Philosophy, Enlightenment and Education - Essay Example

SS6072 - Philosophy, Enlightenment and Education + PLATO Question: Why did Plato place a great emphasis on controlling childrens exposure to aesthetic influences in early education? What advantages and disadvantages might arise from his programme of primary education? Introduction Education is a widely considered concept on the global realms and for policy makers in this field, the incorporation philosophy such as by Plato helps in expounding the concept and its adoption by children. Studying educational history is essential in the enhancement of contexts of institutions and ideas by underscoring the traditions that provided the foundations of early education. In speaking of the existence and development of formal education, Plato has a specific consideration given that his main ideas of education have over history formed the basis of educational influences that children are aesthetically imparted with (Murphy 2006). Plato helped in musing the educational ideas by focusing on the role of play to children and the aesthetic influence of early education. Basically, the view according to Plato with regard to education was that it was a rightly disciplined feeling of pain and pleasure in a child that enabled them to acquire core societal values. In this essay, the core concept shall be on the highlighting the reasons why Plato put much emphasis on the controlling of the children’s exposure to aesthetic influences in early education. Subsequently, study shall seek to determine the merits and demerits that could be affiliated with this programme of education as was propagated by Plato. Plato’s emphasis on controlling the children’s exposure to aesthetic influences in early education Plato is a great and renowned Greek philosopher and mathematician of the medieval times whose philosophy is considered to have had a great impact on the level of education in practice by most educational systems right from the early childhood stages. In the traditional Greek settings, the idea of education for the young children was founded on the need to educate them to be able to know how to use swords, ride on horses, be equipped for warfare and use hunting tools accordingly. In the current 21st century, there has been witnessed a complete overhaul of the nature of early childhood education that schools offer to children. Teachers and educationists handling the young children are driven by the emphasis laid down by Plato when he noted that the exposure of children to aesthetic influences would greatly impact on their adoption of early learning techniques given. In those early times when Plato championed for the education of the young children, it ws mostly affordable by the rich and the content offered was quite selective in relation to specific classical literature such as great Greek tragedians and Homers. Education in the country was but a matter of access to private individuals such as the Sophists. The belief among the Athenians of this times was that they could use the literature on heroic personalities and poets such as Hercules and Odysseus to influence the destiny of their children through learning of the ideal and representative values of the Greeks (Dhawan 2005). To Plato, the concept of education as championed by the Sophists of those ancient times was not the best given that the used channel was only for acquiring wealth and fame instead of knowledge. In emphasizing the influence that education has on the young children, Plato noted that education represents the initial acquisition of virtues by a child to whom the same if well channelled to appropriate course would result in the understanding of the reasoning of children. For policy makers, teachers and schools’ administrators where these young children are attending, the main concern for them would be in the challenging the inappropriate factors that would hinder the development of the children and enhancing their aesthetic relation with their immediate environment. Thus, Plato argued that education for the young children required careful planning in which the universal subject matters of examinations, age levels, admissibility of children and rewards of the early education were taken more seriously (Ranjit-Sharma 2002). This led to his approach of education founded on the aspects of sciences and arts, moral virtues, and political institutions. The science and arts were communicated to the children by their teachers, the moral virtues were expected of the students, and the political institutions provided a connection to the learning process. In another context, Plato placed a great emphasis on the control of the exposure of children to aesthetic influences in early education in the context that early education was founded on successful conversion of appearances to reality. In this, Plato observed that the conversion was aimed at ensuring that the children are made to aesthetically look into the right direction in acquiring educational concepts; thus, linking up the desire to education and enlightenment to the present power in each individual only requiring to be turned into the right direction and aesthetic perspectives. Simply put, Plato by this argument wanted schools to be prepared in the best way to offer the best learning environment to the children in their early years of education. Subsequently, Plato’s emphasis on the controlling of the exposure of children to the aesthetic influences in early education can be explained from the perspective that children learnt through their visualization of objects. As such, addition of aesthetically valuable objects in the school or learning environment of the children would influence their adoption of educational values quickly. To support this, Plato assigned the appetitive soul to explain the human mind development that was achieved as a child moved from one stage in learning to another. Thus, the incorporation of aesthetic influences in the learning environments of children as suggested by Plato would greatly help the children early education settings to relate the objects seen in the visible world to their intelligent world (Curren, 2003.p.102-106). Further, the placed emphasis by Plato on the controlling of children exposures to aesthetic influences resonates with his idea about thinking as a stage in acquisition of education to which young children will be required to embrace a greater educational light and move from the realms of opinion into that of thinking as a representation of the mind’s complete release from sensible objects. This points to the knowledge of particulars that Plato also considered in addressing the education of the early life of children (Dhawan 2005). Children while learning and developing in their early lives often get influenced by their environment that acts as a nurture to the developing socially, cognitively and emotionally. Socio-culturally, the development of a child can be perceived from the point of no isolation but one in which the child learns to embrace all relationships near him. This helps the teachers and early childhood practitioners to develop programmes of inclusivity that can also be enhance the children’s conception of their identity and that of their aesthetic being (Lee 1955). In relation to Plato’s theory, aesthetic values helped in enhancing the learning process of children and prepared them to be better statespersons in the future. In this context, the argument according to Plato was that the early education of statespersons would greatly aid in the development of good leaders for the future. To Plato, the state was merely an educational entity that needed to be based on the reasoning and knowledge of the statesmen and not by mere desires for power (Noddings 2015). Plato’s interest is also on the epistemological ascent of education to the conduct of children in life from a wide perspective. In this, he argued that a person who even in childhood fails to realise the true good in a man would not be appropriate to lead the humankind as they will fail to realise the true worth of the state and the eternal principles that lead to prosperity. Therefore, Plato was convinced that education in the early years of a child would help them to know various things (Santas 2006). As a result, such a child in their later years in life will be better placed to aesthetically differentiate between what is right and what is wrong; hence, avoid doing bad or being engaged in bad situations. This was so that those in positions of power would have the right education required for such offices. Based on this argument, one can be able to philosophically argue that the education in the early years was intended to make a child fit in various social positions. Plato saw this possible to attain with the ability of education to create a harmonious and balanced state in which children are educated and trained to obey their teachers, parents and those elderly to them. Considering the ancient Greek society, the idea of aesthetics in education and its influence on young children as theorised by Plato was built on the desire to enhance strong patriotisms among the populace. He recognised that the young children required concreteness in the education provided to them; hence, the need for state-run schools and institutions of learning. Aesthetically, Plato suggested a curriculum filled with play, physical development, concrete manipulations and aesthetics for the young children so as to aid in their educational development into formal education (Barrow 1976). This view was supported by the desire of Plato to see young children removed from the homes and educated and trained by experts on matters of social good (the purpose of education). This would grant their parents too the opportunity to reflect on the social good of education. His main concern was not in training children for trade, but just to give the children a virtue in education so that they would be better leaders in the future who can rule by and be ruled. Man by nature possess reason as form of engaging and if children are imparted with adequate education, they would easily channel their pleasures and pains into the establishment of good characters and well-being of the society (Annas 1981). Advantages of Plato’s arguments Plato’s argument on education of the young children at a tender age, and the emphasis on the control of the children’s exposure to the aesthetical influences in early education is significant in the context that it is perceived as the foundation of western philosophy, which enabled the young children to establish themes for their problems and seek to find solutions for them as they grew. His views on education have greatly impacted on the educational thoughts of this current world form ancient Greek times in that it has been considered as the basis by which educational institutions and policy makers make appropriate policies that govern learning in the early years of education, and as a children progress through life (Dhawan 2005). Subsequently, this argument on emphasis in controlling the exposure of children to the aesthetic influence of children towards education is considered critical to the development of educational philosophy in the sense that as an educational activity, the responsibility is with the state which is constantly reminded and encouraged to provide the best quality of aesthetic education to the children. The approach by Plato to education is also viewed by most scholars as having been responsible for the charting of the way in formal education and educational systems through the demanding that schools be built by the state to enable learners to acquire social and economic skills for use in various life’s responsibilities. A study of the approach by Plato also reveals the significance in it in the sense that solely depended on the attainment of quality education at an early stage in the lives of children. As such, it enabled the thriving of recognisable traits among the young children through the insistence on the necessity for censored and moderated educational contexts developed to suit the young children (Ranjit-Sharma 2002). Plato’s view of education of the young children is also essential in the sense that it enables the society to manage the education contents that are given to children for studying. This is because, the concern for Plato was for the education to be given to those children who would be better rulers of the state; hence, advance the growth of the society. Subsequently, Plato’s view on the education of young children is believed to have been responsible for the development of aristocratic forms of governments that were established in the ancient Greece. This led to the approval of democracy in Greece. The view by Plato is also believed to hold critical pleasures for family life in the context that those in higher classes were required to forego much in order to obtain much benefits. Plato’s view on education control of the children in relation to the aesthetic influences is that it made the attainment of education be the main goal to be achieved by all participants. This led to the creation and esteeming of education as the source of knowledge on good; hence, an acquaintance with the form (Ranjit-Sharma 2002). References List Annas. J.,( 1981) An Introduction to Platos Republic, Oxford: Clarendon, Chapters 4-6. Barrow. R., (1976). Plato and Education, London: Routledge, Chapters 1-4 & 6-8. Curren, R. R. (2003). A companion to the philosophy of education. Malden, MA, Blackwell. http://public.eblib.com/choice/publicfullrecord.aspx?p=214150. Dhawan, M. L. (2005). Philosophy of education. Delhi, Isha Books. Lee. D., (1955) Plato. The Republic, Penguin books ltd, London. 376d-444e Murphy, M. M. (2006). The history and philosophy of education: voices of educational pioneers. Upper Saddle River, N.J., Pearson/Merrill Prentice Hall. Noddings, N. (2015). Philosophy of Education. New York, United States, Westview Press. http://lib.myilibrary.com?id=799404. Ranjit Sharma, G. (2002). Western philosophy of education. New Delhi, Atlantic Publishers and Distributors. Santas, G. X. (2006). The Blackwell guide to Platos Republic. 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