Surigao State College of Technology

Surigao City
Subject: Educ. 202 – Philosophy in Education Reporters: Ricky B. Fernandez
Topic: Philosophers and their contribution in Education : Michell S. Enot
Professor: Dr. Esperanza P. Paglinawan MAED- ENGLISH
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PHILOSOPHERS AND THEIR CONTRIBUTION IN EDUCATION
Philosopher is someone who practices philosophy. Philosophy, which literally means “the love
of wisdom,” is one of the oldest disciplines in history. There are many ideas about philosophers and
what they do. Some have even considered the field to be a science that deals with logic and reason.
Either way, many famous philosophers have made their contributions known to the world through their
writings and their students.
Philosopher’s Concerns
What is the good life?
 What is the importance of reason?
 Moderation in all things…balances in leading one’s life: reason is the instrument to help
individuals achieve balance and moderation.
John Amos Comenius
 John Comenius was a Czech educator who was the discoverer of practical education, which is
the most remarkable contribution to the education imparted at that time. He is famous as
the “father of modern education”.
 He was the first educator to discover and implement the usage of pictures in textbooks and also
perceived it as a universal concept of education. He believed that education should originate in
the earliest days of adolescence and continue entire lifetime.
 Comenius also believed that every child–boy or girl, rich or poor, skillful or mentally obstructed–
was rightful to full education. For him, every educational limitation was a prime hindrance in
mankind’s progress. As a consequence, he took a stand to eliminate these limitations by writing
a number of excellent textbooks.
 Comenius is rightly called the father of modern education because of the wealth of reforms he
advocated for public education. One educator remarked that even Christians should appreciate
Comenius’ contributions, “especially his desire to make educational experiences developmental,
holistic, experiential, natural, and enjoyable and his commitment to opening up these
educational experiences to everyone” (Schwarz & Martin, 56). However, another critic stated
that Comenius falsely believed that “men could be manufactured” by social regeneration in the
schools (Laurie, 216). People still debate the question of applying Comenius’ ideas to modern
schools.
Friedrich Froebel
 He was a German pedagogue, a student of Pestalozzi who put forth foundation for modern
education on the basis of research that students have their own specific need and capabilities
for learning. He created the concept of kindergarten and coined the word as well for use in
English language.
 Friedrich Froebel stresses the respect with which the individuality and ability of each child
should be treated; the importance of creating a happy, harmonious environment in which he or
she can grow; and the value of self-activity and play as a foundation on which the integrated
development of the whole person can be built.
 Froebel, play provided the means for a child’s intellectual, social, emotional and physical
development. Froebel believed that the education of a child began at birth, and that parents
and teachers played a crucial role in helping children in this activity. “Play is a mirror of life”, he
wrote, leading to self-discipline and respect for law and order.
Anne Sullivan
 Anne Sullivan was an American teacher and the lady who took an extremely impaired girl
named “Helen Keller” from an abnormal condition to graduation from the Radcliffe College.
Helen became the first deaf-blind person to obtain a Bachelor of Arts degree. Tormented by the
eye diseases which caused her to undergo many medical operations at the age of 16, she joined
a school for the blind and completed her graduation in 1886. After some of her sight had
recovered, Sullivan pursued the formidable task of teaching a child who was unable to see, hear,
or speak. Through her miraculous innovation and the potential of the child, she was able to
teach by using a type of sign language wherein she used to “write” onto that child’s palm.
 Due to her remarkable work as a tutor, Anne Sullivan became symbol which taught the world
about the value of educating the disabled children. By teaching a 6 year old deaf and blind girl
when Anne herself was only 20 marked the beginning of its great and lasting impact on
education.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
 Famous For: General Will and the moral simplicity of humanity.
 The political philosophy of Rousseau became the basis of the French Revolution. His ideas not
only influenced nations, his work is reflected in the modern thinking in regards to education,
political, and sociological matters. Two of his books, Discourse on the Origin of Inequality and On
the Social Contract have had its effect on social and political thinking.
 He believed that all children are born ready to learn from their surroundings so as to grow into
virtuous adults, but due to the malign influence of corrupt society, they often fail to do so. To
counter this, he advocated removing the child from society during education. He also believed
that human nature could be infinitely developed through a well-thought pedagogy.
 The original nature of man is good but corrupted by society.
 Learning is done through trial and error, experimentation through concrete medium

Karl Marx
 A German philosophers, economist, political theorist, sociologist, journalist & revolutionary
socialist.
 He made it clear that “Life is not determined by consciousness but consciousness by Life”.
 Like education, we are reflections of the world created by human activity and that ideas arose
from & reflected the material conditions & circumstances in which they were generated.
JOHN DEWEY
 An American philosopher, psychologist and educational reformer, was a proponent of
Educational Progressivism.
 He held that education is a “participation of the individual in the social consciousness of the
race”, and that it has two sides, the psychological, which forms the basis of the child’s instincts,
and the sociological, on whom the instinct will be used to form the basis of what is around him.
He postulated that one cannot learn without motivation
MARIA MONTESSORI
 The Montessori Method arose from Dr. Maria Montessori’s discovery of what she referred to as
“the child’s true normal nature” in 1907, which happened in the process of her experimental
observation of young children given freedom in an environment prepared with materials
designed for their self-directed learning activity.
 The method itself aims to duplicate this experimental observation of children to bring about,
sustain a support their true natural way of being.

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