UNIT -III EASTERN AND WESTERN THINKERS ON EDUCATION

UNIT -III EASTERN AND WESTERN THINKERS ON EDUCATION

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA’S CONTRIBUTIONS TO EDUCATION

Amongst the contemporary Indian philosophers of education, Swami Vivekananda is
one of those who revolted against the imposition of British system of education in India. He
criticized the pattern of education introduced by the British in India. He pointed out that the
current system of education only brings about an external change without any reflective
inner force.

Swami Vivekananda was born in 1863 in Calcutta of a famous advocate of Calcutta high court. Narendra Dutta was his childhood name. From the beginning he was interested in religion and philosophy. But, he was totally transformed after a meeting with Rama Krishna Paramhans in 1888.

Since then he had been a wandering monk. In 1893 he went to attend a World's Parliament of Religions at Chicago. His views on education are found scattered in his lectures delivered at many places in India and abroad which are, now, available in printed from titled as Collective Works of Swami Vivekananda

In  the  Neo-Vedanta  humanistic  tradition  of  contemporary  Indian  thought,
Vivekananda presented a philosophy of education for man making. The chief objection
raised by Vivekananda against the contemporary educational system was that it turned men
into slaves, capable of slavery and nothing else. About the prevailing university education,
he remarked that it was not better than an efficient machine for rapidly turning out clerks.
It deprived people of their faith and belief. Vivekananda was very critical about this scheme
of education. He compared it to the person who wanted to turn his ass into a horse, was
advised to thrash the ass in order to achieve this transformation and killed his ass in this
process.  Vivekananda  also  criticized  the  contemporary  system  of  education  from  the
humanistic view point.

Education is the manifestation of the perfection already in man.

We  want  that  education  by  which  character  is  formed,  strength  of  mind  is increased, the intellect is expanded, and by which one can stand on one's own feet.

According  to  Swami  Vivekananda  the  following  should  be  the  main  aims  of education:

1. The Aim of Reaching Perfection

The prime aim of education is to achieve fullness of perfection already present in a child. According to Swamiji all material and spiritual knowledge is already present in man covered by a curtain of ignorance.

Education  should  tear  off  that  veil  so  that  the  knowledge  shines  forth  as  an illuminating torch to enliven all the corners by and by. This is meant by achieving fullness of the latent perfection.

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2. Physical and Mental Development Aim

The second aim of education is the physical and mental development of the child so that the child of today, after studying Geeta, is able to promote national growth and advancement as a fearless and physically well developed citizen of tomorrow.     Stressing the mental development of the child, Swamiji, wished education to enable the child to stand on his own legs economically rather than becoming a parasite on others.

3. Moral and Spiritual Development

According to Swami Vivekananda, a nation's greatness is not only measured by its parliamentary institutions and activities, but also by the greatness of its citizens. But the greatness of citizens is possible only through their moral and spiritual development which education should foster.

4. Character Development Aim

According  to  Swamiji  character  development  is  a  very  important  aim  of  any
education.  For  this,  he  emphasized  the  practice  of  Brahmacharya  which  fosters
development of mental, moral and spiritual powers leading to purity of thoughts, words and
deeds.

5. the Aim of Development Faith in One's Own self, Shraddha and a Spirit of Renunciation.

All through his life Swamiji exhorted the individuals to keep full confidence upon
their powers. They should inculcate a spirit of self surrender, sacrifice and renunciation of
material pleasures for the good of others. Education should fasts, all these qualities in the
individual. He gave this call to his countrymen. "Arise, awake and stop not till the goal is
achieved."

6. The Aim of Searching Unity in Diversity

The true aim of education is to develop insight into the individuals so that they are able to search out and realize unity in diversity. Swami Vivekananda has further asserted that physical and spiritual worlds are one; their distinctness is an illusion (Maya). Education should develop this sense which finds unity in diversity.

7. Religious Development Aim

To Swamiji religious development is an essential aim of education. To him, each individual should be able to search out and develop the religious seed embedded in him and thus find the absolute truth or reality.

Hence he advocated the training of feelings and emotions so that the whole life is purified  and  sublimated.  Then  only,  the  capacities  of  obedience,  social  service  and submission to the teachings and preaching's of great saints and saviours will develop in the individual. Education should foster this development.

CURRICULUM

According to Swami Vivekananda, the prime aim of education is spiritual growth and
development. But this does not mean that he did not advocate material prosperity and

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physical well-being. He feelingly advocated the inclusion of all those subjects and activities, in the curriculum, which foster material welfare with spiritual advancement.
            For  spiritual  perfection  Swamiji  prescribed  Religious,  Philosophy,  Puranic  lore,
Upanishads, Company of saints and their preaching's and for material advancement and prosperity he recommended Languages, Geography, Science, Political Science, Economics, Psychology, Art, Agriculture, Industrial and Technical subjects together with Games, sports and other Physical exercises.

Swamiji prescribed the same ancient spiritual methods of teaching wherein the Guru and his disciples lived in close association as in a family. The essential characteristics of those religious and spiritual methods were as under:-

1. To control fleeting mental faculties by the practice of Yoga.

2. To develop the mind by concentration and deep meditation.

3. To gain knowledge through lectures, discussions, self- experience and creative activities.

4.  To  imitate  the  qualities  and  character  of  teacher  intelligent  and  clear understanding.

5. To lead the child on the right path by means of individual guidance by the teacher.

He was of the opinion that the schools should produce self-reliant individuals who can
earn their living after finishing their education. Hence, it seems, he suggested that vocational
courses should also form a part of curriculum crafts may be taught along with other subjects.
The curriculum for girls may include "needlecraft, cookery, child-rearing, and other useful
subjects.

PLACE OF CHILD

Like Froebel, Vivekananda emphasized the education to be child centred. According to him the child is the store and repository of all learning material and spiritual. Like a plant a child grows by his own inner power naturally. Hence advising the child to grow naturally and spontaneously, Vivekananda asserted-"Go into your own and get the Upanishads out of your own self. You are the greatest book that ever was or will be. Until the inner teacher opens, all outside teaching is in vain."

PLACE OF TEACHER

Swamiji believed in self-education. According to him each of us is his own teacher.
The external teacher only guides and inspires the inner teacher (soul) to rise up and start
working to develop the child. Hence discussing the role of teacher Swami Vivekananda said-
"Teacher is a philosopher, friend and guide helping the educand to go forward in this own
way."

EDUCATION OF MASSES

In the times of Swami Vivekananda, education was not available to the common
people. It was confined to the well to do persons only. The poor, the miserable and the
lowly placed used to starve and die for hunger. Swamiji yearned to improve the condition of

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the  masses  and  thus  advocated  mass  education  as  the  only  way  to  achieve  any improvement in individual as well as society.

Swamiji exhorted his countrymen to know-"I consider that the great national sin is the neglect of the masses, and that is one of the causes of our downfall. No amount of politics would be of any avail until the masses of India are once more well educated, well fed and well cared for."

METHODS OF TEACHING

With regard to teaching methods Vivekananda was of the view that children should be made to learn themselves. As all knowledge is within them and learning is only a function of their mind, they should only be made active.

The teacher and the curricula should act only as stimuli. This shows that he was against  child's  cramming  of  pieces  of  information.  The  child  should  not  be  a  passive recipient of knowledge.

Discussions with the teacher were considered most important a method of teachinglearning by him.

Meditation and concentration were also considered important by him as through them developed the mental powers of the child.

It was also emphasized by him that the teacher should encourage children and develop in them self-confidence for learning.

Thus, along with the teaching the teacher was advised to develop in children those qualities which are necessary for learning. The learner must be able to control the internal and external senses. He should control his lower nature and concentrate on learning. It is high time that we give serious thought to his philosophy of education and remembers his call to every-body-‘Arise, awake, and stop not till the goal is reached.’

SHREE AUROBINDO

Shree Aurobindo was a poet, a Philosopher and Yogi of reputation. His life began with political, poetic and philosophical experiences. Sri Aurobindo said that the truth of spiritualism, science and religion were already contained in the Vedas. The Gita contains Vedic values which one essential for the elevation human life.

Sri Aurobondo's philosophy is based on intergralism. It is the synthesis of Idealism, Realism, Pragmatism and Spiritualism. According to him "Yoga" transforms the human kind, life and body to superman. Wholesome or integral development is possible through the practice of Yoga. Usually transformation takes plan.' on a supramental stage, where diverse elements get transformed and then integrated. It changes the nature of man and lead to realize the divine power and divine perfection.

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EDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHY

Sri Aurobindo said Education is Yoga, a process of liberation not only from the worldly bondages of pains and sufferings but also from the mental bondages of ignorance and evils. That is "Sa viddya ya Vimuktaya" education that makes man free from the bondages and barriers.

Aurobindo also believed that there is Brahma in everybody, there is innate power inside the man and education would enable man to discover the same. Since both matter and spirit are necessary for the welfare of mankind, education should help in bringing about a balanced developed in both.

1. Self-realization:

Know thyself (Tatwamasi) is the keynote of educational philosophy of Sri Aurobindo. If you can know yourself, your true nature and your innate capacity, you will be able to know the whole world, understanding of the self or soul (Atma) is basic to all kinds of knowledge. Like the modern psychologists and educationist. Aurobindo laid emphasis on the principles of paedocentrecism.

According to Aurobindo the duty of the teacher is to show the path of knowledge and guide him to get the knowledge. He should not try to handover any information as spoon feeding. He should help the child to unfold his latent power

2. Integrated Personality:

The general aim of education, according to Aurobindo, is to develop the integrated personality of the child. The four qualities like love, knowledge, power and beauty should be cultivated in the child. It is a objective of education to raise the level of consciousness to help him to be human.

There are also five aspects of an educational system according to Sri Aurobindo and these aspects are relating to the important activities of the human beings. These are the physical, the vital, the mental, the psychic and the spiritual.

3. Education for Physical Being, Vital Being, and Mental Being, Psychic and Spiritual Being:

The physical education can be provided through physical training games, sports, gymnastics and so on. The vital education aims at improving the vital powers through music, art, dance, craft etc. The mental education is developed through academic studies like reading, writing, learning, teaching etc.

The  psychic  education  is  promoted  by  developing  moral values  like  truth  love,
honesty integrity etc. The Spiritual education aims at qualities like faith in God, in the
transmigration of soul, love in every living and non-living bodies and other divine values.

Sri Aurobindo developed an education system which is popularly known as integral
education. Integral Education aims at bringing about change not merely in the society but
primarily in the human behaviour or nature itself. Therefore it seeks to help the individual as
follows:

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1. To develop an integrate personality of both the pupil & the teacher.

2. To realize self-perfection in physical, mental, vital, psychic and spiritual aspects.

3. To manifest supreme divine consciousness in the physical life.

CURRICULUM

Sri Aurobindo includes the four basic values, physical, vital, mental and psychic in his
curriculum. The child is not moulded according to the desire of his parents or teachers.
Therefore he emphasizes flexible, interest-related and environment-based curriculum.

Yoga, physical exercise through games, sports etc. Intellectual cultivation through
reading, writing, learning, teaching and so on. Spiritual values are also emphasized by him.

METHODS OF TEACHING

The methods and techniques of teaching should be determined by the objectives. In this connection Sri Aurobindo has enunciated three principles of teaching in his book "A system of National Education". His principles of teaching are discussed below:

1. NOTHING CAN BE TAUGHT:

The pupil has to acquire new knowledge by his own attempt and the teacher is to work as helper or guide to the pupil. The pupil is allowed to study by his own capacity and interest.

2. SELF-PACE LEARNING:

The teacher should not impose on the child from above if the child is not prepared to receive the knowledge. Once the Mother said that if a child wants to remain ignorant we may explain to him consequences of remaining ignorant but we should not pressurize the child for learning. The child will be allowed to learn according to his interest.

3. TEACHING FROM NEAR TO FAR:

According to Sri Aurobindo, the child should be led from near too far. That is all
education should be built upon the day-to-day experience of the learners. We may teach
the child through the use of audiovisual aids, but if the application of this principles is felt
essential.

ROLE OF TEACHER

A teacher is a true Yogi who acts as a philosopher and guide to the students. He nourished the students as plants. According to Sri Aurobindo the duty of the teacher, "is to suggest not imposing". He does not actually train the pupil's mind; the only shows how to perfect his instrument of knowledge and helps & encourages him in the process. He does not call for knowledge that is written. He only shows the student where it lies and how it can be habituated to rise to the surface. The Mother says "One must be a saint, Yogi and a hero to be a good teacher".

CONCLUSION

International Centre of Education, Pondicherry is the laboratory for future where Sri
Aurobondo’s  educational  philosophy  is  being  experimented.  The  institution  started

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functioning from 1943 and in 1952 it was inaugurated by Mother as the "Sri Aurobindo International University Centre".

But  1959  onwards  it  became  known  as  "Sri  Aurobindo  International  Centre  of
Education".  In  the  year, 1968,  the  Mother  inaugurated  "Auroville"  which  aimed  at

developing of a new education for a new society.

MAHATMA GANDHI IN EDUCATION

HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF BASIC EDCUATION

Mahatma Gandhi explained the concept of Basic Education through a series of articles in his Harijan magazine in  1937. In the conference at Wardha after a detailed discussion about Gandhiji's articles the scheme of Basic Education took shape under the leadership of Dr. Zakir Hussain. The following four resolutions were passed.

(i) Free and compulsory education should be given to all children for a period of seven years.

(ii) The medium of instruction should be the mother tongue,

(iii)  The  process  of  education  should  be  centred  round  some  form  of  manual production work in the shape of a craft.

(iv) This education should be self-supporting to some extent.

The  Central  Advisory  Board  of  Education  set  up  a  Committee  under  the Chairmanship of Sri B. G. Kher to suggest measures for implementing these resolutions. Then another Committee was appointed under the same Chairman to recommend action coordinating the Basic Education with higher education.

The recommendations of both these Committees were approved by the CABE and included in the Report on Post-war Educational Development in India. In 1944, although Governments, both at the national and state levels accepted Basic Education as the national pattern, progress in its implementation was not satisfactory.

MERITS OF BASIC EDUCATION

(1) Work as a central place:

Since  work  occupies  a  central  place  in  life, it  had  an  important  place  in  Basic Education. Dignity of labour was emphasized by him and work was made an integral part of this education.

(2) A new method of teaching:

Through Basic Education Gandhi introduced a new method of teaching. This method is to teach all subjects through crafts and taken as activity-centred meant to free children from tyranny of words and cramming.

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(3) Self-supporting education:

As a corollary to craft-centred education, it was visualized by Gandhi that schools need be self- supporting. The crafts organized scientifically would result in more production and the sale-proceeds must fetch a good income.

(4) Socially sound system of education:

Basic education was sound sociologically. The then class-labour and chasm between mental and physical labour and the spirit of dependence on others were required to be removed from the society. In short, Basic education was intended to eradicate many ills of the society.

(5) Training for Citizenship:

Basic  education  was  providing  for  training  students  in  democratic  living  and
practices. It was aiming at forming positive attitudes, creating interests and appreciation,
developing understanding and imparting skills in citizenship. On the whole, it was a training
citizenship.

DRAWBACKS IN BASIC EDUCATION

(1) Selection of Crafts:

Since craft was occupying an important place in Basic school curriculum, selection of
a suitable craft was determining the success and efficiency of Basic Education. But most of
the schools followed the trodden path or stereotyped process without bothering for the
local conditions and needs. For example, in the areas where cotton was not grown and had
to be brought from a long distance, weaving was introduced as a craft even in those areas.

(2) The Principles of Correlation:

In Basic schools every subject was being taught through a craft. The principle of
correlation was tried to be adopted in all subjects, but in real situation it was done as a
ritual without any sincerity or seriousness. In fact, correlation was a slogan and fiction.

(3) The Idealism of self-sufficiency:

It  was  complained  that  the  schools  cannot  be  made  self-sufficient  with  the production by children. The concept of self-sufficiency was thought to be idealism and was not emphasized by most of the teachers and inspecting officers. Products by unskilled hands were not selling well and fetching adequate  income. Rather Basic Schools were more expensive than traditional schools.

(4) The Principles of Equality:

Although  Basic  Education  was  visualized  to be  socially  sound  for removing  the
existing disparities, it was rather aggravating the situation. It was tending to be meant for
the children of poor labourers and farmers only and children of high class families were not
going to these schools. The gulf between poor and rich classes rather widened due to Basic
Education.

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(5) Proper Orientation and Understanding:

Basic schools called for highly qualified and well-equipped teachers for properly
teaching subjects through correlation and organizing crafts with efficiency. But in fact many
teachers  employed  in  such  schools  were  lacking  proper  understanding  of  the  Basic
Education principles and desired orientation with the idealism or values impregnated in the
system.

PRESENT CONDITION

Although Basic Education faced a sorry state of affairs many of its principles are still
appreciated for their practical value and psychology as well as sociological importance. The
Kothari Commission, 1964-66 endorsed a large number of its essential features like work
experience, community living, community service, citizenship training, world brotherhood,
social and spiritual values and integrating knowledge with experience and so no.

After a lapse of more than three decades a National Education conference was convened by Shriman Narayan at Sevagram in 1972 where Basic Education was praised by many.  A  resolution  was  passed  with  consensus  of  all  Education  Ministers  and  Vice Chancellors who attended the conference, "education at all levels should be imparted through  socially  useful  and  productive  activity,  linked  with  economic  growth  and development in both rural and urban areas".

The Iswarbhai Patel Committee supported most of the principles of Basic Education with  great  stress  on  work  education  or  socially  useful  productive  work.  The  UNESCO Commission  Report  "Learning  to  Be"  also  used  the  term  Basic  Education  for  Primary Education  and  laid  emphasis  on  many  forms  of  social  and  economic  activities  to  be organized in the schools.

The Basic Education system has been hailed as "the ideal solution for the reform of teaching methods in Indian Schools" by Dr. Gunnar Myrdal, the celebrated author of "Asian Drama"  and  as  "one  of  the  most  interesting  and  promising  developments  in  Indian Education" by Prof. Castle the renowned writer of "Education for self-help". It goes without saying that India would have been a happier place at present, if the useful features of Basic Education had been given effect to with sincerity of all concerned.

TAGORE

EDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHY OF TAGORE

His educational philosophy sprang up from two sources:

(a) Hatred towards school.

(b) Love of nature.

To quote, "Tagore's philosophy of education is therefore, a result of the memory of his school days, when the school resembled an educational factory, lifeless, colourless, and dissociated from the context of universe, within base white walls staring like the eye balls of the dead." His contributions revolve round the two above.

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CONCEPT OF EDUCATION OF RABINDRA NATH TAGORE

Education to be real must be of the whole man, of the emotions and the senses as
much as of the intellect. Man in the fullness, said Tagore, is not limited by the individual but
overflows in his community. And so in his school, along with training in individual initiative
and self-reliance, equal emphasis was laid on community service. Nor is education a plant
that can be made to grow as an exotic variety in the hot house. If it does not strike roots in
the soil and adapt itself to the natural environments, it has little value for the people as a
whole.

In short, education according to Tagore meant development of the individual. It meant enrichment of personality and education should be Indian one and not borrowed from the West.

AIMS OF EDUCATION ACCORDING RABINDRA NATH TAGORE

The aims of education according to Tagore are:

1. Emancipation and Perfection of Man

About this Tagore says, "The highest education is that which does not merely give us information but makes our life in harmony with all existence." He aims at the emancipation of man from all kinds of bondages.

He aims at perfection not only of body or mind but also that of soul. It is the fullest growth and freedom of soul. In order to achieve that aim in his endeavours he makes education as broad based as possible.

2. Moral Development

Of the child is the second aim of education according to Tagore. Tagore attached for more significance to moral values in education than for mere results of science which produced a system and physical power.

3. Unity of Truth

Another object of education, according to Tagore, was that of giving man the unity of truth. He says that Physical, intellectual and spiritual life are one and we must give this 'dead to the children. This way harmony will prevail and when we do not do this, there is a break between the intellectual, physical and spiritual life.

4. Education should develop international outlook is another aim.

5. Education should be Creative

Tagore does not want to be mere informative but desires that it should be creative also. He says, "The great use of education is not merely to collect facts, but to know man and to make oneself known to man." Of course, education is to develop one physically. It should be utilitarian too.

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CURRICULUM

Tagore was a naturalist and also an idealist and he wants things of beauty and nice
virtues to be taught in the curriculum. He lays stress on those subjects who make a child full
and rich in knowledge. He also wants them to appreciate truth, beauty and goodness.

This guides us towards the curriculum. Subjects recommended by him to be taught are: History, geography, nature study, language, and science. Activities or finer subjects will include music, art, poetry, dancing, and dramatics.

He was very particular about Music and Drama. Music is essence of life and drama releases the children's tensions and anxieties.

METHODS OF TEACHING OF RABINDRANATH TAGORE METHODOLOGY

Rabindranath Tagore does not believe in routine methods of teaching. He broke new
ground in the methodology of teaching. His belief is not in routine methods of teaching.
            Even at the outset, to quote Dr. R.S. Maini, when he opened his new school, he
declared that the ordinary routine methods of teaching were not to be expected in his
institution.

To quote Tagore, "Those who still require an artificial method of feeding in their lessons, who need constant watching and goading from their teachers, will find themselves out of place in Vishwa Bharti."

He  rejected  mechanical methods  of  teaching.  These  methods  were  uninspiring. Tagore wanted the boys to progress at their own rate without being goaded by others. Tagore points out, "When I was young I gave up learning and ran away from my lessons. That saved me and I owe all that I possess today to that courageous step taken when I was young. I fled the classes which gave the instructions, but which did not inspire. One thing I have gained, sensitivity to the touch of life and of nature who speak to me.

TEACHER IN EMERGING INDIAN SOCIETY

It is activity method. He wants teaching-learning to be a joyous adventure, full of
thrills, wonders, and surprises. It could be Heuristic approach. Let the child find out through
activity.

It is also sense training through and through. It is also naturalness in teaching. School is not to be a factory and learning has got to be enjoyable.

His approach is Gestalt approach. He believes that children learn their lessons with the aid of their whole body and mind, with all the senses fully active and eager. He thus believes whole methods of teaching rather than in part methods.

He also believes that child's mind is quite sensitive and it will pick up things of its

own.

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DISCIPLINE

Tagore does not want that we should be harsh to children. They should be treated
with all sympathy and consideration. Discipline was never, in fact, a serious problem for
Tagore.

Tagore says that if the atmosphere is good, discipline problems will not arise. It is only control that breeds in scandals and indiscipline so where there is freedom-no question of indiscipline. He also believes in self-discipline. He wants children to experiment but not in indiscipline manner.

Tagore  recognizes  that  the  boys  are  full  of  enthusiasm  and  when  they  find
opportunities for self-expression, they may be little uncontrollable. He could rather enjoy
the children expressing themselves freely in their outbursts of playful spirit which may seem
uncontrollable, but not tolerate the repression of the child with any freedom to expand.

Therefore,  after  analyzing  the  psychological  cause  of  indiscipline,  he  gave  the children unrestricted freedom to do whatever they liked. This way, many psychological complexes are eliminated and "naughtiness" seldom occurs.

Further, man should be disciplined through art. Tagore discovered that the secret of maintaining  discipline  lies  in  the  development  of  integrated  personality.  It  is  basically discipline of freedom.

ROLE OF TEACHER

Role of teacher is important. He is the Guru. He is to guide the students. He is to keep them on the track. He is also to keep in contact with them. Teacher is also to remain learner throughout his life. He, who fails as a learner, fails as a teacher.

VISHWA BHARTI UNIVERSITY AT SHANTINIKETAN

To give his ideas and ideals a practical shape, Tagore founded what is now known as Vishwa Bharti University at Shantiniketan (Railway Station Bolpar in West Bengal). It is an international university for Tagore believed in internationalism very much.

Vishwa Bharti means a place where universal knowledge is given or gathered. In fact,
Vishwa  Bharti  University  has  grown  out  of  an  ashram  founded  by  father  (Maharishi
Debendra Nath Tagore of the Brahmo Samaj Fame) of R.N. Tagore in 1863. Since 1921, it is
recognized as a university. It is said that India needs more such type of universities.

JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU

Jean-Jacques Rousseau (28 June 1712 - 2 July 1778) was a philosopher, writer, and composer of  18th-century  Romanticism.  His  political philosophy  heavily  influenced  the French Revolution, as well as the American Revolution and the overall development of modern political, sociological and educational thought.

His novel, Emile: or, On Education, which he considered his most important work, is

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a seminal treatise on the education of the whole person for citizenship. His sentimental
novel,  Julie  was  of  great  importance  to  the  development  of  pre-romanticism  and
romanticism  in  fiction.  Rousseau's  autobiographical  writings:  His  Confessions,  which
initiated the modern autobiography and his Reveries of a Solitary Walker, were among the
pre-eminent examples of the late 18th-century movement known as the Age of Sensibility,
featuring an increasing focus on subjectivity and introspection that has characterized the
modern age.

Rousseau also made important contributions to music as a theorist. During the period of the French Revolution, Rousseau was the most popular of the philosophers among members of the Jacobin Club. He was interred as a national hero in the Pantheon in Paris, in 1794, 16 years after his death.

BRIEF  LIFE  SKETCH  :  BRIEF  LIFE  SKETCH  A  Swiss  educational  reformer  &  thinker  His
confession-  opportunistic,  unreliable,  a  liar,  thief  A  genius-  attract  followers  despite
shortcomings Early Childhood: Lost mother in early age -father couldn’t provide regular
schooling Tried many occupations- Apprentice to rotary and engraver, music critic at Paris, a
vagabond 12-29th year & learned to sympathize Suicide: -Defied conventional rules and
canons of society  -Advanced the doctrine  “Back to Nature”  -Ideas opposed by French
authorities and exiled  -Disgusted and disappointed and committed suicide in  1778  -His
greatness was recognized later on to outbreak French revolution in 1789

WRITINGS BY ROUSSEAU : WRITINGS BY ROUSSEAU The progress of art and science (1750)
The origin of inequality among men  (1753) The new Heloise- a romance  (1759) Social
contract  (1762)  Emile  or  Concerning  education  (1762)  -criticized  existing  institutions  -
attributed  oppressions  and  corruption >to  the  advancement  of  civilization >cause  of

differences and inequalities

VIEWS ON EDUCATIONAL THEORY AND PRACTICE :

I) Educational Philosophy - theme of his writing :Return to nature :an arch enemy of child neglect Emile  -5 parts deal with: Infant, childhood, pre-adolescent, adolescence and girl education -made Europe child conscious

II) SOURCES OF EDUCATION  : Education from Nature  -constitutional exertion of child’s
organs and faculties -according to child’s capacities Education from men -the uses we are
taught  to  make  of  that  action -  importance  of  social  environment  Education  from

circumstances -our own experiences with physical environment

III) THEORY OF NEGATIVE EDUCATION : ROUSSEAU believes that: -Everything is good as it comes from nature  -Child shouldn’t be taught the principles of truth and virtue  -Child should be guarded against evil via education tends to form the mind prematurely and instruct the child about duties  -via education tends to perfect the organs that are the instruments of knowledge and endeavours to process the way for reasons, by the proper exercises of senses.

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IV)  AIMS  OF  EDUCATION:    Attainment  of  fullest  natural  growth  leading  to  balanced, harmonious  and  useful  life  Prepares  the  child  to  live  life  Aims  at  different  stages  of development (The Emile) -Infancy (5): to develop well regulated freedom -Childhood (12): to provide the child with strength to attain well regulated freedom -Pre-adolescence (15): period of instruction, labour and study -Adolescence (20): training of heart, to make the child loving, social. Religious, moral and social education is recommended. Sex instinct is to be sublimated by redirection in work and activity

V) CURRICULUM : Stage 1: Allow the child to wander freely, play-things; fruits, flowers and
no  expensive  toys,  don’t  pamper  or  subdue  Stage 2:  Greatest  freedom  of  physical

movement  to  learn  by  own  experience,  simple  diet,  light  clothing;  no  instruction  of
language, history or geography; exercise the body, sense organs and powers i.e. learning to
judge, foresee and reason; no need to learn by heart Stage 3: Curriculum should be built
around curiosity to develop the urge for knowledge, studies to reveal nature, astronomy,
science and arts & craft; total intellectual and vocational development Stage 4: Training of
heart to be social and adapt to the conduct  and interest of  others; study of society,
economics, politics, history and religion is important; sex instruction- mysteries of creation :
plants, animals and humans Women Education: Practical; embroidery, house decorating,
housekeeping and sewing; taught to be soft and sweet, intellectual interest destroys her
nature

VI) METHODS OF TEACHING : Do not teach books; they only teach us to talk about things that we know nothing about Own experience, not from books “let the child not be taught science, let him discover it”. Provide sense training Never substitute the symbol for the thing unless it is impossible to show the thing itself

VI) ROLE OF THE TEACHER : Minor place to the teacher Not an instructor but only a guide Responsibility to motivate the child to learn Must understand the nature of the child to be able to control his emotional reactions Not to impose any rules of control Guide properly with  perfect  freedom  “The  highest  function  of  the  teachers  consists  not  so  much  in imparting knowledge but on stimulating the pupils in their love and pursuit”.
VII) DISCIPLINE : A free atmosphere can enable the child to develop his inborn and innate capacities Nature of the children is essentially good, let them act freely No punishment to the child Discipline by natural consequences

CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF ROUSSEAU’S VIEWS ON EDUCATION  : Not suggested a formal system of education Ignores the importance of books and other media Absolute freedom-a myth; none can allow the child to taste the poison or to hang from a long rope No due importance to the role of teacher Conservative idea about women education His only theory was not put to test in any realistic educational setting

ROUSSEAU’S  CONTRIBUTION  TO  EDUCATION              :Not  withstanding  some  limitations;

“Rousseau stands for modern education as Plato to ancient education” -The fore-runner of

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modern educational psychology; emphasizing individual differences -Stress on spontaneous
unfolding  of  child’s  capacities -In  education,  child  is  the  hero  and  all  others  have

subordinate roles -Propounded the idea of learning by doing -Emphasized the training of senses -Brought out the concrete things in the teaching- learning process -Fore-runner of the Heuristic method of teaching Émile, or On Education is a treatise on the nature of education and on the nature of man written by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who considered it to be the “best and most important of all my writings”. On its first appearance in 1762 it was publicly burned.

The  work  tackles  fundamental  political  and  philosophical  questions  about  the relationship between the individual and society— how, in particular, the individual might retain what Rousseau saw as innate human goodness while remaining part of a corrupting collectivity. Its opening sentence: “Everything is good as it leaves the hands of the Author of things; everything degenerates in the hands of man.”

Rousseau seeks to describe a system of education that would enable the natural
man he identifies in The Social Contract (1762) to survive corrupt society. He employs the
novelistic device of Émile and his tutor to illustrate how such an ideal citizen might be
educated. Émile is scarcely a detailed parenting guide but it does contain some specific
advice on raising children. It is regarded by some as the first philosophy of education in
Western culture to have a serious claim to completeness, as well as being the first Buildings
roman, having preceded Goethe's Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship by more than thirty
years.

The text is divided into five books: the first three are dedicated to the child Émile, the fourth to an exploration of the adolescent, and the fifth to outlining the education of his female counterpart Sophie, as well as to Émile’s domestic and civic life.

No sooner was it published than the section of the book titled; “Profession of Faith of the Savoyard Vicar” caused it to be banned in Paris and Geneva and burned. It became a European bestseller. During the French Revolution, Émile served as the inspiration for what became a new national system of education.

EDUCATION AND CHILD REARING

“The noblest work in education is to make a reasoning man, and we expect to train a young child by making him reason! This beginning at the end; this is making an instrument of a result. If children understood how to reason they would not need to be educated.” -
Rousseau, Emile. ”

Rousseau’s  philosophy  of  education  is  not  concerned  with  particular  techniques  of
imparting information and concepts, but rather with developing the pupil’s character and
moral sense, so that he may learn to practice self-mastery and remain virtuous even in the
unnatural and imperfect society in which he will have to live. The hypothetical boy, Émile, is
to be raised in the countryside, which, Rousseau believes, is a more natural and healthy

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environment than the city, under the guardianship of a tutor who will guide him through various learning experiences arranged by the tutor. Today we would call this the disciplinary method of "natural consequences" since, like modern psychologists [who?], Rousseau felt that children learn right and wrong through experiencing the consequences of their acts rather than through physical punishment. The tutor will make sure that no harm results to Émile through his learning experiences.

Rousseau was one of the first to advocate developmentally appropriate education;
and  his  description  of  the  stages  of  child  development  mirrors  his  conception  of  the
evolution of culture. He divides childhood into stages: the first is to the age of about 12,
when children are guided by their emotions and impulses. During the second stage, from 12
to about  16, reason starts to develop; and finally the third stage, from the age of  16
onwards, when the child develops into an adult. Rousseau recommends that the young
adult learn a manual skill such as carpentry, which requires creativity and thought, will keep
him out of trouble, and will supply a fallback means of making a living in the event of a
change of fortune. (The most illustrious aristocratic youth to have been educated this way
may have been Louis XVI, whose parents had him learn the skill of blacksmithing.) The
sixteen-year old is also ready to have a companion of the opposite sex.

Although his ideas foreshadowed modern ones in many ways, in one way they do not: Rousseau was a believer in the moral superiority of the patriarchal family on the antique  Roman  model.  Sophie,  the  young  woman  Émile  is  destined  to  marry,  as  a representative of ideal womanhood, is educated to be governed by her husband while Émile, as representative of the ideal man, is educated to be self-governing. This is not an accidental feature of Rousseau's educational and political philosophy; it is essential to his account of the distinction between private, personal relations and the public world of political relations. The private sphere as Rousseau imagines it depends on the subordination of women, in order for both it and the public political sphere (upon which it depends) to function as Rousseau imagines it could and should. Rousseau anticipated the modern idea of the bourgeois nuclear family, with the mother at home taking responsibility for the household and for childcare and early education.

Feminists, beginning in the late 18th century with Mary Wollstonecraft in 1792 have
criticized Rousseau for his confinement of women to the domestic sphere—unless women
were domesticated and constrained by modesty and shame, he feared "men would be
tyrannized by women... For, given the ease with which women arouse men's senses... men
would finally be their victims...." His contemporaries saw it differently because Rousseau
thought that mothers should breastfeed their children. Marmontel wrote that his wife
thought, "One must forgive something," she said, "in one who has taught us to be mothers."

Rousseau's detractors have blamed him for everything they do not like in what they
call modern "child-centered" education. John Darling's 1994 book Child-Centered Education

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and its Critics argue that the history of modern educational theory is a series of footnotes to Rousseau, a development he regards as bad. Good or bad, the theories of educators such as Rousseau's near contemporaries Pestalozzi, Mme de Genlis, and later, Maria Montessori, and John Dewey, which have directly influenced modern educational practices do have significant points in common with those of Rousseau.

SOCIAL CONTRACT

Jean-Jacques Rousseau in his influential 1762 treatise The Social Contract, outlined a different  version  of  social  contract  theory,  based  on  popular  sovereignty.  Although Rousseau wrote that the British were perhaps at the time the freest people on earth, he did not  approve  of  their  representative  government.  Rousseau  believed  that  liberty  was possible only where there was direct rule by the people as a whole in lawmaking, where popular  sovereignty  was  indivisible  and  inalienable.  Citizens  must,  in  at  least  some circumstances, be able to choose together the fundamental rules by which they would live, and be able to revise those rules on later occasions if they choose to do so - something the British people as a whole were unable to do.

Rousseau's political theory has some points in common with Locke's individualism,
but departs from it in his development of the "luminous conception" (which he credited to
Diderot) of the general will. Rousseau argues a citizen can be an egoist and decide that his
personal interest should override the collective interest. However, as part of a collective
body, the individual citizen puts aside his egoism to create a "general will", which is popular
sovereignty itself. Popular sovereignty (i.e., the rule of law), thus decides what is good for
society as a whole, and the individual (including the administrative head of state, who could
be a monarch) must bow to it, or be forced to bow to it: can be reduced to the following
terms: Each of us puts his person and all his power in common under the supreme direction
of the general will; and in a body we receive each member as an indivisible part of the
whole.

Rousseau's  striking  phrase  that  man  must  "be  forced  to  be  free"  should  be understood this way: since the indivisible and inalienable popular sovereignty decides what is good for the whole, then if an individual lapses back into his ordinary egoism and breaks the law, he will be forced to listen to what they decided as a member of the collectivity (i.e. as citizens). Thus, the law, inasmuch as it is voted by the people's representatives, is not a limitation of individual freedom, but its expression; and enforcement of law, including criminal law, is not a restriction on individual liberty, as the individual, as a citizen, explicitly agreed to be constrained if, as a private individual, he did not respect his own will as formulated in the general will. Because laws represent the restraints of civil freedom, they represent the leap made from humans in the state of nature into civil society. In this sense, the law is a civilizing force, and therefore Rousseau believed that the laws that govern a people helped to mold their character.

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FROEBEL

Froebel (1783-1852) was a great educator of Germany. He also had. A neglected
childhood and boyhood, and so he had to roam about from  place to place, learning,
studying and trying various professions. He also started his own schools in Switzerland and
Germany but these could be flourishing for want of proper finances and because of official
restrictions.

He, however, brought out his world famous books on education during this period which include "The Education of Man", "Pedagogies of Kindergarten", "Mother Plays and Nursery  Songs"  and  "Education  by  Development".  These  books  mainly  deal  with  the education of children, below the age of seven years.

1. HIS PHILOSOPHY

Froebel's philosophy is of absolute idealism. He mainly pressed two great things, namely, his 'idea of unity in diversity' and his 'theory of development’. With regard to the former, he viewed this whole universe as a unity from God-the Absolute. In his book, "The Education of Man", he remarked, "The whole world-the All, the Universe-is a single great organism in which an eternal uniformity manifests itself.

This principle of uniformity expresses itself as much in external nature as in spirit. Life is the union of the spiritual with the material. Without mind of spirit, matter is lifeless, it remains formless, and it is mere chaos.

Only  through  the  entrance  of  the  spiritual into the  material, does  the  cosmos originate....Every creature; object is matter, informed by spirit. God is the presupposition, the condition of their existence. Without God, they would not exist. God is the only ground of all things. God is the all-comprehending, the all-sustaining. God is the essential nature, the meaning of the world.

He further says, "All things have come from the Divine Unity (God) and have their origin in the Divine Unity. The Divine affluence that lives in each thing is the essence of each thing." With this belief Froebel formulated the principle that there is unity of man, nature and God. Men must be aware of this Absolute Unity of Universe. The real purpose of education was "to expand or develop the life of an individual until it comprehends this existence through participation in all-pervading spiritual activity."

Regarding his theory of development, he said that there is an absolute goal towards which all things are growing. This absolute goal is realized through the presentation of symbols, representing the various aspects of the Absolute. These symbols are called "gifts" which we shall discuss later.

Development can be produced only by the exercise or use of faculty; physical,
mental or spiritual. If mind is to be developed, it should be exercised and so is with the

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development of the body. Effective development is possible only if the exercise arises from the thing's own activity.

"Each individual must develop from within, self-active and free, in accordance with the eternal law, because full development comes only by spontaneous self-activity". Froebel advocates balanced and unified development of body, mind and soul.

2. HIS CONCEPT AND AIMS OF EDUCATION

v  To Froebel, education  is growth from  within. It is a development by which an
      individual realizes that he is one unit of the all-encompassing unity.
v  "It is development by which man's life broadens until it has related itself to nature;
      until it enters sympathetically into all activities of society, until it, participates in the
      achievements of the race and aspirations of humanity."

v  Education is to unfold the child's innate powers and awaken his spiritual nature so
      that he may have a spiritual union with God.

v  Regarding the functions of education, Froebel remarks, "Education should lead and
      guide man to clearness, concerning him and in himself, to peace with nature, and to
      unity with God. It should life him to knowledge of himself and of mankind, to
      knowledge of God and a nature and to the pure and holy life."

v  As regards the aims of education, Froebel wants all-round development of the
      individual, so that he may be able to express the spiritual, the Divine that slumbers in
      him.

v  Like Rousseau, Froebel education should lead to moral improvement, religious uplift
      and spiritual insight. Then the child will be able to realize that he is component of all-
      pervading spirit, which is Absolute Unity.

v  Finally, education should enable the child to enter sympathetically into all activities
      of society and participate freely in its achievements and aspirations.

3. Froebel's Kindergarten

Froebel, however, attached great importance to education in the child's early life. He thought that if the education of pre-school years was not properly reformed, no tangible improvement could be made in school education. This led him to establish a school for small children between the ages of three and seven. This school was named "kindergarten" or the garden of children. The chief characteristics of the kindergarten are:

(i) Self-Activity

Self-activity is spontaneous in which the child carries out his own impulses and motives. Such activity directs the growth of the child along the lines of racial development. So it merges the individual spirit with the spirit of humanity.

Self-activity, in fact, is self-realization through which the child comes to know of his own nature as well as the life around him.

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Thus, self-activity not only fills the gap between knowledge and action but also gives joy, freedom, contentment and peace of mind. Self-activity is promoted through song, movements and construction.

(ii) Creativeness

Child is creative by nature. If he is given some material, he will at once try to create new forms and combinations with that material. "Since God created man in his own image, man should also create and bring forth like God," Froebel also believes that every man's mind, soul and hand are inseparable, although they are independent parts of him.

Mind and soul express themselves through physical activity and expression. It is, therefore,  that  thinking  must  express  itself  in  doing,  otherwise  education  will  remain unproductive.

(iii) Social Participation

Froebel believes that man is essentially a social animal by nature. It is the primary instinct of man to live in the company of other persons. So unlike Rousseau, he emphasized the social aspect of education and advocated that home, school, church, vocation and the state, should all provide opportunities to children for social participation. By participating in co-operative activities, the child not only receives physical training but also intellectual, social and moral education.

METHODS OF TEACHING IN THE KINDERGARTEN

Froebel's Kindergarten is a miniature state for children in which they move freely and  joyfully,  of  course,  with  due  consideration  for  each  other.  There  are  no  books prescribed.

The  entire  school  programme  gives  training  in  self-expression  through  song,
movement and construction. Out of these three, the child automatically learns the proper
use of language. But these three modes of expression are not generally separated from one
another, but they often go together, so that the entire process may become one organic
whole.

For instance, when a story is told or read, it is expressed in a song, dramatized in movements and gestures and finally illustrated by construction work from blocks, paper, clay, drawing or other material.

Through such a procedure, "thoughts are stimulated, imagination vivifies, hands and eyes trained, muscles coordinated, and moral nature strengthened."

Teaching through Songs

In the Kindergarten, education is generally imparted through songs. It is, therefore, that songs are included in the daily school programme. All the songs, selected and included by Froebel, are about the common objects of life. They relate to nursery games and satisfy some physical, intellectual or moral needs of children. These are arranged no accordance with the development of the child.

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Each such song has three parts (i) a motto for the mother's guidance (ii) a verse for singing to the child and (iii) a picture illustrating the verse. There are in all fifty play songs of this type. Besides these play-songs, Froebel also devised such nursery rhymes, as "Jack and Jill", "Humpty Dumpty" and "Cinderella".

The main aim is to enable the child to use his senses, limbs and muscles and to make him familiar with the objects, around him.

Teaching through Gifts and Occupations

Gifts and occupations  of Froebel are the most  conspicuous contribution to the methodology of nursery education. Gifts are simple educational toys which are presented to the child in a definite order, without charging their forms.

The child is given the freedom to handle them in any way, he likes.-while gifts signify the material, occupations represent activities which are suggested by that material and which can be continued with its help.

Gifts are in the shape of wooden balls of different colours, wooden spheres, cubes and cylinders of different types and sizes. Additional gifts are in the form of wooden squares, triangles, tables, sticks and rings. Occupations include activities like construction with paper, clay, wood and materials.

It may, however, be noted that gifts and occupations have a definite purpose behind them. They train the senses of sight and touch. They give the idea of size, form and surface. They also develop the number sense and artistic consciousness.

In this way they facilitate further instruction in Algebra, Geometry, Trigonometry and Drawing.  And  as  Rusk  says,  "By  his  methodological  arrangement  of  the  gifts  and occupations,  Froebel  nevertheless  founded  a  new  type  of  educational  institution  and although his system too readily lent itself to formalism by later generations of teachers who had not the spirit of the natter, it ameliorated the lot of countless children."

Teaching through Play

About play, Froebel remarks, "Play is the characteristic activity of childhood. It is the
highest phase of child-development-of human development to this period, for it is self-
active representation or the inner-representation of the inner form, inner necessity and
impulse.

Play is the purest, most spiritual activity of man at this stage and at the same time, typical of human life as a whole-of the inner, natural life in man and all things. It gives, therefore, joy, freedom, contentment, inner and outer rest and peace with the world. It holds the source of all that is good."

It is through play that the child discloses his  real self and clearly  indicates his interests. So Froebel gives a prominent place to Play activities in his Kindergarten system. He has rather based the educational process in early years on play.

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He utilizes play for cultivating in child the habits of action, feeling and thinking. Courage,  instinct  and  motivation  are  also  developed  through  play.  But  Froebel's  play activities are all very well-directed and guided by the teacher.

Other Subjects of the Curriculum

Besides spontaneous self-activity and play activities, Froebel has also recommended manual work, nature study, natural sciences, languages, art and religious instruction.
            About the inclusion of manual work, Froebel says, "Scholastic education of our times
leads  children  to  indolence  and  laziness  and  a  vast  amount  of  man-power  remains undeveloped and is lost.

Manual work is necessary condition of the realization of pupil's personality; through it, he comes to himself." Nature study creates a sense of wonder and admiration in the minds of children for the work of God and, therefore, he believed that it would result in religious uplift and spiritual insight.

Natural sciences including Mathematics, which gives an insight into the laws that govern human life Languages, establish the inner living connection among the diversities of things. Art activities like singing, drawing, painting, clay-modelling, wood-work and leatherwork provide the soul with opportunities for expression in those outward forms.

Role of the Teacher

Teacher in the Kindergarten acts as a gardener, whose function is to see that young plants  (small children)  under her care  grow  according  to their  own  natural course  of development.

Froebel compares young growing children with plants and, therefore, he asks the
teachers to let the children grow and develop in accordance with their natural endowments.
            He says, "The tree germ bears within itself the nature of the whole tree. So the
development and formation of the whole future life of each is contained in the beginning of
its existence."

So the teacher is instructed not to distort the natural endowments, powers and tendencies of children by undue and wilful interference in their activities.
            The teacher is simply to redirect the child's growth to natural direction when she
feels  that  the  child  is  going  astray.  According  to  Froebel,  education  is  controlled development so it is the duty of the teacher to control this process.

Discipline

Discipline, according to Froebel, is not a set of rules and regulations, imposed upon children. It is a way of living

Play-Way in Education

Modern educators stress that children should be taught through play-way. It was
Froebel who based all the early education of the child on play by identifying play and work
as one.

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This doctrine of play forms the centre of modern education and has had the greatest influence on educational theory and practice. In modem progressive schools, the project and other new methods as well as all types of experimental and creative activities are based on play-way.

Emphasis on Sense-Training

For sharpening the intelligence of pupils, Froebel emphasized sense-training, against merely verbal instruction. Since senses are the gateways of learning, their training must form the first step in the child's education. Froebel's gifts and occupations are especially devised for training the senses of children.

Inclusion of Nature Study in Curriculum

Froebel gave new stimulus to the aims and methods of teaching Nature Study. He regarded the study of nature as a means of realizing the presence of the all-pervading Diving Spirit, in the Natural phenomena.

It is, therefore, that he recommends the study of nature page to page, as a living expression of Divine life. His main aim of including this subject in the school curriculum was moral and religious uplift of the child, by coming into contact with nature.

Thus, we can conclude by saying that Froebel's Kindergarten system aims at the complete development of the individual child. "It is by far the most original, attractive and philosophical form of infant development, the world has yet seen." This is the only reason why fits system has now spread in all the progressive countries of the world.

Some critics of Froebel say that tiny rots of three or four years cannot understand his philosophic principle of "Organic Unity". Then symbolism involved in gifts is also too difficult to be understood by nature brains.

Furthermore, there is no correlation in the subject's activities in the Kindergarten system. Everything is taught in the defect pointed out by them is that Froebel stresses sociological aspect to the neglect of the child's individuality.

MADAM MARIA MONTESSORI

"Respect all the reasonable Forms of activity in

Which the

Child engages and try to
Understand them."

- Maria Montessori

Madam Maria Montessori (1870-1952) was an Italian lady-doctor, who later became
a world famous educationist. She entered the field of education through her interest in
mentally deficient children. She studied those children very intensively and reached the

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conclusion that mental deficiency was due to dullness of senses and that if their senses could be properly trained, those children could acquire some knowledge.
            She actually succeeded when she tried the experiment. This led her to employ that
very method on educating normal children and she achieved far better results. Thus, her approach to education is scientific and rational as against that of Froebel's metaphysical. She is the originator of the 'Montessori Method'.

At its core, the philosophy is simple, to follow the child, which assumes that every
child  is  a  unique  individual  who  is  naturally  driven  to  grow,  develop  and  learn.  The
educational  goals  include  instilling  in  children  a  love  of  learning,  the  ability  to  make
appropriate learning choices, and respect for oneself, other people, and their physical
surroundings.

The main contributions of Madam Montessori to the science and art of education

1. Concept and Aims of Education

According to Madam Montessori, "Education is the active help given to the normal expansion of the life of the child." She said that every child  is different from  others, physically as well as mentally.

Each has peculiar powers and endowments. So the child's individuality must not be crushed or suppressed through collective teaching. Each child should be paid individual attention and allowed to progress at his own pace.

Education should enable each child to adjust himself to his immediate environment. She wanted that each child should develop from within and not from without. Education should guide the process of unfolding the hidden powers of the child in a way that he becomes what he is destined to become.

2. Principle of Montessori System of Education

The important principles of the Montessori System are:

(a) The Principle of Individuality. As we have stated above. Montessori believed that each child has got his own pecan interest, aptitude, capacities and endowments. He doing which gives children a strong will.

In the Kindergarten, discipline is of protective and co-operative type. Spontaneous and play activities, games and stories, art and crafts, gifts and occupations, all provide sound physical and mental training to children and teach them discipline.

Training in liberty, for freedom   According to Montessori, does not consist in having others at one's command to perform the ordinary services, but in being able to do these oneself and in being independent of others.

Montessori has  also  devised  certain  formal gymnastic  exercises, which  develop
coordinated  movements  in  the  child.  For these  exercises she  has also devised  special
apparatus. Muscular education and training is given through walking, holding objects and

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hand-work, Rhythmic exercises are also provided. These exercises not only make children healthy but also give them training for practical life. _

(b) Exercises for Sense-Training. Montessori attached more importance to sensory training than  learning,  thinking  or  reasoning.  She,  therefore,  devised  apparatus  for  providing exercises  in  sense-training.  The  Didactic  Apparatus  sharpens  the  pupils'  senses  and accelerates learning.

The varied material includes blocks, cylinders, paper, cabinets; coins, tables, pencils and  wools  of  different  colours,  boxes,  balls,  cubes,  rods,  and  water  of  different temperatures. This material is meant to give perception of size, form, weight, touch, hearing and colour etc.

The sense of touch is developed by presenting water at different temperatures to
the child. Sand-papers of graded roughness are also used for this purpose. Perception of size
is  developed  through  handling  a  series  of  wooden  cylinders  of  varying  heights  and
diameters. Series of blocks and rods of graded diameters are also used for this purpose.

Sense of hearing is developed through boxes, containing pebbles and other soundproducing material. Sense of weight is cultivated through blocks and tables of wood of varying weights. Colour sense is trained through samples of wood of different colours, arranged and graded according to the depth of colour, as we have already stated under the 'Principle of Self-education'.

(c) Didactic Exercises for Teaching 3R's. After sensory training, children are taught reading, writing and arithmetic.

In her system writing starts before reading. For this purpose, she depends upon the psychological principle of "Transfer of Training". In her own words, "Preparatory movements could be converted and reduced to a mechanism by means of repeated exercises, not in the work itself, but in that which prepares for it."

(d) Psychological Approach to Education

Like Froebel, she has also given emphasis on sense training, which is based on psychological principles. By introducing exercises for practical life, she has enabled children to  meet  everyday  situations  themselves.  She  has  advocated  auto-education  in  an atmosphere of freedom and in the spirit of play.

She has also emphasized child's development from within through his own efforts. All these principles have made learning more important than teaching, which is universally accepted today.

(e) Love and Respect for Small Children

Montessori often said that child-education was the most important problem  of humanity. It is, therefore, that it should receive the best attention of the Government and the public. In her own words, "The child's soul which is pure and very sensitive requires our most delicate care".

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For her "child was God, her school was the temple and deity of the temple was the essence of childhood."

The profound love for children that she had compelled her to travel from one corner of the world to another to start institutions for them, based on her system she also stayed in India from 1939 to 1951 and conducted a number of training courses for teachers in her system of child education.

In spite of such a unique contribution to the field of child education, the Montessori Method also suffers from certain limitations. Firstly, she has neglected play activities of children, which are most valuable in a child's education. Secondly she gives too much stress on Didactic Apparatus.

In fact, her entire method rests upon this apparatus. Exercises with this apparatus, as recommended by Montessori, are so limited that a child cannot express himself fully. Thirdly, she has neglected social factor in the education of children. She looks only to individual development.

This is the reason that in Montessori Method there is a little of music songs, dramas, dances and group activities, which are all so essential for social training. Lastly, her method is very costly. Teachers of the concept of Montessori are not available to majority of our schools, especially in villages. So this method is not suited to Indian conditions.

Special Role of the Teacher

In her system of education there are no teachers because they do not teach. They are simply directors because they direct and guide the movements of children. They only provide the proper environment and material at the right moment and then observe autodevelopment of children. Thus, in Montessori system, the child is more active than the teacher. He learns by participating fully in the reading-learning processes.

Thus, the teacher has to play a different role  altogether. "Instead of facility of speech, she has to acquire the power of silence, instead of teaching, she has to observe, and instead of the proud dignity of one who claims to be infallible, she assumes the venture of humanity" Montessori versus Froebel.

Both Montessori and Froebel have organized schemes of educating pre-school age
children. Both of them consider education as the process of unfolding. Both lay stress self-
expression and self-activity in an atmosphere of freedom, oath advocate play-way methods
of imparting education. Both respect child's individuality and have profound love for the
child.

Both are in favour of sense-training for sharpening the intellect of children. Both recommend self-education on the part of the child, with his own efforts, while teacher should be in the background, to play the part of an observer and a guide.

Both are  idealist thinkers. To Montessori, child was God, while  Froebel wished education to lead and guide a man to unity with God.

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However, there are also certain points of difference between these two educators.
While Froebel's theory is based on metaphysical, assumptions, Montessori's method has a
scientific background, and, therefore, her approach is based on practical considerations.

Secondly  in  the  kindergarten,  the  children  are  taught  in  groups  while  in  the Montessori, individual work and individualism is emphasized.

Thirdly, kindergarten, social training is one of the basic principles. It is imparted through movement, plays, action songs, group activities and cooperative occupations.
            Fourthly, Froebel advocates a good use of stories, fairy-tales, fables, songs, dramas
and poetry for stimulating the imagination of pupils. Montessori neglects altogether the training of imagination in her system.

Fifthly, in Montessori system, writing, reading and arithmetic are provided, while there is nothing, of the sort in kindergarten.

Sixthly, in Montessori, sense training is provided through Didactic Apparatus while in kindergarten, it is given through gifts.

Seventhly,  while  in  Montessori,  daily  life  activities  are  given  prominence,  in kindergarten, manual activities like clay-modelling gardening, wood work, paper-cutting, etc. emphasized,

Eighthly, teacher in a kindergarten school is like a gardener, looking after tender
plants. She is to guide children's activities and may interfere when they go astray. In a
Montessori school, the teacher is simply to observe children, handling didactic apparatus.

Lastly, kindergarten system can be introduced in any infant school without much difficulty as gifts can be got prepared locally according to needs. It can therefore be medium of mass education.

On the other hand, the Montessori Method cannot be applied in that Didactic Apparatus. Moreover, teachers with knowledge of experimental psychology and laboratory procedure are not available

JOHN DEWEY

John Dewey  (1819-1952) was a famous American philosopher, psychologist and
educator. Being brought up in rural environments, he realized from the very beginning that
traditional methods of instruction were not at all effective and that social contacts of
everyday life provided effective, dynamic and unlimited learning situations. These very ideas
formed the foundation of the educational theory, formulated later by him. His outlook on
education  reflected  the  Industrial  Revolution  and  the  Development  of Democracy.  He
believed in the dynamic nature of things and values. So he changed with the change in
ideas,  as  a  result  of  experience  and  experimentation,  and  finally  emerged  out  as  a
Pragmatist.

Today, he stands in the front rank of the world educators. His works on education
are a great source of inspiration and hope and help in developing our experimental and

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scientific attitude of mind. Perhaps no other educator has written so much on educational problems as John Dewey.

1. Dewey's Philosophy-Pragmatism

Dewey's Philosophy represents a happy blend of naturalism and idealism because it is based on the evolutionary concept soft Darwin and Pragmatism of William James. Like Darwin he believes that world is still in the process of making and that life in this world is an every-changing and self-renewing process. Like William James, he believes that whatever useful is good and whatever good, is useful. Truth is also that which works, which fulfils our purposes and satisfies our desires.

For John Dewey there are no eternal and absolute values. All values change with time and space. Man is the creator of his own values. What is true today may cease to be true tomorrow. Man's life is a series of experiments and purposeful action.

"Everything is provisional, nothing ultimate. Knowledge is always a means, never an
end  itself."  It  is  purely  instrumental.  Hence  the  title  of  Dewey's  philosophy  is
"Instrumentalism". Then Dewey believes that knowledge and thinking are closely associated
with action. They are tentative plans of action. They have to be tested by action and by
knowing  the  result  of  their being  acted  upon.  He  affirms, "The  essence  of  pragmatic
instrumentalism is to conceive of both knowledge and practice as means of making good.

It does not imply that action is higher and better than knowledge and practice inherently  superior  to  thought.  Constant  and  effective  interaction  of  knowledge  and practice is something quite different from an exaltation of activity, for its own sake.

Action, when directed by knowledge, is method and means, not an end. The aim and end is the securer, freezer end more widely shared embodiment of values in experience, by means of that active control of objects which knowledge alone makes possible."

Further-more, he is convinced of the organic relationship between the individual and
the society, to which he belongs. He is conscious of both the physical and the social
environment. Self can neither grow in solitude nor in natural surroundings. For his proper
growth an individual must live both in natural (or physical) environment and (human or
social) environment. Man is not a solitary self but an individual, who lives with the rest of
mankind. "He is a citizen, growing and thinking in a vast complex of interactions and
relationships."

Lastly, Dewey holds that barriers of creed, religion, language, nationality and colour
have divided humanity and separated man from man. These barriers must be broken to
establish harmony between individuals and groups, and ensure the  process of human
growth.

To him, growth stands for the "being process" and not for the "done product". Not perfection as a final goal, but the ever enduring process of perfecting, maturing and refining, is the aim of living.

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He further declares, "The bad man is one, who is beginning to deteriorate, to grow less good. And the good man is one, who is moving to become better." This is the function of education to break the barriers of separation and bring men and nations together for establishing a happier and nobler world.

2. Dewey's Educational Theory and Aims

About  the  importance  of  education,  John  Dewey  writes,  "What  nutrition  and reproduction  are  to physiological life,  education  is  to social  life.  Education  is  a  social necessity. It is a means of social continuity of life.

It is a means by which a person is helped to have useful and helpful experience." All this he said in the light of the rapid changes in social and economic life of his own time.
            Defining education, Dewey says, "Education is development of all those capacities
in  the  individual  which  will  enable  him  to  control  his  environment  and  fulfil  his responsibilities." It means that education extends the limits of human possibilities. It is progressive both for the individual and the society. Thus education, to John Dewey, is a bipolar process. It has two sides, the psychological and the sociological; neither of the two can be subordinated or neglected.

The psychological side is the study of the child, with all his inclinations, instincts, endowments and interests. It forms the very basis of education. The sociological side is the social environment in which the child is born, lives and grows for society. On a further analysis of his educational theory, we find the following four fundamentals:

(i) Education as Growth

Growth is the real function of education. It, therefore, must lead to growth. But growth is not directed towards any pre-determined goal or end. The end of growth is more growth and so the end of education, more education.

An individual is a changing and growing personality and education is to facilitate that growth. It is, therefore, the duty of the teacher to provide opportunities for proper growth by arousing the instincts and capacities of children and by providing to them the solution of those problems which make the children think.

(ii) Education as Life

Dewey believes that education is not a preparation for life. It is life itself. "Life is a by-product of activities and education is born out of these activities." School is now taken as a miniature society which faces problems, similar to those faced in life outside.

For  education,  pupils  should  be  made  active  participants  in  the  social  and community life of the school and thus trained in co-operative and mutually helpful living. They should be encouraged to face actual life problems in the school and gain varied experiences as our children are required to live in a democratic society when adults, they must experience same life in the school.

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(iii) Education as Social Efficiency

Man  is  a  social  animal  who  continuously  draws  energy,  strength,  knowledge, experience and attitudes in a social medium. As a social being, he is a citizen, growing and thinking in a vast complex of interactions and relations.

He owns character and mind, habits and manners, language and vocabulary, good taste and aesthetic appreciation, to his interaction with the social consciousness of his community.

When as an individual he shares such rich resources of a good society, he should also be ready to give back to that society and thus help other members to develop. It is the function of education to teach him this give-and-take process and make him aware of his social obligations.

Education must transform the immature child into a social human being. It is in this sense that education becomes a social process and social efficiency becomes the aim of all education.

(iv)  Education as Reconstruction of Experiences

According to John Dewey, experience is the only source of true knowledge. One experience leads to further experiences and each new experience calls for the revision, modification or rejection of the previous experiences. In this way the old pattern yields place to a new pattern. Dewey says, "We should so regulate the learning and experiencing activities of the young that a newer and better society will arise in the end."

Therefore,  there  is  a  need  of  continuity  of  experiences,  helping  man  to  grow physically, mentally, socially  and  morally.  Education  must  create  environments  for the promotion of continuity of experiences. Dewey, therefore, conceived of education as a process, involving continuous reconstruction and reorganization of experience. He says that education is by experience, for experience and of experience.

(v) No Fixed Aims of Education

However, being a pragmatic education, John Dewey has no fixed aims of education. He  believes  that  since  physical and  social environments  are  always  changing, aims  of education must also change.

They cannot be fixed for all times to come. Thus, he revolted against the traditional aims of education-namely: the moral aim, the disciplinary aim and the knowledge aim etc. of the nineteenth century.

He rejected the very idea of education as preparation for future life and said that education must cater to the present needs of the child rather than the future because the child is not interested in the unknown future. He therefore, said that educational aims must be restated and re-formulated in the light of the rapid social and economic changes in present day life.

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3. Dewey's Ideal School

Dewey was dissatisfied with the existing system of education. In his opinion, the Industrial Revolution, the development means of communication and transport, various discoveries and inventions of science and idols of democracy had brought about extraordinary changes in social life. As such, an ordinary school had not been able to keep pace with these changes.

It could not give the present day child an exact idea of the social, political and economic life of the community around him. It is, therefore, that social education is not connected with his daily life. John Dewey wanted to bridge this gulf between school life and home or social life, outside the school.

4. His Concept of an Ideal School

Dewey considered ideal school as an enlarged ideal home. In this home, the child learns to subordinate his interests to the general interest of the household. Here he learns the  habits  of  obedience,  regularity,  hard  work,  cooperation,  sacrifice,  fellow-feeling, patience, and discipline.

In the ideal school, teachers play the same part as parents at home. Being better equipped than home, the school must provide ideals, high and noble, and worthy of being pursued and lived upon. These ideals are quite in conformity with the ideals of society which the school is required to serve.

Then the ideal school of Dewey's concept is a society in miniature in which real life experiences of the community are provided on smaller scale. It is an activity school, wherein ample opportunities are provided to the child to construct his experiences, under the scientific guidance of teachers.

In this ideal school, the child learns by doing and by actual participation in purposeful and intelligent activities. These activities include cooking, sewing, wood-work, weaving as well as other occupations and violations. Thus the schools provide various types of social, economic and moral experiences of practical utility.

5. Scheme of Education

Dewey outlined a definite scheme of education, according to the stages of mental development of the child. These stages were:

(a) Play period from 4 to 8 years of age

(b) Period of spontaneous attention from 8 to 12

(c) Period of reflective attention from 12 onwards.

In the Play Period, the child studies the life and occupations of the home. Then he studies larger social and community activities on which his home-life depends. Finally, he learns about the development and significance of other occupations and inventions. In the last year of this period, he also learns reading, writing and geography.

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In  the  period  of  spontaneous  attention,  the  child  understands  the  difference between means and ends. He is able to act for the solution of practical problems of life. At this stage he is also taught social studies with a view to make him understand how man achieved his purposes under various conditions in different periods of history.

In the period of reflective attention, the child is grown-up enough to raise new
problems and find out their solutions. At this stage he acquires definite skills and arts so that
after leaving the school, he should adjust himself as a useful and efficient member of
society.

6. Curriculum

Dewey's curriculum is not a mere scheme of studies. Nor is it a list of subjects. It is an entire range of activities and experiences, because to him subjects are only summaries and recapitulation of human activities.

Dewey  does  not  recommend  any  ready-made  curriculum.  He  rather  wants  the curriculum to grow out of the pupils own impulses, interest and experiences. It consists of activities and projects, leading to reconstruction and reorganization of experience.

Thus he makes occupational activities or crafts, the core of school curriculum. H£ also includes moral, aesthetic and religious education in the curriculum. But this education is also imparted through practical experiences and not through "chalk and talk lessons," in the classroom.

In his opinion, "Purposeful activity and a curriculum comprising standard factors of
social life, would give the children more interest and insight, through the functioning of
intelligence and will, in the achievement of self-control and the appreciation  of social
values."

7. Dewey's Contributions and Influence

John Dewey is, by far the most original thinker in the field of educational philosophy. He stands in the front rank of the educators of the world. It is under his influence that today we find freedom, happiness and friendliness in American schools.

Dewey is a philosopher of the present dynamic age, which is dominated by the
forces  of  science,  technology,  industrialism  and  democracy.  He  has  made  an  original
approach to the problems, confronting man to-day and has offered sound solutions for
them.

To educators, he has given a new progressive outlook and called it life itself. He has also given new aim -of education, new curricula, new methods of teaching, new role of the teacher and new concept of discipline. In fact, he glorified every aspect of education that he touched.  His  watch-word,  "Progress  more  and  more  progress;  growth,  unlimited  and illimitable," has given a new impetus of education.

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Rousseau glorified the individual at the cost of society. This was not a balanced approach. Dewey fused both the psychological and the psychological aspects of education. He said that education is impossible without social medium.

Education must proceed by the participation of the individual in social relationship,
with other persons. Children should, therefore, be acquainted with social institutions and
industrial processes by creating the same environment in the school and by actual living and
working.

Another great contribution of John Dewey is democracy in education. Democracy stands for providing equal educational opportunities to all. It thus, stands for free universal education. It emphasizes education through cooperative and shared efforts, in a social medium, to secure the best for the individual and the society.

It also emphasizes the breaking down of social, national, religious and economic barriers between man and man, group and group, and nation and nation. So John Dewey says that it is the school which can contribute a lot in this direction by training young children in experimental thinking and democratic cooperation.

Then, his Project Method is the practical outcome of his philosophy. It is based on "learning by doing and experiencing". This method encourages pupils to learn through selfeffort and creative activity in real life situations. It is based on the fact that different branches of knowledge are not separate.

They  are  studied  separately  for the  sake  of  convenience  alone.  It  incorporates
integration and correlation of activities and subjects. It upholds the dignity of labour favours
social discipline and stresses problem solving, in place of cramming and memorization.

"In education we cannot but be grateful to John Dewey for his great services in challenging the old static cold-storage ideal of knowledge and in bringing education more into accord with the actualities of present day life the general principle, underlying the developments in his philosophy and his application of these in education.