INTRODUCTION
Education and philosophy are closely
inter-related. Philosophy is the corner stone of the foundation of the
education. Philosophy answers thousands of questions in the field of education.
Pragmatism is recognized as the native
philosophy of America. Historically the Pragmatic approach can be traced to
Protagoras, a sophist Philosopher of ancient Greece who said “Man is the
measure of all things”.
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John Dewey (1859-1952) becomes its leading and most influential exponent. He practised it in his laboratory school set up in Chicago in 1896.His purpose was to train pupils in co-operation and mutually useful living.
John Dewey (1859-1952) becomes its leading and most influential exponent. He practised it in his laboratory school set up in Chicago in 1896.His purpose was to train pupils in co-operation and mutually useful living.
The term Pragmatism is sometimes called
“Progressivism”. “Progress implies Change. Change further implies novelty”. So
education cannot be convenience of as acquired once for all. Life has become as
complex as is subject to rapid modifications that the child has to face new
problems and education should enable the child to learn new techniques and
problematic situations. Problem solving is at the core of all the education.
The educative process becomes empirical, experimental and piecemeal: in a word
Pragmatism.
BASIC
PRINCIPLES
Ø Pragmatists believe that man is
primarily a biological and sociological organism. Past, for man is dead and go
on. Tomorrow would come with its own problems and with their own problems.
Ø Human beings are essentially
active. Here emphasis is on action and learning by doing. Action is real and
ideas are tools.
Ø There are no absolute values of
life. Values are flexible. They change with time and circumstances.
Ø Mind is dynamic process, which
functions within a man. The human mind is the product of change. The growth of
personality is the product of action and discovery. Development of personality
is possible only in social context.
Ø Truth is that which works in
practical situations. It is workable.
Ø Thought and knowledge emerges
from search and enquiry.
Ø Pragmatism makes activity; the
basis of all teaching prefers self activity in the context of co-operative
activity.
AIM OF EDUCATION
According to the pragmatic view the
function of education is to bring about certain changes in the behaviour of the
individual. These changes relate to the physical, intellectual, and the moral
development of the human beings. They reflect the growth of the individual, as
the process of education goes on and the individual continues growing
physically, mentally, and morally. Since this process starts from birth and
continues throughout life. Education is broadly conceived as a life-long
process.
Pragmatism
rejects the idea of accepting eternal truths and fixed principles. Truths are good
and proved by human experience. In the process of education values and truths
are discovered at each stage and as the individual goes on discovering them he
goes on acquiring more and more self-confidence and breadth of vision which is
indicative of his growth and realization of some objectives.
Educational
aims are not at the end of process of education. They are rather within the process
and as the individual go on achieving some educational objectives.
CURRICULUM
Pragmatism stresses experience based
curriculum (activity based curriculum).
v It assigns due place to the
interests of the child.
v It gives integrated knowledge
around a particular problem of life.
v It provides problem solving
activities.
v The pragmatists’ curriculum
consists of totality of experiences that the pupil receives through the
manifold activities in the school, in the classroom library, laboratory, and
play ground.
v It emphasizes subjects and
studies like social studies, physical
training, hygiene, mathematics and science.
DISCIPLINE
In
pragmatism, there is no place for rewards and punishments. It stresses social
discipline. Pragmatism believes that discipline comes through purposive and
cooperative activities. According to John Dewey, discipline is the proper use
of one’s energy and power. It advocates self discipline.
PRAGMATISM AND THE EDUCATIVE
PROCESS
Activity
is the central point in the whole educative process. In all creative learning
two agencies are evolved-the educator and educand. No real learning is
conceived without the co-operation between the two to achieve their common
purposes and goals. Co-operation of the two in pursuing an activity gives rise
to the process of education.
Action
is the primordial; unless there is any action, there is no thinking. Real
education is not mere imparting of bookish information; real education means
pled up in many continues experience or activities. The basis of all teaching
is the activity of the child.
METHODS OF TEACHING
v The whole emphasis of method of
teaching in Pragmatism is on child, not the book, or the teacher, or the
subject
v The dominant interest of the
child is “to do and to make”.
v The duty of the teacher to teach
his pupils to do, rather than to know.
v The method should be flexible and
dynamic. It must be adaptable and modifiable to suit the nature of the subject
matter and the potentiality of the students.
v The pragmatist’s curriculum
provides for creative and purposeful activities in the teaching-learning
process.
v Pragmatism regards teacher as a
helper, guide and philosopher.
v Pragmatist’s suggests Project
method, consisting of purposeful activity carried out in a social environment,
pupils learns by doing.
v Learning by doing makes the pupil
creative, confident and co-operative.
v Methods like problem solving,
play-way, experimental and laboratory techniques which follows the principles
of learning by doing.
IMPLICATIONS OF PRAGMATISM
IN EDUCATION
a) EDUCATION AS LIFE
Old and traditional education is
lifeless. To them education is a continuous re-organizing reconstructing,
integrating the experience and activities of race. They want to conserve the
worthwhile culture of the past. Real knowledge can be gained only be activity,
experiments and real life experience. Thus in order to develop the child fully
that he should be provided opportunities to participate more in activities and
experiments so that he creates his own values and lead better, richer and happiest
life.
b) EDUCATION AS GROWTH
The child is to develop and
life for the society, so his personality can be best developed in social
environment. If it were not for his contact with other peoples he would never
achieve a personality at all. The person who interacts with others has the
ability to examine one’s needs in an objective way and he has the capacity for
reflection and intelligent action. They are inconceivable without the give and
take of the social environment.
Thus education will be useful if
it brings about the growth and development of the individual as well as the
society which he lives. Each child is born with inherent capacities, tendencies
and aptitudes which are drawn out through education.
c) EDUCATION
AS A SOCIAL PROCESS
In the words of Dewey “Education
is the social continuity of life”. To pragmatist education is life itself and
not preparation for life. Thus it wants to clear to the educator that the four
things are inseparable i.e. man and nature, individual and society, mind and
body, and thought and action. In the words of Prof. V. R. Tenaja ‘The
pragmatists wish that the educator should have realisable aims in order to meet
the struggle of life in a rational way.
d) EDUCATION A CONTINUOUS RESTRUCTURING
OF EXPERIENCE
Education is a process of
development. Knowledge changes with circumstances and it gained by continuous
experiments and experiences leads to one to another and so on and the area of
knowledge is widened. The process of reconstruction of experiences goes on and
leads to adjustment and development of the personality. For pragmatists
educational process has no end beyond itself. In addition to the individual it
is continuous, reorganising, reconstructing and integrating the experiences and
the activities of the race.
e) EDUCATION
THE RESPONSIBILITY OF STATE
Education is the birth right of
each individual, so the state should shoulder the responsibility. It is for the
state to make the child capable and confident to meet the problems and
challenges of life successfully.
LIMITATIONS
It does not raise the question of ultimate reality behind things.
According to it whatever is apparent is real. There is no place for spirit or
essence. Humanities and cultural activities find no place in the pragmatic
scheme of education. It ignores the past as well as the experience of the past.
It lays emphasis on the present and the future. It does not provide regular and
systematic instructions. It is less practicable in the Indian schools. The
curriculum is haphazard. It is difficult to include all the basic skills and
knowledge required by the learner. It does not give fixed ideals of education
such as education does not help much.
CONCLUSION
Pragmatic philosophy is a practical
philosophy, having no fixed or absolute standards. Man always creates new value
and education should help him in doing so. Being a practical and utilitarian
school of philosophy, pragmatism has influenced education to the maximum
extent.
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