Idealism and curriculum

According to idealism the teacher is the symbol or model of good character, he is the masters of all
sort of knowledge, so the teacher has the central role in the teaching-learning (Singh, 2007). The
teacher has right to choose suitable content from the available literature and to teach. The student is a
passive receptor, who has to gain the knowledge transferred by the knowledge. The teacher certifies
the disciple at the successful completion of education as per the above given age levels (Singh).
Idealism and aim of education
Plato says that to become a philosopher or king, a person has to go through all the processes of
education. He describes the aim of education as to drag every man out of the cave as far as possible.
Education should not aim at putting knowledge into the soul, but at turning the soul toward right
desires continuing the analogy (similarity) between mind and sight. The overarching goal of the city
is to educate those with the right natures; so that they can turn their minds sharply towards the Form
of the Good. The philosophers must return periodically into the cave (society) and rule
there. Aristotle says that education is essential for complete self realization as he says, “The
supreme good to which we all aspire is the happiness. A happy man is the one who is educated.
A happy man is virtuous, virtue is gained through education.” Plato says that Education is for the
individual’s personal betterment and that of the society.
Idealism and stages of education
Plato has also divided the process of education into five major steps;
1.       Age 7 to 18; study general mathematic, music, astronomy and so on,
2.      Age 18 to 20; considers best for physical training,
3.      Age  20 to 30; study of logic, knighthood, and mathematics
4.      Age 30 to 35; study of dialectics
5.      Age 35 to 50; practice of dialectics in various official affairs in the state
6.      50 years +; a person can become a philosopher or king as his tern comes.
Plato says that in each step the person is given with different sort of education. He suggests screening
those in each step who cannot perform well. The ones who can successfully pursue all the six stages
can be called philosophers who have the understanding of the form of good.

Idealism and method of teaching

idealism is traditional philosophy of education in which teacher has centeral role who has to be role
model so that the students will adopt his model to become good citizen. In idealism the lacture
method is considered the most important one in which a delivers lecture and students listen to the
teacher. Teacher selects any topic or issue for teaching first he teaches the topic then asks the
questions about that topic. Students answer the asked questions, Teacher provides the feedback and
students improve themselves according to the teacher’s feedback. This is teacher centered approach
therefore students do not participate in a well manner and do not understand the taught content. This
method of teaching is not suitable for young or elementary level of students because they are not
habitual for listening long time. This method is only used for adults. Because their mind is mature
and they can understand easily.    The second method that suits idealism the most is the Socratic
Method in which the teacher involves the students in learning activities. The teacher raises an issue
and the students are encouraged to discuss it in a dialogue form and reach to a conclusion.  
Idealism and assessment
In idealism Assessment is a means for focusing teachers’ collective attention, examining their
assumptions, and creating a shared culture dedicated to continuously improving the quality of
higher learning. Assessment requires making expectations and standards for quality explicit and
public; systematically gathering evidence on how well performance matches those expectations
and standards; analyzing and interpreting the evidence; and using the resulting information to
document, explain, and improve performance. In idealism teacher has the central role then the
child, so he can assess the child’s learning by asking him certain questions based on the
information that has been provided by teacher’s lecture or from the text book used in the
teaching learning process.
Conclusion
From the above stated discussion it can be concluded that idealism is an important philosophy
which has played an important role in the field of education. It provides a complete guideline for
the students, teachers, learning activities and many more. In current age idealism has been week
as much emphasis of the education is put on the realistic approaches, still it has its impacts in our
education system.