fact of living. These life experiences shape
his/her brain, forming networks or neurons that have the potential of staying with the person for all
his/her life. In this period from birth to 3 years old, the Montessori education concentrates in the
development of speaking, coordinated movement and independence, which gives the child
confidence, and allows him/her to discover his/her own potential and his/her place within a
community.

 From 3 to 6 years’ old

The classroom curriculum for children from 3 to 6 years old is divided into four working areas:

1. Practical Life: These are activities that aim to the care of the person, of others and of
the physical environment where they live in. These activities include tasks that are
familiar to the child: washing, polishing, setting the table, arranging flowers, etc. They
also include activities of "grace and courtesy", which are part of all civilized people.

2. Sensorial: Children at this age learn through senses more than through their intellect.
The sensorial materials are tools for children to refine each of their senses.

3. Language: When the child enters an environment at age 3, they enrich the language
that they had already acquired. They are capable of using it intelligently with precision
and beauty, slowly realizing its properties. They learn to write, starting with their
senses (hearing and touching), and as a natural consequence they learn to read.

4. Mathematics: The materials help the child to learn and understand mathematical
concepts when working with concrete materials that lead him/her intuitively to
abstract concepts. They offer him/her sensorial impressions of the numbers and set
the foundations for algebra and geometry.

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  From 6 to 12 years’ old

The classroom curriculum for children from 6 to 12 years old presents a historical,
evolutionary and integrated vision of knowledge and human development. It includes five
Great Lessons or fundamental lessons from which specific studies of different areas will
develop. These lessons are designed to awaken imagination, curiosity and admiration for
the creative and innovative capacity of human spirit.

Great Lessons Specific studies

Coming of the Astronomy, meteorology, chemistry, physics, geology, geography
Universe and the
Earth
Coming of Life Biology, botanic, environment, evolution of life, zoology
Coming of Human History, culture, social studies, scientific discoveries and inventions
Beings
Communication in Reading, writing, linguistics, language structures, literature
Signs
The Story of Numbers Mathematics, origin of numbers, systems of numbers, geometry

Nature of Teacher

 Functions of a teacher
 Teacher as a gardener
 The directress and not the Teacher
 Doctor-cum-scientist-cum-missionary
 Faith in personality of the child
 Moral qualities

 Teacher as a Gardner
- The teacher should take care for the child like a Gardner who cares
for the plants
- So that the natural growth of the is properly guided and aided.

And also teacher thins that the primary duty of the teacher is to direct and not to teach. She insists
directress should have an extensive knowledge of psychology and laboratory techniques. Her business
is to provide suitable environments, and also should provide children with suitable opportunities to
think for themselves.

The role of a teacher in a Montessori class room is that of an observer, where the CHILD is ACTIVE.
TEACHER is PASSIVE.

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Nature of Student

 Students enjoy the process of doing, not necessarily the end-product.

 Contributing to her own well-being and that of society builds a child’s skills and sense of
confidence and esteem.

 Students prefer meaningful, purposeful activity over play. Let them help set the table, fix
dinner, vacuum, etc. WITH YOU.

 Students learn through their senses - the hand is the chief teacher of the child.
 Students learn from watching and imitating.
 Students learn through repetition.

Learning Teaching Methods

 Freedom for children

 Sense Training
 Reverence for small children
 Individual Attention
 Learning through living

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Eastern Philosophy of education

Teaching and learning process through Eastern education philosophy stresses the major
outcomes from the teachers. It means that teachers are fully responsible for the class
effectiveness by preparing and planning all the activities for their students. For instance, the
students are not trained or required to do anything, but all the materials are given by the
teachers. Usually, students are not required to carry out any research on the topics that are
going to be discussed in the next lesson, but only responsible to receive input from their
teachers. Also, students are not trained or encouraged to voice out their own views and
perspectives.

Some Eastern Philosophers who contribute to improve

Education.

 Mahathma Gandhi (1869-1948)

 Ma Tsetung (1893-1976)
 Julius Nyerere (1922)

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Mahathma Gandhi (1869-1948)

Mahatma Gandhi, the father of our nation, has specific perspectives in every aspect of life
such as socio-economic, political and educational scenario. His educational thought is holistic
in nature. It leads to the development of all aspects of human personality.
Gandhi's philosophy of basic education is comprehensive enough because he looks upon
education as an instrument of socio-economic progress material advancement, political
evolution and moral development for individual in society. To him moral literacy did not mean
education. He argues that education involves the development of mind and body. It should
be a plan to inculcate scientific spirit in them, help them earn and learn, enable them to meet
their basic needs, ensure them the use of local resources.

“Basic education links the children, whether of the cities or the villages, to all that is best
and lasting in India. It develops both the body and the mind, and keeps the child rooted to
the soil with glorious vision of the future in the realization of which he or she begins to
take his or her share from the very commencement of his or her career in school”

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Aims of the education

 Ultimate Aim:
- Ultimate aim of education is identical with the goal of life, which is ‘Self-realization’.
Self-realization is the realization of the self-proper.
 Immediate Aims:
- Immediate aims include ‘bread and butter aim’, the cultural aim, the harmonious
development of all powers, the moral or character development aim, and
sociological aim.
 Bread and Butter Aims
- This is also called utilitarian aim. It is due to this aim that he gave the principle of
‘self-supporting education’.
 Cultural Aim
- Cultural aim refers to the refinement of the Personality. Mere knowledge is not
enough
 Harmonious Development Aim.
- Harmonious development or perfection of nature is another aim that Gandhi
advocates. Harmoniously developed person is that who adjusts to his life and
environment.
 The Moral or Character Building Aim.
- It is the chief aim of education. The central purpose of education is to build
character.
 Sociological Aim or Training for Citizenship
- Gandhi reconciled the individual and social aims of education. In democracy] the
first slogan is ‘Educate your Masters’.

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Curriculum

Gandhi advocated complete overhauling of the curriculum. He suggested a broad-based and

integrated curriculum for realizing the objectives of education and developing the whole man.
He included the following aspects in his scheme of studies:
- Basic craft: Agriculture, spinning and weaving, cardboard, wood and metal
work, tailoring, gardening, business practice, book-keeping etc.
- Mother tongue as opposed to teaching of English and other foreign languages.
- Mathematics concerning numerical and geometrical problems connected with
craft and community life. Besides, learning of four basic rules by sincerely
working out the problems arising out of craft work and gardening.
- Social Studies: History, Civics and Geography.
- General Science: Nature study. Zoology, Physics, Chemistry, Astronomy,
Physiology, Hygiene.
- Drawing and Music for development of artistic talents.
- Compulsory physical training through musical drill for development of body.
- Domestic science for girls after fifth grade in place of general science and craft.

Nature of Teacher
- He thought that only the right type of teachers could help in achieving the objectives
of education.
- He should be a lover of truth and non-violence and he should possess a sound base of
knowledge, skill, enthusiasm, patriotism, dedication, love for children and labour,
respect for the dignity of individuals and special training in the basic education.
- He should be a man of action, not a man of slogan and should have a good moral
character and a social bent of mind. He should lead a pure and simple life and be a
man of ideals and a saga of examples.

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Nature of Student

To Students:

 Character cannot be built with mortar and stone. It cannot be built by hands other
than your own.
 The Principal and the Professor cannot give you character from the pages of books.
Character building comes from their very lives and really speaking, it must come from
within yourselves.
 Put all your knowledge, learning and scholarship in one scale and truth and purity in
the other and the latter will by far outweigh the other.
 The miasma of moral impurity has today spread among our school going children and
like a hidden epidemic is working havoc among them. All your scholarship, all your
study of the scriptures will be in vain if you fail to translate their teachings into your
daily life....
 If teachers impart all the knowledge in the world to their students but inculcate not
truth and purity among them, they will have betrayed them and instead of raising
them set them on the downward road to perdition. Knowledge without character is a
power for evil only, as seen in the instances of so many talented thieves and
'gentlemen rascals' in the world.
 As to use of the vacation by students, if will they approach the work with zeal, they
can undoubtedly do many things. I enumerate a few of them.

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Learning Teaching Methods
1. Correlation:

He advocated the principle of correlation in leaching different subjects. Craft is the pivot
round which all other subjects should revolve. He wanted all subjects need to be correlated
with craft. Craft should be the starting point of other subjects and a meeting point of both
physical and social environments. Therefore, craft is the medium of instruction.

He wanted that “the whole process of education should be imparted through some
handicrafts or industry.”

2. Learning by Doing:

He said that learning would be permanent if it is permeated by doing. It can be possible if

children are given opportunities to undertake a host of productive activities. So, in his
scheme, learning by doing was the important method of teaching.

3. Learning by Living:

Learning takes place by actually participation in community life and rendering self-less
service to the cause of goodness of all. This makes learning social.

4. Lecture, Questioning and Discussion methods:

These methods were also followed in his scheme of education.

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Julius Nyerere (1922)

To determine any possible relevance of Nyerere’s educational philosophy to Nigeria

educational system, it is important to first of all reiterate that Nyerere’s educational
philosophy was based on the cultural context of Tanzania and was directed to address the
needs of Tanzania at the time. Despite this fact, there are a number of principles which it
articulated that transcend and outlive the time and social context of Tanzania.
To begin, it is important to consider the following facts.

 Nyerere’s educational philosophy was based on the social, economic and political
system of Tanzania which was essentially socialist.
 Tanzania was predominantly a rural population whose basic economic activity
revolved round agriculture.
 Tanzania had very few schools which were unable to welcome more than 80 per cent
of those who wanted enrolment (Nyerere, 1982).
 the two colonies that formed Tanzania were colonized by Britain that also bequeathed
a colonial education legacy to them. These are the social facts that underpinned
Nyerere’s philosophy of education.

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Aims of Education

 It should be oriented to rural life.

 Teachers and students should engage together in productive activities and students
should participate in the planning and decision-making process of organizing these
activities.
 Productive work should become an integral part of the school curriculum and provide
meaningful learning experience through the integration of theory and practice.
 The importance of examinations should be downgraded.
 Children should begin school at age 7 so that they would be old enough and
sufficiently mature to engage in self-reliant and productive work when they leave
school.
 Primary education should be complete in itself rather than merely serving as a means
to higher education.

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Curriculum

Further, adult education is not something which can deal with just “agriculture”, or “health”,
or “literacy”, or “mechanical skill”, etc. All these separate branches of education are related
to the total life a man is living, and to the man he is and will become. Learning how best to
grow soy-beans is of little use to a man if it is not combined with learning about nutrition
and/or the existence of a market for the beans. This means that adult education will promote
changes in men, and in society. And it means that adult education should promote change,
at the same time as it assists men to control both the change which they induce, and that
which is forced upon them by the decisions of other men or the cataclysms of nature. Further,
it means that adult education encompasses the whole of life, and must build upon what
already exists.

Productive work should become an integral part of the school curriculum and provide
meaningful learning experience through the integration of theory and practice.

Nature of Teacher

Teacher-student with student-teacher. teacher is no longer merely the one-who-teaches,

but one who is himself taught in dialogue with the students.

Nature of Student

 students could apply to the real world and he advocated the following changes in the
education system
 It should be oriented to rural life.
 Teachers and students should engage together in productive activities and students
should participate in the planning and decision-making process of organizing these
activities.
 Productive work should become an integral part of the school curriculum and provide
meaningful learning experience through the integration of theory and practice.
 importance of examinations should be downgraded.
 Children should begin school at age 7 so that they would be old enough and sufficiently
 mature to engage in self-reliant and productive work when they leave school.
 Primary education should be complete in itself rather than merely serving as a means
to higher education.
 Students should become self-confident and co-operative, and develop critical and
inquiring minds.

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Learning Teaching Methods

 Inspire both a desire for change, and an understanding that change is possible.
 Help people to make their own decisions, and to implement those decisions for
themselves.
 Educators do not give to another something they possess. Rather, they help learners
to develop their own potential and capacity.
 Those that educators work with have experience and knowledge about the subjects
they are interested in – although they may not realize it.

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Mao Zedong

The communist revolution aimed at being total revolution, demanding no less than the
establishing of a new society radically different from what the orthodox communists called
the feudal society of traditional China.
This new society called for people with new loyalties, new motivations, and new concepts of
individual and group life. Education was recognized as playing a strategic role in achieving this
revolution and development.
Specifically, education was called upon to produce, on the one hand, zealous revolutionaries
ready to rebel against the old society and fight to establish a new order and, at the same time,
to bring up a new generation of skilled workers and technical personnel to take up the
multitudinous tasks of development and modernization.
Among the most important educational changes of this period was the establishment of
“spare-time” schools and other special schools for peasants, workers, and their families.
Adults attended the spare-time school after their day’s work or during the lax agricultural
season. Workers and peasants were admitted to these schools by virtue of their class origin.
The post-Mao schools were very different from those of the revolutionary education. The
conventional school system was reinstated. Full-time schools again became the mainstay of
a system of coordinated schools, with orderly advance from level to level regulated by
examinations. School discipline was restored, and due respect for teachers was expected of
students.

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Aims of Education

 Mao’s aims at The Start of the Cultural Revolution, Summary of evidence

 Mao’s aims were also that Education be related to reality and the daily life. He
believed that students can learn more by working and not only reading texts and
attending classroom lectures.
 Mao’s educational aims and how far he achieved them, it is first of all important to
recognize his goals in Education though the Cultural Revolution and his reasons to
revolutionize the Chinese Education System.

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References

 http://ierj.in
 http://www.yourarticlelibrary.com
 montessoriacademy.com.au
 ageofmontessori.org
 www.learning-theories.com
 www.teach-nology.com
 www.fundacionmontessori.org
 Julius Nyerere’s Philosophy of Education: Implication for Nigeria’s Educational System
Reforms by Francis Diana-Abasi Ibanga
 Western and Eastern Educational Philosophies by A. Hassan, N. Jamaludin, J. Sulaiman, and
R. Baki
 S. Remadevi “Impact of Swami Vivekananda and Mahatma Gandhi to the cultural and
political scenario of pre and post independent India” Thesis. Department of Philosophy ,
Sree Kerala Varma College Thrissur, University of Calicut, 1999
 Education in China Since Mao by WILLIAM G. SAYWELL
 John Dewey and His Philosophy of Education by Aliya Sikandar Institute of Business
Management
 ROUSSEAU AND HIS EDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHY by Balbir Singh Jamwal, Ph. D.
 ROUSSEAU’S CONCEPT OF EDUCATION By Ternan Monteiro
 Plato’s Philosophy of Education and the Common Core debate Conference Paper
Association for the Development of Philosophy Teaching (ADOPT) Spring Conference,
Chicago, IL. De Paul University April 25, 2015
 Plato's philosophy of education: Its implication for current education by Myungjoon Lee,
Marquette University

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 -END-

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