JOHN DEWEY ft plato, aristotle, john lock and Dabo Eucld on Education.

In this unit, you read about John Dewey’s concept of education, his philosophy of education, and aims of education. You also read about his curriculum and discipline. In this unit, you shall move another step further to look at the concept of curriculum, curriculum organisation, the nature of school subject. This will help you further to understand the course.
The Concept of Curriculum
One of the basic questions in education which must be asked by every school, every classroom teacher in every age and every country is “what should be taught? What should the student learn? And often it entails how it should be taught so as to produce the desired effect? You should know that since the early decades of the twentieth century, scholars have attempted to define curriculum. Until now, there is no unified or unanimously accepted definition. A classical definition of curriculum by Stanley and Shores states that curriculum is “a sequence of potential experience set up in the school for the purpose of discipline children and youths in group ways of thinking and acting. These set of experiences is referred to as the curriculum. According to Tanner and Tanner, curriculum is the planned and guided learning experiences and intended learning experiences formed through the systematic reconstruction of knowledge and experience, under the auspices of the school for the learner’s continuous and willful growth in personal social competence. Understand you that both definitions are attractive in presenting the elements of experiencing in the concept of the curriculum. In order words, curriculum is not just a dead body of knowledge. However, the Stanley Shore’s definition lacks a number of serious elements. For example, we want you to understand that it fails to include the elements of knowledge or accumulated wisdom of human kind and the personal effect on the growth of the learner, choosing to concentrate rather on the social dimension only. For taking care of these defects, the dimension given by Tanner and Tanner stands a better choice.
Curriculum Organisation
The strategy or principle that must necessarily be used in planning the curriculum, according to Paul Hirst and R. S. Peters, is “The Means-End Method”. This refers to the use of the best means to achieve desired objective of the curriculum. The objective may be diverse in character and complex in their interrelations. In many other planning situations, no particular means is logically necessary for reaching the stated ends and the ends and the means can be characterised in complete independence of each other. This situation does not hold as far as planning a curriculum is concerned. The means employed are often closely interrelated with the ends so that the end cannot be characterized without appeal to the means. The means to the curriculum’s objective consists of a programme of activities specifically selected and organized to bring about the forms of development that are desired.
The Nature of School Subjects
Objectives pursued in modern education are multi-purpose and complex.
You have to understand that any realistic attempt to achieve these objectives must break the enterprise down into a number of limited tasks of manageable proportions. Traditionally, this has been done by organising the curriculum into school subjects such as Arithmetic, History, English, Religious Studies and Woodwork. In these subjects, limited range of objectives, particularly appropriate for the expected objectives (ends) is planned within each unit. Regular period of time are usually allotted to these activities according to the importance attached to the objectives in each case. We want you to appreciate that the important point about constructing curriculum unit, whatever their character may be, subject, topic, project or some other, is that they are constructed simply for educational purposes. They have no ultimate value outside the context.

Obstructing Balanced Curriculum
The elements to be taken into account in constructing a balanced curriculum include:
i. The nature of knowledge which human wisdom has got over the years.
ii. The nature of the learner, his ability and developmental stages as well as interests.
iii The needs and demands of the culture and society - so that the learner may be armed with the information and formation, skills and attitudes necessary to fit into such a culture and society.
You have to know that these elements go to make a balanced curriculum which is one that takes care of all areas of human development such as physical, intellectual, emotional, social, spiritual, economic, political and cultural.
Curriculum Integration
The contemporary problem of knowledge explosion can be taught by the technique of curriculum integration. By this, the curriculum builder will take note of the connections between various subject areas and at the same time be selective in the quantity and quality of information to be included in the curriculum, making sure that the necessary basic elements of each area are not neglected. In each case, his eyes are on the objects necessary to make the student a fully developed individual and a relevant and functioning member of his society. The curriculum has solved the age long problem that has confronted the school, the teacher and the learner. This problem has always been “what should be taught?” “What should the student learn?” The curriculum has provided us what to teach and what to learn.

Idealism
Plato was an exponent of idealism. Plato postulated the existence of the world of ideas which is a perfect world. To him, this material world is not stable, uncertain and changeable. But he said that ideas are unchangeable and lasting. He said that men should concern themselves with searching for truth. He defined ‘truth’ as ‘perfect and eternal’ and said that it could not be found in this material world because material things are imperfect and ever changing. What is your opinion about what Plato propounded? The Idealists said that mind is superior to matter in the sense that mind is material and therefore superior to material substances. They believed that the universe is the product of intelligence and will. They said that the order or harmony which we witness in our world is originated by a spiritual and eternal reality. The idealists do not deny the existence of the physical world. But what they are saying is that the material things of the world like houses, trees, or animals are not the ultimate reality because they are constantly changing. You can see their postulations. What is your opinion? Do you think that there is perfect world which is different from this world?
Idealism and Knowledge
Idealists reject empirical knowledge, that is, they say that knowledge cannot be gained through the senses of touch, hearing, seeing or feeling. Real knowledge to them consists in the reflection on the thoughts and purposes of the eternal and spiritual realities as expressed or embodied in the world of matter. To them valid knowledge is that which comes through reasoning. This is because they see reasoning as the aspect of  the mind which can help us to know the forms of things. Another way of deriving knowledge according to them is through the sayings of wise men throughout the ages. This is because these sayings are the products of reasoning.
Idealists recognize a third way of gaining knowledge. This is through revelation by religious or prophetic leaders because such knowledge comes from God. You have seen their views about knowledge, do you accept it totally? Do you think that there are other sources of knowledge? If so, what are they? Now that you have studied their sources of knowledge you will be reading about what they think values are.
Idealism and Value
Idealism believes that, values like goodness, truth, beauty, or honesty are fixed. This means that they are permanent and unchangeable. They do not depend on individuals, places, time or circumstances. They are not man made but are natural, universal and constant. Plato said that the good life is possible only within a good society. In order to make this good life possible in any society, every one must act in a manner that he would want all other people to act. Do you think that these values are actually fixed? Are they independent of people, places and time? Why do you think so? We are now going to look at their aims of education.
Idealist Aims of Education
Idealists maintain that education should emphasize the following objectives:
Intellectual Development: Plato saw this world as shadow of the real world. He believedthat truth cannot be found on this world. He said that truth or“perfect ideas” can be found only in “philosophical wisdom”which can only be attained through intellectual development. Forthis, he recommended the study of subjects that can develop themind or intellect.
Self-Realisation: Idealists believe that education develop the “self”. In orderwords, education should lead to self-realisation. This is theconcept of discovering who you are, what you can really do, yourlimitations and how you can fit into the society to which youbelong.
Character Development: To them the major aim of education is good characterdevelopment. They emphasized development of good morals,sense of duty, loyalty and patriotism. In order to attain this, theyargue that the school has to provide the pupil with worthymodels, “from which they can mould their own characters.” Herethe role of the teacher as a model from which the children cancopy and develop their own character is emphasized. You cansee that here, the teacher is seen as a model. Does it alwaysapply in our own situation? In your opinion do teachers alwaysserve as models?
The Development of Society: It is their opinion that education should train every individual touse his ability for the benefit of the society.
Idealist Curriculum
You will agree that the idealist believe that the most important part of man’s existence is the mind. They believed that this should be nourished and developed. The development of the mind comes through encouraging the child to think about various ideas such as truth, fair play and brotherhood. Idealists do not support teaching pupils’ specific technical skills but rather encourages broad understanding or general education. So they emphasise classical studies. But they are not opposed to science. So they recommend subjects like mathematics, literature, arts, history, philosophy, grammar, religion and others. You see that the idealists do everything to the development of what they consider to be real that is the mind etc. Let us look at their method of education now that we have studied their curriculum.
Idealist Method of Education
You know that idealists favour studies that provide deep knowledge. They also favour methods that can tap deep seated knowledge. This is why Plato maintains that the best method of learning is the dialectic method, method of questioning and discussion sessions which make the student think critically. The teacher should help the student to see alternative answers to questions to which they might have otherwise missed. Idealists also support the lecture method as a means of encouraging thinking or reflection over the points or facts raised. They do not believe in the passing on of information. The main purpose should be to help students understand the truth. They also recommended the project method which provides pupils with self activity that would lead to constructive and creative work.
How Idealist Influenced Nigerian Education
You can see that the idealists philosophy influence Nigerian education greatly. This is due to our colonial experience. Before Nigeria gainedindependence, our educational system which was based on the British system leaned heavily towards the study of classics and the art subjects. Idealists aimed at given people a broad or general education rather than specialised knowledge. This agrees wth the idealist curriculum. Although the situation is gradually changing, the influence of idealism in giving broad education is still present in Nigeria. It is interesting to find out too that practically all the aims of education recommended by the self realisation, character development and development of society are part of the aims and objective of education in Nigeria.
It is also true, also practically true that all subjects recommended by the idealists are taught in one level of education or another in Nigeria. Idealist insists on moral values are essential to the establishment of good life. You know that the Nigerian educational policy also emphasizes the inculcation of moral and spiritual values in inter-personal and human relations. The idealist method without exception is also in current use at various levels of education in Nigeria. One favourite method is the questioning method also called Socratic Method. Finally, the idea of a teacher serving as an ideal model for the pupils was strongly stressed by the idealists. The ethics of teaching profession in Nigeria demand this and the idea is encouraged at all levels of Nigeria’s education. The idealists assert that the mind is superior to matter in the sense that the mind is spiritual.
REALISM
In the last unit, you studied about the definition of metaphysics, thepostulations of the idealists and how knowledge is acquired. You alsostudied the idealists’ aim of education and what their curriculum is, youalso looked in their method of education and how it has influencedNigerian education. In this unit we shall move another step further tolook at the realists and their postulations. You will also study theircurriculum, their method of education and how they have influencedNigerian educational system.
Aristotle is an exponent of realism. He asserts that matter has anobjective reality and that matter is the underlying principle of all things.He said that for matter to become a reality, it must acquire a form. Thatit is only when matter acquires a form that it becomes a reality. He saidthat matter is the principle of potentiality. This means that matter isalways in the process of becoming something. This form he said is theprinciple of actuality, that is, it is this form that makes matter a reality.Matter is actualised when it becomes a form. Looking at the above, youmay ask, how he can explain the varieties of objects we have which heclaimed where all matter. For instance, you actualise the form of a man,why does not matter actualise into one form since the principleunderlying everything is matter? Aristotle postulated the pure form inorder to escape the above problem. This pure form is the prime mover,the first cause or the unmoved mover. Do you think that the principle ofthe pure form can explain the various forms we have in the world?
In rejecting the theory of Plato, Aristotle formulated the theory of Hylomorphism that is the theory of matter and form. In conjunction with Scholastic, Aristotle postulated four causes which must come into play before an object will change into a form. These causes are material cause, formal cause, efficient cause and final cause.  Other realists differ from Aristotle in some ways. Philosophers like Herbert Spencer and John Locke postulated that matter is the ultimatereality. They say that things we experience with our senses such as hills, trees, animals, sand, water and man are simply not ideas in the mind of the observing individuals or even in the mind of an external observer.
Rather they exist in themselves independent of the mind. Other realists called religious realists represented by Thomas Aquinas assert that mind and matter form the composite. Man is a composite of body and soul. The spirit is more important and higher than the body. They argue that this is proved through revelation and reasoning.
Scientific Realism
Scientific realism came in the wake of the scientific revolution of eighteen century. These scientific realists postulated that reality is limited to observable phenomena. Things do not exist apart from the ones we can see, knowledge is also limited to only what we can perceive. Scientific realists eliminate suprasensible realities from the domain of what exists.
Scientific realism entered into education thought and practices through the theories of such eminent scholars as Francis Bacon (1561 – 1626). John Locke, one of the scientific realists propounded the theory of Tabula Raza- literally it means clean slate. John Locke maintained that at birth, a child’s mind is completely devoid of any knowledge. That what happens is that as the child develops by contact with his environment this originally empty mind is now filled with experiences gained from the surrounding. From the above you can conclude that a child may be good or bad depending on the type of ideas that the child got from his environment. If the above is true, do you think that a child can be blamed for any type of behaviour the child displays? Think about it, since it is the environment that is responsible for his behaviour. This theory of tabula raza is opposed to the theory of innate idea, the theory which says that when a child is born, he is born with some ideas which he collected from the world of ideas; the teacher helps the student to discover this knowledge. This is why Socrates who propounded this theory sees himself as playing the role of the midwife who helps the child to deliver the knowledge.
Educational Implication of Realism
Realists and realism have one fundamental tenet, that is, objects of the senses have true objective reality. Things exist independent of our thinking or knowing about them. Knowledge of only natural or observable phenomena is not enough. Emphasis is laid on both sides of reality in education and these sides are the physical and spiritual. School subjects must include courses that embody transcendental knowledge and secular or empirical subjects or sciences. In scientific realism, emphasis is laid on environmental influence that is, stimulating the senses as opposed to mental discipline. Emphasis is equally laid on the world of nature and with regard on how to exploit it in full, how to utilize it maximally and how to overcome it.
Realist Aims of Education
One of the aims of education of the realists is to provide man with all the knowledge, ideas and facts that can make him to survive in this world. Spencer called this “self preservation”. He said that the greatest aim of education is to make sure that all the things necessary for human beings to continue to live and to make progress in life are provided. This is why these realists recommend technical and scientific studies in order to produce technicians and scientists.Another group, the religious realists maintain that the aim of education should be to bring man to the knowledge of God and obtain the salvation of his soul. This they explained can be done in two ways:
By studying carefully the wonderful works of God in this worldsuchas the moon, the sun, the stars, the mighty oceans and waters of this world among others – and see how all these work in perfect order and harmony.
They also recommend the teaching of morals and spiritual things through education. This will enhance the attainment of this aim. Finally, a third group of these realists (the classical realists) say that the aim of education for man is to produce well rounded and balanced ‘individuals’. This means that education should make people moderate in behaviour, balanced in their judgments, reasonable in their actions and sociable people. All these aims helped them to prescribe their curriculum for education.
You have gone through the aims of education of the realists. You shall now read through their curriculum.
Realist Curriculum
Realists assert that education should be practical and help man to survive in this world. So they recommend technical and scientific studies that are the sciences and technical subjects. They also recommend other subjects like reading, writing, history, law, arithmetic, physics, astronomy, religious and moral instruction, optics and mechanics. They also recommend supplementary or leisure subjects like carpentry, dancing, riding or gardening. You can see from the above that education was aimed at equipping man to survive in this world.
Realist Method of Education
In our studies so far, you have seen that the realists stressed that education should be practical and useful for survival. You have seen also that they stressed orderliness in doing things – this is because God’s creation is in perfect order. Again you have seen that they stressed the use of critical reasons aided by observation in education. Against this background, we can now examine some of the methods they recommended. Locke advocates that learning be made like a play and recreation for children. Here, we find the play way method being advocated. He thinks that play is a major aid in learning so that children will not be bored.
Related to this is the activity method. Herbert Spencer recommends that learning should be full of activities for children. These should keep them occupied as much as possible. This means that, the teacher of such children should be very resourceful so that they can provide sufficient activities that can keep them going.
Realists also recommend the lecture methods. This method to them is a means of exposing pupils to concrete facts or knowledge about the world. Knowledge of these facts will then help them to reason critically and be able to attain the goal of self-realization.
They recommended the didactic and object methods. They believed that the child remembers what he sees and touches but easily forgets what he hears. This method involves the use of variety of teaching aids – instructional materials such as pictures, charts, diagrams among others. These will train their senses, help them to build up concepts and aid them to remember. We have now looked into the realist’s method of education. Let us nowlook at how they influenced Nigerian education.
Realist Influence on Nigerian Education
Realist’s philosophy has influenced Nigerian education in many ways:
(1) The establishment of several polytechnics, colleges and universities of technology and vocational schools all over the country agrees with the provision of knowledge for survival through scientific and technical studies.
(2) As far as methods are concerned, the lecture method, the play way method, the practical or activity method and the object study, all these which have been recommended by the realists are being used, all at various levels of education all over the country.
(3) The major subjects recommended by the realists are taught at one level of education or another in Nigeria.
(4) The realists recommend orderliness and planned system of doing things in the school. The realists teach that nature or the universe was made in perfect order and worked with regularity. They insist that this should be practiced in schools. This has influenced the present day practices in school. Examples are ringing of bells at the right times, having a regular time table for study, division of subjects into related subject groups such as humanities and sciences. You can see that these are important influences in education in Nigeria.

Naturalism
Nature to them is beautiful, valuable and desirable, efficient and wonderful. They assert that there is no need for any artificial setting when nature itself is pure and simple. People should protect ideal existence of undiluted peace and calm, which the growth of human environments tends to destroy with uncontrolled materialists tendencies. Man in his natural state is a simple, peaceable, happy and contended individual. Naturalism maintained that the main is not only noble but also a sinless person whose freedom from interference should be guaranteed to enable him develop his own nature.
According to them education is a process of socialisation and an instrument of national development when it is best utilised. They assert that nature is the best teacher that can help the child to develop the laws using the senses. Education is not a preparation for life, it is life itself. Therefore, the main aim of education should be to promote the future happiness of the child. It maintains that developmental stages, individual differences and the child’s levels of readiness should be considered, for effective learning. The curriculum should be broad based to accommodate the child’s conditions for effective learning. Education should be child centred. The child should be shielded from the ills of the society by the teacher. Natural environment should be preferred to organised school environment.
Philosophical School of Thought
Philosophical schools of thought have helped to solve the problems of education. These schools of thought are of two major divisions, they are classical schools of thought such as idealism, realism, naturalism, humanism and scholasticism and the progressives namely: pragmatism, existentialism and reconstructionism. These schools of thought as you will read about have systems of beliefs and values about the individuals and the society.
The classical schools believe in the existence of absolute and eternal principles of realities. They maintain that performance of unchanging and universal values should be emphasised by the educational system. The progressives believe that change is the essence of reality. They also believe that education is always in the process of development where no values could be fixed.
You have read about their believes, let us now look at these schools one
after the other.
Idealism
You will understand that for the idealists, reality is beyond what you can see, notice or touch. Ideas are real, of cosmic importance or significance and are the ultimate realities.
You read that they asserted that matter is possibly known through the senses but its principles can only be understood by the mind. Therefore, ideas are eternal and unchanging. For them realities are fixed and unchanging in spiritual realms and hence the physical world of experience is a mere copy. They maintain that ultimate reality that is, the world of ideas is mental and spiritual. The physical world of our everyday experience is a shadow of the real. They maintain that values are absolute and constant no matter the situation. They assert that idea is inborn; this inborn idea is to be illuminated by education.
From the above, you will recognize that Plato and other idealists recognized the existence of ideas which is perfect world and the physical world which is the world of shadow. The former constitutes the ultimate and absolute reality, which is perfect, permanent and immortal, while later is imperfect manifestation of the real world or ultimate realities.
They believe that the spiritual nature of man is more important than the physical.
You have read through the basic tenets of idealism. You have understood their position with regard to ultimate reality. Now you are going to be exposed to the educational implications of idealism.
Educational Implication of Idealism
The Idealists greatly believe that education should not only be a process of developing the individual consciousness but also the spiritual self education should encourage people to focus attention on lasting values or universal values. As far as moral order is fixed or universal, education must be for character development, the search for truth demands personal discipline. Idealists emphasize self realization through educational process.
Education should eliminate the impediments for the possession of truths and goodness. It is the process of illuminating that which the child’s mind already possesses. The teacher carefully presides over the birth of ideas without really introducing any new idea but illuminates the minds. The teacher guides in bringing to light the ideas already inborn in the child. He is mature and nearer to the perfect ideal of personality by the virtue of his position, experience and knowledge and, therefore worthy of emulation. He is rightly regarded as a model of all that is sound, good and upright. They believe that school/institution should provide proper direction, the right atmosphere and suitable environment for effective learning. The idealists recommended dialectic method of learning, which emphasises effective and critical thinking. This should encourage indepth
knowledge, and understanding. It encourages activity method for the development of self realisation. The child is expected to participate in all learning activities and ask questions about society, people, events and ideas.
The idealist curriculum embodies those subjects that can improve the learner’s intelligence and understanding and also enable him realise his spiritual potentialities.
We want you to understand that the idealism recommends subjects, which include: Mathematics, Creative arts, Language skills, Scientific skills, Normative skills and, Aesthetic skills. In concluding this area, you should know that idealism influences current educational practices on the freedom of the child, the development of characters and personality development in modern education.
What is your assessment of the postulations of the idealists? In assessing the idealists, we will assert that both the spiritual and the physical worlds are real. This means that sense is not purely inborn, there are sense experience got from gradual association with environment. That is man is born with certain innate abilities to acquire knowledge through interaction with his environment, but not that all he needs to know is already inherent in it. True, man must develop the mind and intellect on lasting values which demand self-discipline and character training.
3.5 Realism
The proponents of realism are Aristotle (156 – 162 BC), Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274 AD), Francis Bacon (1561-1626), John Locke (1632-1704), David Hume (1711-1776), Alfred Whitehead (1864-1947), Bertrand Rusell (1872-1970) to mention a few. You will understand that there are basically four types of realism namely: Religious Realism (scholastlism), Material realism (materialism), Natural realism (Naturalism), Pragmatic and realism (Pragmatism).
The realists as you will soon discover believe that the world is real. What you see and touch is real. Matter is therefore real. This reality is not only fixed but also unchanging and is directed by definite laws. To the realist, matter is the ultimate reality and material things exist independent of the mind. It exists irrespective of being thought of. The world is governed by its own laws which the human mind has no control whatever. Matter is all things. It is the real and beyond it nothing else is or can be. Hence ideas exist only in so far as they are situated in matter. We have the rational realists who hold that material things exist only because of a spiritual being giving origin to it, while the scientific or natural realists emphasise the materiality of the real and reject either the idea of any spiritual being or affirm that such reality exists. Values are absolute, fixed and unchanging.
The realists believe that the mind at birth is blank or empty (tabula raza) but as the child grows various sense impressions are made to his mind. The sense experience is emphasized as the major source of knowledge. Therefore, it is an individual responsibility to discover thing or truth, hence they believe in fundamental scientific discoveries. You have read through the postulations of the realists. You are going to read through their educational implications.
Educational Implications of Realism
Realism is in education because of the need for factual data and subjectmatter. They agree that the technicians and scientists should be developed. Their emphasis in education is placed in the acquisition of good habits and to live according to moral order, maintaining absolute moral value.
All educational enterprise should try to polish and write on the tabula raza or blank mind with the real things. Education therefore, should introduce knowledge got from without not within. The mind of the learner is like an empty tank in a new motor car which must be filled with fuel from a filling station with bundles of knowledge by education. The teacher transmits and transports knowledge into the learner. Education is to transmit accumulated and verified body of knowledge as subject matter through the teacher who transmits it to the pupils to assimilate. The realists recommend authoritative method of teaching and learning. The child is meant to cultivate self discipline in his attitude to enable him absorb the truths contained in the subjects taught by the teachers.
Education is discipline centred and teacher oriented. The teacher is the representative of culture, the custodian of knowledge and hence the transmitter of basic truth to the child.
The curriculum as you will expect is society-centred not child-oriented because they believed that social interest and general needs are more vital than the individual interests and needs. You should now know that they emphasised broad based curriculum with some core subjects to which children are required to offer. These core subjects should be the same at all levels of education except in the progression of basic principles from the known to the unknown and simple to the complex. As you have read through the educational implications of realism you are going to read through the assessment of their philosophical views.
You should know that reality is composed of both material and spiritual entities. Education must transmit accumulated knowledge but in the sense of the learner being passive. The learner and the teacher enjoy their freedom as human beings. The learner’s mind is not tabula razasince he can interact with his environment. The realists emphasize attainment of practical technicians and scientists while idealists uphold character development by which the search for truth demands personal discipline and an acceptable behavioural pattern.
Naturalists
The chief proponents of the naturalists are Thales (16th century BC), Jean Jacque Rousseau (1712-1778) and Jean Heinrich Pestalozzi (1746- 1827). The naturalists believe that existence can be satisfactorily explained in natural or scientific terms. That is, whatever exists has natural interpretation and meaning. Thales maintained that nature holds the key to knowledge of the ultimate reality. Nature is real and the whole of reality can be expressed in nature. It is the sum total of objects on time, space and in natural law. You have to understand that to them, it is nature alone that exists and mind and reason emerge from it. Nature to them is beautiful, valuable and desirable, efficient and wonderful. Naturalists emphasize that necessary change results when it brings novelty. There is no need for any artificial setting, when nature itself is pure and simple. People should protect ideal existence of undiluted peace and calm, which the growth of human environments tends todestroy with uncontrolled materialistic tendencies. Man in his natural state is simple peaceable, happy and contented individual. Naturalists maintain that the man is not only noble but also a sinless person whose freedom from interference should be guaranteed to enable him develop his own nature. In Rousseau’s view, it is the corrupt man and society that corrupts the man and distorts his natural self. Rousseau quoted by Okafor (1981) said: “Everything is good as it comes from the hands of the author of Nature: but everything degenerates in the hands of man. He will leave nothing as nature made it not even men. Like a saddled horse that must be trained for man’s service he must be made over according to his fancy like a tree in his garden. You have read through the postulations of the naturalists, we will still move a step further to study educational implication of their assertions”.
Educational Implications
Having gone through the assertions of the naturalists, you will no doubt expect that the assertions will influence their views on education. As you will expect, the naturalists believe that the senses are important in learning process because knowledge is got from the senses. Educational procedure method must agree with and promote the laws of nature instead of violating them. Education should be given to the child according to the level of his maturity, considering the natural process of mental and physical growth.
Education is a process of socialisation and an instrument of nationaldevelopment when it is best utilized. But, that nature is the best teacher that can help the child to develop according to its laws using the senses.
Education is not a preparation for life. It is life itself. Therefore, the main aim of education should be to promote the future happiness of the child. It maintains that development stages, individual differences and the child’s level of readiness should be considered, for effective learning. And curriculum shall vary and perhaps be broad to accommodate the child’s conditions of effective learning. You have understood that child-centered education is highly recommended.
The child should be kept away from the corrupt society and persons by the teacher. Therefore, the teacher should be an observer and an organiser of learning materials and environment. He sets the learning environment allowing the child to learn from the known to the unknown within the natural frame work. However, organized school is not  required rather natural environment ought to play the role of the school where the play way or the project method needs to be used. The naturalists oppose the use of corporal punishment, they hold tenaciously to discovery of child’s interests, needs, abilities and environment. The child is expected to be responsible for this opportunity and action, which he is meant to learn from, while punishment should be natural consequences of any given action. Philosophy of naturalism intends to bring man back to his full status of humanity believing that man can better utilize his freedom of thought and opportunity himself than being coerced to do so.

Pragmatism
You will come to know that pragmatism is the philosophical idea that asserts that change is dynamic and belongs to the essence of reality.You will discover that some of the proponents of realism are also proponents of pragmatism. Some of them are Francis Bacon (1561- 1626) also in Realism, John Locke (1632-1704) also in Realism, William James (1842-1920) Charles Sanders Pierce (1839-1914) and John Dewey (1959 – 1952) to mention but a few.
The pragmatists refused the idea of any fixed and unchanging world of realities. They assert that change is dynamic and belongs to the essence of reality. They also believe that no value is absolute but all are relative and cautioned that man must not take anything for granted; rather he should critically examine everything by the use of intelligence. The sum total of what man experiences in the process of interaction between man and his environment is the genuine reality. The pragmatists assert that values are changing and changeable not constant or fixed. What might be valuable today might be valueless in future.
You should know that the pragmatists are also known as the experimentalists or instrumentalists. Pragmatism is not only an essential method of solving problems, but is also interested in the material benefits. William James like John Dewey asserts that theories considered applicable to the solution of problems must be one that could be subjected to test through experimentation. Oroka (1990) summarises the basic elements of the pragmatic theory as follows:
That there is reality in change. It does not believe in absolute and eternal ideas and values found in idealism, nor in the sense experience of matter as in realism. Rather pragmatism maintains that ideas and values change with situations, time and place.
That man is essentially social and biological in nature. Reality or truth results from the “interaction” of the human being with his environment.
That there is relatively goodness and truth to be judged by the end result. It is the result and consequence of an action, which determines its goodness or truth conditions.
That there should be the use of critical intelligence. The subjection of issues to critical analysis is inevitable in man’s ability to identify problems and find relevant solution to them.
That the critical use of intelligence thrives best in an atmosphere permeated with democratic ideas. You have read through the basic elements of the pragmatists. You are now going to read through their educational implications.
Educational Implications
You have read that pragmatism assert that change is dynamic and constant. In the same vain, they maintain that education should prepare the learner to cope with the changing modes of reality. They believe that it is the learner’s dynamic life that enables him to face the problem created by constant interaction with the environment. Education is therefore seen as life. So teaching in education becomes a teaching that leads to good life. This emphasises exploration and a discovery by the learner about his environment. Understand that to the pragmatists, education develops in the learner the ability to make decisions in a dynamic world. Thus, the teacher’s responsibility is to construct learning situations that are conducive and suitable to a solution of problems that will help the child to better theunderstanding of his social and physical environment.
Appreciate that for them education develops in the learner the ability to make decisions in a dynamic world. Thus the teacher’s responsibility is to construct learning and suitable to a solution of problems that will help the child to better the understanding of his social and physical environment. That education should be planned as to make the learner active in class while the teacher serves as a guide who assists to facilitate the process of  discovery in an exploration by the learner. The child in educational process should learn to depend on his personal interest and needs and be ready to provide solution to his problems. The teacher should provide rich experience that assists, guides and motivates the learner.
As you have learnt, experience is the central concept in pragmatism. Dewey (1964) maintained that “all education proceeds by the participation of the individual in the social consciousness of the race”. You know that change is a reality in the dynamic world. The learner must be dynamic in response to the needs of changing times, places, and peoples.
However, man’s nature is both material and spiritual as against the pragmatic emphasis on the materialistic aspects only, it is not also true that all values are relative; some values are absolute such as love and justice. Change is real and it is the essence of reality based on some permanence. Also, by way of planning, education should have some predetermined aims, which learning must strive to achieve. Learning must be related to relevant knowledge and experience or interest of the learner. The teacher must guide learning as an experienced person to select what is acceptable, valuable or desirable and worth knowing.
Existentialism
You have studied pragmatism, their tenets and educational implications of their ideas. You are now going further to study existentialism. The proponents of existentialism are Soren Kierkegaard, Martin Heidegger, George Knellwe, Martin Buber, Ven Cleve Mori and Jean Paul Sartre to mention a few. Existentialism could be described as philosophy of existence, holding that existence precedes essence. It is concerned with the development of human conscious state considering man as thinking, feeling and acting individuals in the world. Man for the existentialists owes nothing to nature apart from his existence since the physical world has no meaning and no purpose outside man. The individual discovers his destiny and explores his own feeling and coordinates ideas to his existence. He is responsible to himself. Freedom of choice is his major responsibility and also his greatest problem.
An existentialist sees man as not only alienated, lonely but also caught up in an absurd and meaningless world. However, man is said to be a free and self determining individual, unidentical with unique personality and unpredetermined existence. His existence preceded essence implying that man will first exist before defining or conceptualizing himself. You have read through the beliefs of the existentialists, you are going to read through the educational implications of their ideas.
Educational Implications of Existentialism
You know that education endeavours to enable man to ask and answer questions such as Who am I? Why am I here? Where am I going to or where am I going from here? Education primarily helps man to identify himself in all his frustration, fears, joy and hopes. It should make theindividual accept responsibility for his own action. The teacher should impose any form of discipline so as to assist the learner prepare for self development and self fulfillment. Education should enable the child to develop his ability, to decide correctly, to discover himself and to acculturate the attitude of self
reliance. The teacher assists the child to develop his unique potentials, act in his own unique way and learn according to his interest and desire. The teacher should liaise with the child’s parents and thereby act as a counselor and an instructor. The dialectical method is recommended because it gives opportunity for dialogue and recognizes the worth of the child. Role play is also acceptable for the purpose of enhancing the child’s direct experience of the situation. The school should be the child’s home extension which can create a conducive atmosphere for cultural and development of past experience. The curriculum should create critical mind and freedom of choice. All subjects are equally important depending on child’s interest. Therefore, the curriculum should include disciplines that guarantee freedom, needs and individual differences as he experiences them.
Freedom is really important to man in his existence, but it should be exercised with great deal of caution, as not to infringe on another person’s right. As you already know, the existentialists believe that man alone without assistance can make himself, if this is true there would be no need for living together in towns and villages. The environment has to play a vital part in making and unmaking man. The need for complementary living gives rise to the training of lawyers, teachers, doctors, carpenters and others like traders, farmers and fishermen. Agreeably, the exercise of ability to choose among various opportunities, materials, actions etc are central and inevitable to man but there are certain actions or reactions that are beyond choice such as biological reaction, reflex actions, death, moral decision, some emergency situations and so on. It is therefore, erroneous to reduce every thing in man’s life to the exercise of choice.

Reconstructionism
The philosophy of Reconstructionism deals with the construction of the harmony between nature and man. Reconstructionism believes that nature which is in strife and tension needs to be reorganised, reconstructed and recorded. It shows that nature is sinful, bad, nasty, wicked especially as conditioned by the governing class. The Reconstructionists maintain that man needs a well planned action for two reasons:
Nature is perversely evil
Man’s nature is perpetually in crisis with the society.
They therefore, claim that society is constantly in strife and tension. Without a concerted effort, how can man change and restore the disrupted harmony between man and nature. For any society to achieve peace and harmony there must be deliberate change. The society and nature need a great deal of change for them to be responsive to the needs of man. You have read through the assertions of the reconstructionism, we are now going to read through the educational implications of their believes.
Education Implications
You need to know that the reconstructionism believe that education can bring about the required harmony and social political order which naturethrough societal activity disrupted. Education assists man to identify the needs for changes and effect these changes. It helps in the modification of goals to restore the disrupted social and political harmony. Man is restored in the process to his original status. They in this regardbelieved that education alone could acclimatize man within a normative environment. In any given society, a positive change and reconstruction can be possible if only education can be effectively reconstructed.
Plato in this same vein as he identified in the Republic, sees education as an instrument of effective reconstruction of an ideal state. Education in this wise becomes the fundamental tool for effective and continuous change for the better in a civilized society. Also the reconstructionists maintained that education is a cultural renewal. It aims at a better future. It plans for democratic order and attempts to bring about a positive change. The school must be culture bound and influence its new shape. It is believed that by method of inductive thinking, problem solving, group dynamism and group consensus major changes of physical and social structures and attitudes could take place. It is man or the group of people that control the process and imposes discipline in forms of punishments and rewards.
Note that for any real order and lasting changes to take place in the society, both in and outside school system the educator must act as the only right agent. He must purposefully act for social and political affairs. Education can effectively reform the social and political order if every educator acts as an agent. Education becomes relevant if it considers and blends thought and action, intellectualism with activism and theory with practice. Reconstructionism holds that school system should be structured and organized to help the society and be accountable to the needs of man in the society. You have read through the educational implications of reconstructionism and all they said are the achievements of education.
You know that reconstructionism over-emphasises social evaluation, determination of goals and values in education, and therefore proffers no principle of truth and goals. It neglects man and only over-stresses the place of the group/society. The school of philosophy demands too much from the learner who is still immature. The learner only needs mature guidance of the teacher in the education process. Pragmatism sees education as an instrument of social and cultural reform but reconstructionism desires for a change and social reform and moves beyond the demands made by pragmatic philosophers. And in the process makes too much romantic notion of what schools and educators can do and achieve.

EDUCATIONAL IDEOLOGIES OF GREAT PHILOSOPHERS

Socrates (470-399 BC)
A Historical Background
Socrates was born about the year 470 BC. His father was a sculptor while his mother was a midwife. His goal in life was to be a philosopher (teacher) and he indeed later became one of the first Athenian teachers. He did not put his thought into writing. But most of what was known about him is from the writing of two of his disciples - Xenophon and Plato.
Socrates lived a humble, disciplined and upright life. As Plato wrote about him, he was “the best of all of his time that we have known and more over the most wise and just”. You can see that his students liked him. He was a man who holds strongly to what he thinks is right and without changing his opinion.
Socrates Major Educational Ideas
The teachings of Socrates were based on ethics or moral philosophy aimed at solving the problems created in Athens then by the teaching of the Sophists (non-Athenian teachers who taught for some wages). But his teachings are important to us today.
Socrates Theory of Knowledge
The Sophists had taught that people come to know the truth by mere sense feeling or impression that knowledge is attained by perception. The Sophists would say “whatever seems to me right is right”. But Socrates' theory of knowledge asserts that knowledge is derived through concepts and that since reason is the source of concept, it follows that reason is the source of knowledge. You should understand that what he was teaching here is that, since reason is a common quality of all men, people should no longer depend on what they ‘feel’ in trying to come to the truth. They should rather depend on ‘reason’ which is the closest source of all knowledge of truth.
Concept of Virtue
a. Socrates taught that “virtue is knowledge”. He believed that a man cannot act right unless he first knows what is right, that is, unless he appreciates the concept of right. Moral action (action that is right) is thus based on knowledge. He went on to say that if a man possesses knowledge, he cannot do wrong because all wrong doings spring from ignorance. He also said that ‘no man intentionally does wrong’. It is good you know the weakness of this theory. Many people’s actions are governed not by reason, but by emotions (or feelings). People also deliberately do wrong, even when they know the right thing.
b. Related to the above is another teaching of Socrates that virtue can be taught. This idea received support from Plato who said that all we need is to have knowledge of what virtue is, and it could be passed on to others by teaching.
c. The third aspect of his teaching on virtue is that “virtue is one”. Ordinarily, we talk of many virtues such as courage, justice, kindness, honesty, faithfulness etc. But Socrates believed that all these individual virtues have one source - knowledge. Therefore,
knowledge itself that is wisdom is the sole virtue which embraces all others.
d. The Dialectic Method (Socratic Method)
In passing on his ideas to people, he used one method - dialectic method which has come to be known as the Socratic Method. It is a method of seeking knowledge by question and answers. It involves the skillful use of leading questions. It has been used all over the world as an effective method of teaching.
The Doctrine of Reminiscence (Remembering): Socrates said that people learn by remembering or recalling what they knew previously but had been stored up in the mind.
The function of the teacher, therefore, is to bring out such knowledge by making the learner to think through questioning. In others words, students should be encouraged to think for themselves.
The Relevance of the Thought of Socrates to Nigerian Education:
i. Socrates teaching on moral agrees with what is contained on National Policy on Education 1981 and 2001 editions on “character and moral training and development of sound attitude”.
ii. The dialectic or Socrates method is used in teaching and learning today in Nigeria and it is also taught in teacher training. You can observe that you must have come across this method of teaching some where along the line in your educational career.
iii. Reasoning which is an important part of education as you know is extensively used in our school system today. This is one of the important discoveries of Socrates.
iv. We will want you to emulate the disciples of Socrates who displayed their love for him in writing that Socrates was humble, disciplined and upright. These virtues you should also encourage.

Plato (428 to 348 BC)
He lived between 428 to 348 BC. He was a great philosopher who had a rich background. He attended one of the best schools in Athens. He was greatly influenced by Socrates his teacher. He loved Socrates so much that he emulated his life style. Some of you will be greatly influenced by us and we know you will love us as well. Plato built a school in Athens called the Academy. He stayed in the Academy where he taught and worked as a Philosopher. Plato wrote books. Some of which are the “The Republic” and “The Law”. Now that we have looked into a brief background of Plato, let us go on to study his educational contributions.
Educational Contribution of Plato
a. You will remember that the Sophists were mobile teachers whoseidea Socrates followed. From the historical background you learnt that Plato built a school called the Academy. This school included a dormitory, secondary and higher school. It was the first establishment of an organised school in the world. The western world emulated him, and today in Nigeria, we are practicing the same thing.
b. Plato believed in state control of the education system. To Plato, this will bring proper organisation and supervision of teaching and learning. You know that this method is adopted in this country today. He suggested the appointment of a Director of Education, who is to be assisted by a committee of experts to advise him. The Director is to decide what should be taught, how it should be taught, and supervise the work of the teacher.
The Importance of Plato’s Education Ideas to Nigerian Education
You have seen that in all the areas of education, Plato has influenced Nigeria. In the establishment and organisation of primary, secondary and higher school, Plato has influenced this country. He also influenced Nigeria in the area of Universal Primary Education. Equal education for boys and girls and the setting up of technical and vocational education. Now that you have learnt about Plato’s educational ideas, we shall move further into the study of another great philosopher called John Locke.
John Locke
John Locke unlike Socrates and Plato was not a Greek man. He was a European of British origin. He lived from 1632 to 1704. His father was a lawyer. This British Lawyer encouraged his son to study medicine. John grew up to become interested in philosophy and education. You know that this can hardly happen in Nigeria of today. John Locke wrote many books. In these books, he discussed issues like freedom and equality, human understanding, right of parents and the mind or mental faculty. He also wrote extensively on education. This is the area of our interest now.
John Locke’s Education Ideas
In his education idea, John Locke was of the view that education should be made to suit the mode of life which the pupil is expected to live. In his postulation, he had classes of children in mind, these are, the children of the princes, the noble and those of the common man. He was interested in the physical, moral and intellectual development of the child. He saw these faculties as complementary to the other, thus he asserted that without good physical health, mental achievements will not be enjoyed and without sound mind, physical health alone will amount to nothing. This will lead to the production of sound mind in a sound body. You know that the situation is not always as he advocated, this is because, there are deformed people who are doing very well intellectually. He recommended a process that will harden or toughen the child with regard to physical training. He does not believe that the wrongs of children should be over-looked; he insisted that children should be corrected in order to create and generate dependable behaviour in them.
Method of Education
John Locke advocated good education for the child. He said that they should be made to feel free, be at ease, active in class, yet disciplined. To Locke, the play way method of learning should be used. He was ofthe view that practical learning and the use of instructional materials should be encouraged. These you know will arrest the attention of the student and they will understand better. Locke advocated the method of individualized teaching. This is a system in which the teacher finds out the differences in the children and adjusts himself to take care of these differences. Locke condemns the use of corporal punishment. He advocates the use of praise in the presence of others. He does not recommend the use of reward, instead, he advises that when a child misbehaves, that the teacher should reason or discuss with the child in private.
He condemned the idea of public school but recommended private school because of the risk of spoiling a boy’s good character when the boy mixes with boys with bad character and because a teacher may not give individual attention to a pupil. You know that this does not obtain in Nigerian context. Here public and private schools are established side by side and yet individual differences are taken care of. You have seen John Locke’s method of education. We are now going to study his idea of curriculum.
John Locke’s Idea Of Curriculum
John Locke speculated that the child should not be exposed to all the available experiences but only to the one that are of use to him. He listed a number of subjects which include English, French, Latin, Arithmetic, Astronomy, Geometry, Geography and history. He said a child should choose the ones he considers useful. You know that this is in agreement with the career guidance where a student is guided to choose the subjects the student thinks will lead him to what he wants to study.
John Locke also suggested that accounts and manual trade should also be added. He is of the view that education should be concluded with an excursion. It is good you know that excursion is a very vital aspect of education, like he said, it makes you see the world around you. He speculated that the children of the poor should not be involved in academics. Instead, he said they should be apprenticed to some trade. Children should be allowed to attend public or private schools depending on the choice of their parents and they should be exposed to all available experiences so that they can make choice.
John Locke laid emphasis on good method of education. According to him, the child should be made to feel free, be at ease, active in class, yet remains disciplined. He recommended practical learning and the use of teaching aids in instruction.
He believes that a child should not try to know everything, but only those which are of use to him. He listed a number of subjects for study e.g. English, French, Latin, Arithmetic, Astronomy, Geometry, Geography, History etc. But a child has to choose those which he considers useful to him. He asserts that education for the young should be concluded with an excursion to make him see the world around him. For the children of the poor, there is to be no academic learning. Instead, they should be apprenticed to some trade.
Relevance of Locke’s Curriculum to Nigerian Education
The educational ideas of John Locke have some relevance to the Nigerian educational system. The main educational aim of Locke which are, developing the child physically, mentally and intellectually are in agreement with the objectives of education in Nigeria.
Moreover, almost all the subjects recommended for study by Locke, with the exception of Latin, are included in the Nigerian curriculum. Again, Locke’s recommendation for the children of the poor to be apprentices to some trade is in line with normal practice in Nigeria now.
This is so because the high cost of education makes it impossible for the poor parents to educate their children to a level which can enable them to be gainfully employed. So they resort to apprenticeship to one trade or another for their children. Locke also supports private ownership of schools. This is a policy which the National Policy of Education also approves. This can be seen from large number of private schools springing up in our urban and rural areas. Finally, Locke recommends a number of methods - play way methods, practical learning etc all of which are in use in most Nigerian schools.
The only exception is the individualized method of teaching which has been difficult to implement in Nigerian situation. The main obstacle to this is the large number children classes at all levels.

John Dewey’s Background
John Dewey was born in Burlington Vermouth (USA) on the 20th of October, 1859. He was an American great philosopher, scientist and educator who taught in many universities. Dewey was one of the proponents of pragmatism who believed that experimentation is a way of knowing. His philosophy of pragmatism is associated instrumentalism, experimentalism or reconstructionalism. In 1894, he was appointed Professor of philosophy and Chairman of the Department of Philosophy and Pedagogy at the University of Chicago. He published many books. On June 1, 1952,. John Dewey about the age of ninety three (93) years died of pneumonia.
Dewey and The Concept of Education
You have read through the background of John Dewey, you are now going to study his educational concept.You have to note that, John Dewey first looked at education as fundamental method of social progress and reform and lauded intelligently guided development that is inherent in ordinary experience. Therefore, to Dewey (1966) education is “the reconstruction orreorganisation of experience which adds meaning to experience and increase the ability to direct the course of subsequent experience”. The words such as experience, reconstruction, reorganisation, growth, development, reform, progress, intelligence and others are key concepts in Dewey’s education. He therefore, sees education as a process of living. It is life itself and not a process of growth with the purpose of developing the intellectual capacity of the individual.
Dewey and the Conception of Philosophy of Education
You have to understand that John Dewey’s exploration on education is grounded in two important issues, first is the identification of philosophy with education and second the characteristics of what qualifies as education. For him philosophy has no practical importance or meaning except it is associated with education. Philosophy and education are closely related. Hence, education is the “laboratory” in which philosophic distinctions become concrete and are tested. Dewey (1960) sees philosophy as the theory of education in its most general phases. He proceeded to describe philosophy of education thus:Philosophy of education is not an external application of readymade ideas to a system of practice having a radically different origin and purpose. It is only an explicit formation of right mental and moral habits in respect to the difficulties of contemporary social life. Dewey sees philosophy of education as an application of philosophy to solve the problems of education. On the other hand, philosophical discussion of education rest on the fundamental question, what are the characteristic of what qualify as education? It is the place of philosophy to help education identify the characteristics of worthwhile education, hence philosophy of education.
Deweism and Education
You have read through Dewey’s concept of education and his concept of philosophy of education. You are going to study Dewey’s educational ideas. These ideas are expressed under the following headings. John Dewey maintains that education is life and the aims of schooling are:
To grow out of existing condition.
To be tentative at least in the beginning and maintain flexibility.
To always be directed towards a set of activities, an end in view.
Methodology
Dewey believes that an acceptable method should be activity oriented as to help the child develop initiative, reflective/critical thinking and sense of problem solving. He develops the following methods:
Scientific or experimental method
Play-way or activity method
Object learning method
Excursion method
Project method and
Inductive method
The School
To Dewey, the school is both the germinal and cellular structure of society; a process by which society grows and reproduces itself. Dewey(1938) clearly stated: “The school is primarily a social institution. Education being a social process the school is simply that form of community life in which all those agencies are concentrated that will be most effective in bringing the child to share in the inherited resources of the race and to use his own powers for social ends. The school organisation should be home extension and play-ground ideal to the child’s real life situation”.
The Teacher
The teacher should be a guidance and a director who carefully selects and constructs learning experiences of the child. According to John Dewey, the teacher must: a. be intelligently aware of the capacities, needs and past experiences.
b. allow the suggestion made to develop a plan and organised into a whole by the members of the group.
The Child
The ideal education should be child centred since he is the most important element in education. In Dewey’s view, the child has four basic instincts or impulses namely: communication, inquiry, construction an artistic expression. These can make the child an active individual in learning activities which education must take cognizance of.
The Curriculum: The ideal curriculum should consider the interest and ability of the child so that it will be meaningful to him. The curriculum should always change and be subjected to constant review to meet the current and prevailing demands of the times. Education and curriculum should be child centred considering the needs of the child above all.
Dewey’s ideas about the curriculum are not different from the other
pragmatists. They advocate that the child’s total experience that is the
society around him, should be the basis of the curriculum. According to
Dewey, the curriculum should consist of the study of the occupations
and associations which provide man’s basic needs. In following this
curriculum the “essentials” - namely food, shelter, clothing, household
furniture etc should come first and the luxuries, second. He also said
that the interest of the children should form the basis of the curriculum
which should not be divided into subjects.
You should know that the curriculum as far as Dewey was concerned, is not a predetermined programme, that is, it should not be a fixed programme to be learned or taught one after the other. It is not fixed and should not be fixed. Rather it should be constantly revised according to the changing interests and life of the children. All these mean that children should be given freedom to engage in self activity and develop self-initiative. They should not be bored in the classroom but should often be given freedom in class to engage in any activity of their choice. Dewey is opposed to the traditional liberal education because it is bookish. He is in favour of practical education. Learning should be mainly through practical experience. Discipline should not allow freedom of action.
Discipline: Dewey believes that externally imposed discipline or a form of authoritarianism on the child is unhealthy and should be avoided. That discipline should be self-imposed or internally imposed, which the child will develop by cooperatively shared activity.
Values: Dewey disagrees with the idea of any static or constant value thateducation is value laden pursuit but all values are relative. A subjectmatter is only valuable as for as it is educative and useful in problemsolving.

Critical Appraisal of Dewey’s Ideas
You have read through John Dewey’s educational ideas and his philosophical ideas, you will not be reading through a critical appraisal of his ideas. You know that Dewey was more interested in the means or instrumentality of attaining knowledge than in the evaluation of its validity. Experiment as the method of knowing was over-emphasized in the presence of other useful method. While necessity is the mother of invention, pure intellectual curiosity likewise stimulates the extension of knowledge.
Dewey’s thesis lacks the evidence of operational thinking. It is a case of reflection involving deductive inference based on previous knowledge. To this, Whitehead in Rusk (1969) says that there are two kinds of logic ignored by Dewey. The logic of discovery consists in weighing the possibility, in discarding irrelevant details, devising sequences and rules and testing hypothesis through properly devised experiments. Really the process of discarding irrelevant details, devising sequences,rules and hypothesis formulation are relevant for discovery and experimentation which are not considered by Dewey. Also apart from the moral concept which is relevant to the individual and the society, but overlooked by his thesis, the history of science which Dewey favoured does not really support him because advance in mathematical science have come about through deduction which he condemned.
In spite of these facts, Dewey still stands above many of his contemporaries in educational contribution. To crown it all education is growth leading to more growth and individual interest, abilities, experiences and capabilities should be emphasised but group or the interest of the society should be considered paramount. Education is growth leading to more growth; and individual interest,abilities, experiences and capabilities should be emphasised but the interest of the society should be considered paramount.