WESTERN

PHILOSOPHERS
JEAN JACQUE ROUSSEAU (1712-1778)
JEAN JACQUE ROUSSEAU (1712-1778)

• He is often called the father of progressivism. (support

for or advocacy of social reform).He was a liberal thinker and
advocated for educational reforms.
• Rousseau argued that there was one process common
to all human beings. This process was intrinsic natural
process, of which the primary manifestation was
curiosity. According to him all children are perfectly
designed organisms, ready to learn from their
surroundings, so as to grow into virtuous adults. But
the society was so corrupt that children did not
achieve this end.
The educational doctrines of Jean Rousseau
Rousseau recognized that, education is more than what takes place in
the formal classroom or school. The whole environment is a resource
for learning and there are agencies for learning other than the
teachers.
The curriculum and the teaching method should be dictated by the
nature of the child rather than preconceived plan or blue print and
should not be guided by examination syllabus.
The readiness of the child for new items of learning has to be
watched and no new task should be presented to him until he
demonstrates that he is ready.
• Children should start learning from their own experiences. From the
known to unknown
• Children should not be perceived as small adults and should not be
treated as such. They are only being prepared for adult life. Children
should find the joy and get excited in learning new ideas.
• Each child is unique individual and should be studied and understood
as such.
• The teacher should cultivate affection for his pupils, respect their
individual nature, should be a sympathetic guide and adviser, in
addition to his being an expert in an area of knowledge.
John Dewey (1859-1952)
John Dewey (1859-1952): participatory learning.

• He was an American philosopher, psychologist and

educational reformer. His ideas influenced both
education in America and the world. He grew up in a
very religious community. In his community, daily
human contact provided unlimited natural and
dynamic learning situations. Him, together with
William James, are recognized as the founders of the
philosophical school of pragmatism.
• The following are the educational doctrines of John Dewey:
It should be noted that Dewey preferred to call himself instrumentalist
rather than as a pragmatist.

Instrumentalist-Views education as a tool to serve society

Pragmatism – Education is about growth and life/ Education should help
children grow
The educational doctrines of John Dewey
• The quality of participation by learners in class and subsequent decisions
that are taken democratically are dependent on the quality of the
participating members.
• Education is an intellectual reorganization and reconstruction of
experiences in order to give meaning and assimilation to what is heard
and read.
• Education learnt comes from experiences- true knowledge can only be
found within ordinary experiences.
• Democracy in schools is only a social way of life than a political system
• Education should develop ability in learners to deal with future problems.
• Artificial and external stimuli of reward and punishment are necessary
to make pupils interested in learning and preparation for future.
• Learners should share resources from society and give them back to
society so that they can help in the development of other members.
• Education should be able to sharpen the mental faculty of the learner,
so long as that education had a disciplinary value.
The role of the teacher in learning
• Ensuring that the individuals and groups move in harmony
and acquire the best and most positive values.
• Ensuring self-discipline and group discipline so that learners
are willing to attain their goals
• Guiding individuals to develop the habits of democratic
cooperation and high intellectual pursuit
• Involve the learner by doing and aiding the use of senses in
acquiring knowledge
• Organizing learning situations for learners in order to help them learn more
without forgetting
• Planning a head by preparing a course and experiences to give to each learner
• Designing individual activities after identifying practical and intellectual difficulties
of the learner

Dewey was very progressive in his ideas and liberal thinker who helped teachers to
come together in America.
Socrates (470 B.C-399 B.C): his inductive
method
• Socrates was an ancient Greek philosopher. He laid the philosophical
foundations of western culture together with Plato and Aristotle. He
lived in Athens. He did not take part in politics because he thought
this would compromise his principles. Socrates did not write anything
but much of what we have, came from student’s confessions.
The educational doctrines of Socrates:

• He did not charge any fees from his students

• He believed in self-righteousness and that the task of improving
himself and countrymen was laid upon him by God
• He advocated for the inductive method of teaching and learning.
Inductive method trains learners to think and work out problems by
themselves. It helps learners to develop logical thinking and learn
how to tackle real life problems.
• The learner is presented with a number of particular examples to
apply then develop a general rule, theory or principle
• Learning should involve both questioning and dialogue. Socrates
never taught directly. He constantly engaged in philosophical
conversations, in that he was able to bring out inconsistencies in their
argument

• He adapted question and answer method called Socratic method

which is extensively used in the modern classroom
• The teacher should try to stimulate the mental activities in the learner-
provide suggestions and guidance.

• Teaching is not about emptying new ideas into the learner but rather
drawing universal truths from the learner’s mind- don’t assume that
learners don’t know anything.

N/B: the inductive, dialogue and question-and- answer are used in all
levels of our education system
Paulo Freire (1921-1997)
• He was a Brazillian committed to the cause of educating the impoverished
peasants of his nation and teamed up with them to fight for their liberation from
oppression.
• He was against the education system in Brazil that offered no opportunity for
student’s growth. This was an existential problem that Paulo needed to deal with if
the poor had to be fed with quality education. He argued that men educate each
other through the mediation of the world. According to him, education was being
used to dominate the poor and the oppressed. According to Freire (1972),
“education as the exercise of dominion stimulates the credulity of students, with
the ideological intent of indoctrinating them to adapt to the world of oppression”.
• He argued that education as it is cannot help the poor since it is banking method
that is used in schools.
The banking method in education
Students are viewed as an empty account to be filled by the teacher.
Paulo was opposed to the student- teacher dichotomy where the
teacher is everything
In the banking concept:
The teacher teaches and the students are taught
The teacher knows everything and the students know nothing
The teacher thinks and the students are thought about
The teacher talks and the students listen
The teacher disciplines and the students are disciplined
The teacher chooses what to teach and the students comply
The teacher acts and the students have the illusion of acting through
the action of the teacher.
The teacher is the subject of the learning process, while the pupils
are mere objects