Course Diploma in Teaching English Semester 2

Module BEETC 680 Education and Topic Western and Eastern

Sociology Theories of Education
Lesson 02

Objective: Students discuss about the educational theories of west and east

Western and Eastern Theories of Education

Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–78) famously insisted that formal education, like society itself, is
inevitably corrupting; he argued that education should enable the “natural” and “free” development of
children, a view that eventually led to the modern movement known as “open education.”

Rousseau wrote one of the greatest works on developmental psychology, Emile. or on Education,
published in 1762, the same year as the Social Contract. The Emile constitutes an imaginary educational
experiment. Rousseau’s goal was to show how it is possible to raise an individual who could function as
an autonomous agent even in the illegitimate political order of his time. There, since the public
institutions of schools and colleges were irredeemably corrupted, the only solution was to withdraw
both pupils and teacher from society, and conduct the experiment in isolation from it.

Rousseau took a consistently naturalistic approach to education in the Emile, maintaining that the child
is naturally good and made wicked only by its environment. He held that knowledge comes from the
senses, and that children should engage actively with a well ordered environment, and learn by
interacting with it. The growing boy was to be introduced to the natural sciences by practical lessons,
“learning by doing”, preferably in the open air, far from the dry pedantry of text books and laboratories.
In the imaginary micro environment, the pupil’s natural drives, those that are healthy, self-sustaining
and non-exploitive, could be fostered and the distorting effects of the larger society could be kept at
bay.

Rousseau says that “childhood has its ways of seeing, thinking and feeling which are proper to it.
Nothing is less sensible that to want to substitute ours for theirs”. In a draft of Emile Rousseau
distinguished four ages of man: the age of nature (0 – 12 years); the age of reason and intelligence (12 –
15); the age of force (15 – 20); the age of wisdom (20 – 25). These are followed by (whimsically) by the
age of happiness – for the rest of life. Rousseau also prescribed fundamentally distinct educations for
boys and girls, and in doing so he raised issues concerning gender and its place in education that are of
central concern today.

John Dewey (1859 – 1952) is generally recognized as the most renowned American educator of
the twentieth century. In a prolific career that spanned seven decades (his collected works comprise
thirty seven volumes). Dewey focused on a wide range of concerns, most notably within the fields of
Philosophy, education and politics. As much after his life as during it, Dewey’s writings have been the
subject of interpretation and reinterpretation by countless scholars.

Dewey emphasized the importance of the student’s own interests in determining appropriate
educational activities and ends-in-view; in this respect he is usually seen as a proponent of “child-
centred” education, though he also stressed the importance of students’ understanding of traditional
subject matter.

He emphasized the central importance of education for the health of democratic social and political
institutions, and he developed his educational and political views from a foundation of systematic
metaphysics and epistemology. For Dewey, the key to intellectual development, and consequently to
social progress, was schooling, especially at a time when educational influences of other institutions
decreased so drastically. Dewey stressed the social and moral nature of the school and believed that it
should serve as a “miniature community, an embryonic society”, especially one that actively fostered
the growth of democracy which was being undermined by urban industrial society. The most effective
curriculum for such a school would attend seriously to the present interests of children, not as a
motivational strategy but as a way to teach essential relationship between human knowledge and social
experience.

Dewey severely criticized public schools for silencing or ignoring student interests and experiences,
using artificial language that only served to alienate students, over relying on testing to assess student
learning, differentiating students according to their presumed ability to partake in mental or manual
learning instead of offering both to all, and isolating subjects from one another instead of uniting them
around students’ lived experience with knowledge. Rather than blaming students for their passivity,
Dewey focused attention directly on the pedagogy of schools.

Of course, the history of philosophy of education includes many more figures than Socrates, Plato,
Aristotle, Rousseau, and Dewey. Other major philosophers, including Thomas Aquinas, Augustine,
Thomas Hobbes, René Descartes, John Locke, David Hume, Immanuel Kant, John Stuart Mill, Karl Marx,
Bertrand Russell, and, more recently, R.S. Peters in Britain and Israel Scheffler in the United States, have
also made substantial contributions to educational thought.

Eastern theories of Education

Confucius 551 479 BCE
Confucian philosophy and educational ideology are deeply rooted in the culture of East Asian countries.
There was no reliable evidence to point to work written by Confucius himself. However, it is generally
agreed among historians that Confucius’ philosophic and educational ideas are recorded in so called four
books. They are The Analects of Confucius, The Book of Mencius, The Great Learning, and The
Doctrine of the Mean. “By the late nineteenth century, the whole East Asian region was thoroughly
‘Confucianized’; that is, Confucian values and practices informed the daily lives of people in China,
Korea, Japan, and Vietnam, and whole systems of government were justified with reference to
Confucian ideals” (Bell and Chaibong 2003 , p. 1).

Confucius understood the importance of environment and practice. Confucianism holds that when
people are little children they are similar to one another by nature, but because of different
environments and practices, they diverge in their growth (Analects, 17.2). People can become different
through learning and practice. Two essentials of learning are diligence and humility (Chen 1990 ).
According to the Analects, Confucius was thought to be the most diligent learner; he learned from
reading, peers and all possible resources. Confucius said, “When I walk along with two others, they may
serve me as my teachers. I will select their good qualities and follow them, their bad qualities and avoid
them” (Analects, 7.21; trans. by Legge 1971 , p. 202). Confucius encouraged reviewing old knowledge.
“He cherishes his old knowl-edge, and is continually acquiring new” (Analects, 2.11; trans. by Legge
1971 , p. 423).

The psychological foundation of Confucius’ educational thought is that human nature is neutral at birth.
He observed that ‘by nature people are close to one another: through practice they drift far apart’.
Because of the neutrality of human nature at birth, the environment including education, plays a very
important role in raising the young. Confucius’ private school has been extolled as an institution which
provided educational opportunity to the elite as well as the common people. He said “Ï instruct anyone
regardless of kind”. However, the educational purposes for the elite and the common people appeared
to be different.

Although his notion of educational opportunity was primarily to maintain the status of quo, some of his
outstanding students from poor family background did become important officials in the government. In
Confucius’ words “Those who excel in office should learn; those who excel in learning should take
office”. The notion of the scholar – official was the primary justification for the later imperial
examination. He urged his students to take the initiative in learning. They should be eager in and
dedicated to learning.

In addition to intellectual education, moral education also played a very important role in Confucius
‘educational theory and practice. According to his ethical theory, humanity is the supreme virtue and
the total of all virtues. Confucius emphasized the importance of humanity in our lives. His purpose of
education focused more on social rather than individual development. The moral values he advocated
were ultimately related to governing and regulating social relationships. He depicted a developmental
path for his students to achieve self-cultivation first, then family harmony, then good order in the state,
and finally peace in the empire. Therefore, the real emphasis was on the social rather than private
purpose of education.
AL-FARABI
(259-339 AH/872-950 AD)
In fact, education is one of the most important social phenomena in al-Farabi’s philosophical system. It
is concerned with the human soul and makes sure that the individual is prepared from an early age to
become a member of society, to achieve his own level of perfection, and thus to reach the goal for
which he was created. Indeed, the whole activity of education, in al-Farabi’s view, can be summed up as
the acquisition of values, knowledge and practical skills by the individual, within a particular period and
a particular culture. The goal of education is to lead the individual to perfection since the human being
was created for this purpose, and the goal of humanity’s existence in this world is to attain happiness,
which is the highest perfection—the absolute good.

The perfect human being (al insan al kamil), thought al-Farabi, is the one who has obtained theoretical
virtue—thus completing his intellectual knowledge—and has acquired practical moral virtues—thus
becoming perfect in his moral behavior. Then, crowning these theoretical and moral virtues with
effective power, they are anchored in the souls of individual members of the community when they
assume the responsibility of political leadership, thus becoming role models for other people. Al-Farabi
unites moral and aesthetic values: good is beautiful, and beauty is good; the beautiful is that which is
valued by the intelligentsia. So this perfection which he expects from education combines knowledge
and virtuous behavior; it is happiness and goodness at one and the same time.

In al-Farabi’s view, one of the goals of education is to combine learning with practical action, for the
purpose of knowledge is that it should be applied, and perfection lies in its being transformed into
action: ‘Whatever by its nature should be known and practiced, its perfection lies in it actually being
practiced’.

The sciences have no meaning unless they can be applied in practical reality, otherwise they are void
and useless. The real practical sciences ‘are those which are linked to readiness for action ‘and absolute
perfection is ‘what speculative sciences are learned without having the opportunity to apply them, this
wisdom is marred.

Gandhi 1869 - 1948

According to Gandhi, the goal of education should be moral education or character-building; and the
cultivation of a conviction that one should forget everything selfish in working towards great aims.
Therefore, Gandhi defines education in the following way: “By education I mean an all-round drawing
out of the best in child and man –body, mind, and spirit.”

Wardha Scheme or Nai Talim Gandhi’s greatest gift in the sphere of education is known as, ‘The Wardha
Scheme of Education’ or ‘Nai Talim’. For Gandhi, education is the means for realizing Sarvodaya , i.e.,
upliftment of all. Education, for Gandhi, is a method to bring silent and non-violent revolution in society.
According to Gandhi, “An education, which does not teach us to discriminate between good and bad, to
assimilate the one and eschew the other, is a misnomer”. Gandhi said that education is the potent
weapon to liberate human beings from all vices. The Wardha Committee report on education in 1937,
headed by Dr Zakir Hussain, was based on a series of articles published by Gandhi in Harijan. The basic
scheme of education has the following important features:

Mother tongue should be the medium of instruction.

There should be free, compulsory and universal education within the age group 7 to 14.

Manual productive skills should be imparted in the children and special emphasis on handicrafts.

Fusion of the theory and practical, i.e., learning by doing. Co-education initially.

The core aim of basic education is to help students to develop self-sufficiency. Education should develop
human values in the child.

It is aimed to achieve the harmonious development of the child’s body, mind, heart and soul.

It is geared to create useful, responsible and dynamic citizens.

Religion should not interfere with education and students should be taught in such a manner that they
respect all religions.

Women’s Education

Gandhi was a protagonist of women’s education. He wanted to free women from social serfdom. He
opposed the purdah system and enforced widowhood. According to Gandhi, it is only education
empower a woman in such a manner that she can be able to uphold her natural rights. Education is
necessary for enabling women to attain their real position in society. Methods of Teaching Aims of
education, according to Gandhi, were different from those prevalent during his days. Gandhi
disapproved of the then prevalent educational method as defective, and emphasized the need to make
crafts and vocations as means of education. He emphasized the importance of the following principles in
his methods of teaching.

▪ To achieve mental development, training of senses and parts of the body should be given utmost

importance.

▪ Reading should precede the teaching of writing.

▪ Before teaching of alphabets, art training should be given.

▪ More opportunities should be given to learning by doing.

▪ Correlation should be established in the teaching methods and learning experiences.

▪ Basic craft at focal point.

▪ Teaching through creative and productive activities.

▪ Learning by living, service and participation, self-experience.

▪ Oral instruction to personal study.

▪ All syllabi should be woven around vocational training.

Aims of Education:

Gandhi has divided educational aims into two categories.

1.Immediate Aims of Education:

a) Vocational aim: He wanted that each child should earn while engaged in learning and gain some
learning while he is busy with earning

b) Cultural aim: He considered the cultural aspect of education as more essential than its academic
aspect. In the words of Gandhi, “I attach more importance to the cultural factor of education than its
literary factor”.

c) Character building: Core principle behind the Gandhian education system was character building. He
said that character is the foundation of any education. Weak moral and ethical person will not be able to
take the world to new heights. According to Gandhi, the end of all knowledge should be the building up
of character.

d) Perfect development aim: Gandhi said, “The real education is that which fully develops the body,
mind and soul of children”.

e) Dignity of labour: Gandhi says that after seven years of education (7 to 14 years) the child should be
able to earn. The students must learn the dignity of labour, they should not feel shy while doing some
work.

f) Training for leadership: Gandhi believed that for successful democracy, good leaders are needed.
Education should imbibe, good leadership qualities to the children.

2. Ultimate Aim of Education: According to Gandhi the ultimate aim of education is to realise God or
Self-realization. According to Gandhi “Development of the moral character, development of the whole,
all are directed towards the realization of the ultimate reality, the merger of the finite being into the
infinite”. It is realizing Godliness in his self.

Gandhi’s contribution to education: Gandhi’s contribution to education is unique. He was the first
Indian who advocated a scheme of education based upon the essential values of Indian culture and
civilization. Gandhi’s philosophy of education is naturalistic in its setting, idealistic in its aim and
pragmatic in its method. So, his philosophy of education is a harmonious blending of idealism,
naturalism and pragmatism. Gandhi’s idea on education is very innovative. His idea of vocational
education was so unique that even now a days it is being promoted by the government of India.