FOUNDATION OF EDUCATION :: IDEALISM

Idealism: 

Idealism is derived from the Greek word 'idea', which means something seen or look for something. Idealism is derived from idea and ideals.

Brightman presents five steps of Idealism:

Idealism- Education Implications:

Aim of education: In Idealism the aim of education should be providing the power to an individual to discover and develop his inner abilities to the best of his limits and serve for the society. The education providing institute should work on the upliftment of intellectual activities such as self-control, self-realization, individual responsibility, will power, moral judgement and aesthetic judgement in order to achieve the development. 

Idealism values:

 According to Plato, aim includes the following:

• Truth
• Beauty
• Goodness.

These are the eternal values.

Idealism- Content:

1. Preserving the subject matter content, which is important for the development of mind.
2. Including subjects in the curriculum which helps in mental and moral development such as literature, history, philosophy and religion.
3. As these subjects helps in understanding the culture, these should be mandatory. Moreover, subject matter should be kept constant for all.

Idealism- Methods of education:

Idealism believes that the methods of teaching should be based upon facts and help the students think above the horizons, about the factual rather than being in darkness or ignorant. They should be taught to reflect on these facts. Teaching methods should encourage the students for logical thinking, reflective thinking, applying their knowledge over the moral and social problems. Teaching methods should bring interest in the subject and the content and encourage students towards the acceptance of the values of human civilization. Holding the ideas through lecture, discussion, socratic dialogue, introspection, intuition, insight and whole-part logic are used for consciousness. Pestalozzi believes that teaching method should be in harmony with the development of mind. He called this method of acquiring knowledge as "Aschaung".

Idealism- The Teacher:

1. Idealists have great expectations from the teacher.
2. No other element is as important as the teachers.
3. The teacher must be excellent to motivate his students intellectually and emotionally.
4. The teacher must excel in knowledge and he should excel in bringing up that spirit in the students. He should demonstrate moral excellence.
5. The teacher must himself exercise the creative skills and must attract the students even to walk on the same line with all his hidden potentialities.

Idealism- The Child:

1. Equality in the children is called  as completeness. This completeness must be considered, is a fact said by idealists.
2. The modern idealist believe that there are physical and moral differences among the children.
3. For effective development of children these physical and moral differences must be considered with their aptitude, interests, needs etc.

Idealism- Discipline:

1. Believe in discipline.
2. True discipline is guided by the soul.
3. The idealists transform the kids as per their designed way. They first understand them and their virtues and then educate them in and as per the virtues.
4. Believes in inner discipline.

FOUNDATION OF EDUCATION ::CLASSIFICATION OF VALUES- PART II

 Values are the integral part of personal philosophy of life of human being. Values are nurtured by habits in our everyday life. Values as principles and fundamental convictions are abstractions until they are applied in the contexts of daily life. Values are made real or realized based on the choices made and behaviors acted out. Our values are the selves we are becoming. There are different kinds of values which people acquire and support to different degrees and the value profile of one person differs from the value profile of another person.

Values have been classified in various ways:

Intrinsic values: Intrinsic values include the values which we value as such because of their intrinsic properties. These include truth, beauty, peace, goodness, happiness, bliss etc.

1. Truth: Truth or truthfulness is an innate feeling. It comes by focus and focus comes by good attitude and feelings. Being true to self and others will take us close to God.
2. Beauty: Beauty is again innate feeling. Beauty of heart make an individual blessed by the goodness of God.
3. Peace: Peace is the purposeful, innate value which should always be their in an individual to help him in balancing his emotional sense. Unless peace is maintained, man does all things which are of no sense. At whatever point of time or life with good living and prestigious job, peace is a must. Peace should be established with generous and forgiveness nature. People can have sound physical and emotional health only if they have peace of mind. 
4. Goodness: Goodness is related with the inner sense. Goodness connects us directly to God. As God is good, it helps as to build a bond of goodness and takes us to perfection. God teaches us to work with goodness even in the bad situations and this should be manifested in human. 
5. Happiness: Happiness always depend upon external circumstances. The people around us and our inner peace determine the level of our happiness. Other Intrinsic values like truth, beauty, peace, goodness also influence happiness. Goodness and other criteria leads to happiness. In case of deprivation leads to bad physical and mental health. 
6. Bliss: Bliss is the fruit of happiness. A blissful person often shares his happiness with others to make others happy. Even if bliss is shared, it makes the person unique. A person who does not act accordingly, is unproductive, disturbed and have illusion over things and objects.  
   
   Comparison between Instrumental and Intrinsic values: Instrumental values are better as can be used to get something else. Intrinsic values are not exchangeable and they have innate values of self.

FOUNDATION OF EDUCATION ::CLASSIFICATION OF VALUES - PART I

Values are the integral part of personal philosophy of life of human being. Values are nurtured by habits in our everyday life. Values as principles and fundamental convictions are abstractions until they are applied in the contexts of daily life. Values are made real or realized based on the choices made and behaviors acted out. Our values are the selves we are becoming. There are different kinds of values which people acquire and support to different degrees and the value profile of one person differs from the value profile of another person.

  Values have been classified in various ways:

Instrumental values: As the name suggests these values help us to get desired ends. As the name suggests, they are instruments to acquire some things else in socially accepted ways. Examples: Progress (which allows leisure time), Freedom (dignity/ self actualization), Knowledge (economic prosperity and progress). 

Further Instrumental values include the following:

1. Personal values: Personal values are cherished and practiced by an individual without the involvement or without interaction with any other person. It is practiced by the individual and fabricated by him in his daily life. These help us in setting our behavior and attitude towards others. We even make decisions based upon our personal values. Personal values include punctuality, self-discipline, honesty, integrity, self-contentment, courage, cleanliness, self-confidence, ambition, hard-work, independence, mature etc.Example: Sachin Tendulkar was recognized for his values and responsibility as a citizen towards the society. He said no for a commercial advertisement of liquor, though he was assured a huge amount for the endorsement. 
2. Social values: Social values are cherished and practiced because of our association with others. These include the interaction of two or more persons. It is related to neighbours, community, society, nation and the world. The entire world becomes a better place to live in because of the social values. These values include brotherhood, cooperativeness, etiquette, dignity of labour,  social service, tolerance, social-responsibility, gratitude, sympathy, helpfulness, right behaviour, adjustment, sharing, sense of belongingness, environmental preservation etc. Social values to a large extend become responsible for national integration and world peace. India as a country has number of cultural diversities, its the social values that bind one to the others and present us as a strong country. It is the practice of tolerance that enables us to accept differences in the spirit of understanding and friendliness.
3. Family Values: Family values are cherished and practiced by the people living in a family. The family values include both the social values and personal values together for the harmony of the family. Family values differ from family to family. It is dependent upon the education as well as culture. Family involved in political issues may also play a role in family values. Religious preferences is likely to be determined by the family values. Family values include compassion, respect for elders, sound health, love, tolerance, hygienic living, happiness, empathy, mutual respect, patience, cheerful, commitment etc. With the gradual changes in the society, people adopt new ways of living. Old customs and practices fail to make meaning to the present generations. Hence, its a need to have meaningful values. Perceptions also affect the family values. Role of women in the family also help in framing a broad look towards women in the society.
4. Cultural Values: Cultural values are cherished and practiced by a culture of people but may not be taken into all types of situation. It is based upon the standards of what is acceptable or unacceptable, right or wrong, workable or unworkable in a community or society. Cultural values include social order, tolerance, liberty, non-violence, love, affection, gentleness etc. As related to a culture, creative development and interaction between various cultures may result in a better evolution of cultural values. Cultural values are reflected in language, ethics, social hierarchy, aesthetics, education, law, economics, philosophy and social institutions of every kind. It has always proved that meeting of cultural values leads to more exciting and surprising values. Example: The Renaissance came about from the Ancient Greek and Medieval European cultures.
5. Democratic values: Democratic values are the fundamental beliefs and constitutional principles of our society. By democratic values we mean love, brotherhood, pursuit of happiness, non-violence, justice, liberty, equality, unity in diversity, common good, fraternity, rule of law, national integration, peace, freedom, discipline etc. Non- violence, non-injury or Ahimsa believes never causing harm to anyone by thought, word or deed. Non-violence is based upon fearlessness, non-attachment, chastity and truth. Truth, rule of law, justice , patriotism and humanism at different levels from oneself to person, person to person, person to group and group to group will further activate the democratic values for the welfare of the nation.
6. Institutional Values: Institutional values are belief's that endure over a period of time by conduct as well as activities. Institutional values include leadership, loyalty, flexibility, team spirit, responsibility,    curiosity, regularity, humble, polite nature, ethics, productiveness, creativity, accountability etc. Example: Sir Scott Waddle took the responsibility of the mistake committed by his junior officers in the year 2001, which lead to the crash of a sub with a Japanese vessel causing death of 9 people. He was dismissed from the services. Sir Scott Waddle took it as a responsibility and went to meet the families of the dead and apologized. This shows his responsibility and goodness.Dominant institutional values includes: 
• Extensiveness throughout the system, 
• Durability over a period of time, 
• Intensity shown by choices and verbal affirmation, 
• Prestige of those who espouse the value.
7. Religious values: Religious values are the beliefs of various religions of the world, and they are focused on peace and goodness. Religious values include sacrifice, faith in god, respect for all religious, truth, non-violence, kindness, forgiveness, love, devotion etc. People who believe in religious values also exhibit humility in the things they do. Humility is defined by the utmost belief in God and showing humbleness to others. It features on understanding the defects in self and doing things for the sake of God. Example: Mother Teresa's interaction with a merchant leading to change in him.
   
   
   

FOUNDATION OF EDUCATION ::AIM OF EDUCATION IN THE EMERGING INDIAN SOCIETY

 

The world itself and everything in it including life has an aim. Without a proper aim the direction is lost and without direction the functioning is not smooth. Therefore, for the effective functioning aim is to be fixed in advance for every activity, including Education. Education is not a single-aimed activity. It has multiplicity of aims.

Broadly the aims of education is classified into two types. They are:

• Individual aim of education.
• Social aim of education.
  
  Individual aim of education as the name suggests believes that social institutions exist only to make the individual life better, fuller, richer, happier and more secure and therefore, more fruitful than would otherwise be possible. Individual aim believes that a child can bloom and blossom to the best of his  individual capacity. Every individual has his/her own tendencies and education should help him/her to find out his/her innate powers. Thus, education aims at the development of individual as well as the society.
  
  Social aim of education believes in the organismic theory of society. Education provides means for the students not for self-realization and self-expression, but rather for self-sacrifice for the greater glory of the society. Education of the individuals is subordinated to the State authority. 
  
  
  
  Specific aims of education:
  The aims of education is classified further into specific aims which includes,
  1. Moral/Character Building: It is more important to have high morals and a strong character. These days the students must be taught these things. Highest love for man may be called as morality.  Man is considered as a moral being and his education in the cultivation of socially approved behavior and better character. Moral qualities like justice, sincerity, honesty,tolerance,self-control etc make an individual socially efficient. Therefore, education for moral upliftment is emphasized. Among the philosophers, who emphasized education for character building- Swami Vivekananda, Mahatma Gandhi, Pluto, Aristotle etc are the most popular.
  2. The Vocational Aim: It is realized by all that education is important not only to the presentation and transmission of culture but also an important instrument in all spheres social, economic, political and vocational. Vocational is considered as a fundamental aim of education. Vocational aim in education makes the student self-sufficient in life. This self-sufficiency develops satisfaction, mental and moral and self-confidence. Vocational aim makes education more purposeful activity. It bridges the gulf between upper and lower class. It gives benefit to children having lower intelligence. It strikes a balance between economic and industrial development.
  3. Citizenship as the aim of education: Human is a social animal. This aim of education caters the training for citizenship.  Education should offer such experiences as would make one a good citizen of a democratic state. Education should provide an individual a certain training to fit in society and play different roles in life. As a citizen individual should know his role, his rights and should be conscious of his duties towards the society. Example- Running a school group or a library group and considering its necessity in a wider and more comprehensive way for the benefit of a society, or a nation.
  4. Complete living as the aim of education: In the middle of 19th century, Herbert Spencer felt that complete living as the aim of education. Education should teach an individual: How to earn a living? Prepare the pupils for social and political duties. Teach the art of self-presentation. Ensure survival by imparting knowledge about bearing and rearing children. It should equip one for the enjoyment of the refinement of culture, art, literature etc.
  5.  Self-expression as an aim of education: The abilities of an individual remain dormant in childhood and it is the function of education to arouse them. The theory of self-expression compares the evolution of man with the germination process. From the seed the sapling arises and further changes to a tree. This change is not meaningless. This shows the innate power that works everywhere. This is also compared with the unfolding of man's mind and soul. Man carries the power of God in himself. Man is creative in nature. His genius, hopes, desires, aspirations etc can be understood only when they are expressed in reality. Self-expression leads to self-realization. Man has immense power and it need to be provoked and this innate power distinguished him from others. Education must help in bringing out this innate potential. Man has to express these talents through his  own efforts and by harmonizing the different forces working in him. In the emerging Indian Society we need is these aims of education and later in the year 1964 the Education Commission was set up under the Chairmanship of Kothari.D.S. The commission in its recommendations emphasized on the followings aims of education with the rest of the aims discussed.
  • Increasing productivity: This aim ensures the maximum utility of individuals for the betterment of the nation. 
  •  Achieving social and national integration: Besides strengthening the nation, education is also responsible for integrating the nation. It should bring a feeling of oneness and nationalism and a spirit of sacrifice and tolerance. The basis of national integration is emotional integration. A feeling of national pride and faith in the nation's greatness. 
  •  Accelerating the process of modernization: Modernization is a process of change from traditional and quasi-traditional order to certain desired types of technology. It aims at bringing about desirable changes in the social structure, values and the social norms. 
  • Cultivating social, moral and spiritual values: This aim includes educating the individual the values example- brotherhood, etiquette, cooperativeness, tolerance,  service to others, sympathy, sharing, helpfulness, gratitude, dignity of labor, sense of belonging, liberty, gentleness, love, non-violence, fear of God and feeling of a supreme power.