CENTRAL MINDANAO UNIVERSITY

Foundations of Education
Mid-Term Examination

MARITTES R. AGUILAR

1. How does philosophy influence the following:

a. Teachers?
Philosophy is the love of wisdom. As teachers, our knowledge is acquired through
attending school. In attending school, students gained different experiences – be it
pleasant or unpleasant. Most of the time, pleasant experiences contribute to building
good memories and retaining knowledge which was gained from the teachers whom
we respected the most. For that, I believe that a teacher’s philosophy is influenced
by his experiences gained by attending school. Most often than not, teachers follow
what their favorite teachers do before. Like I do. Based on my experience, I was
shaped to be most of the time an idealist. Based on my experience since high school
and college, my teachers and school would always want us to be what should be
ideal. For example, during my first 5 years in teaching, I am very hesitant in giving
high grades to my students. Even if he is good in class but he is not yet on my
standards of grading, still I won’t give a high grade. This is what I learned in
attending 8 years in my alma mater (CMU). We all know that CMU is a University
of the Poor yet deserving students. Studying here is like climbing a very stiff
mountain with a load on your back. And getting a grade is like “dadaan sa butas ng
karayom”. It seemed funny but that is the truth. Since then, I feel that I am very
adamant in giving good grades. But I also learned that a teacher’s philosophy can
be changed in time based on her experiences because as the time went by, I realized
that I am not in my alma mater anymore. That I have different sets of learners, that
I am in a different school, and that I am in a different community. That was then I
started giving high grades as long as they participate in class, do assignments and
submit projects. I thought, anyway, attending school is not an ultimate measure that
a student can land a white collar job. There are naughty students who have gotten
white collar jobs and there are achievers who have gotten a mediocre jobs.

b. School Administrators?
Schools are usually influenced by the attitude, beliefs and needs of the community.
I believe that School Administrators’ philosophy are influenced by the beliefs of
the community. Administrators tend to create culture in the school which can be
shared in the community. He really has to fit in the community’s needs because no
matter how much he tried to make change but that change is not already relevant in
the community, it will become useless. Like in our case, we need to give projects
that are achievable by the students and the community because we are aware that
most of our students are sons and daughters of sugarcane cutters, farms laborers and
 fishermen. Even in the Senior High School tracks, the subjects which were offered
are those which are relevant in the community. Like Food and Beverage Services,
Home Economics and Information Communications Technology (ICT) are the first
batch of tracks we offered in our school. We cannot offer banking since there is no
bank in our community. Thus, it is important to build relationships with the
community so that the school can give feedbacks as to the needs of the community
and vice versa. Relationships build with the people in the surrounding is the real
foundation of leadership, education and progress.

c. Curriculum Planners?
In planning the curriculum, the Curriculum Planners need to consider again the type
of community the school is in. Philosophy will help define the purpose of the
school, the important subjects to be taught, the kind of students, the types of
Instructional Materials, the methods and strategies to be used and the kind of
evaluation or assessment for the learners. This decision and planning is influenced
again by the kind of community the school is situated.

2. In terms of knowledge and values, what are the differences among

a. Idealism, progressivism, existentialism?
Idealism is characterized by timeless ideas and concepts, rethinking talent ideas,
abstract, ideas are gained through reasoning and intuition, religious revelation. Its
values include absolute and eternal, based on conformity to ideals and can be
classified and ordered into a hierarchy.

Progressivism stems from pragmatism in which it is need-based and relevant,

relates to students’ personal lives and experiences, skills to cope with change,
interdisciplinary and interactive, emphasis on how to think (affective outcomes),
not what you think (cognitive outcomes). This philosophy asserts that
advancements in science, technology, economic development and social
organization are vital to the improvement of the human condition

Existentialism is characterized by lifelong goals and gained through personal

decisions and perceptions. While its values are freely chosen and determined by
one’s responsible choice and reflection. This philosophy tells that existence
precedes essence which means that human beings exist before his existence has
value or meaning. At some point, this can be true because a human being may be
born today. We see a new baby or a new human being but we do not know if this
person can be someone someday. Generally, we only consider someone as essential
if we can benefit from him, if he accomplishes something or he is someone in the
society. That is why there are human beings regarded just as “walay kwenta”. This
might be the reason why a certain person is worthless. And true enough, we often
hear people said that.
3. In terms of content and methods, what are the differences among
a. Perennialism, essentialism, empiricism?
In education, perennialism is the belief that schools should teach ideas that are
everlasting. This is derived from the word “perennial” which means lasting for
many years. In today’s educational system, the Department of Education included
even in its mission which states that the department wants to develop a lifelong
learners. This is because of the perception that a person- even in his old age- still
continues to learn. This is true because personally, I am still learning many things.
For instance, presently, since we are now on a digital age, I am still learning how
the new technology works like the internet, gadgets and other multimedia. And
teachers need to learn so that we can relate to the students’ activities. Further, we
are still pursuing our masters’ degree because we feel that there are still many things
that we need to learn.

On the other hand, essentialism is the view that every entity has a set of attributes
that are necessary to its identity and function. Its adherents believe that children
should learn the traditional basic subjects thoroughly. This philosophy aims to
inculcate in the minds of the students with the “essentials” of academic knowledge
which includes the 3 Rs (reading, writing, arithmetic) and even the foreign
languages, history, science, art and music. According to the experts, this traditional
approach is meant to train the mind, promote reasoning and ensure a common
culture. I could even say that the use of the mother tongue is a product of this
philosophy. This is because in using the mother tongue, a student will be trained to
formulate reasons and express it using his mother tongue. Later, this practice will
help the student develop his reasoning power and at the same time, can help him
start to use his second language. Even in elementary, it is very important for the
student to learn how to read and use basic math before he can develop his other
abilities because those disciplines are essential in learning development before he
can go on to higher level.

In empiricism, it states that knowledge comes only or primarily from sensory

experience. It emphasizes that knowledge is formed through experience. This can
be explained concretely in science laboratory activities. Students can formulate
ideas through what they experience in their activities. That the students have no
prior knowledge of the experiment – that they only gained the knowledge through
experience and evidence. Empiricists believed that a newborn baby has a “blank
slate” mind at birth. This can only be filled with ideas through his experiences in
the world. They believed that at first, the baby do not know yet how to feed himself.
But later, he will learn that when there is something placed near his mouth, that I
the time he has to suck to get milk, thus, feed himself. This practice, according to
the empiricist, is learned through his daily experience.
4. Which philosophical orientation is likely to influence DepEd in the future? Why do
you think so?

For me, I believe that the philosophical orientation that will influence DepEd in the
future is the perennialism. This philosophy is not only going to influence but have
already gotten into the educational system of the Department of Education. As I was
saying in my previous discussion, the DepEd is now developing lifelong learners. This
program is designed to help students in the future that even when they get old, they can
still relate to the society because a person must not stop learning.

Another is the progressivism. In the present educational system, the Department of

Education has introduced the different technological advancements which answers the
needs of our learners in the digital generation. Our learners are considered today as
techno-savvy. Thus, even teachers need to learn how the technology works so we can
still count ourselves as part of this generation.

5. Which philosophical orientation appears most contrary to mainstream education?

The philosophical orientation that appears most contrary to mainstream education is the
essentialism because today, our educational system requires us to follow the different
subjects which, according to the experts, are very important in today’s education. Not
only that, but our education today uses interdisciplinary approach across the subjects.
Teachers are discourage to use the traditional approach. We have to leave the old
schools and get used to the new schools where we have to deal with the different
technological advancement.