Theories about education took place around the fifth century B.C., particularly in Athens, Greece. With these theories, came the so-called Sophists, a new generation of professional teachers, whose goal was to train its students, usually very young, into a new world of personal and intellectual freedom. Sophists switched the focus of education from traditional to more physical and engaging activities but included traditional religious and moral values as part of education; Plato established the basic goals for education, but both sophists and technology increased our capacity to reach these goals.
The Sophist’s goal was to develop students to succeed in society under any circumstance. Sophists used new methods, focused on the power of the mind, speech and reason: “The Sophists revolutionized higher education. Their Goals was eminently practical” (Gordon 414). Socrates and his most famous student, Plato, were part of the same movement as Sophists. Both of these philosophers contributed enormously to the fundamentals of teaching and had an impact on educational theory; these philosophers made their goal to take education on a new level where it could perfect the mind of the students, so then they could find their truth and right thinking. Socrates introduced a new fabulous innovation, “what Aristotle called the use of inductive arguments” (Gordon 415). It was a dialect or also called a Socratic conversation which consisted of asking questions to the students, setting problems and analyzing and criticizing the answers, which at the end took them to a conclusion, which part of the time did not reach a firm base. It was a disconcerting method for students; the goal was to train students to boost their intellectual capacity making them...
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... time to develop critical abilities of students, guiding them in developing not only knowledge and skill but also qualities of mind that they will use throughout their lives; as well as intellectual challenge and the responsibility of defending their own truth. As a student I certainly agree with these beliefs but as the education has evolved since Greek and Roman times the essence of education has switched inevitably due to the massive development of universities in a short period of time. The idea that attending a university is the key to professional success and technology and the way we gather information now is much different than when we face a challenge or a question coming up in our minds. We misuse technology, and we make it a way of obtaining answers and information without even trying to develop our own critical thinking abilities and mental stimulation.
In the “rational approach” of knowing, knowledge is “not worth lingering over, meditating upon, remembering, and returning to” (Jardine, 2008, p. 1). In the previous paragraph, one example I brought up is the idea od research and I brought up a question of “why are we doing this”. I think teachers are using this kind of learning approach because it is efficient, saves time and easy to manage. In the article, Jardine emphasises the idea of whiling, which is taking time and making relations. However, whiling takes up too much time and it is less efficient. While pondering with this idea, I asked myself: why are we rushing learning? I think that teachers use rational approach because they were pressured by the government with a static set of curriculum standards. Ultimately, knowledge is political, never innocent and always has a purpose. I asked my self, what is the purpose of education in rational approach of education? By combing the previous readings and this article, I concluded that education is to achieve the final outcomes set by the society and to prepare the future work force (Bloch, Swadener, & Cannella, 2014). This way “measuring time” is about the accumulation of knowledge and measuring empty singularity (Jardine, 2008,
...ledge above everything else, Socrates put an emphasis on the quality of knowledge and the quality of teaching thereafter. To this day, the seeking of knowledge and the eventual passing it on are revered tasks. It is said that teachers are among the wisest people on the land not only for their knowledge but their experience in handling different personalities. They are also respected for their grasp of the facts of life and what goes on around us. They explain life and make it worth living. No wonder Socrates said, “The unexplained life is not worth living” (Brisson 90).
In the beginning, there were basic schoolhouses to fulfill the needs of a newly industrialized society. The subjects taught had the sole aim of the student being able to secure a job with the ultimate goal of creating a large enough workforce to fill the new societal needs, creating a stigmatization that any subject that does not help to secure a job is useless. Now that that goal has been met, the bases of classical higher education have been fighting their way into primary education while trying to destroy the previously mentioned stigmatization against non-career-oriented subject matter. Only after hundreds of years, humans as a whole are figuring out that the only subject of education should life and all of its manifestations with no other distractions. Because of this, the main ideas of education should be few, but very important. The ideas taught should be applicable to many scenarios and students should be thoroughly taught their application in life. A...
...s that you develop a way of regarding the information that you receive to the society that you are living in. He also believes that a quality education develops a students moral views and ability to think. And that these qualities are best developed in the traditional classroom setting by interaction between the student and their professors, and the student’s social life on campus, that is, their interaction with fellow students.
...d of the students to work. The mind will be given concepts to engage with so that it will become engrained in the students for life. The subjects will become useful to the students because of what they have learned through reading and writing combined with the instruction of their teachers, who do not make them only read and write, but also give the students time to discuss and struggle with the various subjects. This is what Socrates and Phaedrus were doing, and of this is what excellent education consists.
Education is in itself a concept, which has changed over the millennia, can mean different things and has had differing purposes according to time and culture. Education may take place anywhere, is not constrained by bricks and mortar, delivery mechanisms or legislative requirements. Carr (2003. p19) even states, “education does not necessarily involve teaching”. Education, by one definition, is the act or process of imparting or acquiring general knowledge, developing the powers of reasoning and judgment, and generally of preparing oneself or others intellectually for mature life (education, n.d.).
Socrates was a traveling teacher and talked and challenged everyone he met. Socrates taught the art of persuasive speaking. He did not charge people money like most of the other Sophists did, but he did have similar beliefs as the Sophists. Sophists thought that our minds are cut off from reality and that we are stuck in our own opinions of what the world was like. Socrates believed that reason or nature could not tell us why the world is the way it appears. The Sophists' point of view is best summed up as this: we can never step out of the way things appear.
The Sophists were an influential group of educators that traveled to teach people, who could afford it, how to argue effectively and deliver a speech. Among these first public speaking teachers were three sophists, Thrasymachus, Protagoras, and Gorgias. These sophists were opposed to Socrates’ Socratic Method since, they believed that the “truth” stood relative and they did not attempt to produce “truth” because they argued that the “truth” didn’t actually exist. The Sophists believed that they could win every argument without using justice and the truth because they used trickery and rhetorical techniques to win at all cost. Socrates, known as the gadfly of Athens, used the Socratic Method to take away false ideas to acquire at a universal
In many ways, this debate over education has its roots in the writings of Plato (Jowett). In Book VII of The Republic, Plato discusses such topics as enlightenment, epistemology, forms, and the duties of philosophers. The rhetorical styles which he employ are those of the dialogue and the allegory. The dialogue takes the form of a discussion between Socrates and Glaucon, while the allegory serves as a concrete illustration of the abstract ideas which Plato talks about (Jacobus, 444). Let us examine this "Allegory of the Cave" in more detail.
The Greek sophists were the professional educators in the poleis. It was these sophists that taught Greek men and boys to open their souls and become one with themselves. They mad them question everyday living and why things were there. A sophi...
Early thought processes concerning education laid the groundwork for the modern philosophy of education, including university structures and frameworks. What our ancients have advocated is said to be the cause of every century’s success in continually gaining knowledge. But Plato and Aristotle had very different opinions when it came to the education branch of life.
Plato defines rhetoric as “the art of ruling the minds of men” (Bloom). The sophists were instructors in the disciplines of rhetoric and overall excellence. Their teachings thrived in the fifth century B.C. Through the work of Protagoras, Gorgias, Antiophon, and other sophists, the people of Athens gained higher education and stopped accepting everything they were taught as absolute fact. This questioning of traditional philosophical schools eventually led to the emergence of other ways of thought such as skepticism.
Education is the act or process of providing knowledge skills or competence by a formal course of instruction or training. Through out history societies have sought to educate their people to produce goods and services, to respond effectively and creatively to their world, and to satisfy their curiosity and aesthetic impulses. To achieve reliable knowledge and to think systematically. Over the course of human history education has appeared in many forms, both formalised and informal. Major thinkers have always recognised the educational value of intellectual exploration and of concrete experimentation. Most societies have attempted to standardise the behaviour of their members. These societies have apprenticeship systems by which the young have learned to imitate the beliefs and behaviours of a given group. Teachers have worked within schools of thought cults, monasteries and other types of organisations to shape desired convictions, knowledge and behaviour. Such philosophical and religious leaders as the Budha, Confucius, Pythagoras, Jesus, Moses, Muhammad and Karl Marx instructed their disciplines through informal education.
There is no one single definition for what education really is. Experts and scholars from the beginning have viewed and commented about education in different ways. The definition mostly agreed upon was that education is an acquisition or passing of skills, behavior or knowledge from an institution to another. This institution can either be a person, a school, a family or even the society. If we go in the ancient meaning and the ideology of education, it means to lead out of ignorance. In other words, education or knowledge in this sense was light and education brought the person out of the dark. The purpose and ideology of education is therefore to bring out the potential of a person and pass on knowledge
...at previously, sometimes in the midst of a discussion, people forget that there are two sides of a story and not everyone has to agree to yours. What we learn from our books or our studies is not what is necessarily important. What we learn from our peers and our professors is what’s important. Learning is more than absorbing fact, it is acquiring understanding, and it is being passionate about the material you are given. Each piece that we have read in class, and each comment that we make impacts a person no matter how little it seems. The education systems focuses too much about effective methods of teaching and not enough about effective methods of learning. However, this course felt like we were learning something instead trying to finish the curriculum. As Albert Einstein once said, “education is not the learning of facts, but the training of the mind to think”.