Farabi
Brief
Introduction:
We
know few information that are credible about al-Farabi’s life. He born in 870
CE. The name of the place that the Farabi born in is called Farab or Farayb.
When he was young, he went to Iraq and Baghdad and then in 943 CE he went to
Syria and Damascus. In December 950 CE Abu Nasr al-Farabi died in Damascus. His
attention is based on two main things:
1-
Philosophy
at which he is known as “the second master” because the first one was
Aristotle.
2-
Music.
He wrote a great book of music which is called kitab al-musiqa al-kabir. This
book was very important in the Islamic land, and inside it there were some
sections that are related to philosophy.
In
addition to that, he talks about the philosophy of education.
Views
of Education:
Abu
Naser al-Farabi believes that education is a procedure in order to build a good
society. This happen by helping individuals to reach their freedom in a good
way. According to al-Farabi in order to have happier life you should go through
education which means knowledge, skills and values. Abu Naser al-Farabi talks
about curriculum, methods of teaching, role of teacher and the role of
students.
-
Curriculum:
Abu
Naser al-Farabi was the first philosopher that classified the sciences and
learning. He said that the learning must start with the language and its
structure. So the students should become like the people that speak that
language, otherwise the student will neither understand the people and nor
people will understand him, then there will never be personality.
After
the language there should be what is called logic. Logic is the tool of the
science and their methodology.
After
language and logic there is mathematics. It is used to study optics, astronomy
and natural sciences. Al Farabi said that mathematics will be divided into 7
parts: numbers, geometry, science of perspectives, scientific astronomy, music,
dynamics and sciences of machines. Also there is algebra. After that there is
the theology then civics then jurisprudence and academic theology.
-
Methods of Teaching:
Al
Farabi propose an appropriate method for elite and for general class. Al Farabi
believes that education is very important and in the absence of education there
is no happiness. There are two methods for teaching: one for the common people
which is persuasion and the other method is for elite which is demonstration.
Also talking can be used for demonstration. In addition there is the method
which is based on discussion. Moreover, there is the argument method and the
discourse method. The objective from discourse method is to convince people
without knowing reality.
-
Role of teacher:
Al
Farabi said that morality and education are very important for the teacher. The
role of teacher is to give a good character and its role is to always say the
truth in all conditions. In education the role of teacher is that he/she should
has control over his/her art and rules. Also the teacher should be able to
prove whatever is possible to be proved and be able to let the students
understand.
-
Role of student:
Al
Farabi believes that in the mind of the student there should be three parts:
-
The
first one is to study human talent.
-
The
second one is to understand physical object intellect.
-
The
third one is to comprehend abstract form.
The
role of student is to try for the huge resource of knowledge.
Ghazali
Brief
Introduction:
Al
Ghazali was born between March 1058 to February 1059 CE and he died in 1111 CE.
In west he was known as Algazel. He was a Muslim person and he was the one who
engages in theology, jurist and philosopher. The place that Al Ghazali was born
in is called Tabaran. Al Ghazali wrote in his life 70 books about sciences,
Islamic, philosophy and Sufism. Also he talks about philosophy of education.
Views
of Education:
Al
Ghazali works as a teacher due to his personal experience but he was a
philosopher of ethics and religion. After that Al ghazali found himself going
back to teaching. He believes that the person who get knowledge through
education can differentiate between good and bad so he will never follow the
bad way. Also he said that the important of knowledge is to let the person be
closer to god. Al Ghazali talks about the four views of education.
-
Curriculum:
Al
Ghazali studied the different curriculum and he found that most of the time was
going to religion and there is no time for education. The teachers were
concentrating on the subject that she wants and ignore the others. So Al
Ghazali said that the curriculum should consists of obligatory knowledge that
everyone should study it and optional knowledge that can be studied according
to the wishes of the student. These two are divided into revealed and
non-revealed knowledge. The most important thing is that the teacher must give
both religion and world education and should make combination between them.
Also Al Ghazali put in his curriculum industrial education, textile,
agriculture, tailoring and hair cutting. So the system of education according
to Al Ghazali was going step by step.
-
Methods of Teaching:
Al
Ghazali suggested methods for teaching and these methods are based on
psychological principles. All the teachers in the world said that these methods
are very good in teaching.
-
The
most important thing is that the students should have background information
and experience about the lesson that will be explained. This is very important
in education because it motivate the students toward the lesson and help to
know their abilities.
-
Simplifying
the lesson:
The teacher first should simplify the difficult ideas in the lesson
either through telling story or through games… otherwise the lesson will not be
effective or active.
-
Move
from simple to complex:
This is very important in education. Some teachers explain all the
ideas directly which makes the students feeling bored. So, Al Ghazali said that
the teacher must explain the ideas from simplest to difficult one.
-
Proper
planning:
Al Ghazali said that this is very important and the teachers should
prepare the lesson before explaining it for students which make the teaching
more effective.
-
Affection:
The teacher is like the father of the students. Al Ghazali believes
that the teacher should use love instead of punishment because the use of force
can lead to bad habits among students.
-
Avoid
double standards:
Teacher is the person who advises or show the way of the students. The
teacher should not be the person who indulges in hypocrisy but he should be
honest.
-
Abilities
of students:
Al Ghazali said that the teacher while explaining the lesson should
keep in mind that she should not give high level of examples or explain in a
high level if the students have low mental level, this will make the way of
teaching not effective.
-
Role of teacher:
Al
Ghazali said that the role of teacher is to be friendly and generous with
students and teach them as if they are his/her children. He confirms that
teachers should support good conduct with sympathy. Al Ghazali believes that
the role of teacher is that he/she should be honest with students. Moreover,
teachers should teach their students only the things that are able to
understand it. The role of teacher is to keep in mind that education means be
close to god. Teachers should give advices to the students. In addition to
that, teachers should make practice about what they want to teach to avoid
confusing students and to be able to fix in the knowledge in the minds of the
students.
- Role of student
The role of student is to seek
knowledge. For example, one of the students of Al Ghazali who is called Saad
Al-Khayr traveled to many countries such as china and Spain… and he take the
advices of many teachers to come back with many books. Then Saad Al-Khayr
taught what he know for his sister Fatima bint Saad.
Realism
Brief
Introduction:
Realism
is the concept that the world of matter is different than the world of ideas.
Aristotle is the father of realism and he was a student of plato. It is
stunning that both Aristotle’s and plato’s education continue for thousands of
years. Aristotle said that ideas can exist without matter but matter cannot
exist without ideas. According to Aristotle, education help human to follow
their happiness. Realists said that truth can change (it is relative). Also
realists talk about views of education.
Views
of Education:
Realism
has the big effect on philosophy of education. Realists support students to
make their observation and conclusion from the world and not through the
analysis of their ideas. According to realists the aim of education is to teach
the child the natural and moral law then his generation will lead to a good
life. They do not believe in the common aims of education because they said
that aims are specific to each individual and his point of view, knowing that
each one has his own point of view. Then they talk about curriculum which is
very important in the field of education, methods of teaching and the role of
teacher and student.
-
Curriculum:
Realism
said that written works that are classical should be studied, not its form and
its style but the ideas that it contains. Sense realists said that the study of
language is not as important as the study of sciences and modern life.
Moreover, the neo-realists believes that the main subjects that should be
studied are: physics and humanistic feelings, physics and psychology,
sociology, economics, ethics, politics, history, geography, agriculture varied
arts, languages and so on… Moreover the curriculum of the realists believes
that mathematics is a precise, abstract and symbolic system for describing the
laws of the universe. The realists views the curriculum as knowledge and they said anything exist
must exist in amount and should be able to be measured because they believes
that matter is more important than ideas. Realists said that the curriculum
should be in an order form. First the students should know well his own
language and in order to understand it more he/she should learn foreign
language. Second he/she should learn human logic and elementary mathematics.
After that he should be familiar with the methods of physics, chemistry and
biology. In the third place the student should study history and the sciences
of man. The most important thing is that all the things should be in amount and
can be measured because matter is more important than ideas.
-
Methods of Teaching:
Realists
say that there should be technique of observation and experience. Also the
teachers should encourage the use of audio and visual aids in teaching to
improve the sensory powers in the children. Methods of teaching should be by
discussion, lectures or by making a conference or meeting to discuss a
particular subject. Also one of the methods should be memorization at early
stage. Another method of teaching is by travelling from case to another. For
example go from easy idea to difficult one, from simple idea to complex one,
from known to unknown, definite to indefinite, concrete to abstract and from
particular to general. In general there are 5 methods of teaching:
a-
Preparation:
To let the students remember earlier materials that are related to the lesson.
b-
Presentation:
New materials are set and explained.
c-
Association:
To make comparison between new materials and those already learned.
d-
Generalization:
Drawing the conclusion from the materials and find general rule, principle or
law.
e-
Application:
Working of academic exercises and problems.
_ Role of teacher:
The
role of teacher is to be such a guide to students. The real world exist and the
role of teacher is to introduce the students to it. The role of teacher is to
let the student see the nature and the regularities. Teachers must be a guide
to children towards the hard life and must expose them to problems. The role of
teachers is to explain the information in a clear way and this happen by
applying scientific methods and they should tell the children about researches.
To be more professional, teachers must make practice before they come to class.
-
Role of Student:
The
role of student that he/she should withdraw from cruelties, injustice and
suffering. The role of student is to learn hard process.
Pragmatism
Brief
Introduction:
The
origin of word pragmatism is Greek. Pragmatism is an ideal American school of
philosophy. Pragmatism is closely related to the life and mind of American. It
is the result of practical experience of life. Pragmatists does not believe in
constant and endless values but it is effective and always change. It was
against the acceptance of our belief in absolute principles in political,
philosophical, ethical, or theological matters. The mean of pragmatism is
action from which the word practice have come. The idealists build an idea that
cannot be realized by man. Pragmatism put levels that are achievable. So
pragmatism are practical people. They face problem and they try to solve it by
using practical methods. So pragmatism follow the action and not the thought.
Pragmatism also can be called Experimentalism because they support the
experimental methods of science.
Views
of Education:
Pragmatism
said that there are no constant aims of education. The only aim of education is
to let the students be able to create values in their life. Pragmatism believes
that the children should be able to solve their problems and they should be
effective people in the society. So they believe that education will let the
mind strong enough to create values in the future.
-
Curriculum:
The
curriculum of pragmatists should include advantage, attention, experiences and
integration. Practical advantages are the password of pragmatism. Actually
language, hygiene, history, geography, physics, mathematics, sciences, domestic
science for girls, agriculture for boys. All of these should be in the
curriculum because they carry the professional advantages for the curriculum.
Also the kind of child, his goal, interests, motivation at a specific stage in
his growth and many practices should be taken into consideration. Also the
psychology and sociology should be added to the curriculum. Reading, writing,
arithmetic, nature study, hand-work and drawing should be included in the
environment because the objective is to help students to solve their present-day
problems, so fact and theory will not do anything. So, education should be
“learning by doing”. All the things must be practical.
-
Methods of teaching:
Practical
utility is the best method of teaching according to pragmatists. The method of
pragmatists is based on the activity. The learning can be done through personal
experience. Pragmatic method is based on solving problems so the child should
be placed in situations that he has to solve. Pragmatic method is based on
action and not on lectures or theories because they believes that education is
“learning by doing”. So the child should do something. The method of pragmatist
teacher is experimental. The teacher should suggest the problem, put the lines
of active solution and then let the students think about the experiment.
-
Role of teacher:
The
role of teacher according to pragmatists is to be useful. The teacher should be
a guide, adviser and helper. The role of teacher is to teach the students to
think rather than to know. Moreover, his role is to create problems to students
and encourage them to solve these problems. The teacher is not responsible to
let the students know all the information, they will know it from their experience
and from their gaining of knowledge and skills.
-
Role of student:
The
role of student is to know the art of successful solving of practical problems
and real situations of life. The role of student is to create values through
his own activities. The students should be an effective members in the society.
They should be creative and they should train a lot to be able to solve the
problems.
