My spirit of nationalism is not something I had ever consciously thought about. Growing up in the eighties the issue of who I am in relation to the island I live in did not exist. That my friends spoke a different language at home and were of a different colour did not occur to me to be anything that made it necessary that we consciously work towards understanding each other. To me, I was no different from my classmates of other races.
We ate, played, hung out and even stayed over at each other's homes. By virtue of being the only or one of a few in the cliques I was in, I even picked up a decent amount of my friends' language that I am able to understand and reply to basic conversation. However, nothing made me feel more unwelcome in my own land than when I entered the workforce, the real world. If I was accepted for my race, I was not accepted for my faith. Either way I never felt really accepted. I was always 'the other'.
On reflection, after more than a decade out of the education system, I believe the homogenous school environment creates a false construct that falls apart in the real world. We have all been literally dressed into our prescribed roles that we grew to believe as reality. After 9/11, the marginalisation grew even worse, with society scrutinizing our every move and fellow Muslims fervently apologetic for actions hardly of their doing. In the midst of all this, my country has been welcoming various nationalities to work and live here that I now not only have many native Chinese neighbours but a few from India, Myanmar and even Japan in my public housing .
Initially. I saw this as a further threat to the already marginal opportunities of my community. However, whether real or portrayed, I sense in my daily interactions, in the media and in the generally accepted school of thought that finally society has woken up to the need to be inclusive and not only tolerant of but to celebrate our differences. Five years from now, I would like to look back and honestly say that I, a native, feel that I am a part of this country. A sentiment, at least based on what is in the media, that immigrants already feel.
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Curriculum Mindshift
I read with interest Tuesday's article in the main local English papers about how parents have turned to tuition centres to conduct tests and exams for their children and thus having exam-centred learning for primary one and two students when exams are soon becoming non-existent at these levels.
Such a change in the system shows a strong commitment by the government to implement more developmentally appropriate teaching and evaluation methods which at the general level of reflection in my limited knowledge of the field of education has been scientifically proven.
This brings to mind the complexity of curriculum innovation in relation to the community outside the school. You may get the go-ahead at the policy, administrative and teaching levels but you still need to convince parents and other role players.
Tuition centres, as commercial entities, can be a good indicator of what parents really think their children should get from their schooling. At this point, that seems to be , ironically, a scientific way of measuring their child's competitiveness. As pointed out by one of the interviewees in the article, students eventually after all have to sit for high-stakes examinations.
What I hope though is that this will not cause a turnaround in the government's policies towards implementing holistic changes in the system. It does have a trend
over the years of trying out new programs like SAIL, the initial SEED program, the 'freer' English syllabus in the 80s and eventually regaining control of the 'freedom' given in content and method to implement state level programs.
The difference I hope is that like other 'process' as opposed to these 'content' changes, the elimination of examinations at the foundation levels will, like the implementation of independent schools and 'alternative' schools and examinations like NUS High, SOTA and the IB, will see the light of day and not be buried under public pressure.
Maybe one way to do so is to convince the government of the economic benefits of a more holistic method of education (which I think they are already slowly warming up to as seen in the implemented changes)....that's a question the academics will have to answer. Although we can look at the Scandinavian countries and the United States, we can also question why we cannot follow Germany.
Then there's always the question of context. Education is seen as the labour producing machine of a country and we are always being told that we cannot afford to be anything but the best to survive as a small nation (although at this moment I wonder at this because we seem to be trying to fill our population to the seams with people of whatever educational level to satisfy the population ratio but that is another story) hence we must optimise every cohort that goes through the system.
As for me, I'm convinced that mass schooling in general is problematic and ,as can be seen in the 1001 policy changes, a reactive generator to the economic changes. In the end we have recreated society as it was before mass education and industrialisation in another form.
Now back to my domestic chores...
Such a change in the system shows a strong commitment by the government to implement more developmentally appropriate teaching and evaluation methods which at the general level of reflection in my limited knowledge of the field of education has been scientifically proven.
This brings to mind the complexity of curriculum innovation in relation to the community outside the school. You may get the go-ahead at the policy, administrative and teaching levels but you still need to convince parents and other role players.
Tuition centres, as commercial entities, can be a good indicator of what parents really think their children should get from their schooling. At this point, that seems to be , ironically, a scientific way of measuring their child's competitiveness. As pointed out by one of the interviewees in the article, students eventually after all have to sit for high-stakes examinations.
What I hope though is that this will not cause a turnaround in the government's policies towards implementing holistic changes in the system. It does have a trend
over the years of trying out new programs like SAIL, the initial SEED program, the 'freer' English syllabus in the 80s and eventually regaining control of the 'freedom' given in content and method to implement state level programs.
The difference I hope is that like other 'process' as opposed to these 'content' changes, the elimination of examinations at the foundation levels will, like the implementation of independent schools and 'alternative' schools and examinations like NUS High, SOTA and the IB, will see the light of day and not be buried under public pressure.
Maybe one way to do so is to convince the government of the economic benefits of a more holistic method of education (which I think they are already slowly warming up to as seen in the implemented changes)....that's a question the academics will have to answer. Although we can look at the Scandinavian countries and the United States, we can also question why we cannot follow Germany.
Then there's always the question of context. Education is seen as the labour producing machine of a country and we are always being told that we cannot afford to be anything but the best to survive as a small nation (although at this moment I wonder at this because we seem to be trying to fill our population to the seams with people of whatever educational level to satisfy the population ratio but that is another story) hence we must optimise every cohort that goes through the system.
As for me, I'm convinced that mass schooling in general is problematic and ,as can be seen in the 1001 policy changes, a reactive generator to the economic changes. In the end we have recreated society as it was before mass education and industrialisation in another form.
Now back to my domestic chores...
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
One of the hardest act that one can do is to forgive; for to have to forgive must mean one has been wronged. God reminds us that even He forgives but that Man has too much pride. However, pride can only be one side in the story of forgiving, for to be too proud to forgive one must feel a sense of being better and the one in the right. The question of who is really right then is secondary.
We then come to the question of justice. In consideration of events that have taken place, what occurred according to its place in the accepted norms of this life to give each man what is rightful to him? If one's rights has been trespassed, should not one have every right not to forgive?
Yes.
However,it's better for you, your soul and your redemption in the hereafter that you should.And, we know, despite whatever our mind and heart tells us ( which means that your mind is going against your mind, that is to assume that knowing occurs only in the mind)that this is true.
Yet the fact that God asks us to forgive means that we are capable of forgiving. Hence why do we find it so hard to do so? In fact, in putting forth this question, why do we find it hard to do what other God-blessed noble acts there can be? Which part of us makes the decision on whether we should forgive and do we base this on emotion or what is the best for our salvation in this world and/or the hereafter?
I cannot but realise how intriguing the emotional/rational relationship is and how it manifests itself in our life. In the end, if its what you do that matters and will be accounted for,then what you felt and thought are only means.
It follows on that any actions that we carry out brings consequences to those around us and hence our actions are never truly free. How then can we use personal emotions as the only scale to weigh in our reactions to any injustice that might have been borne unto us?
At the end of it all we can only find solace in the fact that God judges us only on what we do.
We then come to the question of justice. In consideration of events that have taken place, what occurred according to its place in the accepted norms of this life to give each man what is rightful to him? If one's rights has been trespassed, should not one have every right not to forgive?
Yes.
However,it's better for you, your soul and your redemption in the hereafter that you should.And, we know, despite whatever our mind and heart tells us ( which means that your mind is going against your mind, that is to assume that knowing occurs only in the mind)that this is true.
Yet the fact that God asks us to forgive means that we are capable of forgiving. Hence why do we find it so hard to do so? In fact, in putting forth this question, why do we find it hard to do what other God-blessed noble acts there can be? Which part of us makes the decision on whether we should forgive and do we base this on emotion or what is the best for our salvation in this world and/or the hereafter?
I cannot but realise how intriguing the emotional/rational relationship is and how it manifests itself in our life. In the end, if its what you do that matters and will be accounted for,then what you felt and thought are only means.
It follows on that any actions that we carry out brings consequences to those around us and hence our actions are never truly free. How then can we use personal emotions as the only scale to weigh in our reactions to any injustice that might have been borne unto us?
At the end of it all we can only find solace in the fact that God judges us only on what we do.
Thursday, June 03, 2010
Reflections
Can one ever be an outside observer of this life and be a part of it at the same time? Well, you can argue that cognitively one can for therein lies the role of metacognition where one thinks of one's thoughts. Maybe if we all metacognize, the world will be a more rational place. Then again, what would be the standards one measures by and how is your view fairer than mine? In the end too when one detaches oneself from life personal, one detaches from the baggage of emotion; which is it not the reason why life is more bearable sometimes is it not? Why does a mother want to go through childbirth again, knowing the pain of having done so before and really why does one sacrifice one's dreams to be with one's partner if there is not the notion of love and in the severest 'rationalisation' ; romance? The fact of the matter is we are all put here by God to go through the same motions in different ways. If life is so, why is each experience still novel that we may need to struggle through them when many others have gone through the same and thus are models of how we should act as are the guidance one finds in the Quran? Is God trying to tell us that what is most important is doing the right thing and that we should get over this humdrum and drama of life? After all whatever will happen is going to happen and the question is how will you handle it that you will not only end well but go through it well? I guess the point is that it is hardly about you and eveything about you.
Thursday, May 20, 2010
One of the reasons that keeps me homeschooling is the opportunity for my children to not be confined to the text and workbook culture that is the bane of traditional schools. This does not mean that I think that this practice should be abandoned, we in fact do use them at home, but it should not be the core resource of learning.
At the same time that it benefits mainly those who are more inclined to words, it also deprives others who think in pictures or music or the physical movements of their body; their other senses. It also confines thought to literal interpretations when it could instead be more richly experienced in other forms.
In his book, "Cognition and Curriculum Reconsidered", Eisner calls for schools to provide that varied experience in learning by using different forms of representations in recognition of the different ways in which students think and express themselves. This in turn follows that students should also be given the opportunity to be evaluated beyond pen and paper tests.
I believe that this is a culture that has been held on to for a long time by homeschoolers and something that we should cherish and nourish always. while this is much a lost cause in most schools, on a positive note, I am glad that the current educational system does allow for direct school admissions based on non-academic areas.
However, I do still see the emphasis on academic evaluations as although these students may come in on their strengths in non-academic areas, their learning experiene is still mainly in the traditional vein and in the end, they are still being evaluated on standardised examinations.
Eisner's point in his book is for learning to be made more accessible to people of various learning styles, if I may say so, that history for example is not merely a liturgy of words and dates but something alive like the languages and rituals that continue to exist today and the architecture of historical sites that we continue to be in awe of.
Imagine... touching the hearts and mind of students who find reading repulsive and abhors Mathematics by watching the battles of ancient history through movies and listening to stories of ancient mathematicians. I remember being excited about buoyancy through the story of Archimedes in a Physics lesson I did with my eldest child and reading a story of how Pythagoras came up with his famous formula, even if it was made up.
In a sense, I identify with such students, although I do love reading, I found the sciences and mathematics dry and dead in school and turned off learning very early in my learning journey. Although I love the arts, I found them reduced to examinable bites too and instead read a lot on things I was interested in and had nothing to do with school.
In reading writers like Eisner though, I try to not romanticise the ideals that they bring forth for the rhetoric can get to your most innermost crises and cloud your vision that you fail to see the woods for the trees. I agree that more should be done for alternative mediums for learning and evaluation though but need to find out more how this can be done on a massive basis i.e. in schools.
Eisner did suggest the Waldorf schools as a great example the form of education that he visualised. I see a few areas of further exploration: "alternative admission requirements in local schools", "specialised schools- are they creating wider opportunities or strengthening the disciplinary divide", "cognition and representation in the classroom" and "the social class and cultural capital divide- how it can be minimised through a cognitively sensitive curriculum".
I have finished my first reading of Eisner and will be looking at some of the references that he used in the book like Dewey's "Art as Experience" plus Epstein and Singer's research papers as soon as I finish "Human Cognition", a very interesting read, by Bransford.
At the same time that it benefits mainly those who are more inclined to words, it also deprives others who think in pictures or music or the physical movements of their body; their other senses. It also confines thought to literal interpretations when it could instead be more richly experienced in other forms.
In his book, "Cognition and Curriculum Reconsidered", Eisner calls for schools to provide that varied experience in learning by using different forms of representations in recognition of the different ways in which students think and express themselves. This in turn follows that students should also be given the opportunity to be evaluated beyond pen and paper tests.
I believe that this is a culture that has been held on to for a long time by homeschoolers and something that we should cherish and nourish always. while this is much a lost cause in most schools, on a positive note, I am glad that the current educational system does allow for direct school admissions based on non-academic areas.
However, I do still see the emphasis on academic evaluations as although these students may come in on their strengths in non-academic areas, their learning experiene is still mainly in the traditional vein and in the end, they are still being evaluated on standardised examinations.
Eisner's point in his book is for learning to be made more accessible to people of various learning styles, if I may say so, that history for example is not merely a liturgy of words and dates but something alive like the languages and rituals that continue to exist today and the architecture of historical sites that we continue to be in awe of.
Imagine... touching the hearts and mind of students who find reading repulsive and abhors Mathematics by watching the battles of ancient history through movies and listening to stories of ancient mathematicians. I remember being excited about buoyancy through the story of Archimedes in a Physics lesson I did with my eldest child and reading a story of how Pythagoras came up with his famous formula, even if it was made up.
In a sense, I identify with such students, although I do love reading, I found the sciences and mathematics dry and dead in school and turned off learning very early in my learning journey. Although I love the arts, I found them reduced to examinable bites too and instead read a lot on things I was interested in and had nothing to do with school.
In reading writers like Eisner though, I try to not romanticise the ideals that they bring forth for the rhetoric can get to your most innermost crises and cloud your vision that you fail to see the woods for the trees. I agree that more should be done for alternative mediums for learning and evaluation though but need to find out more how this can be done on a massive basis i.e. in schools.
Eisner did suggest the Waldorf schools as a great example the form of education that he visualised. I see a few areas of further exploration: "alternative admission requirements in local schools", "specialised schools- are they creating wider opportunities or strengthening the disciplinary divide", "cognition and representation in the classroom" and "the social class and cultural capital divide- how it can be minimised through a cognitively sensitive curriculum".
I have finished my first reading of Eisner and will be looking at some of the references that he used in the book like Dewey's "Art as Experience" plus Epstein and Singer's research papers as soon as I finish "Human Cognition", a very interesting read, by Bransford.
Monday, May 10, 2010
A Life Unexamined
If a life unexamined is not worth living, then I would like to be a child who has no conscious need to reflect on life but finds joy in the here and now for knowing how painful life's meanings under the surface can be I would rather not reflect on most of what life is. However, that would make mine a life not worth living. Either way, then I can find no avoidance of pain in life. In a recent academic study, which I have forgotten to note by whom, it was discovered than an emotional situation that is not dealt with continues to linger in dementia patients who are, of course unable to deal with their feelings. You might not want to deal with certain issues in your life, but like a ghost from the past, it will continue to linger in your shadows. So, the next time you sit on that sofa, watching your favourite show and you feel that there is something amiss, don't go on that way everyday. Examine your life...
Monday, May 03, 2010
Thoughts on Machiavelli
My husband came home from Idaho on Monday with my Strausses- " Thoughts on Machiavelli" and " Persecution and Writing". I haven't had the chance to read much though and was picking up on the chapter I was reading before I got cut off because of the limited preview on Google books which was on Machiavelli's teachings in "Thoughts on Machiavelli".
I am very intrigued by the thoughts on how religion played such a major role in his writings, or rather why it shouldn't play a major role in life in his case. It is probably because as a Muslim minority in a country where my people used to hold the reins of power and were the majority it really touches me especially when you grow up with the licensed bigotry and sense of haplessness that your community is always reminded of.
Anyway, I'm toying with the idea of writing my mini research project on cognition and curriculum. I have been informed that my grades will not be good enough to write a dissertation due to the higher requirements of my department. Oh well...life goes on.
Although I do get a feeling the my coordinator views writing a dissertation a Herculean task for everyone included and should not be encouraged.
I'm gonna bury myself in Machiavelli now and am looking forward to Dr. Wong's class on Socrates and Confucius next term, maybe now after understanding somewhat how Modernity afflicts us, I can now learn how it afflicts us in its form here.
I am very intrigued by the thoughts on how religion played such a major role in his writings, or rather why it shouldn't play a major role in life in his case. It is probably because as a Muslim minority in a country where my people used to hold the reins of power and were the majority it really touches me especially when you grow up with the licensed bigotry and sense of haplessness that your community is always reminded of.
Anyway, I'm toying with the idea of writing my mini research project on cognition and curriculum. I have been informed that my grades will not be good enough to write a dissertation due to the higher requirements of my department. Oh well...life goes on.
Although I do get a feeling the my coordinator views writing a dissertation a Herculean task for everyone included and should not be encouraged.
I'm gonna bury myself in Machiavelli now and am looking forward to Dr. Wong's class on Socrates and Confucius next term, maybe now after understanding somewhat how Modernity afflicts us, I can now learn how it afflicts us in its form here.
Monday, January 25, 2010
Modernity thy name is my past
A lecturer once told me that to be modern is to look to the future and to be constantly pursuing something new. I must then be a conservative heretic as I'm struggling to hold on to my senses with the ruins of the past that have been bulldozed by the winds of change that has started long before my birth.
While some may say there's no looking back; I turn away from it and it is not easy in this city that embraces modernity in every aspect of life from our economy, lifestyle, the arts and if I may say etc,etc,etc...
One can always argue that we do have heritage sites, Asian values or ethnic traditions that are still very much alive but I think the most pertinent issue for me is one's lifestyle.We are so caught up with creating something new, a better life, more of everything that we can lose sight of living life.
However, the most dangerous thing about modernity is like that REM song- "Losing My Religion" ; in its conflict between faith and government. If political science is about the pursuit of happiness then a modern version of it follows that happiness can be attained without spirituality.
Maybe I'm going to find the answer or the beginning of the journey to my questions of life and my ongoing struggle against reason and faith that has encompassed half my life in this ivory tower; or maybe I will feel life as doomed as it seemed twenty years ago. Sometimes, I just hope that the questions will stop but they never do, so I might as well face my demons...now back to studying the father of modernity, right after I get my daughter to wash her greasy hands...
While some may say there's no looking back; I turn away from it and it is not easy in this city that embraces modernity in every aspect of life from our economy, lifestyle, the arts and if I may say etc,etc,etc...
One can always argue that we do have heritage sites, Asian values or ethnic traditions that are still very much alive but I think the most pertinent issue for me is one's lifestyle.We are so caught up with creating something new, a better life, more of everything that we can lose sight of living life.
However, the most dangerous thing about modernity is like that REM song- "Losing My Religion" ; in its conflict between faith and government. If political science is about the pursuit of happiness then a modern version of it follows that happiness can be attained without spirituality.
Maybe I'm going to find the answer or the beginning of the journey to my questions of life and my ongoing struggle against reason and faith that has encompassed half my life in this ivory tower; or maybe I will feel life as doomed as it seemed twenty years ago. Sometimes, I just hope that the questions will stop but they never do, so I might as well face my demons...now back to studying the father of modernity, right after I get my daughter to wash her greasy hands...
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Perbahasan politik yang dipolitikkan
Singapura dikejutkan hari ini dengan komen bagaimana seorang NMP baru menerima 'teguran' keras dari 'bapa permodenan' negeri ini. Apa yang amat menarik ialah bagaimana, apa yang sebenarnya dikatakan oleh NMP ini tidak diterbitkan sepenuh mahupun sebahagiannya, apa yang kita dapat hanyalah komen yang boleh dikatakan terkeluar dari konteks perdebatan. Sebaliknya, reaksi ahli parlimen mendapat perhatian yang jauh lebih banyak.
Jika dibaca, apa yang NMP ini sebenarnya katakan; seperti yang boleh anda dapat di "http://nmpviswasadasivanmaidenspeech.blogspot.com/2009/08/nmp-viswa-sadasivans-maiden-speech-in.html", adalah menjadi persoalan mengapa akhbar menerbitkan reaksi ahli parlimen kita yang paling terhormat, dalam setengah lembar, yang memasukkan isu hak istimewa Melayu diketengahkan mahupun isu tentang bagaimana seorang bukan Melayu boleh mengatasi isu seperti anak remaja Melayu yang mengandung anak luar nikah, sebagai reaksi kepada isu peranan badan bantu diri yang berasaskan bangsa.Malah komen tentang sistem kasta boleh dikatakan tidak sensitif akan kepercayaan masyarakat Hindu di sini mahupun kepada NMP yang berbangsa India itu.
Mengapa tidak diketengahkan yang Viswa menyoal kenapa statistik tentang keadaan sosial sering dikategorikan mengikut bangsa dan pentingnya kita berdiskusi tentang masalah seperti penglibatan Melayu-Islam di SAF?
Apa yang penting ialah kita harus menyoal dan berfikiran kritikal akan apa yang dicetak di akhbar tempatan dan tidak menerima sepenuhnya apa yang diketengahkan. Syabas, Viswa kerana berani mengetengahkan isu-isu ini dalam sesi pertamanya sebagai NMP dan adalah diharapkan ia dapat diteruskan.
Jika dibaca, apa yang NMP ini sebenarnya katakan; seperti yang boleh anda dapat di "http://nmpviswasadasivanmaidenspeech.blogspot.com/2009/08/nmp-viswa-sadasivans-maiden-speech-in.html", adalah menjadi persoalan mengapa akhbar menerbitkan reaksi ahli parlimen kita yang paling terhormat, dalam setengah lembar, yang memasukkan isu hak istimewa Melayu diketengahkan mahupun isu tentang bagaimana seorang bukan Melayu boleh mengatasi isu seperti anak remaja Melayu yang mengandung anak luar nikah, sebagai reaksi kepada isu peranan badan bantu diri yang berasaskan bangsa.Malah komen tentang sistem kasta boleh dikatakan tidak sensitif akan kepercayaan masyarakat Hindu di sini mahupun kepada NMP yang berbangsa India itu.
Mengapa tidak diketengahkan yang Viswa menyoal kenapa statistik tentang keadaan sosial sering dikategorikan mengikut bangsa dan pentingnya kita berdiskusi tentang masalah seperti penglibatan Melayu-Islam di SAF?
Apa yang penting ialah kita harus menyoal dan berfikiran kritikal akan apa yang dicetak di akhbar tempatan dan tidak menerima sepenuhnya apa yang diketengahkan. Syabas, Viswa kerana berani mengetengahkan isu-isu ini dalam sesi pertamanya sebagai NMP dan adalah diharapkan ia dapat diteruskan.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Education systems: A question of centralisation?
As we are all aware, the local education system is a very centralised one, as opposed to say the American system. One pertinent reason this is so, is historical, the need to unite the people quickly as a nation in the face of pro-China feelings, threats of communism and a majority Chinese state existing in a Malay-Muslim neighbourhood.
This has managed to see us through the turbulent years as English became the main, neutral language which economic reasons has certainly helped to push this reform through the vernacular system that existed during the British rule and Malay being made the National Language.
In the context of curriculum however, this centralised control has resulted in gaps in the institutional, programmatic and classroom practices with policies being carried out in some cases on a superficial basis, for example in the integration of National Education across subject areas with some teachers struggling to find connections.
One of course sees the benefit of having a centralised system. It helps to ensure standards are achieved and that we produce a certain quality of graduates. However, to a degree this is being served by the existence of high stakes education. I am still trying to figure out why then are our schools still being subjected to such control and a top-down approach of reforms?
The past decade or so however has seen the ministry giving greater freedom to schools with the introduction of independent, autonomous and integrated programmes. However, we are still bound to the regular curriculum that has always existed, just that now we can have some frills, as we need to make the grades in high stakes examinations and we need to attract the right students and get the right rankings so that our schools remain competitive institutes of excellence.
I am now going to bury myself in history books on education and contemporary writings on the system to find out why. But first we have to homeschool, which by the way I am grateful for having the choice to carry out here.
This has managed to see us through the turbulent years as English became the main, neutral language which economic reasons has certainly helped to push this reform through the vernacular system that existed during the British rule and Malay being made the National Language.
In the context of curriculum however, this centralised control has resulted in gaps in the institutional, programmatic and classroom practices with policies being carried out in some cases on a superficial basis, for example in the integration of National Education across subject areas with some teachers struggling to find connections.
One of course sees the benefit of having a centralised system. It helps to ensure standards are achieved and that we produce a certain quality of graduates. However, to a degree this is being served by the existence of high stakes education. I am still trying to figure out why then are our schools still being subjected to such control and a top-down approach of reforms?
The past decade or so however has seen the ministry giving greater freedom to schools with the introduction of independent, autonomous and integrated programmes. However, we are still bound to the regular curriculum that has always existed, just that now we can have some frills, as we need to make the grades in high stakes examinations and we need to attract the right students and get the right rankings so that our schools remain competitive institutes of excellence.
I am now going to bury myself in history books on education and contemporary writings on the system to find out why. But first we have to homeschool, which by the way I am grateful for having the choice to carry out here.
Sunday, February 01, 2009
Rambut sama hitam
Baru-baru ini fikiran saya terganggu dengan gambar-gambar perkahwinan yang disiarkan di akhbar 'Berita Harian'. Sekali imbas, saya sangka gambar-gambar tersebut ialah satu perkahwinan bukan Islam namun sangkaan saya ternyata salah bila dibaca keratan akhbar tersebut.
Agak sukar sekarang membezakan antara Islam dengan bukan Islam kerana dari luar ada di antara kita yang nampak sama. Di dalam hati saya inilah kesan negatif meritokrasi yang ingin memberi peluang yang sama kepada semua. Malangnya, pada masa yang sama kita juga menjadi 'sama' dalam setiap segi.
Di dalam negara yang berbilang bangsa dan agama ini, mewajibkan setiap orang 'kelihatan' sama adalah satu kepincangan yang disembunyikan dalam etos kewarganegaraan yang dipandang mulia. Bukan saja diri seseorang itu dinafikan di dalam pelosok-pelosok tertentu, dia juga dimasukkan ke dalam acuan apa yang dipandang sebagai peranannya dalam masyarakat berdasarkan keupayaan-keupayaan yang difikirkan ada padanya.
Adalah tidak salah mensosialisasikan masyarakat kepada kepentingan umum tetapi kita tidak boleh menolak ketepi perbezaan masing-masing dalam kepercayaan dan kelakonan. Melakukan demikian hanya menjadikan interaksi sosial antara kaum dan agama hanya berlaku pada tahap sandiwara yang berdasarkan pertukaran perspektif yang palsu.
Pada diri orang Islam sendiri juga mestilah ada pendirian untuk tidak dibawa arus ini dan berpegang teguh kepada prinsip-prinsip agama. Kita tidak harus rasa terpaksa untuk diterima orang sekeliling sehingga menggadaikan apa yang kita percaya dan amalkan, mahupun melakukan lebih kurang bila di kalangan bangsa dan agama lain.
Di dalam hal ini, satu golongan yang kritikal ialah para pelajar kita. Di sekolah-sekolah, agama dan tradisi menjadi sesuatu yang disembunyikan kerana inilah suasana di dalam mana mereka dididik. Tanpa kita sedari, kita telah memberi kebenaran untuk anak-anak kita dibesarkan dalam institusi yang kosong dari segi kerohanian dan kemudian kita menyoal kenapa orang Melayu Islam begitu bermasaalah. Manusia itu roh dan jasad, jika tidak disuburkan dengan yang baik, roh itu akan mencari yang lain; ia tidak dapat wujud dalam kekosongan.
Agak sukar sekarang membezakan antara Islam dengan bukan Islam kerana dari luar ada di antara kita yang nampak sama. Di dalam hati saya inilah kesan negatif meritokrasi yang ingin memberi peluang yang sama kepada semua. Malangnya, pada masa yang sama kita juga menjadi 'sama' dalam setiap segi.
Di dalam negara yang berbilang bangsa dan agama ini, mewajibkan setiap orang 'kelihatan' sama adalah satu kepincangan yang disembunyikan dalam etos kewarganegaraan yang dipandang mulia. Bukan saja diri seseorang itu dinafikan di dalam pelosok-pelosok tertentu, dia juga dimasukkan ke dalam acuan apa yang dipandang sebagai peranannya dalam masyarakat berdasarkan keupayaan-keupayaan yang difikirkan ada padanya.
Adalah tidak salah mensosialisasikan masyarakat kepada kepentingan umum tetapi kita tidak boleh menolak ketepi perbezaan masing-masing dalam kepercayaan dan kelakonan. Melakukan demikian hanya menjadikan interaksi sosial antara kaum dan agama hanya berlaku pada tahap sandiwara yang berdasarkan pertukaran perspektif yang palsu.
Pada diri orang Islam sendiri juga mestilah ada pendirian untuk tidak dibawa arus ini dan berpegang teguh kepada prinsip-prinsip agama. Kita tidak harus rasa terpaksa untuk diterima orang sekeliling sehingga menggadaikan apa yang kita percaya dan amalkan, mahupun melakukan lebih kurang bila di kalangan bangsa dan agama lain.
Di dalam hal ini, satu golongan yang kritikal ialah para pelajar kita. Di sekolah-sekolah, agama dan tradisi menjadi sesuatu yang disembunyikan kerana inilah suasana di dalam mana mereka dididik. Tanpa kita sedari, kita telah memberi kebenaran untuk anak-anak kita dibesarkan dalam institusi yang kosong dari segi kerohanian dan kemudian kita menyoal kenapa orang Melayu Islam begitu bermasaalah. Manusia itu roh dan jasad, jika tidak disuburkan dengan yang baik, roh itu akan mencari yang lain; ia tidak dapat wujud dalam kekosongan.
Tuesday, December 09, 2008
My thoughts I
I wonder how we will all turn out if our education system is not what we know it is. Would we have become what we are today despite the education we received or for that matter would the world be what it is today?
If you think of it, our political, economic and social systems are products of thinkers from their respective disciplines and thus how our lives are shaped was influenced by the schooling that these thinkers received to a certain degree.
Now, if economists think that there is no cost of money, then there would be no interest rate; that would certainly make a significant part of what we know of economics break down. Things would be at their real price of what people value them to be. Now, wouldn't that be a beautiful life?Instead, we have a complicated web of financial and economic systems that can ride on something that doesn't even exist as long as someone find it profitable.
Which makes us come to the question of ethics. As a result of secularisation, most schools now are stripped of not only 'religious' practices but even symbols. We try to replace them with moral and civics on a purely abstract level that leaves the spiritual essence of the child empty. Our children are told to leave their beliefs at the school gates and live half their day as a separate social entity.
Friday, September 19, 2008
Diversion
I have recently decided to take a break from Montessori to learn more about the Waldorf method. Technically however, I realise that I'm just learning something else on top of Montessori. *:>*
Can they work with each other, yes, but at the expense of going against some very core opinions.
One does not have to delve deeper than on when the child should learn how to read. If the child is exposed to reading skills in Montessori schools as young as three, Waldorf educators believe that such an act is detrimental to his holistic growth no less.
Academic learning starts only after the child has lost his teeth, usually around the age of seven. For only then does the child has the 'energies' available for such activities that have been freed from being inputs for the child's basic physical or spiritual growth, for example.
Then there is the area of play, specifically imaginary play, that puts Montessori and Waldorf poles apart. In Waldorf play, the 'toys' are made in the most simple and natural manner so the child's imagination can play an architectural role in how the play is to be carried out.
A doll, for one, shouldn't have too much details about it. None of those fancy painted eyes that shut and open when you want them, sounds of crying or laughter nor lifelike features. Like any toy in Waldorf, it should be simple and natural. Better without an expression for the child to imagine one for himself.
I can help thinking about Hello Kitty and Miffy... were they Waldorf inspired?
Where Montessori believed that 'imaginary play' in a young child is a phase not to be encouraged; one shouldn't make a stick a horse but go out there and see a real horse....It's perfectly fine in Waldorf for the child to imagine any stick or flower to be horses or fairies, in fact it's healthy.
I have just read "Children at Play" where there was a section on how a child deprived of imagining her rolled up nightie to be a doll has created an imaginary doll. Montessori believed that children imagine things because of an unsatisfied need and if this need is satisfied this 'make believe' will go away. Two parts of the same coin?
One platform that brings Waldorf and Montessori together is respect for the child and the importance of creating a sense of awe in learning. All those nature walks, admiring the skies above, learning things from nature....then there's the Head, Heart and Hand.
I am enjoying this journey of discovery every minute. I must say it has been a smoother and more beautiful journey since I incorporated the two methods into our homeschool.
Can they work with each other, yes, but at the expense of going against some very core opinions.
One does not have to delve deeper than on when the child should learn how to read. If the child is exposed to reading skills in Montessori schools as young as three, Waldorf educators believe that such an act is detrimental to his holistic growth no less.
Academic learning starts only after the child has lost his teeth, usually around the age of seven. For only then does the child has the 'energies' available for such activities that have been freed from being inputs for the child's basic physical or spiritual growth, for example.
Then there is the area of play, specifically imaginary play, that puts Montessori and Waldorf poles apart. In Waldorf play, the 'toys' are made in the most simple and natural manner so the child's imagination can play an architectural role in how the play is to be carried out.
A doll, for one, shouldn't have too much details about it. None of those fancy painted eyes that shut and open when you want them, sounds of crying or laughter nor lifelike features. Like any toy in Waldorf, it should be simple and natural. Better without an expression for the child to imagine one for himself.
I can help thinking about Hello Kitty and Miffy... were they Waldorf inspired?
Where Montessori believed that 'imaginary play' in a young child is a phase not to be encouraged; one shouldn't make a stick a horse but go out there and see a real horse....It's perfectly fine in Waldorf for the child to imagine any stick or flower to be horses or fairies, in fact it's healthy.
I have just read "Children at Play" where there was a section on how a child deprived of imagining her rolled up nightie to be a doll has created an imaginary doll. Montessori believed that children imagine things because of an unsatisfied need and if this need is satisfied this 'make believe' will go away. Two parts of the same coin?
One platform that brings Waldorf and Montessori together is respect for the child and the importance of creating a sense of awe in learning. All those nature walks, admiring the skies above, learning things from nature....then there's the Head, Heart and Hand.
I am enjoying this journey of discovery every minute. I must say it has been a smoother and more beautiful journey since I incorporated the two methods into our homeschool.
Wednesday, June 04, 2008
Current Projects
These are the projects I'm working on now. My plan is to work on three subject areas over 1 or 2 weeks according to the lesson plans by Montessori R&D. That takes away a lot of the planning:)
1. Parts of a plant and its extensions
2. Geometric Cabinet 4-6
3. Level 1 Chemistry experiment cards.
Btw, the books I bid on ebay finally arrived after almost 3 months. Somewhere between Seattle and Portland they took more than two months before finally arriving in Singapore. Hmm.... I cannot complain about our postal service anymore....Will, InsyaAllah, review them when I'm done.
1. Parts of a plant and its extensions
2. Geometric Cabinet 4-6
3. Level 1 Chemistry experiment cards.
Btw, the books I bid on ebay finally arrived after almost 3 months. Somewhere between Seattle and Portland they took more than two months before finally arriving in Singapore. Hmm.... I cannot complain about our postal service anymore....Will, InsyaAllah, review them when I'm done.
Monday, May 05, 2008
Book Review: Waldorf Education by Christopher Clouder and Martyn Rawson
This is a great book to read as an introduction to the Steiner Waldorf School of thought. No, I'm not deviating from Montessori, but it has been such an enriching experience. This is especially so because the Waldorf school is 'radically child centred and is based on the on-going study of the developing human being.' Gasp! that sounds like the Montessori philosophy.
If Montessori has 'Cosmic Education', the Waldorf school also seeks to assist the child in finding meaning in life for 'it is a central task of education to give children not only a sense of identity but a profound sense of purpose'.
I also find it intriguing how they stress on creating deep impressions for 'the more profound and true to the being of the phenomenon the young child's experience is, the more profound the conscious knowledge in later years.' Ka-ching again....
I can go on. There are of course differences in approach and methods. However, what I am most attracted to is their 'sense' based education that is translated in their programme which is very arts based such as music, dance, drama and the visual arts.
I have always had a soft spot for the arts. Having reconciled somewhat, my artistic tendencies with Islamic values, I have come full circle from reviling in art as defined by the West, throwing it aside and returning to art with a new, more Islamic, perspective. I want to share that with my children, especially Umayr who is more artistically inclined.
The arts are so much apart of the Waldorf school. I am not for the fairy tales and myths but the artistic angle is an attraction that I'd like to incorporate in my Montessori teaching with my kids. Montessori herself did not feel the need to dabble in art curriculum for she felt that it was already doing a great job!
It is certainly a much easier read than what you can find at www.rsarchive.org which provides a lot of literature online on the Waldorf school. Darn, even Montessori doesn't have that. However, if you want an academic read, it is a very good website.
If Montessori has 'Cosmic Education', the Waldorf school also seeks to assist the child in finding meaning in life for 'it is a central task of education to give children not only a sense of identity but a profound sense of purpose'.
I also find it intriguing how they stress on creating deep impressions for 'the more profound and true to the being of the phenomenon the young child's experience is, the more profound the conscious knowledge in later years.' Ka-ching again....
I can go on. There are of course differences in approach and methods. However, what I am most attracted to is their 'sense' based education that is translated in their programme which is very arts based such as music, dance, drama and the visual arts.
I have always had a soft spot for the arts. Having reconciled somewhat, my artistic tendencies with Islamic values, I have come full circle from reviling in art as defined by the West, throwing it aside and returning to art with a new, more Islamic, perspective. I want to share that with my children, especially Umayr who is more artistically inclined.
The arts are so much apart of the Waldorf school. I am not for the fairy tales and myths but the artistic angle is an attraction that I'd like to incorporate in my Montessori teaching with my kids. Montessori herself did not feel the need to dabble in art curriculum for she felt that it was already doing a great job!
It is certainly a much easier read than what you can find at www.rsarchive.org which provides a lot of literature online on the Waldorf school. Darn, even Montessori doesn't have that. However, if you want an academic read, it is a very good website.
Thursday, March 27, 2008
On Imagination
In my spare time, I am currently reading Montessori's Spontaneous Activity in Education. What I think she was trying to convey on her chapter on Imagination today really struck me. Montessori stressed on how important it is to let the child's mind mature on the imagination platform instead of us encouraging the raw nature of imagination that is in the child for 'illusions' are the beginning of false reasoning, and the concomitants of delirium.
Simply speaking, if you want to teach a child what is a horse show her a horse in all its true form not a lego block of squares. Adults easily fall into the trap of encouraging the child, for the sake of making them imaginative, in flights of fancy. Just like how we make up fables with witches and warlocks and fairy godmothers who grant wishes when things get impossible , just to name a few.
However, Montessori argued that such a propagation does not breed imagination but is instead an act of arrest(ing) artificially a stage of development for our own amusement. Our role is not to let this transient stage become an artifice for the child needs to grow into an adult.
For all its worth, my sons love Lego and it is true how an unsatisfied need create an illusion. For not being able to play with toy guns, my second makes them out of anything. Children in fact, are very capable in that sense to come up with alternatives. However, Montessori warned against them being too deprived of what they desire for it would begin to create fantastical thoughts but he who possesses something attaches himself to that which he possesses to persevere and increase it reasonably.
Imagination can only have a sensory basis, not?
Simply speaking, if you want to teach a child what is a horse show her a horse in all its true form not a lego block of squares. Adults easily fall into the trap of encouraging the child, for the sake of making them imaginative, in flights of fancy. Just like how we make up fables with witches and warlocks and fairy godmothers who grant wishes when things get impossible , just to name a few.
However, Montessori argued that such a propagation does not breed imagination but is instead an act of arrest(ing) artificially a stage of development for our own amusement. Our role is not to let this transient stage become an artifice for the child needs to grow into an adult.
For all its worth, my sons love Lego and it is true how an unsatisfied need create an illusion. For not being able to play with toy guns, my second makes them out of anything. Children in fact, are very capable in that sense to come up with alternatives. However, Montessori warned against them being too deprived of what they desire for it would begin to create fantastical thoughts but he who possesses something attaches himself to that which he possesses to persevere and increase it reasonably.
Imagination can only have a sensory basis, not?
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
On Montessori
1. In what ways was Maria Montessori a pioneer for women's rights?
Maria Montessori was a pioneer for women's rights in her fight to pursue her beliefs despite the barriers facing women in Italy then. She was very much a pioneer through example, refusing to follow the normal path that women followed then by first wanting to be an engineer and studying in a technical school and then pursuing medicine when no woman has ever done that before in Italy.
When she met up with the head of the medical faculty to discuss the possibility that she could enter the faculty but was spurned, she left with the parting words of , “ I know I will be a doctor.” She continued this persistence by matriculating for the medical faculty and finally getting into it.
Her exemplary fight to pursue what she wants despite the place that women had in society then was portrayed in her struggles during her studies where she was treated coldly by her male compatriots. She not only persisted to excel but won over many of her critics. Dr. Maria also had to fight her personal inhibitions with the rigours of her medical studies as shown in the episode when she first had to work in the mortuary.
Montessori's fight for women's rights continued soon after her graduation when she became the Italian representative for a conference on women's rights in Germany. There she impressed much with her spontaneity and insight into the issues facing women in those days. Throughout her fight to do what she believed was right, Montessori did not see any reason to part from her feminine nature. stamping her own version of a liberated woman.
In what ways did she lead an important educational movement for reform?
Dr. Montessori's wave of reform started from her work with the disabled where she called for changes to how they are being taught. She believed that they become a liability to society only because the system they were put into did not teach them to be more than what they are because society has already perceived them as lesser beings.
Montessori stated in the Pedagogical Congress in Turin in 1898 that “the intellectual idiot and the moral imbecile are capable of being educated and have instincts that can be used to lead them to the good.”1
She later translated her opinions in her work at the Orthophrenic School for two years which she called her first and indeed my true degree in pedagogy. She achieved a breakthrough when the children who were thought to be of no hope to learn anything were able to read and write, with some passing the national examination, then the average level of education of Italians, after being taught at the school.
Montessori brought scientific pedagogy to a new level. She not only furthered Itard's and Seguin's work, she also brought in her medical and anthropological background into education and began a pedagogical revolution where the child, not the teacher or anything else became the center of learning. “ The subject of our study is humanity; our purpose is to become teachers. Now, what really makes a teacher is love for the human child...” 2
3. In what ways to you feel she was "human"?
Despite her privileged upbringing, Montessori never saw herself as being above the less well-off. As a child, she befriended a hunchbacked child and went for walks with her. She was often a champion for the underdogs; women, the disabled and of course, children.
Montessori also continued to live in Spain and not return to Barcelona after her visit to the United States in 1915 so that her son will not be conscripted into military service which would have conflicted with her stand against war and militaristic nationalism.
In her speech on “ Education and Peace” , Montessori talked about how important it was that human instincts must keep up with the advancement of technology which in the wrong hands could have catastrophic consequences for “if the sidereal forces are used blindly by men who know nothing about them with the aim of destroying one another- the attempt will be speedily successful.”3
4. How did her humanity impact her role as a world leader both positively and negatively?
One of the strongest negative impact of her humanity on her role as a world leader was how she agreed to go along with Mussolini in his support for the Montessori movement which was in truth for his own fascist ambitions.
In her stand that she was apolitical and that the “cause of the child” superseded ephemeral distinctions of party and nation. She believed that despite the brutalities of the regime, it was far better that she is in the system taking charge of the education of the children and hence for the betterment of society in future.
Those unstable times however also brought opportunities for her work to be carried out among the victims of war. Out of her plea for the establishment of the White Cross to treat the children of war, Montessori classes were set up in almost thirty cities in France for children who had been the victims of war.
She also contributed to other war relief efforts such as the Haus der Kinder in Vienna, pumping in support from England towards the school that was built to serve the destitute children who were victims of war.
The world wars also made her an advocate for peace around the world and she was even nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize thrice. Her work brought her around the world for the most part of her life such that her country is a star which turns around the sun and is called the Earth.
5. What is the greatest contribution of her life to the world?
Dr. Montessori's gave to the world her philosophy and method of education where the child can discover for himself and is able to apply what he learns to new situations in a school. Through this she has freed the child from the slavery imposed in schools where the child is confined to the chair and table and made to repeat lessons.
6. What would you like to add about the story of her life?
More than half a century after Dr. Montessori's death, her work has continued to enjoy a continued renaissance and has spread throughout the world.
My hope is that this love for the child is brought into public education so that a majority, if not all the children will be able to discover their true self and their role in this life. There is lack of spirituality in the education of the masses which at times has been made into a factory for the economic growth of the future.
An education should not only be about being number one, but to love knowledge and to live by a code of conduct that would bring good to society at large because if education is always to be conceived along the same antiquated lines of a mere transmission of knowledge, there is little to be hoped from it in the bettering of man's future.”
1Kramer, R. (1988). Maria Montessori A Biography, p.75
2 Ibid, p.98
3Ibid, p. 302
.
What I have learned from My Montessori Foundations Course
When I first came into contact with Montessori's methods 5 years ago, it was like an encounter with a totally alien concept. How can learning be carried out when children are left to walk around choosing their 'lesson' for the day without the adult guiding them step by step?
From then it has been a journey of discovery. I even took up a distance course locally which I though was already such an interesting journey. However, when I took up the course with Montessorilive, I realised how narrow my earlier course was and how academic centred it was, not much unlike our local school system where children are pressured to do their best to bring up their school ranking in the country and how we are always competing to be the best in the world testing and examinations standards.
I know see the bigger picture for If education is always to be conceived along the same antiquated lines of a mere transmission of knowledge, there is little to be hoped from it in the bettering of man's future. The children are not factors in production lines to be assigned their different lines based on the paper tests that we give them much like how the industrial revolution in Germany played a role in how schools are organised today.
Instead, I shall now try to humble myself, like the secret hinge on a door as we teachers can only help the work going on, as servants wait upon a master. This will be a great struggle, for we adults, especially as I am not only their educator but also first and foremost their mother, always see ourselves in a position of authority.
Preparation of the Educator
What is the essential “hidden hinge” within the educational process of the human child?
The hinge is an almost insignificant part of the door that one tend to forget its role completely when in actual fact without the hinge, the act of opening of closing the door would be a more complex concern. Hence, such should be the position of the educator in the Montessori environment; he should humble himself to such an insignificant position as the hinge.
Only by allowing the child to take centrestage, will he be able to reveal his inner being to the educator who can then tailor to the needs of the child and ease the process of him opening the door to knowledge that exist beyond.
Define the horticultural terms “thriving”, “wilting”, and “stunted” as they apply to the learner.
When a child is thriving, the learning environment is helping him to go to the next stage of his development as is ordained by his inner being. He not only performs at the level that he is supposed to be at but is capable of working towards what is beyond his current level of skills and knowledge.
A student who is stunted is not as easily detected for they might seem to be thriving when in fact they are not moving any further than where they are at already. This can be seen when the child is able to do her work with much ease and can easily lead to boredom and detachment from the learning process.
A wilting learner, is digressing away from what he is actually capable of and this might be the result of either putting him at a level way beyond his reach or a deficient environment. Hence, when a student is wilting or stunting there has been a mistake in how we are responding to what he actually needs and is capable of doing. There must have been something slacking in how the child has been observed and analysed or there might have been a mismatch in approach.
Why did Dr. Montessori say that she had to become a “nobody” when she was there with children?
There was a need to be a 'nobody' for only then will the natural phenomenon of the child reveal itself to the educator. In standard schools, it is the teacher that becomes the centre of attention that all the students need to observe but in a Montessori school, the reverse is true.
To study the phenomena of the child, the educator must be 'invisible' so that the child can carry out his work out of his own inner will and decision. Every child has different needs in him that makes him see the same thing in a different way and this will be reflected in how he responds to the environment around him and how he is called out to the materials.
Being the centre of a class would interfere in the natural learning process that the child is going through for the teacher would then be the 'command centre' where all instructions come from. However, in such an environment, how are we to know that what the child is doing is reflective of his psychic being. It would almost be like a bias in an experiment.
By observing what for example calls out to the child and how he works with it, the educator can decide where the child is in his stage of development and what his natural inclinations may be. He can then find areas to widen the scope of work that the child is working on or decide on the next work that the child is ready to do.
What did the children learn about writing after they had their first “exploded into language”?
When the children first 'exploded into language' they were fervently writing and deciphering whatever words were around then. Dr. Montessori however showed them that there was an even more meaningful part to language and that was 'communication'. She wrote on the board ' if you can read this, hug me' and when the children who were able to read saw that they came to her and embraced her.
From there they realised that language was a powerful tool that they could use to express their thoughts to one another and gain a response from. They soon started writing to each other and were truly enjoying language as a human experience.
Why must a Montessori educator become a storyteller or actor?
A Montessori educator needs to capture the spark in the child when he presents the material to him. This is done through the carefully sequenced acts and expressions which is almost dramatic. When this is translated in other areas of educating the child that does not use that much physical or didactic material, the words become the material and there is an even greater need to express oneself very well as the concept becomes more abstract.
Hence, the educator needs to be a great storyteller or actor for his stories or scenes are what that must capture the child's interest and imagination. The experience will not only be easier to remember but it will leave a deeper impression in the child and hopefully spurs him to further discover what has been introduced to him.
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Montessori Beginnings
This is my man on the road attempts at academic greatness....some of the lines don't make sense to me at all after I handed in my assignment. Oh well, I'm trying to learn.....
What is the distinction between a methodology and a philosophy of education?
Philosophy means the love of wisdom. John Dewey went a step further in defining philosophy of education as the process of forming fundamental disposition, intellectual and emotional, toward nature and fellow-men, philosophy may even be defined as the general theory of education. Unless a philosophy is to remain symbolic—or verbal-or a sentimental indulgence for a few, or else mere arbitrary dogma, its auditing of past experience and its program of values must take effect in conduct (MW 9: p. 338).
A less radical approach would be that the philosophy of education is the study of the purpose, process, nature and ideals of education. This can be within the context of education as a societal institution or more broadly as the process of human existential growth, i.e. how it is that our understanding of the world is continually transformed via physical, emotional, cognitive and transcendental experiences.It can naturally be considered a branch of both philosophy and education.
( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophy_of_education )
Methodology of education can be defined as a set or system of methods, principles, and rules for regulating a branch of pedagogics dealing with analysis and evaluation of subjects to be taught and of the methods of teaching them.
( http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=methodology )
The methodology of education can be taken as a subset of the philosophy of education which is concerned with the principles and procedures of inquiry in gaining knowledge. Henceforth, the philosophy of education is the basis of the system which is the method.
When one carries out a method, it must thus be guided by the philosophy as in the case of the Montessori method which is for example, is always guided by the philosophy of following the child. We can make the child work on a didactic material but to have insisted that the child do a particular exercise would have gone against the philosophy of following the child and thus be in conflict too with the method of presenting the material when the child is ready to do so, for example.
Would you describe Montessori's philosophy of education as being metaphysical or existential? Explain your opinion.
The teacher must derive not only the capacity, but the desire, to observe natural phenomena. The teacher must understand and feel her position of observer: the activity must lie in the phenomenon. (The Montessori Method, ch. 5 )
Montessori's method can only be described as existential as they are based on her observations of the children. It does not seek only to explore ideas of what a child is but is based on pursuing personal meaning in existence because education is a natural process carried out by the human individual, and is acquired not by listening to words, but by experiences in the environment.” ( Education in a New World )
From the beginning, even in her work with the less able students, Montessori had made extensive observations from which she would produce the didactic materials and the learning environment. Her 'method' thus came about as a response to what she has observed of the child and not purely from a theory that seeks to be applied to the child.
By observing the child, a teacher would know how and what is best to be presented to the child to capture the spark that would lead him to pursue knowledge because we are here to offer to this life, which came into the world by itself, the means necessary for its development, and having done that we must await this development with respect.
Perhaps the strongest sense that we get that Montessori's philosophy is existential can be seen in her words that "There was no method to be seen, what was seen was a child...acting according to its own nature." ( Secret of Childhood, p.136 )
What is the role of a child's intentionality in Montessori's understanding of education?
Intention begins to exist in a child when he is able to act out of his own accord. It is not something that suddenly exist in a child but needs to be developed in accordance with the laws of nature.
In the beginning, the child acts more out of instinct. To awaken his will, the child needs to go through a slow process that evolves through a continuous activity in relationship with the environment. The consciousness of choice needs to be constantly used and practiced before it can be fully developed.
The process however, can be a painfully long one if the educator tries to bend the will of the child to her own, seeing it as an expression of rebellion. Here, Montessori links the will or intentionality of the child with obedience. She believes that a child is not able to comply to instructions when she has not mastered the skills needed to do so.
Instead, the educator must realise that the child goes through three stages of obedience where at first it is dictated purely by the hormic impulse, then it rises to the level of consc, and thereafter it goes on developing, stage by stage, till it comes under the control of the conscious will.
He begins by being able to obey at times and moves on to the second stage where he is more able in his actions and can act according to not only his will but that of another. At the third stage, he obeys not only because he wants to but because he is in awe of the person who instructs him.
What influences did the anthropologist, Sergi, and the French physicians, Itard and Sequin, have on Montessori's way of educating children?
Sergi's most significant influence on Montessori was the idea of turning anthropology 'from the classification of abnormalities to the discovery of ways of preventing the abnormality, through the establishment of a scientific pedagogy based on the anthropological study of children' Montessori basically applied his methods of scientific observation to understanding the learning behaviour of children.(Maria Montessori , A Biography p. 71)
These scientific observations are however not the essence of how we should educate the child, according to Sergi, but it shows us the way to do so for we cannot educate anyone until we know him thoroughly '(Ibid, p. 98)
Itard, best known for his work on the Savage of Aveyron, was influential in the area of sensorial education where he set out to educate the mind through sensorial exercises in gradually increasing levels of difficulty. We can see this in Montessori's primary sensorial materials such as the rough and smooth boards and the baric tablets.
Itard's work on the mentally and physically challenged was to be continued by Seguin, his student, who would further develop the methods in educating these children in the belief that their inadequacies can be overcome somewhat by training. This was seen in Montessori's opinion that mental deficiency presented chiefly a pedagogical, rather than mainly a medical , problem ( The Montessori Method p. 31)
Another revolutionary aspect that could later be seen in Montessori's work was Seguin's unique treatment of the child for to him respect for individuality is the first test of a teacher. ( Idiocy & It's treatment by the Physiological Method p. 33)
What influences did Montessori's beginning educational work with idiot and wounded children have on her understanding of the learning process?
Montessori believed that children are the product of the educational system that they were in. When she began to be interested in the deficient children, she believed that they were at the lowly state they were in because there was nothing in the asylums that stimulated their already wounded mind and body.
The success of her methods with them, some of whom learnt to read and write and even passed the national exams, convinced her that even more could be achieved if the same methods were used with the normal children as they contained educational principles more rational than those in use' and ' that similar methods applied to normal children would develop or set free their personality in a marvelous and surprising way. ( The Montessori Method pp.32-33)
Montessori's work with the deficients were the building blocks of her work with the normal children such as the principle of the education of the senses and then the intellect, as seen in the walking exercises to the later programme of learning how to read from raised letters and teaching a skill by having the child repeat an exercise that prepares him for it, as in the practical and sensorial exercises found in Montessori classes that precedes writing.
References
Education for a New World
Maria Montessori, A Biography, Kramer, Rita
The Absorbent Mind
The Montessori Method
The Secret of Childhood, Montessori, M.,
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)