EDUCATIONAL

PHILISOPHERS
Their theories and contribution to Education
 FRANCIS BACON (1561-1626)
”Some men become attached to
particular sciences and contemplations,
either from supposing themselves the
authors and inventors of them, or from
having bestowed the greatest pains upon
such subjects, and thus become most
committed to them. If men of this
description apply themselves to
philosophy and contemplations of a
universal nature, they wrest and corrupt
them by their preconceived fancies of
which Aristotle affords us a signal
instance, who made his natural
philosophy completely subservient to his
logic, and thus rendered it little more
than useless and disputatious”
 FRANCIS BACON (1561-1626)
Bacon’s work has had a powerful
effect on education. He advocated
that the true method of teaching
proceeds from observation of the
facts of nature. Bacon’s ideas for
the reformulation of human
thought started early - the
influence of his university
education ran very deep. In 1592,
Bacon already described his plan
for a full-scale reform and
reorganization of human
learning.
RICHARD MULCASTER (1531-1611)

He argued that education should

be in accordance of mature of the
child and its aim to secure the
expression and development of
childish tendencies and not to
suppress them.
RICHARD MULCASTER (1531-1611)
Educational reformer and linguistic theory
of the sixteen century stands apart from
his age for his original surprisingly
modern approach on language.
Mulcaster’s fame rests mainly upon his
two books Positions Concerning the
Training Up of Children (1581) and The
First Part of the Elementarie (1582). He
recommended special university training
for teachers, comparable to that for doctors
or lawyers, careful selection of teachers
and adequate salaries, assignment of the
best teachers to the lowest grades, and
close association between teachers and
parents. He emphasized the importance of
individual differences in children, the
adjustment of the curriculum to these
differences, and the use of readiness rather
than age in determining progress
JOHANN HEINRICH PESTALOZZI (1746-1827)
Pestalozzi attended the University of
Zurich for his schooling and from then
on would run all types of experiments in
education by opening schools for all
types of individuals, usually the poor.
However, most of these schools did not
last very long and usually fell apart
because of a lack of money. Also in his
lifetime, He wrote books based on the
theories that he had about education.
"Children should learn through activity
and through things (hands-on tools).
They should be free to pursue their own
interests and draw their own
conclusions. "When Pestalozzi argued
that there was a need for balance, that
the three elements of head, heart and
hands is what is most important to
children receiving a great education.
HERBERT SPENCER (1820-1903)
Spencer became one of the major
proponents of modern curriculum
theory. He created quite uproar in
England with his curriculum theory
because the major focus of education
continued to be the Latin and Greek
languages and literature. In his work
"What Knowledge is of Most Worth?"
Spencer stated that this question needed
to be answered before any curriculum
was chosen or any instruction
commenced. Once this question was
answered, it should be made certain that
the curriculum aid in advancing survival
and progress. To achieve this
advancement Spencer believed that
there were five activities necessary in
curriculum.
JOHN DEWEY
John Dewey is probably most
famous for his role in what is called
progressive education. Progressive
education is essentially a view of
education that emphasizes the need
to learn by doing. Dewey believed
that human beings learn through a
'hands-on' approach. This places
Dewey in the educational
philosophy of pragmatism.
Pragmatists believe that reality must
be experienced. From Dewey's
educational point of view, this
means that students must interact
with their environment in order to
adapt and learn
DEAN FRANCISCO BENITEZ
As an educator, Benitez believed that
education could make the country
stable and progressive and that
every Filipino child should have the
right to an education in order to
develop his potentials to the full. He
also strongly advocated the
development of the spirit of
nationalism, particularly in the
youth, the development of
internationalism, and of the national
language. As director of the Office of
Private Education, he advocated the
idea of having social studies taught
exclusively by Filipino teachers.
DR. LOURDES QUISUMBING
She is the first woman to head DECS.
Her tenure [as DECS secretary]
marked the expansion of free public
education to the secondary level, an
increase in the share of education in
the national budget, rationalization
of higher education, and an
emphasis on values education. She
was the founder and first President
of the UNESCO-Asia Pacific
Network for International Education
and Values Education (APNIEVE),
and was a former Secretary-General
of the UNESCO National
Commission of the Philippines (1990
to 1998).
WILLIAM C. BAGLEY
William Chandler Bagley is a leading
“Essentialist,” opposed many of the
practices of progressive education.
Bagley’s lifelong professional
commitment was to the improvement of
public education, largely through
improved teacher training. He became a
leading spokesman of the
“Essentialists”—a group of professional
educators who advocated European-
style emphasis on a rigorous curriculum
of traditional subjects, in opposition to
the approach of many progressive-
education circles. He was an outspoken
proponent of equality in educational
opportunity and vigorously opposed
restricting such opportunity on the basis
of intelligence-test scores.
-End-