Educational philosophy

Madrassah Education By Khalid Jamil Rawat Traditional concept of education demands from the learners that they should learn by heart the ideas that are not a part of their experience and which they do not understand. Knowledge, according to the philosophy followed by traditional education, develops in three phases. First of all, a learner, who does not understand the meaning of an ideal, is expected to have faith in it. He has to believe that such an ideal truly exists. A learner is expected to have faith in an idea before he can understand or experience it. Thus, the first step involved in the development of knowledge in traditional education is to have a blind faith in what the teacher says. The second stage is the rational understanding of that idea. This second stage does not appear in the lives of the majority of learners. It means that what one initially believed as truth became the object of understanding, of rational knowledge and is finally comprehended with the help of r...

A phenomenological interpretation of John Dewey’s views on Education Dr. Khalid, Dr. Shams, Dr. Wasim Abstract: [Education in our times is promoting nihilism. The reason for this conclusion is that modern education is largely knowledge based and asks the learner to learn ideas that have nothing in common with the reality of the learner. Knowledge, on the other hand, does not enjoy absolute value, and, to say that a person who has more knowledge is more valuable is wrong. John Dewey’s criticism on traditional education is equally valid for modern education, for modern education is not performing its functions properly. The function of education is to establish a strong relationship between learner and Being. However, modern education through its emphasis on remote ideas and values, is working to weaken this relationship. Dewey’s ideas about education can prove a palliative in this ailing situation. Following article tries to investigate the meaning of nihilism in education and its poss...

Freedom, Truth and Education By Dr. Khalid Jamil Rawat , Dr. Wsim Qazi, Dr. Shams Hamid Iqra University Karachi, Pakistan John Dewey has emphasized growth as the meaning and purpose of education. For him education should result in individual’s growth and empowerment. On the other hand, for Dewey, traditional educational practices based on the philosophy of idealism are not conducive to individual’s growth. Dewey has criticized idealism for its negative role in education and for its counterproductivity towards the individual growth. Similiarly, there is an important contribution made by Nietzsche and Heidegger towards the cause of individual empowerment. Freedom is essential for the empowerment of individual, and freedom is expressed through choices. It comes when one finds himself or herself free from all externally imposed ideals. Freedom is a both a negative and a positive idea. It is negative in as much as it is a will to move away from a state of affair, a negation of a set ...

Universals cannot be experienced. It is the particular instances of the universal that come under experience. One cannot see a " man", as such or a "tree", as such , but a particular man and a particular tree. However, a communication based on the experience of a particular instance of a universal concept transcends the the boundaries of particularity and becomes universal.

The Quest of Knowledge Traditionally, among the learned people, knowledge is considered as a belief that has its basis either on the sense perception or on a justified valid reasoning. This however amounts to reduce the innumerable ways in which knowledge comes to us. To say that knowledge either comes to us through senses experience or through a rational analysis of the data is to deny the various ways we can access Being. In our common language what we call extrasensory perception is something unbelievable, non-scientific and a representative of morbid mentality. However, this kind of evaluation of the various modes of knowledge undermines them as extrasensory or supra rational and hides our potentials from our own vision. The traditional concept of knowledge is erroneous in the sense that it gives extraordinary value to senses and reason. Knowledge comes to us from sources that are beyond senses or reason. It does not mean that we have to defy reason and senses. Rather it means that...

Education, regardless of the cultural or temporal context in which it is taking place, should result in the empowerment of individuals. Education should leave a person better than what he was and this precisely is the aim of education. Thus, if education does not result in the empowerment of individual, then, it means that education has not performed its function in a proper way. Now, the question is what it means to empower a person through education? The traditional notion, that has come to us form Plato defines knowledge as a virtue. According to this traditional idea, it is knowledge that actually empowers the individual. This idea is also supported by the thinkers like E.D. Hirsch, who relates the extent of knowledge that a person has with the success in life. Thus, for the people who follow a traditional notion of human well being and empowerment, it is knowledge that gives a person the opportunity to live a better life. The more a person knows, the more a person enjoys value in ...

Pragmatic Theory of Truth and Fundamentalism Fundamentalism in Islamic societies is a growing tendency that needs immediate attention. The urgency to address this issue is there because it is threatening the very fabric of the modern societies. Fundamentalism is a form of idealism that emerged from the faith in the eternity of truth. The truth that is being advocated in fundamentalist approaches is not precisely the truth of Islamic spirit; rather, it is related to the preservation of cultural form and non admissibility of the newly emerging forms of the modern culture. Allama Mohammad Iqbal, a famous thinker and poet of the sub-continent, in his work Reconstruction of the religious thoughts in Islam says that Islamic thought has been stagnant for the last five centuries. However, during this immense period so many new cultural forms in the form of new institutions, ideas and practices have emerged. Muslim societies failed to admit and acknowledge these new forms because they did not u...

Foundation of Education Education System in Pakistan Background Pakistan emerged as an Islamic Republic state on August 14, 1947. Pakistan comprises of four provinces: Punjab, North West Frontier Province, Balochistan and Sindh and some federating units which include Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT), Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and Northern Areas (FANA). Islamabad is the capital of Pakistan, which was constructed in the beginning of 1960s. The national language is Urdu. The constitution is Federal parliamentary. Pakistan education policies After independence the country dealt with several issues along with education. Since 1947, many attempts have been made to relate the education system to the needs and inspirations of the country. The first Education Conference was held in 1947 as per directives of the founder of Pakistan Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah. He provided the basic guidelines for the future development of education by emphasizing on such education system w...