Republic of the Philippines

DR. EMILIO B. ESPINOSA, SR. MEMORIAL STATE COLLEGE

OF AGRICULTURE AND TECHNOLOGY
Mandaon, Masbate
GRADUATE SCHOOL

REFLECTION PAPER FOR SESSION 6 IN EDUC 200

JOHN DEWEY

John Dewey is an American philosopher and educator who was a cofounder of the
philosophical movement known as pragmatism, a pioneer in functional psychology, an
innovative theorist of democracy, and a leader of the progressive movement in education in
the United States. He was born on October 20, 1859 at Burlington, Vermont, U.S. and died
on June 1, 1952 at New York, New York (James S. Gouinlock, Britanica.com).
Dewey attended Burlington public schools, excelling as a student. When he was just
15 years old, he enrolled at the University of Vermont, where he particularly enjoyed
studying philosophy under the tutelage of H.A.P. Torrey. Four years later, Dewey graduated
from the University of Vermont second in his class (Biography.com Authors, 2014).
John Dewey taught in a seminary and a private school. He loves reading during his
free time. He decided to take a break in teaching and studied philosophy and psychology at
Johns Hopkins. Dewey was hired as an assistant professor at the University of Michigan. He
also served as a professor in the University of Minnesota. He became the head of the
philosophy department and director for School of Education at the University of Chicago. He
also served as a professor of philosophy at Columbia University. He retired from his teaching
career with the title of professor emeritus (Biography.com Authors, 2014). John Dewey may
have been the most well-known and influential philosopher to impact education to date
(Theobald, 2009).
Dewey’s philosophy claimed than man behaved out of habit and that change often led
to unexpected outcomes. As man struggled to understand the results of change, he was forced
to think creatively in order to resume control of his shifting environment. For Dewey, thought
was the means through which man came to understand and connect with the world around
him. A universal education was the key to teaching people how to abandon their habits and
think creatively. He was a strong proponent for progressive educational reform. He believed
that education should be based on the principle of learning through doing (Biography.com
Authors, 2014).
I agreed the belief of Dewey that “Education should be more than teaching students’
mindless facts that they would soon forget”. Instead of relying on rote memorization to learn,
I believed his thought that “education should consist of a journey of experiences, building
upon each other to create and understand new ideas” (Kendra Cherry, 2020).
I realized that today’s curriculum and educational practices in schools were
influenced by John Dewey. In my personal experience as a teacher, I applied the philosophy
of John Dewey. It is important that learning as an activity must be incorporated with actual
problems necessitated a careful integration of lessons with specific learners (Winter, 2018). I
valued his belief about social learning; that school should be representative of a social
environment and that students learn best when in natural social settings (Flinders & Thornton,
2013).
I respected his view on education as a “process of living and not a preparation for
future living” (Flinders & Thornton, 2013, p.35; Gutek, 2014). This belief challenged me to
equip my learners in a holistic manner. His view that classroom should be a learner-centered
is what the K to 12 Curriculum wanted to apply in the classroom. But, sad to say that in some
instances; this idea is not applicable to the struggling learners. The notion of learning by
 Republic of the Philippines
DR. EMILIO B. ESPINOSA, SR. MEMORIAL STATE COLLEGE
OF AGRICULTURE AND TECHNOLOGY
Mandaon, Masbate
GRADUATE SCHOOL

doing is one of the best ideas that must be applied in a classroom. I believed that as a teacher,
I need to find strategies to incorporate the philosophy of Dewey in my class.
I concluded that John Dewey’s philosophy of education is one of the greatest
philosophies that contributed to the philosophical and historical foundation of education
because of his notable ideas that inspired the educators to improve the teaching modalities,
hone the learners with different learning styles holistically and adopt the idea of learning by
doing in the classroom.

References:

1. https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-Dewey
2. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1158258.pdf
3. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/dewey/
4. https://www.biography.com/scholar/john-dewey
5. https://www.verywellmind.com/john-dewey-biography-1859-1952-2795515
6.
 Republic of the Philippines
DR. EMILIO B. ESPINOSA, SR. MEMORIAL STATE COLLEGE
OF AGRICULTURE AND TECHNOLOGY
Mandaon, Masbate
GRADUATE SCHOOL

MOHANDAS GANDHI

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi or also known as Mahatma (“Great Soul”) Gandhi

was born on October 2, 1869, at Porbandar, India and died on January 30, 1948 at Delhi. He
is an Indian lawyer, politician, social activist, and writer who became the leader of the
nationalist movement against the British rule of India. He is considered as the father of his
country. Gandhi is internationally esteemed for his doctrine of nonviolent protest (satyagraha)
to achieve political and social progress. (B.R. Nanda, Britanica.com.)
Gandhi won the Academy Award for best motion picture in the 1982 movie. His
birthday is a national holiday in India. It is also the International Day of Non-Violence. He
was the 1930 Time Magazine Man of the Year. Gandhi wrote a lot. The Collected Works of
Mahatma Gandhi have 50,000 pages! He was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize five times
(© Ducksters). These achievements in life clearly reflect on the saying that he once said;
“My life is a message”.
Mahatma Gandhi is not an academic philosopher but his thoughts on education made
him contribute to the historical foundation of education. He synthesised all the three basic
philosophies of education into his philosophy of education — Naturalism, Idealism and
Pragmatism. Like a Naturalist, Gandhiji emphasised self-discipline among children (Mike
Shawal). I appreciated his idealistic view and profound faith in God. As a pragmatist, he also
believed in the idea of learning by doing.
I admired the belief of Gandhi that education should develop all the capacities of the
child so that he becomes a complete human being (Dr. Shruti Tandon. Ganhi’s Educational
Thoughts). I realized how important to develop the child their spiritual, intellectual, moral
and physical aspects in life.
The following Basic Principles of Education shared by Dr. Shruti Tandon in her
article Ganhi’s Educational Thoughts made me realized that Gandhi is a great philosopher.
1. From seven to fourteen years of age, education of each child should be free,
compulsory and universal.
2. The medium of instruction should be mother-tongue.
3. Mere literacy cannot be equated with education. Education should employ
some craft as a medium of education so that the child gains economic self-
reliance for his life.
4. Education should develop human values in the child.
5. Education should create useful, responsible and dynamic citizens. By
education all the hidden powers of child should develop according to the
community of which he is an integral part.
6. Education should achieve the harmonious development of child's body, mind,
heart and soul.
7. All education should be imparted through some productive craft or industry
and a useful correlation should be established with that industry. The industry
should be such that the child is able to achieve gainful work experience
through practical work.
8. Education should be made self-supporting through some productive work.
Education should lead to economic independence and self-reliance for
livelihood.
I believed that our present educational system was partially influence by Gandhi,
hence we are offering the FREE Basic Education and FREE Tertiary Education. I also
 Republic of the Philippines
DR. EMILIO B. ESPINOSA, SR. MEMORIAL STATE COLLEGE
OF AGRICULTURE AND TECHNOLOGY
Mandaon, Masbate
GRADUATE SCHOOL

believed that our basic education curriculum was influenced by him because we are adopting
the use of mother tongue as a medium of instruction in K to 3 levels. I agreed on his view on
the incorporation of some crafts or skills as a medium of education. This is helpful in the
future’s economic status of the learner.
The contribution of Mahatma Gandhi in the foundation is education is very important
particularly in the new generation of learners. It is in reality that today’s learner’s characters
are really different from the previous generation. At present, some learners have lack of self-
discipline and moral values. That is why, the teachings of Gandhi reminded me to promote
the life-centered education and develop their personality as a human. Besides of developing
their cognitive skills, I need to develop also affective skills by adopting the 3 H’s of Gandhi;
i.e. Hand, Heart and Head.
Thus, Mahatma Gandhi’s thoughts in education encouraged me to integrate human
values in my lessons and assist my learners in developing life skills. Indeed, Mahatma
Gandhi’s life is a message to everyone.

References:
1. https://www.ducksters.com/biography/mohandas_gandhi.php
2. https://www.yourarticlelibrary.com/education/merits -education/top-15-merits-of-
basic-education-mahatma-gandhi/69130
3. https://www.yourarticlelibrary.com/mahatma-gandhi/philosophy-mahatma-gandhi/8-
main-tenets-of-gandhijis-educational-philosophy/69131
4. https://www.biography.com/activist/mahatma-gandhi
5. https://www.mkgandhi.org/articles/Gandhis-educational-thoughts.html#:~:text=In
%20other%20words%20he%20believed,integrated%20personality%20of%20the
%20child.
 Republic of the Philippines
DR. EMILIO B. ESPINOSA, SR. MEMORIAL STATE COLLEGE
OF AGRICULTURE AND TECHNOLOGY
Mandaon, Masbate
GRADUATE SCHOOL

JANE ADDAMS

Jane Addams was an American settlement activist, reformer, social worker,

sociologist, public administrator and author. She was an important leader in the history of
social work and women's suffrage in the United States and advocated for world peace
(Wikipedia). She was born on September 6, 1860 at Cedarville, Illinois, U.S and died on
May 21, 1935 at Chicago, Illinois .She was the first woman president of the National
Conference of Social Work. A pacifist, she served as president of the International Congress
of Women in 1915 and founded the Woman’s Peace Party, the predecessor to the Women’s
International League for Peace and Freedom. Addams was a recipient of the 1931 Nobel
Prize for Peace. (Encyclopedia Britanica).
Addams was graduated from the Rockford Female Seminary, the valedictorian of a
class of seventeen, but was granted the bachelor’s degree only after the school became
accredited the next year as Rockford College for Women. In the course of the next six years
she began the study of medicine but left it because of poor health, was hospitalized
intermittently, traveled and studied in Europe for twenty-one months, and then spent almost
two years in reading and writing and in considering what her future objectives should be (The
Nobel Peace Prize 1931, Jane Addams Biographical).
Jane Addams and Ellen Gate Starr founded Hull House in Chicago in 1889. Addams
was also a founding member of the National Child Labor Committee, which played a
significant role in passage of a Federal Child Labor Law in 1916. She led an initiative to
establish a School of Social Work at the University of Chicago, creating institutional support
for a new profession for women. She also served as president of the National Conference of
Charities and Corrections from 1909-1915, the first woman to hold that title, and became
active in the women’s suffrage movement as an officer in the National American Women’s
Suffrage Association and pro-suffrage columnist.
She was also among the founders of the National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People (NAACP). She joined a group of women peace activists who toured the
warring nations, hoping to bring about peace. In 1915, she headed the Women's Peace Party
and shortly thereafter also became president of the International Congress of Women. Her
achievements in life deserved her be the first American woman to receive the award of Nobel
Peace Prize in 1931. (Debra Michals, PhD. 2017)
Jane Addams is best known for her contribution to urban social service; however, she
was also an important and influential educator who espoused Progressive educational ideas
and practice (Education Encyclopedia - StateUniversity.com.) I affirmed in her conviction
about education that it should not be "disconnected from the ultimate test of the conduct it
inspired” (Jane Adams, Twenty Years at Hull-House).
I agreed her view on education's role; i.e., to provide the knowledge that would
improve the life of all of the participants in the community. I really valued her effort to
educate the women and children in the community.
The following three basic principles of Jane Addams that she set when she established
the Hull House are great ideas to reflect on as an educator:
1. In order to make a change you must live where you work so that you better
understand the problems of the people.
2. Everyone should be treated equally with respect.
3. Poverty and the lack of opportunity bread ignorance (Jane Addams Hull House
Association).
 Republic of the Philippines
DR. EMILIO B. ESPINOSA, SR. MEMORIAL STATE COLLEGE
OF AGRICULTURE AND TECHNOLOGY
Mandaon, Masbate
GRADUATE SCHOOL

Thus, the life of Jane Addams reflected on how the women contribute to the
community. I believed that she is one of the women influencers that raise their flag and show
what they can do. Her works clearly encouraged women empowerment. Indeed, each one of
us should be treated as equal.

References:

1. https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/1931/addams/biographical/
2. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jane-Addams
3. https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/jane-addams
4. https://education.stateuniversity.com/pages/1734/Addams-Jane-1860-
1935.html#:~:text=Agreeing%20with%20Dewey%20and%20William,the
%20participants%20in%20the%20community.

Prepared by:

CRIS A. DAHUNAN
MAED-AS Student
Section A
Cawayan Campus

Submitted to:

DR. MORENA C. BUAYAN

Subject Instructor