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Contributors to Western Education

Name

Institutional Affiliation

Course

Instructor Name

Date of Submission
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Contributors to Western Education

Introduction

The efforts of the world's ancient educators and philosophers immensely contributed to

the development and shaping of Western education throughout world history. The relevance of

thoughts and ideas of modern educationists between the 15th to 20th centuries can equally not be

ignored in this revolution (Mathew, 2022). This paper aims to uncover the concepts and

contributions of ten modern philosophers in shaping current learning procedures. The

philosophers of interest in the study include; John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Paulo Freire,

Friedrich Froebel, John Dewey, John Amos Comenius, Emma Willard, Catherine Beecher,

Booker T. Washington, and Horace Mann.

John Locke

According to Locke, education aims to improve an individual's thinking ability by

focusing on the virtue of reason rather than passion. Locke emphasized analytical reasoning and

proposed that education should not be about memorizing facts but about creating a virtuous man

who can participate in active logic (Turdiyev, 2021). Locke believed learning must remain

enjoyable to improve every participant's liberty and congruence to critical thinking.

In his philosophical submissions, Locke proposed that children should not be subjected to

learning if they aren't in the mood for early childhood learning. He asserted that childhood

learning should remain more recreational and unforceful. Locke stressed that childhood learning

must be aimed at guarding minors against exposure to vices and immoral living (Turdiyev,

2021). Therefore, childhood learning must be tailored according to children's characters to

achieve effective learning outcomes. Similarly, Locke emphasized the importance of parents in
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early childhood education. He noted that young children needed rational guidance from parents

who must give the children space for their reason before imposing their will.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Jean-Jacques Rousseau believed in natural education among children and asserted

immense contributions to childhood learning and innate teaching. In his submissions, Rousseau

wanted children to grow separate from the influence of society and believed that for education to

have sense, it must contribute to a child's mental development and spontaneity (Lu, 2019). The

children, in his view, were innocent and natural creatures that were to be controlled and

influenced only by education (Lu, 2019). The philosopher believed that children were to enjoy

learning and that education was not supposed to be a part of a competition.

Rousseau's ideas in childhood education have lasted to modern education and throughout

the world's history regarding children's ideal physical and natural learning orientation.

Rousseau's timeless philosophies on education emphasize the relief of children from undue

control, strict discipline, ridged teaching methods, and artificial knowledge (Yarmatov, 2020).

He adds that the central essence of early childhood learning must be embedded in developing a

child's innate capabilities in a natural environment without exposing a child to errors and vices

(Lu, 2019). The educational ideology of Rousseau advocates for genuine civilization by giving

an analogy of how a child should be offered education through different stages of growth.

According to Rousseau, a child's nature should determine the logical learning order in a natural

environment.

Paulo Freire
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Paulo Freire, a Brazilian educator, was a radical campaigner for deconstructing the

oppressive nature of schooling in Europe. Freire criticized the critical pedagogy movement that

placed teachers as all-knowing and children as empty vessels regarding knowledge and

understanding of academic concepts (Costa et al. 2020). Freire termed the exercise as intellectual

oppression hindering thinking and the liberty of reason among students. In his submission, Freire

proposed a dialogical education approach where students could ask questions and assess their

academic intelligence through memory tests (Costa et al. 2020). For Freire, education served the

mission of developing learners who could engage in active reasoning and liberate themselves

from unjust environments.

According to Costa et al (2020), the dialogical approach resulted in the pedagogy of the

oppressed that created a problem-based education where students could engage in active

reasoning and question the challenges around them. The dialogical education approach has

remained significant worldwide in place of the hierarchical academic structure that gave teachers

hierarchical powers above students. The course has made learning a transformative process

where students engage in learning with interest in shaping their environment and making the

world socially just (Yarmatov, 2020). The traditional education system dehumanized learners

and denied them a chance to challenge intellectually.

Friedrich Froebel

Like Rousseau, Froebel stresses educational concepts around the holistic upbringing of

children and their impact on their surrounding environments. Froebel perceived childhood

education as a point of transmitting educational and social reforms in the world. In his

submissions, Froebel stressed the significance of individualism in childhood learning (Lu, 2019).

Individualism among children was attainable through the creative principle of art and crafts (Dar,
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2020). Froebel argued that education grows within an individual; thus, verbal and theoretical

knowledge reduces childhood creativity.

Froebel recognized play as a fundamental activity for early childhood learning,

emphasizing creative role plays and making education natural. Froebel's philosophical assertions

in education resulted in curriculum development and the inclusion of art and craft subjects across

the globe. As a revolutionist, Frobel viewed children as investigative beings who can only learn

through questions, explorations, and plays to understand their happenings (Dar, 2020). Froebel

trained philosophy on childhood teaching and developed the first kindergarten school. His

influence on childhood learning spread across Europe and elementary schools in the united states

(Lu, 2019). Froebel's technique of using material objects was later adopted and promoted by

Montessori in providing cognitive development learning in Asia and other parts of the world.

John Dewey

American philosopher, John Dewey's contributions in shaping and developing Western

education, go beyond reproach. According to Dewey, education involves the development of

potentialities in an individual to help them control and influence the environment around them

(Komatsu, 2020). He advocated for broader curriculum programs by emphasizing that teachers

should remain the custodian of academic knowledge and a gallery of learners' hopes and moral

values (Komatsu, 2020). Additionally, Dewey greatly influenced teaching methods in the

Western world by introducing pragmatic philosophy.

According to Dewey, knowledge should come from the direct experience of the

tutors, who must relay the ability through the active participation of the learners (Yarmatov,

2020). Similarly, he emphasizes that learners must not be perceived as passive objects to be fed
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with foreign information but as playful living creatures capable of participating in learning

through active experience. Through Dewey's thoughts and academic practices, the widespread

use of experimentation and observation teaching techniques has been achieved in all elementary

and early childhood schools across the globe (Komatsu, 2020). The project method teaching

technique that is commonly used in various learning levels was laid down by Dewey to follow

specific steps for effective learning. The method centralizes on recognizing the academic worth

of a learner as a contributor to the societal social process and experience.

John Amos Comenius

The contribution of John Amos towards the development and shaping of Western

education was centered on educational methods, theories, and the school systems. John Amos

Comenius outlined the school system adopted by Western countries, especially the United States

(Černá, 2019). He further developed the general education theory that focused on natural

learning, where learners were supposed to begin learning from simple concepts and later

graduate to challenging ideas. John Amos Comenius is known in the West as the father of

education due to his incredible concepts relevant to learning environments (Černá, 2019). His

central desire was centralized on experience, skill development, and a holistically experimental

commitment.

John Amos Comenius created pictorial textbooks in languages other than Latin, which

was domineering in the 15th century. His innovative translation concepts ignited practical

teaching through observable pictures and native language (Černá, 2019). The enhanced learning

gave learners the opportunity of enhancing their creative conceptual ideas using their native

languages, and this boosted learners' memorization and critical thinking (Yarmatov, 2020).

Additionally, in his philosophical submissions, John Amos proposed that schools would have to
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embrace the innate learning desires of learners before instilling external knowledge in them. The

ideology focused on inclusivity in the learning spaces to ensure that learners are involved in all

aspects of learning, including extracurricular activities.

Emma Willard

Emma Hart Willard, a trailblazer in women's education, established the Troy Female

Seminary, the initial educational institution for young females in the United States (Yarmatov,

2020). Born in a family that greatly emphasized education, Emma was the sixteenth of seventeen

children from Berlin, Connecticut. Emma Hart Willard convinced officials in Troy, New York,

to create a special tax to buy land and build the Troy Female Seminary (Monmonier, 2023). Her

move allowed girls to engage in intellectually stimulating academics for the first time in the

United States, using textbooks written by herself.

The seminary quickly gained popularity, admitting around 12,000 students, including

prominent suffragist Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Still, it adapted by raising funds for new buildings

and emphasizing a curriculum that prepared students for college (Monmonier, 2023). In 1892,

the school was rebranded as the "Emma Willard School" in tribute to its founder. In 1910, the

school received a $1 million gift from alumna Margaret Olivia Slocum Sage, which helped

establish its current campus on Mount Ida, featuring three neo-gothic buildings (Monmonier,

2023). In addition to her work as an educator, Emma Willard was also a published poet. Her

poetry book, "The Fulfilment of a Promise," was published in 1831 and contained her most

famous work in literature.

Catherine Beecher

Despite limited opportunities for formal education, Catharine Beecher acquired

knowledge through self-study and became a teacher in 1821. Two years later, she played a role
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in establishing the Hartford Female Seminary, designed to prepare women for the roles of

motherhood and teaching (Flynn, 2019).

Catharine Beecher's education was primarily self-taught due to her private school's

limited curriculum for girls. She became a schoolteacher and co-founded the Hartford Female

Seminary in 1823, followed by the Western Female Seminary in Cincinnati ((Flynn, 2019).

These schools aimed to educate and train women as teachers to address the growing need in the

expanding country. While Beecher believed in a separate, domestic sphere for women, her

schools were notable for their mutual instruction and egalitarian policies.

She authored several books and helped organize the American Women's Educational

Association. However, Beecher held contradictory views by believing in women's education and

their role as mothers and teachers but advocating for their subordination to men. Unlike her sister

Harriet, she was not an abolitionist and opposed women's suffrage (Flynn, 2019). Through her

belief that women's influence was best exerted in the household, Beecher was neither a wife nor

a mother. She supported herself through writing, lecturing, and entrepreneurship until she died in

1878.

Booker T. Washington

Washington's influence on education resulted from his philosophy and leadership at

Tuskegee. Through his guidance, Tuskegee Institute became a highly respected institution of

higher learning in the United States (Washington, 2021). Upon his arrival in Tuskegee, Alabama,

Booker T. Washington was taken aback to discover that arrangements had yet to be made for

acquiring land or buildings for the school. The only available funds were $2500 allocated for

teachers' salaries, obtained through political favors granted to African American supporters
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(Yarmatov, 2020). As a result, Washington was tasked with the challenge of finding a suitable

site and constructing the campus from scratch.

During the initial years, Tuskegee Institute relied on the generosity of individual donors

who provided food and monetary contributions (Washington, 2021). By 1891, Tuskegee Institute

had grown remarkably, expanding to a campus spanning 540 acres with around 400 students - a

significant shift in the number of students who started attending classes in a church building a

decade earlier (Washington, 2021). In 1896, Booker T. Washington raised capital from the Slater

Fund for Negro Education, allowing the establishment of an agriculture school at Tuskegee, led

by George Washington Carver.

Horace Mann

Horace Mann was a social reformer who significantly improved education, mental health,

and temperance in the 19th century. He advocated for the prohibition of alcohol consumption

and helped to establish a state insane asylum, which was considered a progressive step at that

time (Kondellas, 2020). Mann's own unsatisfactory experiences with public education during his

childhood led him to contribute to public education significantly (Kondellas, 2020). Horace

designation to the board of Massachusetts education led to the beginning of the Common School

Movement, a progressive push for a tax-funded, secular public school system.

Mann recognized that the quality of education could only be improved by better-trained

teachers and a platform for exchanging knowledge. In 1838, he founded the Common School

Journal, a biweekly publication aimed at reshaping public education in Massachusetts and

throughout the country (Kondellas, 2020). Mann also established Normal Schools across

Massachusetts, institutions that trained teachers by establishing pedagogical norms and standards
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(Yarmatov, 2020). He believed that improving the quality of teachers would lead to better

student learning outcomes.

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