The Historical Foundation of Education - Essay Example

Topic: Educational Linguistics Education is as old as itself. Nobody even anthropologists, sociologists, nor historians, can present an accurate account concerning the origin of education. In the historical foundation of Education, there we'll see the educational systems of the ancient civilizations; the Jewish, Chinese, Egyptians, Greeks, Romans and Early Christians are part of it,; also the education during the Medieval Times consisting of the Christians (Education for Humanitarianism), the Monasticism (Spiritual/ Moral Discipline), Scholasticism, Chivalric, Guild System, and the Saracenic System,; also the movements that helped shape Modern Educational thoughts and ideals, such as The Humanistic Conception of Education (Humanities for More Abundant Life), Realistic Conception of Education (Education as a Preparation for Living in the World of Experience), Disciplinary Conception of Education (Education as Formal Discipline), Naturalistic Conception ( Harmony with Nature), Nationalistic Conception (Patriotic Citizenship), Psychological Conception (Education as Scientifically determined Process), and the Sociological Conception (Social Reconstruction). The Spartans of Greeks uses the education for military and discipline purposes to make every citizen invincible in war and to develop conformity and obedience. They have physical and military education, moral training, very little intellectual trainings, music, gymnastic and vocational education. All financing was shouldered by the State. The most that we can emulate from the Spartans is the military education and the development of patriotism and discipline. The Athenians are the greatest lawmakers of all time. They use education for creating good citizens, individual excellences and many-sided development. There is civic and moral trainings, physical and intellectual education and arts. This early Athenians have contributed the free development of all human capacities and the Olympic Games. The Later Athenians came by the Sophist, pragmatic and utilitarian, also by Socrates, as education is used for the development of the power of thinking, by Plato, to control by intellectual rulers and by Aristotle, as education is used for rational living. They have moral and professional, vocational, domestic and intellectual trainings, physical, military and civic trainings, aesthetic and cultural education, sports and games. We learned from them, the Socratic method of teaching, the realm of philosophy of Socrates, Plato, Aristotle and others. Also the Euclidean geometry and the arts and classical literature. The Romans are also part of the stem of education. Education was for practical purposes, in which it is use to produce men who would be active and efficient in daily life. Also in moral, military, civic and political and religious also for oratorical or in public speaking. They need speech trainings literacy and vocational education. The outstanding contribution of them is the methods of organization, management and administrations. The Early Christians also used education during their times like in learning their relationship with God. Also for their salvation and social relations which are based on love. They use the lecture method in teaching, dialectic or the question and answer method) Aphorism, parable method and figures of speech. They contributed to humanity is the Christianity . The education we have now is the product of the long processes and progressions that happened on the past time. The traditional Education's foundation, that starts from the primitive people, in which the education aims to survival and security from the natural phenomena and from the wild animals and the believed evil spirits, hunger and from other tribes. There is no classrooms intended for studies, their agencies of education is the home and their environment. There is no organization of grades also. All instruction was than informally, enculturation. They learn from observation and imitation, from simple telling and demonstration and also from participation. There was no teacher to pay, and learning materials to buy. The education that time was strictly informal. The outstanding contribution to education of the primitive man is the beginning, the rudiments of education from which the modern education of today evolved. Progressive Progressive approach of education focus on the whole child, rather than on the content or the teacher. This educational philosophy stresses that students should test ideas by active experimentation. Learning is rooted in the questions of learners that arise through experiencing the world. It is active, not passive. The learner is a problem solver and thinker who makes meaning through his or her individual experience in the physical and cultural context. Effective teachers provide experiences so that students can learn by doing. Curriculum content is derived from student interests and questions. The scientific method is used by progressive educators so that students can study matter and events systematically and first hand. The emphasis is on process-how one comes to know. The Progressive education philosophy was established in America from the mid 1920s through the mid 1950s. John Dewey was its foremost proponent. One of his tenets was that the school should improve the way of life of our citizens through experiencing freedom and democracy in schools. Shared decision making, planning of teachers with students, student-selected topics are all aspects. Books are tools, rather than authority. According to this philosophy, there are two crucial elements. The first is respect for diversity. This means that each student should be recognized for his or her own abilities, interests, ideas, needs, and cultural identity. The second element is the development of critical, socially engaged intelligence. This enables the students to understand and contribute effectively in the affairs of their community in a shared effort to achieve a common good. I strongly agree with this approach and feel that it is absolutely imperative that we, as educators, recognize the importance of these factors. Humanistic The Humanistic Education or the man-centered education was the philosophy of education common to the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries. Humanism came from the Latin word humanitas which means' culture'. They aimed the academic freedom, abundant living and liberal education. Their secondary schools became the model internationally. They provide the foundation of modern academic freedom and renewed interest in the study of the Romans and Greeks. Humanism is credited for it is a new method of teaching which are more use of texts and less lectures and written themes. Behaviorist In this approach the role of the teacher in designing an environment that elicits desired human behaviors is clearly one that subscribe to in terms of paying attention to environmental needs, making the best use of media and other learning devices, and providing some type of feedback to learners regarding their personal progress . The use of learning contracts is also based on some behavioral expectations of students. Virtually no one any longer sees education as an end in itself. Education is a means to an end. Therefore any change in the end aimed at will necessarily be reflected in the means of education selected. If one's goal is only to produce good coal miners who will work until they drop and cause no problems, then their means of education will be a simple affair. If, however, the goal of education is to produce well-rounded, cultured gentlemen and ladies, capable of addressing any problem or situation in life with the maximum likelihood both of success and personal happiness, then the means of education to do so will be a much more complicated affair. Any change of means may affect the achievement of the end. As said before, progressive education has as a goal fulfilling the individual needs, interests and capacities of the individual students. This emphasis focuses on what is individual to each student - therefore upon the differences among the students, as if such differences were paramount in determining the means of education employed. It is easy to see that if such differences as there are among students are secondary to what they share in common - their similarities - then the focus of progressive education is misplaced. According to a website "From John Dewey, who over a century ago advocated for allowing children to "construct, create, and actively inquire" in their education, to countless other educational researchers and cognitive scientists over the decades, there is a general agreement that learning by doing leads to deeper understanding of material and a greater ability to apply what has been learned to solve real problems and achieve real goals. It's very important to trace back the foundation of the education we have today. The purpose and nature of education from the ancient time developed and developed as time passed by. There came adaptation and need for improvements. And so we are very thankful of because education was made easy and well modified. Maybe sooner or later we can help develop the education of today for the education of tomorrow. Work Cited Duka, Cecillo D. Historical, Philosophical and Legal Foundation of Education, Quezon City: Phoenix Publishing House Inc. 1997. Salvacion, Maricel., Course Syllabus in Foundation of Education II, November, 2005. Compilation of Education papers, 2004. Toribio, Lucas M. Foundation of Education, Quezon City: Star Publishing Inc. 2000. Neil Bush." Lighting up Learning: A Philosophical Approach to Education Reform".2002 http://www.newhorizons.org/strategies/technology/bush.htm December 2002 New Horizons for Learning Lim, Daicel. Philosophy and Education, The learning Approach. Navotas, Philippines: Article, 1993 Read More