3RD YEAR SECOND SEMESTER

EDUC 3201

Educational Philosophers
John Locke (1632 - 1704) Empirical Knowledge
Was an English philosopher, often classified as an empiricist, because he believed that
knowledge was found in empirical observation and experience
• Acquire knowledge about the world through the senses - learning by doing and by
interacting with the environment.
• Simple ideas become more complex through comparison, reflection and generalization
- the inductive method.
• Questioned the long traditional view that knowledge came exclusively from literacy
sources, particularly the Greek and Latin classics.
• Opposed the “divine rights of kings” theory which held that the monarch had the right to
be an unquestioned and absolute ruler over his subjects.
• Political order should be based upon a contract between the people and the
government.
• Aristocrats are not destined by birth to be rulers. People were to establish their own
government and select their own political leaders from among themselves; civic
education is necessary.
• People should be educated to govern themselves intelligently and responsibly
(Ornstein, 1984)

Herbert Spencer (1820 - 1903) Utilitarian Education, the Survival of the fittest
Was an English philosopher who initiated a philosophy called “Social Dwarfism”. He coined
the term “survival of the fittest” seven years before Darwin’s publication of his theory and
natural history, The Origin of the Species in q859. Spencer became an enthusiastic
supporter of Darwin’s theory of evolution, believing it could also be applied well to human
societies.
• Spencer's concept of "survival of the fittest" means that human development had gone
through an evolutionary series of stages from the simple to the complex and from the
uniform to the more specialized kind of activity.
• Social development had taken place according. to an evolutionary process by which
simple homogeneous societies had evolved to more complex societal systems
characterized with humanistic and classical education.
Herbert Spencer
• Industrialized society require vocational and professional education based on scientific
and practical (utilitarian) objectives rather than on the very general educational goals
associated with humanistic and classical education.
• Curriculum should emphasize the practical, utilitarian and scientific subjects that
helped human kind master the environment.
• Was not inclined to rote learning; schooling must be related to life and to the activities
needed to earn a living.
• Curriculum must be arranged according to their contribution to human survival and
progress.
• Science and other subjects that sustained human life and prosperity should have
curricular priority since it aids in the performance of life activities.
• Individual competition leads to social progress.  He who is fittest survives (Ornstein,
1984).

John Dewey (1859-1952): Learning through Experience

was one of the United States’ best known academics, philosophers and public intellectuals.
From humble beginnings in Vermont, he managed to achieve a PhD in philosophy and
become a professor at the University of Chicago. It his here that he began experimenting
with educational reform, establishing his famous ‘Laboratory School’ in 1896 to develop and
test ‘progressive’ methods of teaching. This is where Dewey’s lifelong concerns with the
social outcomes of education began, and particularly his interest in the ways in which
education could enhance democracy. He moved to Columbia University in 1904, where he
was a professor of philosophy, regularly lecturing in the University’s Teachers’ College. He
worked at Columbia for the rest of his life, writing a number of books on education and
making a major contribution to the American philosophical school of ‘Pragmatism’. By this,
Dewey meant that philosophy had to be grounded in the practical conditions of everyday
human life, and that human knowledge should be linked to practical social experience. This
philosophy underpinned all his educational thinking. Dewey was the American founder of
‘progressive education’, a direct counterpoint to the ‘traditional’ or didactic education of
the schools of the early 20th century.
- Education is a social process and so school is intimately related to the society that it serves
- Children are socially active human beings who want to explore their environment and gain control
over it
- Education is a social process by which the immature members of the group, especially the
children, are brought to participate in the society
- The school is a special environment established by members of society, for the purpose of
simplifying, purifying and integrating the social experience of the group so that it can be
understood, examined and used by its children
- The sole purpose of education is to contribute to the personal and social growth of individuals
The steps of the scientific of reflective method which are extremely important in Dewey's
educational theory are as follows:
1. the leaner has a " genuine situation of experience" involvement in an activity in which he/she
is interested
2. within this experience the learner has a "genuine problem" that stimulates thinking
3. the learner possesses the information or does research to acquire the information needed to
solve the problem
4. the learner develops possible and tentative solutions that may solve the problem
5. the learner tests the solutions by applying them to the problem.  In this one way one
discovers their validity for oneself
- The fund of knowledge of the human race-past ideas, discoveries and inventions was to be
used as the material for dealing with problems.  This accumulated wisdom of cultural heritage
has to be tested.  If it served human purposes, it becomes part of a reconstructed experience
- The school is social, scientific and democratic. The school introduces children to society and
their heritage.  The school as a miniature society is a means of bringing children into social
participation
- The school is scientific in the sense that it is a social laboratory in which children and youth
could test their ideas and values.  In here, the learner acquires the disposition and procedures
associated with scientific or reflective thinking and acting
- The school is democratic because the leaner is free to test all ideas, beliefs and values. 
Cultural heritage, customs and institutions are all subject to critical inquiry, investigation and
reconstruction
- School should be used by all, it belong to a democratic institution.  No barrier of custom or
prejudice segregate people.  People ought to work together to solve common problems
- The authoritarian or coercive style of administration and teaching is out of place because
they block genuine inquiry and dialogue
- Education is a social activity and the school is a social agency that helps shape human
character and behavior 
- Values are relative but sharing, cooperation and democracy are significant human values that
should be encouraged by schools (Ornstien, A.1984)
George Counts (1889-1974); Building a New Social Order
Progressive educator, sociologist, and political activist, George S. Counts challenged teachers
and teacher educators to use school as a means for critiquing and transforming the social order.
Perhaps best known for his controversial pamphlet Dare the School Build a New Social
Order? (1932), Counts authored scores of scholarly works that advanced the social study of
education and emphasized teaching as a moral and political enterprise. His work on schooling
and society continue to have relevance to contemporary dilemmas in education.
- Education is not based on eternal truths but is relative to a particular society living at a given
time and place
- By allying themselves with groups that want to change society, schools should cope with social
change that arises from technology
- There is a cultural lag between material progress and social institutions and ethical values
- Instruction should incorporate a content of a socially useful nature and a problem-solving
methodology.  Students are encourages to work on problems that have social significance
- Schools become instrument for social improvement rather than an agency for preserving the
status quo
- Teachers should lead society rather than follow it.  Teachers are agents of change
- Teachers are called on to make important choices in the controversial areas of economics,
politics and morality because if they failed to do so, others would make the decisions for them
- Schools ought provide an education that afford equal learning opportunities to all students
(Ornstein, A.1984)
Theodore Brameld (1904-1987): Social Reconstructionism
born in 1904, was one of the leading educational philosophers of the 20th century. Theodore
Brameld is known as the founder of Social Reconstructionism. Social Reconstructionism is a
philosophy that means you should address the problems going on and try to help the social
order. Brameld thought that schools should take the lead in changing or reconstructing the
social order.
- As the name implies, social reconstructionism is a philosophy that emphasizes the reformation
of society.  The social reconstructionist contend that:
...humankind has moved from an agriculture and rural society to an urban and technological
society...there is a serious lag in cultural adaptation to the realities of a technological society. 
Humankind has yet to reconstruct its values in order to catch up with the changes in the
technological order, and organized education has a major role to play in reducing the gap
between the values of the culture and technology (Ornstein, 1984)
- So the social reconstructionist asserts that schools should:
critically examine present culture and resolve inconsistencies, controversies and conflicts to
build a new society not just change society...do more than reform the social and educational
status quo.  It should seek to create a new society...Humankind is in a state of profound cultural
crisis.  If schools reflect the dominant social values...then organized education will merely
transmit the social ills that are symptoms of the pervasive problems and afflictions that beset
humankind...The only legitimate goal of a truly human education is to create a world order in
which people are in control of their own destiny.  In an era of nuclear weapons, the social
reconstructionists see an urgent need for society to reconstruct itself before it destroys itself
(Ornstein, A. 1984)
- Technological era is an era of interdependence and so education must be international in
scope for global citizenship
- For the social reconstructionists, education is designed "to awaken student's consciousness
about social problems and to engage them actively in problem solving " (Ornstein, A. 1984)
- Social reconstructionists are firmly committed to equality or equity in both society and
education.  Barriers of socio-economic class and racial discrimination should be eradicated
- They also emphasize the idea of an interdependent world.  The quality of life need to be
considered and enhanced on a global basis (Ornstein, A.1984)
 Paul Freire (1921-1997): Critical Pedagogy
was Brazilian educator whose ideas on the role of education for the poor, proved to be
tremendously influential. After training as a lawyer, he decided to become a secondary school
teacher, rising to become Director of the Department of Education and Culture in the Brazilian
State of Pernambuco. He later worked in various Brazilian universities, developing adult literacy
programs. After a military coup in Brazil in 1964, he lived and worked in Chile for five years, then
with the World Council of Churches in Geneva, not returning to Brazil until 1980. During his time
of exile, he developed his ideas further and published a number of books, the most renowned of
which was Pedagogy of the Oppressed (1972). Freire saw the moral potential in a transformative
education—the potential to liberate.
- Paulo Freire, A critical theorist, like social reconstructionist, believed that systems must be
changes to overcome oppression and improve human conditions
- Education and literacy are the vehicle for social change.  In his view, humans must learn to
resist oppression and not become its victims, nor oppress others.  To do so requires dialogue
and critical consciousness, the development of awareness to overcome domination and
oppression
- Rather than "teaching as barking," in which the educator deposits information into students'
heads, Freire saw teaching and learning as a process of inquiry in which the child must invent
and reinvent the world
- Teachers must not see themselves as the sole possessors of knowledge and their students as
empty receptacles.  He calls this pedagogical approach the " banking method" of education.
- A democratic relationship between the teacher and her students is necessary in order for the
conscientization process to take place

- Freire's critical pedagogy is problem-posing education

- A central element of Freire's pedagogy is dialogue.  It is love and respect that allow us to
engage people in dialogue and to discover ourselves in the process and learn from one
another.  By its nature, dialogue is not something that can be imposed.  Instead, genuine
dialogue is characterized by respect of the parties involved toward one another.  We develop a
tolerant sensibility during the dialogue process, and it is only when we come to tolerate the
points of view and ways of being of others that we might be able to learn from them and about
ourselves in the process.  Dialogue means the presence of equality, mutual recognition,
affirmation of people, a sense of solidarity with people, and remaining open to questions
- Dialogue is the basis of critical and problem-posing pedagogy, as opposed to banking
education, where there is not discussion, only the imposition of the teachers' ideas on
students (Ornstien, A.1984)
Historical Foundation of Education
Education or school is an institution created by society.  Education is a function of society and
as such arises from the nature and character of society itself.  Society seeks to preserve itself
and to do this it maintains its functions and institutions, one of which is education, to assure its
survival, stability and convenience.
As John Dewey claimed, it is the school that " introduces and trains each child of society into
membership within such a little community, saturating him with the spirit of service and
providing him with the instruments of effective self-direction...".  When schools succeed to do
this, in the words of Dewey " we shall have the deepest and best guaranty of a larger society
which is worthy, harmonious, and lovely.
This is called the socialization process.  Socialization is the "process of learning the roles,
statuses and values necessary for participation in social institutions..." (Brinkerhoff D., 1989). 
Socialization is a lifelong process.  It occurs primarily during early childhood but as we progress
from infancy to old age we shed old roles and adopt new ones.   Role learning that prepares us
for future roles as term anticipatory socialization (Brinkerhoof, D. 1989).  Because of
anticipatory socialization most of us are more or less prepared for our future roles like spouse,
parent, professional teacher.
The family is the most important agent of socialization.  Psychology tells us that the self-
concept formed during childhood has lasting consequences.  Besides,  "parents' religion, social
class and ethnicity influence the child's social roles and self-concept which in turn influence the
expectations that others have for the child, and they determine the groups with which the child
will interact outside the family". (Brinkerhoof, D.1989).
The school is also an important agent of socialization.  It is an institution charges by society to
impart specific knowledge and skills necessary for functioning in a society.  They are also
charged with the task of transmitting society's cultural values. 

Education in Primitive Society Brinkerhoof (1989) explains, In primitive societies, preliterate

persons faced the problem of survival in an environment that pitted them against natural forces
and wild animals.  To survive, human beings needed food, shelter, warmth and clothing.  To
transform a hostile environment into one that is life-sustaining, humankind developed life skills
that eventually became cultural patterns. These life skills included, tool or instrument making,
adherence to the moral behavior code of group life and language. 

Early humankind found security in group life based on kinship and tribal patterns.  Life in the
human group was educational as children observed and learned from the elders and as they
were deliberately taught by their parents and elders.  For these cultural patterns to continue, the
adults had to reach these skills and values to their children.  This is socialization, a function of
education in society.  Socialization is the process by which individuals internalize the norms and
values of society and so social and cultural continuity are attained.  This is also informal
education in action.
As abstract thinkers, human beings could create, use and manipulate symbols.  They could
communicate with one another through gestures, sounds and words.  These symbols were
expressed in signs, pictographs and letters.  The creation and introduction of oral and written
language made a great leap on literacy which in turn had tremendous educational
consequences which citizens of a civilized society like netizens of the 21st century now enjoy.

HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF EDUCATION

Primitive Education
Education began during the prehistoric period, where certain skills and attitudes that enabled
people to survive were passed on from one generation to another consciously and
unconsciously.  The basic aim of primitive education was security and conformity since the
fundamental problem was to stay alive.  Whether conscious of it or not, the primitive man's
educational aim was to prepare the young to secure himself and his family and to appease the
gods or spirits that controlled his existence.  The second aim of education was conformity,
which brought together families, clans and tribes so that they conquer common dangers.

Primitive education involved practical skills, which included simple forms of domestic,
vocational, physical, moral and military training.  It also involved theoretical skills - including
religious ones - and consisted of training to enable them to satisfy their need for food and
shelter; spiritual or ceremonial training necessary to deal with unforeseen forces; and social
knowledge to learn the customs, taboos and traditions for harmonious living with other members
of the tribe.  Women taught the girls the female duties of childrearing and household
management, while men taught the boys hunting, fishing, making tools and weapons and how to
propitiate the gods.  When the youth equaled the elder's knowledge, education was complete.

Primitive children learn these skills by subconscious imitation of the activities of their parents
and other elders.  They also learn by listening to instructions and observing demonstrations of
how things were done.