30574917 Realism in Education

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Realism in Education

DR. SURAKSHA BANSAL DR.V.K.MAHESHWARI DR. SAROJ AGARWAL

Ph.D Ph.D Ph.D

Sr.Lecrurer Former Principal Sr.Lecturer

DIMS, Meerut K.L.D.A.V.COLLEGE DIMS, Meerut

India Roorkee . India India

For the realist, the world is as it is, and the job of schools would be to teach

students about the world. Goodness, for the realist, would be found in the laws

of nature and the order of the physical world. Truth would be the simple

correspondences of observation. The Realist believes in a world of Things or

Beings (metaphysics) and in truth as an Observable Fact. Furthermore, ethics

is the law of nature or Natural Law and aesthetics is the reflection of Nature.

The philosophy of realism has had a number of educational spokesmen

through the centuries. While the idealist philosophers have traditionally concernedthemselves with pure philosophy, particularly in its ontological or metaphysicalaspects, the realists have been deeply concerned with the problems of

epistemology. Realists pride themselves on being hard-nosed and not being

guilty of dealing with intellectual abstractions. Even so, the realist ontology can

become very rigid and demanding.

Realism is interested in objects and facts. In general, realists believe in the

independent existence of the experiential universe. They have a healthy respect for

the facts of both the sciences and the social sciences.

In the realist tradition are a number of well known educational spokesmen.

Among these John Amos Comenius, John Locke, and Johann Herbart and Johann

Herbart. More recently, John Wild, Frederick S. Breed, and Harry Broudy have

represented the realistic point of view in educational though. Because of certain

similarities in their educational values and programs, realism and idealism are

often allied in a position referred to as essentialism.


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Definition of Realism

Naturalism builds the confidence most people have in the orderliness and

dependability of Nature. Idealism is a comprehensive philosophy which has

resulted from intellectualizing the common belief in the reality of mind and self

.ACCORRESPONDINGLY REALISM IS THE REFINEMENT OF OUR

COMMON ACCEPTANCE OF THE WORLD AS BEING JUST WHAT IT

APPEARS TO BE. According to it, things are essentially what they seem to be

,and, furthermore, in our knowledge they are just the same as they were before

entering our consciousness, remaining unchanged by our experiencing them.

The fundamental and underlying philosophy assumption of the realist is that

reality exists and is totally independent of any Knowledge of it. If objects exist and

is totally independent of any knowledge of it. If objects exist independent of anyknowledge about them, it is obvious that we have an irreconcilable dispute

between the realists and the idealists. Where an idealist would say that a tree in the

middle of the desert exists only if it is in some mind, or if there is knowledge of it;

the realist would hold that whether or not anyone or anything is thinking about the

tree, it nonetheless exists. The realist has revolted against the doctrine that things

that are in the experiential universe are dependent upon a knower for their

existence.

Let us look at the old question about the falling tree on the desert island for a

moment. The question is usually as follows: If a tree falls on a desert island andthere is no one there to hear it, is there any sound? How would the idealist and the

realist differ in looking at and answering this particular question?

Historical Retrospect of Realism

1. Pre-Christian Origins:Although some of the early pre-Christian thinkers dealt with the problems of

the physical world (most notably the early Greek physicist- philosophers,

Democritus and Leucippus) the first detailed realistic position is generallyattributed to Aristotle. Aristotle had been a student of Platos. He was the son of aMacedonian physician and inclined toward the medical and natural sciences. His

writings were much more pedantic than those of Plato and lacked the soaring

vision found in his mentors work. Much of his thinking was either an attempt to

come to terms with Platos idealism in an empirical universe or a reaction toPlatos realm of Ideas. Windelband goes so far as to credit Aristotle with having


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solved the Fundamental problem of Greek Philosophy This fundamentalproblem, a problem with which Plato and his predecessors had wrestled, was the

question of the nature of Being or Reality.

Reality, according to Aristotle was distinguishable into form and matter.

Matter is the substance that all things have in common. Form is what distinguishes

them. For Aristotle these to substance were logically separable although always

found together in the empirical world. The more closely anything approaches pure

form, the higher it reigns in the Aristotle hierarchy. At the top of this hierarchy is

pure form which may be viewed as the highest form of reason. It is the Prime-

Mover which gives the universe its orderly nature. Matter, which is at the base of

the hierarchy, is nothing by itself. Closest to the bottom of the hierarchy are such

things as earth and stones. Further up the scale come man, the heavens, and finally

the Prime-Mover which is pure form and reason.

2. Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century: Comenius and Locke

John Amos Comenius was a member of the Moravian Brethren and in the

service of his religion rose to the position of bishop. The Brethren were followers

of john Huss, one of the spiritual forbears of Martin Luther. Huss was eventually

burned at the stake in 1415 as a heretic.

Comenius, despite his religious calling was deeply influenced by the then

emerging sciences. In his pedagogical though, Comenius divided schooling into

four levels. The first of these was the mother school or the home. Here the mother

was the most important agent in the educative process. Second came the vernacular

school. Here the emphasis was on learning in the language of the people. This was

a departure from the early emphasis on Latin as the language of all scholarship.

The third level of schooling was the Latin grammar school and the fourth was the

university. A great many of the ideas of this seventeenth century educator were

truly innovative. For example, besides advocating education in the mother tongue,

Comenius believed in physical education and the equal education of both sexes.

Throughout his writings, Comenius emphasizes the primary importance ofthe gathering of knowledge or sense data. In 1658 he published his Orbis Pictus,

one of the earliest through the use of the senses. The Orbis Pictus was an

introductory Latin textbook which had over 150 illustrations, a truly radical

departure for its time. It was the first successful textbook which set out the

doctrines of sense realism. Comenius felt that the human mind, like a mirror,


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reflected everything around it. The greatest criticism of the view of the mind is that

it makes man a spectator of the world rather than a participant.

John Locke was a philosopher as Comenius was an educator, and Lockes

writings reflected this orientation just as Comenius showed his lifelong interest inpedagogy. Lockes greatest contribution both to philosophy and to philosophy of

education was his doctrine that ideas are not innate but that all experience is the

result of impressions made on the mind by external objects. The implication of this

are spelled out in his concept of the tabula rasa or the mind as a blank sheet on

which the outside world must leave its impressions. In essence this doctrine says

that man is born with neither ready-made ideas nor with ideas which lie dormant in

the mind. Man is born without innate ideas. At the time of birth, mans mind is a

blank slate upon which sensory experiences of the world create impressions. All

ideas, according to Locke, must come from either sensation or reflection.

The impressions or experiences which we have and which supplies our

understanding wit all the materials of thinking are of primary and secondary

qualities. The primary qualities such as extension in space, solidity, position, and

motion, are the true characteristics of physical objects. Every object shows all the

primary attributes in some degree. The secondary qualities are attributes of a

sensory nature: taste, touch, smell, etc., and it is not necessary that an object have

all of these. We know about the attributes of things through ideas in our mind that

come through sense observation or reflection.

3. Nineteenth Century: Herbart

Herbart argued that all subjects are related and that Knowledge of one helps

strengthen knowledge of the others. He also held that we acquires new contents

they are assimilated with the existing contents. It was Herbarts theory of the

relationship of ideas that was probably his greatest contribution to educational

thought.

The relationships between new ideas and old ideas occurred in what Herbart

called the apperceptive mass. Within the mind, new apperceptions or presentationsunited with older apperceptions and struggled to rise from the unconscious level of

mind to the conscious. Obviously, any teaching must be aimed at making the

greatest number of connections between the new ideas and those which were

already held in the apperecptive mass.


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Besides being a philosopher, educator, and musician, Herbart was, for his

day and time, a psychologist. This is not too surprising since most of the

psychological thought of his time found its roots in philosophical speculation.

Nonetheless, Herbart tried to make the rules of psychology as binding and

incontrovertible as those of the physical sciences. To this end he attempted to

develop a science of teaching with its own rules and these he developed into a five-

steps can be seen as having their origins in the theory of sensory experience andthe doctrine of the apperceptive mass.

The Herbartian movement in the United States reached its peak in the late

nineteenth and early twentieth century. Because of its formalism it allowed a

teacher to substitute technique for knowledge a long distance. It became a popular

technique to impart to future teachers in normal schools and in other institutes for

teacher preparation. Its very formalism was also its greatest weakness since it

allowed a teacher slavishly to develop a lesson with allowed the rigid teacher toteach rigidly. Herbart himself would probably have shuddered at the misuse of

what he conceived of as creative method for teaching children. For Herbart,

education was applied psychology. The five-step method he developed was as

follows:

Preparation: An attempt is made to have the student recall earlier materials to

which the new knowledge might be related. The purpose of the lesson is explained

and an attempt to interest the learner is made.

Presentation: The new facts and materials are set forth and explained.

Association: A definite attempt is made to show similarities and differences and to

draw comparisons between the new materials and those already learned and

absorbed into the apperceptive mass.

Generalization: The drawing of inferences from the materials and an attempt to

find a general rule, principal, or law. This is a logical step in light of Herbarts

attempt to find a science of education and psychology.

Application: In general this meant the working of academic exercises and

problems based on both the new information and the relevant related information

in the appreciative mass.

4. American Realism: The New Realists and the Critical Realists


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The New Realists were so named because they emerged as a reaction to

idealism. Where idealism give special status to mind, seeing it as basically the stuff

from which all other things are created, the New Realists, particularly the

American school, rejected this notion, giving mind no special status and viewing it

as part of nature. For them things could pass in and out of knowledge and would in

no way be altered by the process. Existence, they argued, is not dependent upon

experience or perception, thus mind ceases to be the central pivot of the universe.

For this reason, even if mind is not replaced by matter, it is nonetheless forced to

move over and give it equal status. Speculation, according to the New Realists,

was not as fruitful as the use of the empirical methods of science.

Not all realists felt that they could support the position o the New Realists.

Thus, in 1916 another group was formed consisting of Durant Drake, Arthur O.

Lovejoy, James B. Pratt, George Santayana, Roy W. Sellars, Arthur K. Rogers, and

C.A.Strong. the major difference between the New Realists and this new group, theCritical Realists, seems to have centered around epistemological considerations.

The Critical Realists felt that man could not know the world directly but only

though certain vehicles or essences. Thus, objects are not presented directly to

consciousness but are represented. We do not have direct knowledge of any object

except as it carried to us by our senses. It was felt by the Critical Realists that this

position was the only way to explain errors of perception. In 1920 the Critical

Realists published their platform under the title, Essays in Critical Realism.

Unfortunately the full educational implication of the Critical Realist philosophy

have never been developed, although the perceptual psychologists have worked

along a track which rather closely parallels some of the work of the Critical

Realists.

Philosophical Rationale of Realism

The Universe (Ontology or Metaphysics)

There is great variety in the metaphysical beliefs of realists. There is so

much variety, in fact, that realists could never be grouped together if they did not

have certain common ground. They believe that the universe is composed of matterin motion. It is the physical world in which we live that makes up reality. We can,

on the basis of our experiences, recognize certain regularities in it about which we

generalize an to which we grant the status of laws. The vast cosmos rolls on

despite man. It is ordered by natural laws which control the relationships himself

with it or not. It is not unlike a giant machine in which man is both participant and

spectator. This machine not only involves the physical universe, it operates in the


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moral, social and economic sphere as well. The realist sees the immutable laws

governing mans behavior as part of the machine; they are natural law. The realist

may be a monist, believing in one substance; a dualist, believing in two; or a

pluralist, believing in many. Whichever he is, he believes that all substances have a

real existential status independent of the observer. He sees the world as having an

orderly nature and composition which exists independent of consciousness but

which man may know. John Wild has summed up the metaphysical foundations of

realism

Of the several. Different answers to the problem of GOD, it is likely that

everyone is upheld by some member of the family of realists. Of course, there are

realists who are atheistic. Those who define mind in terms of matter or physical

process, and who think of the cosmos in the thoroughly naturalistic sense,ofcourse

have no place for God in there metaphysics.

The following is one representative statement of Montagues. theism---The

God that I believe to be most probable is infinite and eternal like the universe

which is His body, all-perfect in Himself and His will to good, but limited in power

by that totality of possible and actual beings which is within Himself yet not

Himself, and which is what we may call evolution if undergoing the endless

leaving and perfecting that such an infinite chaos would require.

The universe is made up of real, substantial entities, existing in themselves

and ordered to one another by extra mental relations. They are known or not. To be

is not the same as to be known. We ourselves and the other entities around us

actually exist, independent of our opinions and desires. This may be called the

thesis of independence.

Knowledge and Truth (Epistemology)

As idealists emphasize the ontological dimensions of philosophy, the realists

focus upon epistemological concerns. Basically, there are two different schools of

epistemological thought in the realist camp. While both schools admit the

existence and externality of the real world, each views the problem of how wecan know it in a different way.

The neorealist describe the knowing process as closely identifying the

knower with the object known. They say that the object of external world are

presented in consciousness, not represented .They mean to say that when I

perceive an object, it is the same identical object in the world out-there which is in


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my consciousness. There is not some go-between which mediates between me and

the object, such as a mental image of the object which is in my consciousness but

not out there in the object.

The first position or presentational view of knowledge, holds that we know

the real object as it exists. This is the positions of the New Realists. When one

perceives something, it is the same thing that exists in the real world. Thus, mindbecomes the relationship between the subject and the object. In this school of

thought there can be no major problems of truth since the correspondence theory is

ideally applicable. This theory states that a thing is true is as it corresponds to the

real world. Since knowledge is by definition correspondence, it must be true. This

thesis of direct realism is well put by John Wild.

These real entities and relations can be known in part by the human mind as

they are in themselves. Experience shows us that all cognition is intentional orrelational in character. Every concept is of something; every judgment about

something. The realist holds that this is a peculiar relation by which the knowing

act becomes united with, in a nonmaterial sense, or directly identified with

something really existent . To know something is to become relationallyidentified wit an existent entity as it is.

The Critical Realists take a different view of knowledge and one which

seems to answer many of Dr. Morris criticisms, as wells dealing with errors in

perception. Their position is a representational view. This position holds that

although something exists in reality our knowledge is not of it, but of a

representation of it. Thus, the Critical Realist is faced with the question of how

knowledge, if it is not direct apprehension of something, gets to our minds. Or to

put it in the terms of the Critical Realists, what is the vehicle of knowledge? We do

not know the world directly (epistemological monism) but by means of some

intervening phenomenon (epistemological dualism) which effects how we perceive

and think about the world. This vehicle or intermediary fifers for different

supporters of this school of thought. Some hold that it is a mental vehicle is neutral

and not an intrinsic part of the physical or mental world.

Values (Axiology)

Among realists, there are at least two general theories of value: (1) that

values are simple indefinable elements, which are experienced for what they are

when we experience them, and (2) that values are dependent upon the attitudes of

the sentient beings experiencing them.


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According to the first of these theories, those qualities of our experience,

which we prefer or desire, and to which we attach worth, have something about

them which makes them preferable or desirable. But according to the second

theory, the key to the evaluation is to be found in the interest. Let us now consider

some of the values possible to realists in the fields of ethics, aesthetics, religion,

and social affairs.

1 .Ethical Value

Montague may exemplify a realist approach to moral value, as long as it is

remembered that his metaphysics grants the reality of the spiritual, whereas many

realists are naturalistic in their metaphysical beliefs. Montague finds the ethics of

John Stuart Mill to be quite acceptable: for him, the moral good can be defined

from the vantage point of society as the greatest happiness of the greatestnumber.

2 .Religious Value

One aspect of the relation of axiology and metaphysics can be seen by

looking again at what has been said about realism and belief in God, and then

considering what religious values are possible to realists in the light of this. For

those who do not believe in God, experience will not be rooted in a Divine Being

whom we can worship, reverence, and in whom we can place our trust. Faith and

hope will not have validity as religious attitudes because they will have no real

object. Of course, if it is true that such values have no root in reality, it is well to

know the truth, even so. But there are also realists who believe in God: and for

them many traditional religious values are rooted in realty and therefore are valid.

3. Social Value

It may be that there is more in common in the approaches made to social

philosophy by naturalism and realism than would be expected, inasmuch as there

are realists who are not naturalistic in their metaphysical beliefs. Two attitudes

common to both may be mentioned. In the synopsis of the philosophy ofnaturalism, it was observed that for naturalists the physical universe is much more

commonly the context of life and thought than is society. This is also the case for

most realists.

4. Aesthetic Value


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There is a close relation between the refinement of perception and the ability

to enjoy aesthetic values. It holds that ultimate values are essentially subjective. In

other words, he believes that no goal or object is bad or good in itself. Only the

means for acquiring such goals or objects can be judged good or bad insofar as

they enable the individual or the group to attain them.

Thus value in the last analysis rests on the facts of human interest.

Knowledge of the facts of human preference will determine what is politically,

economically, socially;, or educationally worthwhile. He cites the value of

democracy as an example of a natural value derived from the facts of experience

rather than from any transcendental source.

1. What is Good (Ethics)

The realist believes in natural laws. Man can know natural law and live thegood life by obeying it. All mans experience is rooted in the regularities of the

universe or this natural law. In the realm of ethics this natural law is usually

referred to as the moral law. It was to this same moral law that Thomas Jefferson

had reference when, in the Declaration of Independence, he spoke of mansunalienable rights and laws of nature. These moral laws have the same

existential status as the law of gravity in the physical sciences or the economic

laws which are supposed to operate in the free market. Every individual has some

knowledge of the moral and natural law, but this knowledge may bi minimal. By

carful study, particularly of history and psychology, we may learn more clearly to

recognize the moral law and live in accordance with it.

2. What is Beautiful (Aesthetics)

Since the realist place so much value on the natural law and the moral law as

found in the behavior or phenomena in nature, it is readily apparent that the realist

will find beauty in the orderly behavior of nature. A beautiful art form reflects the

logic and order of the universe. Art should attempt to reflect or comment on the

order of nature. The more faithfully and art form does this, the more aesthetically

pleasing it is. Art may extract out that which is essential in the natural order andreduce or remove that which is only peripheral. Thus, in painting, a realist may

enjoy work ranging from the imitation of nature to the most abstract.

Logic of Realism


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It can be seen that for realism there is logic of investigation as well as a logic

of reasoning. The one functions largely at the level of sense perception, the other

more especially at the conceptual level. Both are important in any effective

adjustment to the real world and in any adequate control of our experience.

Montague suggests still other ways of knowing which have their

contribution to make to the material of logic (1)The accepting of authoritative

statements of other people, he says must always remain the great and primary

source of our information about other mans thoughts and about thepast(2)Intuition, of the mystical sort, ay also be a source of truth for us, but we

should always be careful to put such knowledge to the test of noninituitative

methods before accepting it.(3) Particularly in the realm of practical or ethical

matters, the pragmatic test, how effective it is in practice may be a valid source oftruth (4) And even skepticism also has its value in truth-seeking; it may not yield

any positive truth for us but it can save us from cockiness and smugness, and helpus to be tolerant and open minded.

Bertrand Russell, who came to philosophy by way of mathematics, has

always held that particular science in high repute as an instrument of truth. As is

the case with many realists. He feels that traditional logic needs to be

supplemented by the science of mathematics because of the inaccuracy and

vagueness both of words and grammer.He thinks that if logical relations are to be

stated accurately .they must be represented by mathematical symbols and

equations, words are too bunglesome.

Concept of Society

From the foregoing, it should now be apparent that the social position of this

philosophy would closely approximate that of idealism. Since the concern of this

position is with the known, and with the transmission of the known, it tends to

focus on the conservation of the cultural heritage. This heritage is viewed as all

those things that man has learned about natural laws and the order of the universe

over untold centuries. The realist position sees society as operating in the

framework of natural law. As man understands the natural law, he will understandsociety.

Since the laws of nature cannot be change, or even amended, society must

function in a particular way. All man can do is serve as a spectator of the society

excerpt where he as an individual fits into the jigsaw puzzle order of natural law

and become a participant. Basically, however, man serves to pass on what is know


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to be true knowledge of the immutable laws operating in the moral, economic, and

scientific realms.

The whole social order arises since the earliest times have

chosen to call self-evident truths. Let us look at three different times and threedifferent places for such self-evident truths, all of which have had a profound

effort on the social order.

REALISM AND AIMS OF EDUCATION :

Realists do not believe in general and common aims of education.According to them aims are specific to each individual and his perspectives. . And

each one has different perspectives. The aim of education should be to teach truth

rather than beauty, to understand the present practical life. The purpose of

education, according to social realists, is to prepare the practical man of the world.

The science realists expressed that the education should be conducted on

universal basis. Greater stress should be laid upon the observation of nature and the

education of science.Neo-realists aim at developing all round development of the

objects with the development of their organs.

The realists primary educational aim is to teach those things and values

which will lead to the good life. But for the realist, the good life is equated with

one which is in tune with the overarching order of natural law. Thus, the primary

aim of education becomes to teach the child the natural and moral law, or at least

as much of it as we know, so that his generation may lead the right kind life; one in

tune with the laws to he universe. There are, of course, more specific aims which

will lead to the goals already stated. For example, realists set the school aside as a

special place for the accumulation and preservation of knowledge. Wild neatly

summarizes a number of the more intermediate goals:

Realists just as other philosophers have expressed the aims of education in

various forms. According to John Wild the aim of education is fourfold to discern

the truth about things as they really are and to extend and integrate such truth as isknown to gain such practical knowledge of life in general and of professional

functions in particular as can be theoretically grounded and justified and finally to

transmit this in a coherent and convincing way both to young and to old throughout

the human community.


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Breed expressing similar sentiments avers that the chief function of all

education is direction of the learning process. Education should guide the student

in discovering and knowing the would around him as this is contained in the school

subjects.

Russell follows the same line of reasoning in his discussion of educational

objectives. He too would not object to the schools assisting the child to become ahealthy happy and well-adjusted individual. But he insists that the prime goal of all

school activities should be the development of intelligence. The well-educated

person is one whose mind knows the would as it is. Intelligence is that human

function which enables one to acquire knowledge. The school should do all in its

power to develop intelligence. Harry Broudy, a contemporary realist, proposes that

the good life should be ultimate aim of education since it is the final goal of all

human activity.

By way of summary we may say that the aim of education, as the realist sees

it, is fourfold: to discern the truth about things As they really are and to extend and

integrate such truth as is known, to gain such practical knowledge of life in general

and of professional functions in particular as can be theoretically grounded and

justified; and, finally, to transmit this in a coherent and convincing way both to

young and to old throughout the human community.

REALISM AND THE CHILD:

Broudy describes the pupil by elaborating four principles which, according

to him, comprise the essence of the human self. These are the appetitive principle

the principle of self-determination the principle of self-realization and the principle

of self-integration.

The appetitive principle, mentioned first, has to de with the physiological

base of personality. Our appetites disclose the need of our tissues to maintain and

reproduce themselves. Physiological life, and therefore the life of personality, can

not go on unless these necessary tissue needs are supplied. In order for us to do

anything about our tissue needs, except on an animal level, we must be aware ofthem; and in being aware of them, we realize that pleasure and pain are central.

The self has continuity formal structure antecedents in the past and a

yearning toward the future. Our experience has some continuity throughout

changing events and places and in order to explain this we must recognize that the

self is a common factor in all of these experiences even though there are gaps in


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consciousness such as when we are asleep or under anesthesia. The self has form

as well as continuity. As for determinism rationality requires that we recognize the

validity and dependability; of cause-and-effect relations but we do not need to hold

to determinism with the meaning that all of our experience is the result of physical

forces. Our power to symbolize is one element of our experience that does not bear

out the truth of this kind of determinism.

The third principle of selfhood, self-realization supplements freedom as such

with value concerns. Freedom does not carry built-in guarantees that it will be

turned to good ends. In order to be freedom it must be free to make us miserable.

The how of choosing, as well as the what which is chosen is a necessary ingredient

of the good life.

Realism in education recognizes the importance of the child. The child is a real

unit which has real existence. He has some feelings, some desires and somepowers. All these can not be overlooked. These powers of the child shall have to

be given due regard at the time of planning education. Child can reach near reality

through learning by reason. Child has to be given as much freedom as possible.

The child is to be enabled to proceed on the basis of facts, The child can learn only

when he follows the laws of learning.

When only one response is repeated for one stimulus, it conditioned by that

stimulus. Now wherever that situation comes, response will be the same; this is

the fact. The child is to be understood a creature of the real world there is no sense

in making him a God . He has to be trained to become a man only.

To the realist, the student is a functioning organism which, through sensory

experience, can perceive the natural order of the world. The pupil, as viewed by

many realists, is not free but is subject to natural laws. It is not at all uncommon to

find realists advocating a behavioristic psychology. The pupil must come to

recognize and respond to the coercive order of nature in those cases where he

cannot control his experiences, while learning to control his experiences where

such control is possible. At its most extreme, the pupil is viewed as a machine

which can be programmed in a manner similar to the programming of a computer.

The student must be disciplined until he has learned to make the proper

responses. Wild says of the student that it is. His duty. to learn those arduousoperations by which here and there it may be revealed to him as it really is. One

tiny grain of truth is worth more than volumes of opinion.


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REALISM AND THE TEACHER:

The teacher, for the realist, is simply a guide. The real world exists, and the

teacher is responsible for introducing the student to it. To do this he uses lectures,

demonstrations, and sensory experiences, The teacher does not do this in a random

or haphazard way; he must not only introduce the student to nature, but show him

the regularities, the rhythm of nature so that he may come to understand naturallaw. Both the teacher and the student are spectators, but while the student looks at

the world through innocent eyes, the teacher must explain it to him, as well as he is

able, from his vantage point of increased sophistication. For this reason, the

teachers own biases and personality should be as muted as possible. In order togive the student as much accurate information as quickly and effectively as

possible, the realist may advocate the use of teaching machines to remove the

teachers bias from factual presentation. The whole concept to teaching machines

is compatible with the picture or reality as a mechanistic universe in which man issimply one of the cogs in the machine.

A teacher should be such that he himself be educated and well versed with the

customs of belief and rights and duties of people, and the trends of all ages and

places. He must have full mastery of the knowledge of present life. He must guide

the student towards the hard realities of life. He is neither pessimist, nor optimist.

He must be able to expose children to the problems of life and the world around.

To master ones own environing life natural, social through a knowledge of the

broader life of the ancients.

A teacher should always keep in mind-

Re-capitulation is necessary to make the knowledge permanent.

One subject should be taught at one time.

No pressure or coercion be brought upon the child.

The practice of cramming should be given up.

The uniformity should be the basic principle in all things.

Things should be introduced first and then the words.

The entire knowledge should be gained after experience.

The knowledge should be imparted on the basis of organs.

Straight forward method should be adopted for teaching.

There should be a co-relation between utility in daily life and education.


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The child should be told the utility of whatever is taught.

The simple rules should be defined.

All the subjects should be taught in proper order.

Various organs of education should be taught in chronological order. The topic should not be given up unless the boys understand it well.

To find out the interest of the child and to teach accordingly.

REALISM AND CURRICULAM:

According to humanistic realism classical literature should be studied but

not for studying its form and style but for its content and ideas it contained. Milton,

one of the supporters of humanistic realism, has drafted a curricula of education as

follows:

1st yearLatin, grammar, arithmetic and geometry. Reading of simple Latin and

Greek.

2nd yearGreek, agriculture, geography Natural philosophy, mathematics,engineering and architecture.

next 5th yearchief writings of the ancients in prose and poetry on these

Remaining years

Ethical instruction, Bible, Hebrew, Greek, Roman and Saxon Law,

economics, politics, history, logic, rhetoric, poetry-all by reading select writhers.

Social realism was generally recommended for the people of the upper social

class/strata. It combined literary elements with ideals of chivalric education.

Naturally it included the study of literature, heraldry ( the science dealing with

coats of arms and the persons who have right to wear them ), genealogy ( science

of the development of plants and animals from earlier forms ),riding, fencing,

gymnastics, study of modern languages and the customs and institutions of

neighboring countries

Sense-realism- attached more importance to the study of natural sciences and

contemporary social life. Study of languages is not so significant as the study of

natural sciences and contemporary life.


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Neo-realism- gives stress on the subject physics and on humanistic feelings,

physics and psychology, sociology, economics, Ethics, Politics, history,

Geography, agriculture varied arts, languages and so on, are the main subjects to

be studied according to the Neo-realists

Subject matter is the matter of the physical universe- the Real World- taught

in such a way as to show the orderliness underlying the universe. The laws of

nature, the realist believes, are most readily understood through the subjects of

nature, namely the sciences in all their many branches. As we study nature and

gather data, we can see the underlying order of the universe. The highest form of

this order is found in mathematics. Mathematics is a precise, abstract, symbolic

system for describing the laws of the universe. Even in the social sciences we find

the realists conception of the universe shaping the subject matter, for they dealwith the mechanical and natural forces which bear on human behavior. The realist

views the curriculum as reducible to knowledge position espoused by E.L.Thorndike that whatever exists must exist in some amount and therefore be

measurable.

John Wild, while differing slightly from the foregoing analysis, describes the

ordering of the curriculum in such a way as to indicate his philosophical

orientation toward realism.

There is certainly a basic core of knowledge that every human person ought

to know in order to live a genuinely human life..First of all

(a) the student should learn to use the basic instruments of knowledge,

especially his own

language. In order to understand it more clearly and objectively, he

should gain some knowledge of at least one foreign language as well. In

addition, he should be taught the essentials of humane logic and

elementary mathematics. Then

(b), he should become acquainted with the methods of physics, chemistry

and biology and the basic facts so far revealed by these science. In the third

place

(c), he should study history and the sciences of man. Then

(d), he should gain some familiarity with the great classics of his own and

of world literature and art. Finally


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(e), in the later stages of this basic training, he should be introduced to

philosophy and to those basic problems which arise from the attempt to

integrate knowledge and practice.

Wild goes on to point out the orderly nature of the universe and indicate that

it is possible to find certain solidly grounded moral principles, and that these,

along with the core of subject matter based on the nature of our human world,should be given to everyone.

REALISM AND METHODS OF TEACHING

The method of the realists involves teaching for the mastery of facts in order

to develop an understanding of natural law. This can be done by teaching both the

materials and their application. In fact, real knowledge comes only when the

organism can organize the data of experience. The realist prefers to use inductivelogic, going from the particular facts of sensory experience to the more general

laws deducible from these data. These general laws are seen as universal natural

law.

1. Education should proceed from simple to complex and from concrete to

abstract.

2. Things before rules and words.

3. Students to be taught to analyze rather than to construct.

4. Vernacular to be the medium of instruction.5. The order of nature to be sought and followed.

( The child can rule over the nature if the natural laws are followed. )

1. Repetition is necessary for retention.

2. Individuals experience and spirit of inquiry is more important than

authority.

3. No unintelligent cramming. More emphasis on questioning and

understanding.

4. Methods of scientific thinking formulated by sir Thomas Bacon.( Inductivemethod of education ).

(There are and can be only two ways for investigation and discovery of truth.One flies from senses and particulars, to the most general axioms and from these

principles and infallible truth determines and discovers intermediate axioms.the


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other constructs axioms from the senses and particulars by ascending continually

and gradually, so as to teach most general axioms last of all.) Bacon.

Social realists follow the method of travel of journey method, which will

give real experience of varied aspects of life improve knowledge and mental

faculties.

In his method, the realist depends on motivation the student. But this is not

difficult since many realists view the interests of the learner as fundamental urges

toward an understanding of natural law rooted in our common sense. The

understanding of natural law comes through the organizing of data through insight.

The realist in his method approves anything which involves learning through

sensory experience whether it be direct or indirect. Not only are field trips

considered valuable, but the realist advocates the use of films, filmstrips, records,

television, radio, and any other audiovisual aids which might serve in the place ofdirect sensory experience when such experience is not readily available. This does

not mean that the realist denies the validity of symbolic knowledge. Rather it

implies that the symbol has no special existential status but is viewed simply as a

means of communicating about, or representing, the real world. A case in point is

the study of language, which is a symbolic form of communication. According to

John Wild, it should be understood not as an arbitrary convention but rather, as away of reflecting the nature of reality as it really is.

REALISM AND DISCIPLINE:

Discipline is adjustment to objectivity. It is necessary in order to enable the

child to adjust himself to his environment and concentrate on his work. Bringing

out change in the real world is impossible. The student himself is a part of this

world. He has to admit this fact and adjust himself to the world.

A disciplined student is one who does not withdraw from the cruelties,

tyrannies, hardships and shortcomings pervading the world. Realism has

vehemently opposed withdrawal from life. One has to adjust oneself to this

material world.

Thus, the realism has brought great effect in various fields of education. The

aims, the curriculum, the methods of teaching the outlook towards the child, the

teachers, the discipline and the system of education all were given new blood.

Realism in education dragged the education from the old traditions, idealism and

the high and low tides to the real surface.


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Realism and school:

John Amos Comenius in his great didactic describes the unique function of

the school in a manner which will symbolize modern realism even though he wrotein the 17

thcentury, long before the school became a universal institution. He said

that man is not made a man only by his biological birth. If he is to be made

aman.human culture must give direction and form to his basic potentialities. This

necessity of the school for the making of man was made vivid for Comenius by

reports which had come to him of children who had been reared from infancy by

animals. The recognition of this by Comenius caused him to consider the education

of men by men just as essential to man birth, as a human creature, as is procreation.

He therefore defined education as formation and went so far as to call the school a

true forging place of man

Criticisms of Realism:

In educational theory and practice, the scientific realists might be criticized

for the following reasons:

1. Most of the philosophical realists of this school pay little or no attention to

developing an educational theory consistent with their basic philosophical

beliefs as Dewey, broody, Adler, And Martian have done.

2. Some of them place tool much emphasis on the individual in the educational

program. Such preoccupation with the individual flouts the reality of thecomplexity and interdependence of modern society.

3. The curriculum proposed by most scientific realists is one-sided since

empirical knowledge holds a position superior to that of the humanistic

studies. This neglect is evident in the absence of a well defined theory of are

and art education.

4. The scientific realists with the exception or Russell stress content much

more than the methods of acquiring knowledge. This emphasis often leads to rote

memorization one of the major weaknesses of the traditional school. Thus lip

service may be paid to the goals of developing critical thinking understanding andother complex intellectual functions but little is done by the student to attain these

goals.

The realist recognizes the origin of knowledge from the datum achieved by

senses and asserts that only objects are main and it is through their contact that

knowledge is acquired. Then how does our illusion arise ? How does knowledge


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become fallacious? Where does the external object go in dream ? The realist is

unable to answer these questions satisfactorily.

Today the effect of realism has given rise to the wave of science. It is

right, but there should be no indifference towards art and literature. The realist

supports this negligence

The realist does not accept the existence of transcendental ( not based on

experience or reason ) being. How could be know the non-existence of that which

does not exist? Has non-existence got no existence ? Void ness and non-existence

also are the parts of existence. Here the realist is dumb completely.

Realism admits real feelings and needs of life on the one hand, gives no

place to imagination and sentiment, on the other. What a contradiction ? Are

imaginations, emotions and sentiments not real needs of human life ? Isemotionless life not almost dead life? Can life be lead on the basis of facts only

The realist claims to be objective. Objectivity in knowledge is nothing but

the partnership of personal knowledge. Knowledge is always subjective.

No inspiration to remove the defects of modern education can be achieved

unless the impressiveness of pure and high thought is admitted and attitude is not

confined to present facts only; because the realist is satisfied simply by the

fulfillment of the needs of daily life and be does not care to make life sublime.

Realism recognizes the real existence of the material world. This recognition

remains un objected to unless he says that only material world really exists. The

question arises- Is there no power behind this material world ? Does it have its own

existence ? What is the limit of the universe ? The realist does give reply to these

questions but these replies are not found to be satisfactory. The real existence of

material world may be admitted but how can the existence come to an end in the

world itself.

Realism enthuses disappointment in students and teachers. No progress can bemade by having faith in the facts of daily life and shattering faith in ideals. Life is

but full of miseries and struggles. Sorrow is more predominant than joy in the

world. A person becomes disappointed by this feeling. That is why realists often

appear to be skeptics, Pessimists and objectionists,


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While there has been much criticism of the realistic philosophy of education it

has not been neither as vocal nor as persistent as that coming from the critics of

idealism. This is probably because the realistic point of view seems, at first blush,

to be more is tune with the contemporary scientific- industrial outlook. There are,

however, several major criticism which might be reviewed.

Failure to Deal with Error

Both the New Realists and the Critical Realists failed to provide a satisfactory

answer to the problem of error. The New Realist position is the weaker of the two

since direct cognition does not permit error and the rationale employed by Wild,

that Error is the creation of the erring subject is most unsatisfactory if the mind is

viewed purely as relational with no contents of its own with which to create error.

The Critical Realists have solved the problem of error, but in doing so through the

use of an intermediary or vehicle of knowledge; they have created a whole newhost of problems in terms of defining and explaining the nature of the vehicle.

Whether it is of the substance of mind, matter, or some neutral substance is unclear

and varies with the particular philosopher one is reading. Both positions, despite

their differences, create problems for the educator. The New Realist position with

regard to error is manufacture unable, and the Critical Realist lack of clarity with

regard to the vehicles of knowledge means that the teacher cannot control these

vehicles and is to some degree stymied in any hopes of developing knowledge

systematically.

2. Danger of Elitism

Finally, the same criticism of absolutes applies to the realists as applied to

the idealists. There is the constant danger that there will arise a class of persons

who be the ones with the responsibility of identifying and arbitrating questions

concreting absolutes. These may be priests in an idealist society or scientist in a

realist society, but whatever they are, they become an external source of authority

in an area in which people should be speculating and the danger of an inquisition is

always inherent in such a social structure. Whenever we allow any person or group

of persons to tell us what is Truth and what is not Truth, and permit them theauthority to force this point of view on us, we are in danger of losing the very

essence of the truly democratic society.

1. Depends on Cause- Effect Relationships


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The next criticism deals directly with the philosophical underpinnings of the

realist position. Almost all the laws of nature that the realists stress are dependent

upon cause- effect relationships. Most philosophers and scientists are chary of such

absolutes. They prefer to deal in the realm of probability. Past activity is no

guarantee of future activity. Because the sun rises in the East every day is no

guarantee that it will rise there tomorrow, although the probability is ridiculously

high. Nonetheless, we cannot talk in terms of absolutes where there is any margin

for error; and if this is true even to a slight degree in the realm of the sciences,

think how much must be in the realm of the social sciences and thearea of morality. Thus, to teach moral absolutes and natural laws is a highly

questionable procedure.

Fails to Deal with Social Change

Like the idealists, the realists are basically conservative in education. Ratherthan concern themselves with social change and educational progress they are most

concerned with preserving and adding to the body of organized truth they feel has

been accumulated. In a period when there was little social change occurring this

type of philosophy may have been adequate. But in an increasingly automated

society operating on an ever-expanding industrial base, many educators feel that

education must be a creative endeavor, constantly looking for new solutions to

problems. This role appears to be incompatible with the realists fundamental

conception of the role of education in the society.

From this very general philosophical position, the Realist would tend toview the Learner as a sense mechanism, the Teacher as a demonstrator, the

Curriculum as the subject matter of the physical world (emphasizing

mathematics, science, etc.), the Teaching Method as mastering facts and

information, and the Social Policy of the school as transmitting the settledknowledge of Western civilization.The realist would favor a school dominated

by subjects of the here-and-now world, such as math and science. Students

would be taught factual information for mastery. The teacher would impart

knowledge of this reality to students or display such reality for observation

and study. Classrooms would be highly ordered and disciplined, like nature,

and the students would be passive participants in the study of things. Changes

in school would be perceived as a natural evolution toward a perfection oforder.

Referances -


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Breed, Frederick, Education and the Realistic Outlook, Philosophies ofEducation. National Society for the Study of Education, Forty-first Yearbook,

Part 1. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1942.

Broundy, Harry S., Building a Philosophy of Education. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.

: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1961..

Butler, J. Donald, Four Philosophies and Their Education and Religion.

New York : Harper & Row.

Comenius, John Amos, The Great Didactic. London : A & C Black, 1910. The

application of Comenius sense-realism to education.

Herbart, J.F., The Science of Education. Boston : D.C.Heath & Company, 1902.

Locke, John Essay Concerning Human Understanding. Oxford : Clarendon

Press, 1902. The basic statement of Lockes epistemological position.

Weber, Christian O., Basic Philosophies of Education. New York : Holt,

Rinehart and Winston, Inc., 1960. This book, especially in chapters 11-14,.

Wild, John, Education and human Society : A Realistic View, Modern

Philosophies and Education. National Society for the study of Education, Fifty-

fourth Yearbook, Part I. Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 1955.

Documents

30574917 Realism in Education