Modern Education Thought - Essay Example

? Modern Education Thought Assignment 2 By 1009008h Words count 3,305 Introduction The term autonomous stands for ‘self governing’ and used for ruling independent cities. Autonomy means being governed by oneself. This concept was introduced in education many years ago. This has major impact on the modern educational thought. We need to throw light on the conception of autonomy and whether to be considered for the education or not. This essay aims to support the autonomy and its influence on the education. It entails the same based on critical pedagogy and relating with the perspective such as Marxism, postmodernism and feminism. Definition of Autonomy Concept Different researchers have given varied definitions of autonomy. It was not much in use but it was with Kant, the concept of personal autonomy is given due importance and is defined as, “The capacity of a person to freely assess and endorse or reject moral principles in accordance with his own will.”(New World Encyclopedia). This was followed by Robert Dearden and mentioned that there is necessary connection between autonomy and reason, ‘the various activities of mind earlier referred to as constitutive of autonomy are all essentially linked to the idea of reason, or rather to the idea of having reasons for what one thinks and does’.( p. 456) This form of education is desirable for the development of autonomy. It has to primarily concentrate on self knowledge and motivational independence. According to Dearden, “One might(and should)worry about possible conflicts and with other important ideals such as liberty, parental rights, cultural diversity, and so on ,but on would still be balancing these additional concerns with critical thinking /autonomy.”(p.124) Liberty: It deals with independent thinking and the ability to differentiate good or bad and be just without any constraints. Parental rights: To bring up their children and developing them being autonomous Cultural diversity: To make up as a community and be on the common ground. The definition was also formulated by Henri Holec, who is considered as the father of learner autonomy and defined it as ‘the ability to take charge of one's own learning’ (1981). The concepts are based on the perception that the knowledge one acquires has to provide them the skills to live on their own and become self reliant. Little (1995), believes that the main aim of “the autonomy is to equip learners to play an active role in participatory democracy” (p. 176). Benson (2008) agrees with Little when he says, “because the concept of autonomy in learning draws its meaning from the concept of personal autonomy, it is centrally concerned with the kind of learning that best helps people to lead autonomous lives” (p. 4). Here it confirms that autonomy revolves round individual freedom and human rights to facilitate him/her for making their choices and it is a lifelong process. In the broader sense the learner autonomy enable the person to lead autonomous life. The prominence of autonomy is to create a sense of human dignity. We should be autonomous individuals and autonomy for learning is an essential part of attaining our personal autonomy. An autonomous individual rely on himself/herself while living an independent life which is responsible for his or her own actions rather than blaming others. To give support to our understanding it is important to know the aims and purpose of education. The main aim of education can be achieved if the person follows the autonomy of learning. According to aim of education envisioned by Piaget, ‘children acquire moral values in the same way they acquire knowledge--by constructing beliefs internally through interaction with the environment.’(Constance, 1982).He pointed out the importance of mutual respect to develop autonomy. The Piaget’s theory postulates as how the cognitive development of an individual focuses on the surroundings and the concepts that are conceived from these factors directly impacts ones learning. It brings in the thought to change the perspective of learning with child centered education. It directly simulates children’s thinking. We need to adopt new innovative methods for children’s intellectual, social and moral development. Critical Pedagogy: Paul Friere is the famous literacy educationist from Brazil who came up with the principles of critical pedagogy .He referred to the cycle of bringing the issues of the daily life, involving knowledgeable level of the student and moving to action and then leading to reflection. This is also called praxis. The students shall know to “read the world through the word”. (Pedagogy of Hope, 2004) The Critical pedagogy is the study of oppression in education based on the issues and questions rose in sexuality, colonialism and how it will shape in nature and the purpose of education. In simple terms critical pedagogy is the way, how teacher asking ‘why’ is simple and the students freely asking the same way as ‘why am I learning this’ has to be executed. There are some teachers who are keen with this concept and are doing critical pedagogical work. “Revolutionary critical pedagogy operates from an understanding that the basis of education is political, and that spaces need to be created where the students can imagine a different world outside of capitalism’s law of value…where patriarchal hierarchies of oppression can be ended”,(McLaren,2007). Marxism: The idea of autonomy is to understand the responsibility and be judgmental while taking the decision and development of rationality according to the changing situation. Marxism has made a mark on its own all over the world. This has proven to be the powerful educational tool to promote revolutionary changes. Marxism was followed by the Brazilian Educator Paulo Friere. In his book of Pedagogy of Oppressed mentioned that, “education makes sense because women and men learn that through learning they can make and remake themselves, because women and men are able to take responsibility for themselves as beings capable of knowing — of knowing that they know and knowing that they don't" (Freire, 2004, p. 15) The students are mentioned as oppressed who have been set free with liberation and educated about the current capitalistic society and to express their views. They are not suppressed by the dominant teachers. The task of the teachers is to criticize on the present scenario and let the students develop the intellectual autonomy to react and reconsider the society. The task is performed with mutual understanding and they work together. This in turn helps to change the society into democratic society. This forms the crucial part. The values which they got from their schools, the attitudes they inculcated, regular work practices enable them to become the next generation citizens. In this way the transformation can bring new situations. But in reality it could not give the results but had made a strong foundation for individual thinking and many reforms. Feminism: The women are considered to be in submissive role. Women have been given the identity to be as wives and look after the child. This has been a serious issue and there are educationists who have made arguments and have argued on this way of living. It was with the feminist consciousness is frequently described in epiphanous terms, as an “aha moment” or a sudden enlightenment. In this context we can quote John Dewey’s statements as, “if a society provides educational and employment opportunities for women, then that society will enjoy increasing social benefits” (176,).It is also rightly said, By "feminism," I mean the belief that women should not be disadvantaged by their sex, that they should be recognized as having human dignity equally with men, and the opportunity to live as fulfilling and as freely chosen lives as men can.” (Okin, 1997) In this modern era the equality for men and women has to be considered. If one wants to pursue liberal education then the thin line of unfairness between boy and girl child has to be removed. Postmodernism: The intellectual movement that happened in the twentieth century is the post modernism. In this perspective we find that the students are well aware of the previous philosophical traditions and disagree with most of the traditions. Richard Rorty mentioned, “There is nothing deep down inside us except what we have put there ourselves. “And “Truth is what your contemporaries let you get away with.”(Quotes about Pragmatism) It tries to criticize the modernity and to treat it in a careful way .Deconstruction in the dependency of the morality and then pay attention to irrational features such as emotionality, enhances the creativity. The neo pragmatism enables them to have legal pragmatic tendency. There is no truth prevailing and it is set with bunch of stories and this can result in individual conflict and oppression. There is no subject of heroism and they tend to face the situation with courage. They need to be open minded to face any challenges. The postmodern education is still going to be authoritative and gives the kind of learning that makes them believe that the world is rude and we need to act upon with our autonomous nature. This shows their anti idealistic and anti realist tendency. According to the autonomic nature we tend to understand the present society that deals with government corruption, injustice done to the weakest and poor classes. But we still determine our country as being self-reforming, enduring constitutional democracy. There are self- involved colleges and universities that strive hard to make the difference working constantly on the various issues pertaining to the social norms such as women, lesbians and so forth. This work may involve initial hindrances but gradually it may lead to the reform that makes the society to accept it in wider sense and become civilized. There are other problems that still persist and that has to be dealt like the pluralism, multiculturalism and so forth. The autonomic nature enables them to get the right kind of attitude and enable them to act upon this according to the tendency that is mentioned. According to John Dewey, “Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself.”(Quotes) When it comes to education the primary focus is on the teacher-student relationship. The perspective may be different but the basic foundation involves round this concept. It is found that the leaner by hearts the concept without knowing the reason and the logical reasoning is missing day by day. This kind of learning doesn’t fetch any result. To quote the example, "Four times four is sixteen; the capital of Para is Belem.”(Chapter 2, Pedagogy of oppressed).This type of concept learning is called banking education. The hidden curriculum makes the concept to be stagnant and the learners never would be able to explore. It serves the status quo and doesn’t allow the individual to progress financially and do not question on the present situation. They are ignorant of the political system and do not have any relation with their learning and the social conditions prevailing the society. They would adapt them to the present system and would consent with the existing condition without questioning. We can find that the outcome of this type of learning involves nothing. The person who can remember is considered to be knowledgeable and in the other hand doesn’t apply any logical thinking and do not have the capability to adapt any other skills like creativity or imaginative learning. When this learner has to apply the knowledge practically may not be able to exhibit any effective result. This way of education make the future workers to be like the robots who are restrictive and instructional based. This could have serious impact on the economy as a whole. There would not be any major amendments and progress. Thus, the learner autonomy is restricted to be confined with the concepts taught by the teacher. Rightly quoted by Paulo Friere as, “he or she is rather the possessor of a consciousness: an empty "mind" passively open to the reception of deposits of reality from the world outside.”(p.247) There has to be reformation in the application of teaching and learning. There is a need to expose deficiencies in main stream education and this was rightly done by Paulo Friere and promoted liberal education. The vision of education for freedom and democracy has to be realized and executed upon. This serves the purpose of finding the right kind of education that can help the students to possess the qualities that can be useful. The methodology that we follow has to help the students to be dialectics. It removes the cultural science and makes the learning interactive. The two way communication is the proper channel of expressing views and finding solution. Liberating education with problem-posing education is stressed upon. The teacher would be taught along with the students. This kind of learning opens up the concept of engagement model. The student teacher relationship is going to bring the difference. Exchange knowledge: In this kind of education the teacher is a narrator as well as a learner. The concept is taken up and is discussed in the form of an open forum. This enables the student and the teacher to be on the same ground and bring out the opinions and give the feedback. The conclusion is based on the facts and thus the learning process involves interactive sessions. This provokes the students and makes them realize the existing conditions and relate with the present economy and its impacts. This way of learning enables them to know the reality of the world. There are possibilities that this can bring in the change in their thinking and their autonomous nature make them decide and be judgmental while taking the step forward. Dialectical: They are given the task which stresses on their creativity skills .This type of learning is seen in the modern education. There are live projects given and they need to exhibit their learning and work on the live environment. Technology usage: the critical media pedagogy can be the best tool to analyze the ways the texts are constructed and they would be in a position to drill on the various aspects and be aware of its existence. Pictures and videos can be used in this context. Realities of the oppressed: In this way of learning, the existing conditions form the examples and the students and teachers communicate on the issues .They can take up projects to resolve the existing conditions. Thus enable them to reform the general tendency and bring in new changes in the society. Thus the simple to complex type of learning enable them to have a structured order. This type of learning contextualizes them in the social and political setting. It can reform the political setting and demystifies the reality. Argument: The new way of learning and teaching process can help the future generations to have the autonomous nature that can be reformative. It is a never ending process. This can be termed as, "There is no such thing as a neutral education process. Education either functions as an instrument which is used to facilitate the integration of generations into the logic of the present system and bring about conformity to it, or it becomes the ‘practice of freedom’, the means by which men and women deal critically with reality and discover how to participate in the transformation of their world." (Richard Shaull on Paulo Freire 1999, p. 5) In this kind of learning the teacher and the student are in the same ground and the authoritative role doesn’t prevail. Thus education enables them to inculcate the skills to analyze and make them critical thinkers. The teachers have to provide the right kind of information and be up to date so that they can educate the students with the prevailing conditions and help them to use their knowledge and apply it in their day to day life. This involves thinking that can be far beyond the expectations and can help the students to imbibe the skills that can make them innovative thinkers. It is rightly mentioned by Henry as, “[Critical] pedagogy . . . signals how questions of audience, voice, power, and evaluation actively work to construct particular relations between teachers and students, institutions and society, and classrooms and communities. . . . Pedagogy in the critical sense illuminates the relationship among knowledge, authority, and power.” (Giroux, 1994, p. 30) In the present scenario the optimum utilization of technology enable the teacher –student to interact with same thinking and can help the individual to propagate new ideas and explore the power of knowledge. Antonio Gramsci was a leading Italian Marxist who has given his views on schooling and Education. He emphasized on comprehensive form of education. His ideal learning would be where the students have the ability to interpret the learning and come up as intellectuals, as how the worker uses the tool to be active and creative. “A learner had to be active not "a passive and mechanical recipient". The relationship between the pupil’s psychology and the educational forms must always be "active and creative, just as the relation of the worker to his tools is active and creative" (Gramsci 1977, p.42). John Dewey was an American Philosopher and the educational reformer whose ideas have been influential in the educational sector. He was an early developer of philosophy of pragmatism and a major contributor for progressive education. This dealt with the teaching that is practical and home life relevant. This way of learning by doing enable the students to imbibe the skills and be confident. The one way communication of teaching was not tolerated and wanted to have the teaching with transformative learning. He emphasized on what we know and what we believe concept and wanted to make the students self knowledgeable. He quoted an example of the Columbia University which has adopted the revolutionary ideas and how the students have changed their way of learning. The projects were assigned to the students depending on their age. The teachers form an integral part in progressive education and they need to exhibit the qualities like patience, ingenuity and physical endurance. So we can rightly quote John Dewey’s future prediction and the way he mentioned, “The world is moving at a tremendous rate; no one knows where. We must prepare our children not for the world of the past, not for our world, but for their world."(Quoted in Richter, 1945, p. 110) The added advantage to the modern education is the usage of technology that enables the students to gain knowledge. It provides them the tool to explore the ideas and innovate new thinking. The internet has opened up the opportunities to empower them with the vast power of knowledge and use it in every context. The works of critical pedagogy can bring in new concepts and this has been proved by the recent The International Conference “New Technologies, Education for Sustainable Development and Critical Pedagogy” (International Conference,2012) which aims to address the main issues of contemporary concerns for reorienting education at all levels and to address sustainability. This ensures that the works taken up have brought in new reforms in the modern education and as rightly mentioned, the concept of individual autonomy continues to influence modern understandings about the aim of education. Reference Antonio Gramsci, “Schooling and Education”, Infed. < http://www.infed.org/thinkers/et-gram.htm> Education, “Paulo Friere and Critical Pedagogy”, Friere project, 2008. Podcast retrieved from Denis, Lara, "Kant and Hume on Morality", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2011 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), . Dearden. R, et al. “Autonomy and education”, 1975. http://books.google.co.in/books?id=kGL_htpplfcC&pg=PA214&dq=Dearden.+R.+(1975)+'Autonomy+and+education',+in+R.+Dearden,+P.+Hirst+and+R.+Peters&hl=en&sa=X&ei=fmTgT6-ZCYL3rQf3oaX7DA&ved=0CDMQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=Dearden.%20R.%20(1975)%20'Autonomy%20and%20education'%2C%20in%20R.%20Dearden%2C%20P.%20Hirst%20and%20R.%20Peters&f=false Friere, Paulo, “Pedagogy of the oppressed”, New York. Continuum Books,1993. Hand, Michael, “Against autonomy as an educational aim”, Institute of Education, University of London.< http://eprints.ioe.ac.uk/1071/1/Hand2006Against535.pdf> Kant, ‘Autonomy’, New World Encyclopedia, 2008. Kamii, Constance , “Autonomy: The Aim of Education Envisioned by Piaget”, Eric Education Resources Information Center, UNESCO, International Conference, New Technologies, Education for Sustainable Development and Critical Pedagogy, June 15-17, 2012. Quotes about Pragmatism, Goodreads Inc., 2012. < http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/pragmatism>. Read More