Essay on "Philosophical Influences on American Education"

Essay 5 pages (1782 words) Sources: 5

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Education

Philosophical Influences on American Education

Name & time period

John Dewey/Progressivism

Jean-Jacque Rousseau

Epistemology

Jean Piaget

Montessori

Main beliefs

Progressivists think that individuality, progress, and change are essential to a person's education. These basics of progressive education have come to be known as social re-constructionist and child-centered. Both of these essentials allocate an interest in the individual which enables educationalists to progress past the notion of children as robots (Wiles, n.d.).

Made the first all-inclusive attempt to explain a system of education according to what he saw as nature. This theory stresses completeness and agreement, and an apprehension for the person of the learner. Central to this is the idea that it is possible to preserve the original perfect nature of a child, by carefully controlling their education and environment. This is founded an analysis of the dissimilar physical and psychological phases through which one passes from birth to maturity (Jean-Jacques Rousseau on nature, wholeness and education, 2012).

Epistemology is the division of philosophy that looks at the nature of knowledge, the procedure by which people get knowledge, and the value of knowledge. A quick look at the key issues and ideas in epistemology reveals a significant proposition for educators: even though it is vital to teach students the precise knowledge that experts in a variety of fields have discovered or constructed, it is also significant to make sure that students learn the precise skills and processes that experts use in their discovery or creation of knowledge (Chinn, 2012).

A vital component of Piaget's developmental theory of learning and thinking is that both entail the participation of the learner. Knowledge is not merely broadcast verbally but must be constructed and reconstructed by the learner. Piaget asserted that for a child to know and construct knowledge of the world the child must act on objects and it is this action which provides knowledge of those objects (Kamii, 2012).

The Montessori Method views children as natural learners and provides an environment for learning that is the same relative size as a child. This kind of education makes use of self-guided and self-corrected learning (Montessori theory, 2011).

Main Contributions

Methods of instruction are adapted to a particular age group. Each grade is child-centered, not externally oriented. The actual interests of the child have to be discovered if the significance and worth of their life is to be taken into account and full development attained. Each subject taught is done so in order to fulfill the current needs of growing children (Warde, 2005).

Rousseau made lasting contributions to educational theory, which he presented in his novel Emile. The book demonstrates three stages of learning and posits that the goal of education should be righteous living (Jean-Jacques Rousseau on nature, wholeness and education, 2012).

Epistemology addresses the way in which children build up their knowledge. It also researches how culture, methods and systems of thought and knowledge influence the construction of their vision on life, the world and others (Chinn, 2012).

Piaget has made many contributions to the psychology of classroom learning. One is his constructivism theory that states that human beings obtain knowledge and moral values by creating them from the inside in interaction with the environment, rather than by internalizing them directly from the environment. A second major contribution Piaget made to the psychology of classroom learning is his conceptualization of autonomy as the aim of education. In his theory, autonomy does not mean the right to make decisions. It means the capability to make decisions by taking pertinent factors into account, independently of reward and punishment (Kamii, 2012).

It is the goal of Montessori education in the classrooms to make the child autonomous and be able to do things for themselves. This is done by giving children opportunities. Opportunities to move, to dress themselves, to choose what they want to do, and to help the adults with tasks. When the children are able to do things for themselves there is an increase in their self belief, self-confidence and esteem that they may carry on throughout their life (Montessori theory, 2011).

Historical events that played a role

John Dewey and progressive education became very popular during the turn of the century. An ethical twist on concern for the individual is associated with Dewey with humanism. Humanism is the value of each person in the human race. This is somewhat different from the Human Relations movement in business that was used during that time to determine individual motivation (Wiles, n.d.).

In the history of education, Rousseau has usually been viewed as a precursor of human development theory. Sometimes he has also been considered a supporter of non-authoritarian pedagogy, with children selecting and solving problems in a non-directive environment (Jean-Jacques Rousseau on nature, wholeness and education, 2012).

Epistemological beliefs have been measured by educational psychologists in different ways and for different reasons. One variation depends on how epistemology is understood. This can range from very narrow to extremely broad theoretical concepts. There are also many methods for measurement that are not automatically related to one's theoretical understanding of epistemology. These methods differ according to the preference of the researcher, trends in educational research, and the compatibility of the method to the field and/or context (Chinn, 2012).

Piaget's research was focused on the goal of discovering how knowledge develops. He viewed children as little philosophers and scientists building their own individual theories of knowledge based on logical structures that develop over time and through experience. Therefore, children of different ages view the world in entirely different ways from adults (Kamii, 2012).

This method was developed by an Italian physician, philosopher and educator, Maria Montessori. The Montessori educational system struggled with its own accomplishment when it started. It had a lot of trouble finding enough teachers. In fact, it took that teacher shortage to start the creation of free-standing private Montessori teacher training centers. Each of these centers were not associated with any college or university and taught the Montessori teaching methods to hopeful educators (Rush, 2003).

Criticisms of views

William C. Bagley, of the Teachers College at Columbia, said in 1934 that replacing systematic and sequential learning and putting in its place activities would defeat the most important ends of education, particularly, the objective of attaining as high a level of common culture as possible. The complaint of a lot of critics is not that there is nothing good in progressivism but that the progressive educators fail to look at the results of their methods. Instead they promote those methods into an object of near-religious worship and stress method at the price of knowledge of the subject matter. Another criticism is that children have to learn them through precise guidance and through drill and practice. Disciplined study and books are thought to be necessary to expel ignorance and instill knowledge (Evers, 2012).

Criticisms include:the vulnerable-child fallacy which is the idea that children must be sheltered from learning the wrong things. The stage-of-development fallacy which is the notion that children can learn only certain kinds of things at certain ages. The lone-child-in-nature fallacy which is the idea that children learn mostly or entirely from acting on natural objects in their environment. The controllability fallacy which is the notion that that it is possible to know a child so well as to be able to control, through subtle means, what the child learns (Gray, 2009).

Epistemology maintains that whether one knows something or not is somehow relative to context. Certain features of contexts shape the standards that one must meet in order for one's beliefs to count as knowledge (Chinn, 2012).

Piaget's work is lacking in several areas, in particular the importance of love, emotion, relationships with others, and spiritual values in our thinking. Thus it is thought to be a pioneering, yet incomplete, account of human cognitive development (Kamii, 2012).

Criticisms of this theory include: Most use of Montessori materials strictly adheres to fairly rigid and methodical use. Individual freedom is encouraged while creativity is frequently curbed. Individual learning is preferred while social interaction is discouraged, although not necessarily intentionally (the Montessori Method: Criticisms and Recollections, 2010).

Summary

Educational philosophies are very different from one theorist to the next, but they all share the common thread of doing what best benefits the learner. What exactly that it is, is what each philosophy brings to the table and thus makes it unique. Educational philosophies are conceptual frameworks that describe how information is absorbed, processed, and retained during learning. Learning brings together cognitive, emotional, and environmental influences and experiences for acquiring, enhancing, or making changes in one's knowledge, skills, values, and world views.

Depending on which philosophy one is looking at will determine what is considered to be important in the educational process. Some believe that the learning is greatly influenced by ones external environment while others feel that this has no bearing on ones capability to learn (Kamii, 2012). Some feel that learners are born with clean slates and all of their capability to learn is directed… READ MORE

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