Faculty of Education

Idealism and Education

(Class Notes)

By
Vijay Anand
M.Ed.
Banaras Hindu University
Varanasi 22102
(2019)
 IDEALISM
PHILOSOPHICAL ASPECTS OF METAPHYSICS
Idealist told that mind or spirit, as each man
IDEALISM experiences it in himself, is fundamentally real
A. METAPHYSICS and that the totality of the universe is somehow
mind or spirit in its essence.

IDEALISM IN EDUCATION REALITY OF THE SELF

Rene Descartes said " I think therefore I am"
A. EDUCATION AS A SOCIAL INSTITUTE
“The self is the prime reality in the experience of
a person.” – Descartes and Kant
B. THE Pupil
1. The pupil is a Self “The Human self has freedom of will”- Leibniz
2. The pupil is in the process of and Kant
becoming
Doubt may become one of the most direct
routes to the discovery of the self. Doubt is
C. THE Objective OF EDUCATION thought and thought involves the Thinker,
therefore The Thinker is behind the thinking
1. Objective for the Individual
2. Objective for Society
NATURE OF THE SELF
3. Synthesis
The self may be identical with the body and it
may be a unit of society but according to
D. THE Educative PROCESS idealism if self is only identical with the body
and only that, or if it is a unit of society and only
1. The Teacher
that then it has no ultimate meaning.
2. Imitations
3. Interest, Efforts and Discipline According to idealism, the self; in addition to its
4. Self-Activity identification with the body and its
5. The Curriculum inseparability from society, is a soul then the
6. Method way is open to a thoroughly spiritual and
Supernatural view of all reality.

As Wilbur urban said

" to deny the itself as a spiritual reality is to reduce

man to the level of the biological order"

The self is a Unity at birth fully realised, it is

multiplicity, it has various facets, dimensions
and expressions but not in conflict with each
other.

According to J. A. Leighton, "The self is Real"

IDEALISM VIJAY ANAND


WORLD OR UNIVERSE
The matter surrounding the self is the world or
Universe which is spiritual in nature.
According to Fichte the world about him, the
notself, is spiritual which is made of the same
stuff as the self.
According to Bernard Bosanquet "it thinks in
me".
Bosanquet apparently means that to think of
the individual self as an isolated thinker is not to
do justice to reality. Individual self is only one
individual unit in the whole of reality therefore
what goes on in the self is not only the evidence
of the nature of the individual self but it is as
representative of the nature of the whole world
of which the self is a part.
According to Urban the word is spiritual if the
world is capable of interpretation
According to Urban
"the world therefore is viewed as a ‘logical’ for
spiritual totality- not mechanical in structure but
organic in the sense that the part expresses within
itself something of the meaning of the whole."
THE ONE AND MANY
Monism vs Pluralism, or, Universal mind vs
individual mind.
According to Bernard individual mind can never
be equal to the whole so it is part of fraction.
There is quantitative pluralism not a pluralism
of quality.
There is meaning in the totality of the spirit
which cannot be found in the imperfect
individual soul of man.
PROBLEMS OF EVIL
The only reality is the ultimate mind in whom
there is no Evil.
IDEALISM
Education As a Social institution. 2
Evil is not a real existent value. It is the negation
of values.
The Evil is not self-subsistent, it is necessary
possibility in the world where individual have
freedom to realise the god.
FREEDOM
Belief in freedom is common among idealists
but it does not mean that we have freedom as
individuals to do whatever we please, without
limits. There are boundaries to my freedom
because an individual is a part not the whole of
reality.
EDUCATION AS A SOCIAL
INSTITUTION .
Idealist exerted human culture and human
institution as being expression of spiritual
reality.
Education must exist as an institution of human
society because of spiritual necessity not only
because of natural necessity.
Education is an institution made necessary for
man’s need for culture. Man can only be made
a man by cultural birth. If a man is to become a
man, education must form him. Individual
children may be given cultural birth as men.
Man is formed by whatever culture surrounds
him. For example, new-born of man can be a
like a wolf if it is left among them from starting.
Another basis for the necessary existence of the
educational institution is the social nature of
man. Individual man is socius, (objective
projection of society in an individual form,)
education is necessarily the social process and
not altogether individualistic. If to be a man, or
to be a self, is to be a socius, that is a man must
have a social setting in which to become a man.
VIJAY ANAND

School should be uniquely thinking institution in
the sense that it will give leadership and
guidance thinking. Encourage thinking and
"mind function" in other institutions and not
discourage such.
School should stand at the edge of the future
and urge society ahead into new frame. School
should be a balance between present and
future.
School is uniquely not exclusively, a value
realising institution. An institution made for
transition and transfer of value.
THE PUPIL
1. THE PUPIL IS A SELF
The pupil is a self, a spiritual being. He is not a
mere body without spirit. The self of the people
is something deeper than the physical, that it is
superior to it and able to produce changes in
physical surrounding.
The pupil is a personality whose foundation is
not a body alone but a deep underlying spiritual
reality.
Individual is a whole and answer part of larger
whole. It is the nature of an individual to be
both himself and socius.
The Pupil is a finite person growing; when
properly educated into the image of an infinite
person. It means that is real origin is dieting, his
nature is freedom, and his destiny is
immortality.
2. PUPIL IS IN THE PROCESS OF BECOMING
Pupil is in the process of becoming a social being
and a spiritual being. Education should be able
to development necessary qualities in pupil,
develop cultural value and develop the child as
a whole.
IDEALISM
The Pupil 3
It grants to evil know ultimate existent, it
recognising its bitter actuality in the present
order.
Is pupil good or bad according to Idealism? Their
answer is that, at birth the Pupil is neither good
nor bad; he is potential and can become either
good or bad, depending upon his environment,
surrounding influences and his own will.
OBJECTIVE OF EDUCATION
1. OBJECTIVE FOR INDIVIDUAL
Gentai, speaks of self-realisation as the ultimate
aim of education, by which he means the
process of spiritual becoming.
Bogoslovosky said: Our aim...
"... Is to help students to live rich and
significant life, to build harmonious and
colourful personalities, to enjoy to the
utmost the glory of being happy, two face
suffering when it comes with dignity and
profit, and finally to help other people to
leave this superior life"
Our aims in terms of Knowledge Is to develop
total outlook of individual and our aim in terms
of self is achievement of superior life.
2. OBJECTIVE FOR SOCIETY
In the spirit of brotherhood, one approaches is
fellow men, not claiming his rights or declaring
their social status, as a person to person in
terms of human understanding, affection and
love.
One another objective of education for society
is ginning the young the accumulated heritage
of the race to benefit new generation by
nurturing experiences.
Education must include culture, knowledge and
development as aim devoted to society.
VIJAY ANAND
 The Educative Process 4

Individual aims are secondarily social and social
aims are secondarily individual.
THE EDUCATIVE PROCESS
In idealism, the educative process is ideal
centre. It is not wholly Child-centred, subject-
matter-centered, nor society-centered; it its
ideal-centered. The meaning of ideal-centered
is that the education must be conformed to the
Ultimate (God) rather than to present man and
present society, which are uncertain and
changing.
The curriculum must go beyond books and
subjective matter to include direct experiential
relation with actuality.
TEACHING METHODS
Method should be used to create a slight feeling
of suspense for the students, suspense to be
resolved only by his own decision or activity
effort.
Questioning, Discussion, solid interaction
(lecturing), pupil activity such as projects with
emphasis on constructive and creative work.

THE T EACHER
The teacher is the creator of the educational
environment of the child and the chief source of
his inspiration.

One important and valuable means by which

student response is given birth is imitative
activity especially when given direction by
working model of creative work and a noble
teacher personality

Interest is a valuable stepping stone to student

response preferably interest suit for me the
greatest majority of school activities. It is of
course, it will need to be supplemented by the
students on referred an application and on
occasion this latter may need refining by the
presence of external discipline.

Throughout all teacher activities the result

sought is the active responses of the learner
what is only when the self of the pupil become
attach to the activities by its own initiative that
real growth and development of self get
started.

CURRICULUM
Much objective content and much book
learning if there is to be solidify in education
and students are to have rugged mental diet.

IDEALISM VIJAY ANAND