CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF REALISM & QUINTILLAN

The works of Ibrahim & et. al (2019) entitled Realism and Its Implication to Education which
deals on embedding realism ideals on the teaching and learning process; and Paul O’Neill (2008) on
his analysis of using Quintilian teachings to education entitled The Educational Theory of Quintilian
(Marcus Fabius Quintilianus) serve as the basis of this critique paper. The former emphasized realism
is the refinement of our common acceptance of the world as being just what it appears to be while the
latter asserts that learning was the acquisition of knowledge and its associated abilities and
competently committing them to memory. These readings shall be compared for both of it contributed
to education and beneficial because it can help me thorough my skills and beliefs in my profession.

Although some of the early pre-Christian thinkers dealt with the problems of the physical world,
the first detailed realistic position is generally attributed to Aristotle. Reality, according to Aristotle was
distinguishable into form and matter (Ibrahim & et. al, 2019). Matter is the substance that all things
have in common and always found in the empirical world. Since realism is interested in objects and
facts, realists believe in the independent existence of the experiential universe and they have a
healthy respect for the “facts” of both the sciences, social sciences and logical reasoning. Whereas
Quintilian basing on his work Institutio Oratoria believes that knowledge was not inherent and could
only be acquired through proper education; that is, knowledge exists, but must be attained through
proper training and learning (O’Neil, 2008). He claimed that it is "a virtue in a teacher that he should
carefully observe the differences in the abilities of the pupils whose education he has undertaken, and
understand the direction to which their various talents incline" (Ibid., p. 317, Book II).

Basing these two philosophers, I like the idea of logical reasoning to save us from scepticism
of being cockiness and smugness to become tolerant and open minded. Realists do not believe in
general and common aims of education. According to them aims are specific to each individual and
each one has different perspectives. The aim of education should be to teach truth rather than
beauty, to understand the present practical life. The purpose of education, according to social realists,
is to prepare the practical man of the world. With this, it is beneficial to me as a teacher because I
teach those things and values which will lead to the good life of my learners. With realism it made me
recognize the importance of every child that he has some feelings, some desires and some powers
and can reach near reality through learning by reason. In this philosophy, both the teacher and the
student are spectators, but while the student looks at the world through innocent eyes, the teacher
must explain it to him, as well as he is able, from his vantage point of increased sophistication. For
this reason, the teacher’s own biases and personality should be as muted as possible. In order to
give the student as much accurate information as quickly and effectively as possible, the realist may
advocate the use of teaching machines to remove the teacher’s bias from factual presentation.
Moreover, teacher having such beliefs should be educated and well versed with the customs of belief
and rights and duties of people, and the trends of all ages and places.

For the part of Quintilian, this is also beneficial because it advises the teacher to apply different
teaching methods according to the different characters and abilities of the learners. Even though
there are criticism on his works such as children are helpless and easily victimized, and that therefore
no one should be given unlimited power over them. I believed that the young should enjoy their
studies and knows the value of play and recreation and warns against the danger of discouraging a
pupil by undue severity. Moreover with this philosophy, teacher can makes an effective criticism of
the practice of corporal punishment appropriately depicting as taking the place of a parent.
In conclusion, both realism and Quintilian approach to education is relatively significant
depending on the needs of the students. There are certain field of learnings that doesn’t require much
of adhering to basic knowledge and essential skills but go beyond with it dynamically. The two
readings is a must to read because it deals on weighing the good sides and downsides of each
philosophy. Certain analysis were also administered in order to engage further understanding and
research about it.

REFERENCES

REALISM AND ITS

IMPLICATION TO
EDUCATION
1
Rohanie M. Ibrahim, LPT
2
Alexander M. Aque, LPT
3
Edna B. Nabua
REALISM AND ITS IMPLICATION TO EDUCATION
Rohanie Ibrahim, LPT
Alexander Aque, LPT
Edna Nabua

The Educational Theory of Quintilian (Marcus Fabius Quintilianus)

Analyst: Paul O'Neill