THE TEACHER AND THE COMMUNITY, DON MARIANO MARCOS MEMORIAL STATE UNIVERSITY

SCHOOL CULTURE, COLLEGE OF EDUCATION

SOUTH LA UNION CAMPUS
& ORGANIZATIONAL LEADERSHIP AGOO, LA UNION

In a Grade 3 Science class:

Teacher: What is the function at the mouth?

Student : To break the food into smaller pieces.
Teacher: Very good! What about the stomach?
Student: To digest the food.
Teacher: Very good! Perfect! And the small intestines?
Student: To absorb the food nutrients.

Analysis:
What classroom scenario is/ are being depicted by the comic Strip and the teacher-student question and answer.

Isolated Facts and the Banking Method .

Depicted in the question and answer proceeding in class are a common classroom scenario. Most lessons are devoted to
teacher asking low-level questions and students answering with what they memorized the night before. Teacher deposited
these facts a day before and withdraws them the next day. A perfect example of the banking system of education that
Paulo Freire is very much against as it does not make the learner reflect and connect what he / she was taught to real life.

We have nothing against facts. But isolated facts make no sense but become meaningful when seen in relation to other
facts. ‘These facts When combined With other facts (with further questioning from the teacher) help the learner see
meaning and connection to his/ her life. Example: The pupil learned that food _ is broken down into small pieces, which is
digested by the stomach and is absorbed by the intestine. To connect the facts, teacher should ask more questions like:
“What if the food is not chewed in the mouth, What happens to food in the stomach and to the stomach itself? What if the
stomach fails to digest food from the mouth, What happens to the food in the small intestines? Will the small intestines be
able to absorb food, etc.

Below are summaries of thoughts of education philosophers on what should be taught and how learners should be taught.

1. John Locke (1632-1704) : The Empiricist Educator

• Acquire knowledge about the world through the senses learning by doing and by interacting with the environment
• Simple ideas become more complex through comparison, reflection and generalization on the inductive method
• Questioned the long traditional view that knowledge came exclusively from literary sources, particularly the Greek
and Latin classics
• Opposed he “dwine right of kings” theory which held that the monarch had the right to be an unquestioned and
absolute ruler over his subjects
• Political order should be based upon a contract between the people and the government
• Aristocrats are not destined by birth to be rulers. People were to establish their own government and select their
own political leaders from among themselves; civic education is necessary
• People should be educated to govern themselves intelligently and responsibly (Ornstein, 1 984)

Comments:
ü For John Locke education is not acquisition of knowledge contained in the Great Books. It is learners interacting
with concrete experience, comparing and reflecting on the same concrete experience, comparing. The learner is
an active not a passive agent of his / her own learning.
ü From the social dimension, education is seeing citizens participate actively and intelligently in establishing their
government and in choosing Who will govern them from among themselves because they are convinced that no
one person is destined to be ruler forever.

2. Herbert Spencer (1820-1903): Utilitarian Education

• Spencer’s concept of “survival of the fittest” means that human development had gone through an evolutionary
series of stages from the simple to the complex and from the uniform to the more specialized kind of activity.
• Social development had taken place according to an evolutionary process by which simple homogeneous
societies had evolved to more complex societal systems characterized with humanistic and classical education.
• Industrialized society require vocational and professional education based on scientific and practical (utilitarian)
objectives rather than on the very general educational goals associated with humanistic and classical education.
• Curriculum should emphasize the' practical, utilitarian and scientific subjects that helped human kind master the
environment.
• Was not inclined to rote learning; schooling must be related to life and to the activities needed to earn a living.
• Curriculum must be arranged according to their contribution to human survival and progress.
• Science and other subjects that sustained human life and prosperity should have curricular priority since it aids in
the performance of life activities.
• Individual competition leads to social progress. He who is fittest survives. (Ornstein, 1984)

Prepared by:
Ernesto G. Flores Jr.
Faculty, College of Education
 THE TEACHER AND THE COMMUNITY, DON MARIANO MARCOS MEMORIAL STATE UNIVERSITY
SCHOOL CULTURE, COLLEGE OF EDUCATION
SOUTH LA UNION CAMPUS
& ORGANIZATIONAL LEADERSHIP AGOO, LA UNION

Comments:

Specialized Education of Spencer vs. General Education

ü To survive in a complex society, Spencer favors specialized education over that of general education. We are in
need of social engineers who can combine harmoniously the findings of specialized knowledge. This is
particularly true in the field of medicine.
ü The expert who concentrates on a limited field is useful, but if he loses sight of the interdependence of things he
becomes a man who knows more and more about less and less. We must be warned of the deadly peril of over
specialism. Of course we do not prefer the other extreme, the superficial person who knows less and less about
more and more.

Spencer’s Survival of the Fittest

• He who is fittest survives. Individual competition leads to social progress. The competition in class is what
advocates of whole; child approach and Socio-emotional Learning (SEL) atmosphere negate. The whole child
approach a powerful tool for SELF-focused schools has as tenets “each student learns in an environment that is
physically and emotionally safe for students and adults” and “each student has access to personalized learning
and is supported by qualified and caring adults... ”(Frey, N. 2019)

The highlighted words point to no competition for competition works against an emotionally safe environment.

3. John Dewey (1859-1952): Learning through Experience

• Education is a social process and so school is intimately related to the society that it serves.
• Children are socially active human beings who want to explore their environment and gain control over it. .
• Education is a social process by which the immature members of the group, especially the children,’ are brought
to participate in the society.
• The school is a special environment established by members of society, for the purpose of simplifying, purifying
and integrating the social experience of the group so that it can be understood, examined and used by its
children.
• The sole purpose of education is to contribute to the personal and social growth of individuals.
• The steps of the scientific or reflective method which are extremely important in Dewey’s educational theory are
as follows:

Ø The learner has a “genuine situation of experience” involvement in an activity in which he/she is interested.
Ø Within this experience the learner has a “genuine problem’ that stimulates thinking.
Ø The learner possesses the information or does research to acquire the information needed to solve the
problem.
Ø The learner develops possible and tentative solutions that may solve the problem.
Ø The learner tests the solutions by applying them to the problem. In this one way one discovers their validity
for oneself
• The fund of knowledge of the human race-past ideas, discoveries and inventions was to be used as the material
for dealing with problems. This accumulated wisdom of cultural heritage has to be tested. If it served human
purposes, it becomes part of a reconstructed experience.
• The school is social, scientific and democratic. The school introduces children to society and their heritage. The
school as a miniature society is a means of bringing children into social participation.
• The school is scientific in the sense that it is a social laboratory in which children and youth could test their ideas
and values. In here, the learner acquires the disposition and procedures associated with scientific or reflective
thinking and acting.
• The school is democratic because the learner is. free to test all ideas, beliefs and values. Cultural heritage,
customs and institutions are all subject to critical inquiry, investigation and reconstruction.
• School should be used by all, it being a democratic institution. No barrier of custom or prejudice segregate
people. People ought to work together to solve common problems. ..
• The authoritarian or coercive style of administration and teaching is out of place because they block genuine
inquiry and dialogue.
• Education is a social activity and the school is a social agency that helps shape human character and behavior.
• Values are relative but sharing, cooperation, and democracy are significant human values that should be
encouraged by schools. (Ornstein, A. 1984)

Comments:

The Fund of Knowledge of the Human Race

ü Dewey does not disregard the accumulated wisdom of the past. These past ideas, discoveries and 'inventions,
our cultural heritage, will be used as the material for dealing with problem and so will be tested. If they are of help,
they become part of a reconstructed experience. If they are not totally accurate, they will still be part of a
reconstructed experience. This means that the ideal learner for 'Dewey is not just one who can learn by doing,
e.g., conduct an experiment but one who can connect accumulated wisdom of the past to the present.
Prepared by:
Ernesto G. Flores Jr.
Faculty, College of Education
 THE TEACHER AND THE COMMUNITY, DON MARIANO MARCOS MEMORIAL STATE UNIVERSITY
SCHOOL CULTURE, COLLEGE OF EDUCATION
SOUTH LA UNION CAMPUS
& ORGANIZATIONAL LEADERSHIP AGOO, LA UNION

Schools are For the People and By the People

ü Schools are democratic institutions where everyone regardless of age, ethnicity, social status is welcome and is
encouraged to participate in the democratic process of decision-making. Learners and stakeholders practice and
experience democracy in schools. ‘

4. George Counts (1889-1974): Building a New Social Order

• Education is not based an eternal truths but is relative to a particular society living at a given time and place.
• By allying themselves with groups that want to change society, schools should cope with social change that arises
from technology.
• There is a cultural lag between material progress and social institutions and ethical values.
• Instruction should incorporate a content of a socially useful nature and a problem-solving methodology. Students
are encouraged to work on problems that have social significance.
• Schools become instrument for social improvement rather than an agency for preserving the status quo.
• Teachers should lead society rather than follow it. Teachers are agents of change.
• Teachers are called on to make important choices in the controversial areas of economics, politics and morality
because if they failed to do so, others would make the decisions for them.
• Schools ought to provide an education that afford equal learning opportunities to all students. (Ornstein, A. 1984)

Comments:

Schools and Teachers as Agents of Change

ü For George Counts, schools and teachers should be agents of change. Schools are considered instruments for
social improvement rather than as agencies for preserving the status quo. Whatever change we work for should
always be change for the better not just change for the sake of change.
ü Teachers are called to make decisions on controversial issues Not to make a decision is to actually making a
decision.
ü Like Dewey, problem solving, should be the dominant method for instruction.

Lag Between Material Progress and Ethical Values

Counts asserts that “there is a cultural lag between material progress and social institutions and ethical values.”
Material progress of humankind is very evident but moral and ethical development seem to have lagged behind. A
friend once wrote: “The Egyptians had their horses. Modern man has his jets but today it is still the same moral
problems that plague humankind.” Indeed with science and technology, we have become very powerful and yet
powerless. We have conquered a number of diseases and even postponed death for many, we have conquered
aging, the planets, the seas but we have not conquered ourselves.

5. Theodore Brameld (1904-1987) Social Reconstructionism

• As the name implies, social reconstructionism is a philosophy that emphasizes the reformation of society. The
social ' reconstructionists contend that:

…humankind has moved from an agricultural and rural society to an urban and technological society... there
is a serious lag in cultural adaptation to the realities of a technological society. Humankind has yet to
reconstruct its values in order to catch up with the changes in the technological order, and organized
education has a major 'role to play in reducing the gap between the values of the culture and technology.
(Ornstein, 1984)

• So the social reconstructionist asserts that schools should: critically examine present culture and resolve
inconsistencies, controversies and conflicts to build a new society not just change society... do mare than
reform the social and educational status quo. It should seek to create a new society... Humankind is in a state
of profound cultural crisis. If schools reflect the dominant social values... then organized education will merely
transmit the social ills that are symptoms of the pervasive problems and afflictions that beset humankind...
The only legitimate goal of a truly human education is to create a world order in which people are in control of
their own destiny. In an era of nuclear weapons, the social reconstructionists see an urgent need for society
to reconstruct itself before it destroy. itself. (Ornstein, A. 1984)

• Technological era is an era of interdependence and no education must be international in scope for global
citizenship.

• For the social reconstructionists, education is designed ‘to awaken students’ consciousness about social
problems and to engage them actively in problem solving”. (Ornstein, 1984)

Prepared by:
Ernesto G. Flores Jr.
Faculty, College of Education
 THE TEACHER AND THE COMMUNITY, DON MARIANO MARCOS MEMORIAL STATE UNIVERSITY
SCHOOL CULTURE, COLLEGE OF EDUCATION
SOUTH LA UNION CAMPUS
& ORGANIZATIONAL LEADERSHIP AGOO, LA UNION

• Social reconstructionists are firmly committed to equality or equity in both society and education. Barriers of
socio-economic class and racial discrimination should be eradicated.

• They also emphasize the idea of an interdependent world. The quality of life needs to be considered and
enhanced on a global basis. (Ornstein, A. 1984)

Comments:

ü Like John Dewey and George Counts, social reconstructionist Brameld believe in active problem solving as the
method of teaching and learning.

ü Social reconstructionists are convinced that education is not a privilege of the few but a right to be enjoyed by all.

ü Education is a right that all citizens regardless of race and social status must enjoy. '

6. Paulo Freire (1921-1997) Critical Pedagogy

Critical Pedagogy and Dialogue vs. the Banking Model of Education

• Paulo Freire, a critical theorist, like social reconstructionists, believed that systems must be changed to
overcome oppression and improve human conditions.

• Education and literacy are the vehicle for social change. In his view, humans must learn to resist oppression
and not become its victims, nor oppress others. To do so. requires dialogue and critical consciousness, the
development of awareness to overcome domination and oppression.

• Rather than “teaching as banking, ” in which the educator deposits information into students’ heads, Freire
saw, teaching and learning as a process of inquiry in which the child must invent and reinvent the world.

• Teachers must not see themselves as the sole possessors of knowledge and their students as empty
receptacles . He calls this pedagogical approach the “banking method” of education.

• A democratic relationship between the teacher and her students is necessary in order for the conscientization
process to take place.

• Freire’s critical pedagogy is problem-posing education.

• A central element of Freire’s pedagogy is dialogue. It is love and respect that allow us to engage people in
dialogue and to discover ourselves in the process and learn from one another. By its nature, dialogue is not
something that can be imposed. Instead, genuine dialogue is characterized by respect of the parties involved
toward one another. We develop a tolerant sensibility during the dialogue process, and it is only when we
come to tolerate the points of view and ways of being of others that we might be able to learn from them and
about ourselves ' in the process. Dialogue means the presence of equality, mutual recognition, affirmation of
people, a sense of solidarity with people, and remaining open to questions. '

• Dialogue is the basis for critical and problem-posing pedagogy, as opposed to banking education, where
there is no discussion, only the imposition of the teacher’ 3 ideas on the students. (Ornstein, 1984)

Comment:

ü All of these education philosophers, point to the need of interacting With others and of creating a “community of
inquiry” as Charles Sanders Peirce put it. The community of inquiry is “a group of persons involved in inquiry,
investigating more or less the same' question or problem, and developing through their exchanges a better
understanding both of the question as well ’ as the probable solutions.” (Lee, 2010) A community of inquiry will
engage learners in active problem solving.

Prepared by:
Ernesto G. Flores Jr.
Faculty, College of Education