MODULE 3

Contribution of Western thinkers on Education

PLATO (427 BC to 347 BC)

Plato, the greatest Greek philosopher, was born in Athens in 427 B.C. He
was a disciple of Socrates for nearly ten years. After the death of Socrates, he went
out of Greece and wandered in different countries. Plato remained a bachelor all
through his life and dedicated in preaching the ideas of Socrates. To the world,
Plato has given three things 1. Theory of a new form of government called
‘Republic’ 2. A new social order and 3. A well articulated system of
education, of these he deemed education as the full and first thing that the best of
men can ever have. He has explained his thoughts and practiced education in his
books, entitled ‘The Republic’ and ‘The Laws’. He opened a school called
Academy in Greece to implement his ideas on education. Provision was made in
the Academy for the study of all subjects that would make a man a good citizen.

Plato was an ‘idealist’, as he regarded ideas as real. In his book – ‘the

republic’ and ‘the laws’, he has given first place to the State and second to the
individual. In the context of education, a philosopher’s thinking is understood in
terms of five parameters viz his concept of reality, man, mind, knowledge and
values.

Aims of Education

According to Plato education should aim at the achievement of the absolute

Truth, goodness and beauty like the Indian ideals of satyam, shivam, sundaram.
Since he advocated the supremacy of the state, his fundamental aim of education
was to ensure state-unity. He therefore wanted an education, which should
discourage individualism and develop co – operative spirit. Apart from this, the
other aims of education are:

1.The inculcation of the idea of good citizenship and virtues

2.Development of body as well as the soul

3.Cultivation of the vision of truth

 4. Inculcation of the feeling of appreciation of beauty.

Curriculum

Plato outlines a system of education with the psychological development of

man, and has given the appropriate curriculum for different stages of growth.

During infancy, up to the age of three, the child should be properly

nourished and save from pain and wrong pleasure. No fear should be generated in
him. During the first three years he is creative on his appetites and desire.

In the nursery age of 3-6 years he might be introduced to moderate pain and
pleasure in order to inculcate courage and self control. In this age, he should learn
myths and stories of national heroes.

At the elementary school age of 6-13, the boys should be segregated from
girls. The curriculum should contain music, dance, sports and games. Plato
regarded Arithmetic and geometry as the best medium for spiritual development.

During the middle school age of 13 to 16, the curriculum should consist of
reading, writing, arithmetic and music. It was followed by four years (16-20) of
gymnastic period; here special attention should be given to them to practice
military training. Military training in archery, sword fight, wrestling and riding
should be given to them.

After twenty, when reasoning power is at its peak, the youth might be
introduced a variety of subjects such as Philosophy, logic, psychology, ethics and
oratory. Those who wish to become administrator might join the dialectic school
where advanced studies might be given in dialectic, law, political science and
philosophy.

Methods of teaching

Plato has suggested only one method of teaching and that is presentation of
the subject matter in the most interesting manner. While prescribing this, he has
suggested that natural faculties and interest of the children must be taken to
consideration in his school ‘Academy’. Plato himself taught mathematics and
philosophy by mean of correlated lectures and dialogues.
 Play was also recommended as a method of teaching by Plato. In his book
entitled ‘Laws’ he has emphasized the importance of play. He feels that the
pleasure that play inculcates in children has great importance in education.

Education of Women

Although he remained as bachelor throughout his life, he considered that

females have fundamentally the same nature as the males. So he favored their entry
into all the offices of work of the state. He says “all pursuits of men are the
pursuits of women also’ and wanted both men and women to be taught all
disciplines.

The Academy

The term ‘Academy’ originated from the name of an olive garden called
Academic, situated near the city of Athens. In this garden, the youth of Athens,
including, Plato, used to assemble daily to have discourses with Socrates. To keep
this memory he named this school Academy. This may be considered as first
university of the west. Various sciences and philosophies were taught in that
institution. Those who came out of the Academy were called Academicians.
Aristotle was a student of this institution.
JEAN JACQUES ROUSSEAU (1712-1778)

Jean Jacques Rousseau was born in Italy on 28 th June 1712 and one of the
famous philosophers of Naturalism school of thought. His ideas on education have
been clearly understood through his books. He has written six great books and
they are:

The progress of Art and science

The origin of inequality among man

Discourse on Inequality

The New Heloise

Social Contract

Emile

According to him, nature is the pure, clean and ennobling influence on

children. Human society is thoroughly corrupt. Therefore, man should be freed
from the bondage of society and should live in the nature. Human nature is
basically good and it must be given ample opportunities for the free development
in an open atmosphere.

His famous book ‘Emile’, is in the field of child education. Here he

described the process of education through education of an imaginary child ‘Emil’
who was given education in a natural environment away from the society and
school. In his book, psychological principles of education were given more
importance as the child was left free to explore nature so that she could develop
physically as well as mentally in the lap of nature.

Concept of education

Rousseau suggested the given practices in education:

1. Complete freedom to the child

2. No imposed physical punishment, only the child can experience natural
punishment, that can subsequently help the child to do the right and good
things.
 3. Follow the natural law, because neglect or violation invariably leads to
pain and suffering
4. Naturally possessed fine character

Aims of education

The aim of education is to help the child to remain alive. According to

Rousseau, “Life is not merely to breathe but it is to act and to make use of our
organs, senses and faculties which give us the feeling of our existence”. In other
words, life is to live, to work, to develop and to properly utilize the various parts of
the body, the sense organs and the various other powers of the body to make the
child a real human being. The following aims of education were suggested by
Rousseau:

 Emphasis on natural activities of the child : According to Rousseau,

“Goodness is an innate quality of the children. All that is good which
we get from nature”.
 Child as the centre of education: Nature and abilities of children
should be kept in mind while planning for their education.
 Emphasis on Nature: According to Rousseau, there are three sources
of education. 1.Education given by nature 2.Education given by
men 3.Education from circumstances. Learning by doing and
getting experience is the best learning. Education is gardening of
children. As plants develop through care and nutrients and human
develop through education. Children must develop their weaknesses,
inabilities and dependence so that they can overcome these with hard
work and efforts. According to him the child should be provided
education according to child’s nature and love towards nature should
be developed in the child. Love of nature will develop all other
faculties in the child. He considered natural education as the real
education and criticized regular and artificial education imparted in
the schools.

Curriculum

Rousseau presented psychological stages of human development and

determined different aims and different curricula for each stage. He was not in
favor of imposing anything on the children, he talked of creating the environments
according to nature, so he has developed curriculum according to the psychological
conditions of different age groups. He has divided the educational life of man into
four periods or stages, and has specified separate curricula for them.

1. Infancy (Birth to 5 years) : During this period, development and

strengthening of every part of the body is essential so that the child can
grow up healthy and strong. Rousseau held the opinion “All wickedness
comes from weakness. The child should be made strong so that he will do
nothing which is bad”. The teaching methods adopted in this stage was
training of sense organs and counseling method.
2. Childhood (5 to 12 years): Physical development of the children
continues at this stage, so they should be given all opportunities for
playing, jumping, running, and swimming. Besides, the development of
their sense organs begins at this stage, so they should be given
opportunity for watching, touching, smelling, listening and tasting
different objects’ and their experiences should be bounded in language.
In this stage play way method, practical work, self learning methods and
learning through self experience methods are used.
3. Adolescence (12 to 15 years): At this stage, besides the physical and
mental development of the children, they begin to understand and
evaluate the outcome of their activities. Curiosity becomes intense at this
stage. They should be given formal education including natural science,
Mathematics, Geography, Woodwork, music painting etc.,In this stage
learning by doing, observation, enquiry and experimental methods are
used.
4. Youth (!5-20years): At this stage the children enter manhood, so they
should learn to stabilize their emotions. The aim of education during this
stage is the development of emotions and sentiments that is training of
the heart. The development of sentiments leads to the development of
moral and social qualities in the youth. Rousseau reiterated that moral
and religious education should be imparted to the youths so as to prepare
them to lead a good life. Thus education aims at preparing the youth to
become a member of society and an ideal head of the family.At this stage
 Heuristic method is used. Demonstration of real objects in teaching is
adopted.

Role of the teacher

According to him, a teacher is not the source of information but must act as
a motivator for learning. Children should not be directed but guided. Teacher must
understand the nature of children. So, he should be tolerant and able to check his
emotions. Teacher must not think of keeping the child under his control as the
child needs to be provided with full freedom for exploring and learning. Proper
guidance should be provided by the teacher to the child.

Rousseau’s contribution to Education

He discovered and recognized the childhood traits. He advocated basis of

child psychology as the founding step for education of children. This lead to child
centered education in the modern period. He was the forerunner of modern
educational psychology. He said that children should be treated as children and not
as young adults, so methods of providing them education should be different. He
said that the children should be given problems to solve without any help and
instructions. Therefore, let them find out the truths themselves by exploring the
environment.

He laid the foundation of free and positive discipline. He said, “Let the child
move freely in nature and learn from his own personal experience and through
actual participation in day to day life activities”. He condemned the punishment
which destroys original and natural curiosity and intellect of the child due to fear
of punishment. He was against strict discipline enforcement on children. He was in
favor of providing full freedom to children to do their work in their own creative
ways and not interfering in what they are doing..

Negative Education

He emphasized on negative education as compared to positive education as

formal and rigid education tries to prepare the child for adult roles before time by
providing lot of information and instructions in an artificial environment. Negative
education is without any ties and control mechanism. In this the child learns
according to his nature and at his own pace. In this type his all faculties develop
naturally. Advocating negative education, Rousseau emphasized on the following:

 No learning through books rather learning through direct experiences

from the nature
 No time saving – provide enough time to the child to live in nature
 No habit formation
 No social education for the children
 No direct moral education
 No strict and formal discipline
 No traditional education method

Woman Education

Rousseau was not in favor of same education for men and women as he
believed that their nature of responsibilities is totally different. The role of women
is to bring up children, help them to grow up as adults, to provide them with advice
to make their life comfortable and acceptable. So instead of providing women with
higher education, they should be taught household, stitching, embroidery and
education of religion. He advocated moral and religious education for women. This
may be a part of debate. Rousseau said, “an illiterate woman is the plague of her
husband, her children, her family her servants and everybody’. He was in favor of
giving education of domestic task to the women.
FRIEDRICH FROEBEL (1782-1853)

Frobel was born on April 2, 1782 in South Germany .He wrote “Education
of man” in the year 1826. In the year 1837 he established a school at Blankenburg
and named it “Kinder Garten”.Kinder Garten is a German word which means
garden of children. He gave most important place to the children.”Come let us live
forth children” was the slogan of Frobel. Many Kinder Garten schools were opened
at different places.

Educational views

According to Froebel a child is born with all good qualities. All these
qualities should be developed fully, so he should become a dynamic citizen of his
country. Harmonious and conducive environment develop a seed into a fully
grown tree. In the same way proper environment develop a child into a fully grown
adult. Thus Froebel compared school with a garden. A child develops into an adult
under the loving care and protection of a teacher. It is the responsibility of the
teacher to create a conducive and appropriate environment.

Aim of Education

Froebel believes that on the foundation of religion alone education may be

based. Education should be such as to enable one to recognize himself and
comprehend a fundamental unity in all things. Through education an individual
should also know how through the acquired knowledge he can develop himself
further. The purpose of education is to ensure a virtuous life.

Froebel is of the opinion that there is a divine power operating the whole
world. This divine power expresses itself in the conscious state of nature as well as
man. This education should create such an environment that the child realizes this
divine pressure and is able to identify himself with this world and the Nature.

Froebel gives utmost importance to play during childhood. Froebel included

plays leading to recreation and constructive activities and also to the development
of imagination and intellectual capacity, to develop the feeling of co-operation and
collectiveness in group games. With the help of play activities children could
develop social feeling, freedom, co-operation, tolerance and self dependence.
Self Activities

Real growth and development of the child is possible only through self
activity. If children are given freedom, they carry out certain activities and
movements and develop thoughts of their own. Hence he suggested that education
should be based on the principle, “learning by doing”. He gives importance to
‘activity’ and the entire system of education should be based on activity. Through
activity new ideas and images are developed. Thus he concludes that development
of self activity is creative. He gave special attention to this attribute of creativeness
in children.

Social Participation

Self activity, self expression and development of personality are developed

only through a process of socialization. When they play together they get an
opportunity for self expression. Frobel laid importance to the social aspect of
education. Child can be properly educated only when he is in the company of other
children because an individual is an integral part of the society. Every social
institution like family, church, school etc is a place for activity of the individual. It
is through these activities, the child develops his personality.

Kinder Garten

Froebel started a school for small children known as kinder garten school. In
his school he provided full and free opportunities for self activities, freedom, self
experiencing, sociability and provision or various playful activities as means of
education and development. Songs , gestures, constructions along with mother play
and nursery songs and ‘Gifts and occupations’ are the various means to develop
self expression.

It is through songs, gestures and constructions, children express their ideas.

Thus Froebel believes that a proper organization of these activities is the best
means of their development. ‘Mother play and nursery songs are a small book
which contain about fifty songs. It has been prepared keeping in view of the age
and development of the children. These songs establish affectionate bonds between
child and mother develop his sense organs and help in the physical, mental and
spiritual development.
 Gift are means to encourage activity. They are about twenty of which there
are six prominent ones as cylindrical objects, spherical objects and cubic objects.
They bring about the development of the sense organs of the child. Further,
children are led to other forms of self-expression and self activity as paper cutting,
wood craft, picture drawing, garland making, sewing, singing, dancing, knitting
etc.

Occupations come after the child has received gifts. Occupations are
connected with gifts. These bring about not only the mental development but also
his physical development. Froebel believes that in work also one finds self
satisfaction and self knowledge. He thinks that one must be continually occupied
with some worthwhile work. In order to realize the divine power in him. Work
should be given in a natural way. If one is working under compulsion it will be of
no value. Hence Froebel wants to make the work (occupation) natural. Therefore
he wants the child to work in the form of play.

Curriculum

Froebel gave importance to religion, nature study,Arithemetic, Language,

Arts, Handicrafts in the curriculum. He emphasized all subjects should possess
internal unity and correlation. He says “Every child or youth, no matter at whatever
stage of life he happens to be, must construct something for an hour or two every
day. Bookish education makes children passive and a very important part of human
life remains undeveloped”.

Methods of Teaching

Froebel stressed the following principles

1. Self activity : He gave importance to self activity and experience in order to

achieve full development of the child.
2. Learning by play: He emphasized play activities in educating the child.
Child’s self activity finds expression in play.
3. Sociability: Basically child is a social being. Hence Froebel emphasized
group plays and group games which develop mutual love, sympathy, co-
operation and other desirable qualities.
4. Freedom: Full freedom should be given for the full development and
educational progress of the child. There should not be any kind of
compulsion of the child.

Discipline

Froebel was against the repressionistic discipline. There should not be any
kind of impositions, compulsions and restraints. He advocated loving,
sympathetic and helping attitude towards the children. So that he becomes
obedient, dynamic and disciplined by his own will and pleasure.