Progressivism and the Good Teacher

A good teacher:
1. Acts as a guide in the classroom rather that the center of learning
2. Stimulates students to initiate, plan and carry out their own projects


Progressivist schools have all started to be more common these days and it seems that the idea is catching on. There is always a comparison between progressive schools and "traditional" schools. What I understand from this is that there is a desire to go beyond the norm and looking at better ways for schools to work. 


What struck me in a progressive school is that there is a movement towards the lesson being personalized and the value of experience in the classroom. The classrooms are small ad the teacher-student relationship is much closer. There is also the challenge of assessment. There is a shift in the idea that assessment can be done just though standardized testing and the "traditional grading system that is commonly associated with traditional schools. Assessment is to be measured in terms of mental, physical moral and social development.


A progressivist teacher then is not just an expert in his field but also is invited towards making the students see and experience the lesson for themselves. A small classroom will also indicate that the teacher will have a more personal relationship with the student and there is a sense of the individual at all times. Assessment is also taken into account in this discussion, the teacher cannot just assign grades based on some standard set by the school. There is a call to better describe the progress of the child in the school and not just a number or letter grade.


From this and previous discussions, it is clear that the a good teacher is not just well educated, morally upright as well as knowledgeable in the different pedagogies available. A good teacher sees the students as more than just vessels to be filled up with knowledge. The students are more than just the numbers assigned to them, whether it be the class number or statistics that box them into one category or another. I think a good teacher must always be aware and flexible to the needs of his students. It is not enough that the students get a "high" grade but also that there is genuine learning and growth.

Existentialism and the Good Teacher

A good teacher:
1). Provides an environment where the students are recognized as individuals
2). Creates opportunities for the student to direct their own learning

The Existentialist puts emphasis on the individuality and self-awareness and puts a lot of value in choosing. In a classroom, it is easy to treat the class as one and present the lesson as if there is only one student. It is often simpler to deliver the lesson and not think so much about who your delivering the lesson to. It is often the case that teachers teach the subject but fail to teach the student. It will take an additional effort to tailor the lesson plan  for each student. What I agree with is that in teaching a lesson, the focus should not be on making it simpler or easier for the teacher but on making it more relevant and effective for the student.

Something that struck me in the existentialist point of view is the primacy on choosing. This action of choosing is not just about picking the better or more relevant option. It is rather on the point that the person is conscious of the effect of each choice that he makes. This makes each choice part of that person and is not just forgotten once the decision is done.

As a teacher, this is something that is watched out for and developed. It should also be a conscious effort of the teacher to make activities and opportunities for the students to see this for themselves and understand that  each choice is theirs and not an effect of others. It is through this that the student can feel that his education, his time spent in the school is authentic, is real. Learning then would become very personal. Not too personal that it loses sight of what the lesson was in the first place but makes it in such a way that retention, understanding and ultimately the meaning of the lesson is higher.

One method of doing this is through the Socratic Method, but one wherein the answers and meaning are constructed entirely by the student and almost not at all by the teacher. By letting the students create their own meaning, it is hoped that they are also more aware of the effect their own decisions make on their view of the world.

Realism and the Good Teacher

A good teacher is

1) knowledgeable about the subject matter and/or skillful

2) has the know how to teach the subject matter

3) must employ different methods appropriate to the student's background and situation

4) should not be distracted from their primary task of advancing human rationality

The realist teacher does not stray far from our modern conception of a teacher. A teacher knows about what he is going to teach and also knows how to teach it. A teacher must also then consider where his students are coming from and use the methods necessary to teach the lesson properly. What strikes me most is the 5th item on the list. A teacher should not be distracted from his primary goal which is develop human rationality, which to me translates to: helping the students think and understand the world for themselves.

From my own experience as a teacher, the required curriculum and other the everyday requirements of the school and administrators can easily fill up your day. This, is on top of the fact that you are going to face all of your students each day and be a teacher, hopefully a good one. There are lesson plans to make and submit, quizzes and long tests to prepare and check and grades to compute, each takes a lot of time and can easily be the focus a teacher's every day. What is sometimes forgotten are the state of the students and, at the end of the day, why they are in the classroom in the first place.

In Science, there are countless facts to memorize and processes to understand as well as the reiteration of the scientific method each and every year. It is very easy to get swept up in trying to get the students to memorize and quiz them on how much they've retained from the previous lesson. It is very hard, on the other hand, to teach the exact same subject but keeping the idea that in learning Science, the student can learn also learn to observe, to ask, to infer and to analyze what they have observed. It takes a little more effort from the teacher to connect the lesson to something relevant they see and use everyday. It takes some more effort to tie all lessons together and get the students to see the big picture. In giving this extra effort, the student should develop the capability to see the same world, same phenomena they have seen throughout their lives and see it in a different way and understand it a different way. The scientific method should not just be a concept they think about and use in the classroom. Outside, it can be a new way of interacting with the same world.

In realism, education is not an end itself, instead it is the process by which someone develops their thinking and understanding of the world. A teacher should see their role clearly in this process. A teacher does not just transfer knowledge and check tests but goes beyond the everyday roles and tasks that involve the teaching profession. A good teacher should then constantly strive to make all lessons relevant to each student and help them see the world in new and different ways.

Idealism and the Good Teacher

From J. Donald Butler (Idealism in Education)

The teacher should:

(1) personify culture and reality for the student

(2) be a specialist in human personality

(3) be capable of uniting experience with enthusiasm

(4) merit students' friendship

(5) awaken students' desire to learn

(6) realize that teaching's moral significance lies in its goal of perfecting human beings

(7) aid in the cultural rebirth of each generation

That is a long list of qualities for a teacher to have. Not that I think its wrong. In fact, I think a teacher should strive to be all of those and keep them in mind at all times.

Idealism gives us this idea of a teacher who not only knows the subject matter and delivers them well, but does so in a way that gets the student to be interested and to discover for themselves the answers to the questions. It is an education defined by the Absolute and we, as humans, are limited and can only really get a glimpse of that Absolute. But, the more in line we are to that absolute, the closer we get to the ideal.

This idea of a teacher also presupposes a lot of things like the fact that the teacher should be a model and a mature representation of culture. It invites me to think that to be a teacher, you have to constantly learn and grow too (to be always attuned to culture and reality). A teacher cannot be stagnant and assume that what was right in the past (and in his experience) will always be right. A teacher cannot be an unchanging expert and shell out the answers as if they were the only truths.

Practically speaking, I don't think the qualities of the teacher at the start of this post can ever be fully achieved by any one teacher for a long time If only that in order to fulfill those qualities, you also have to be constantly faced with uncertainty and new things that will contradict your previous notions of what is right. But that is precisely what it may mean to be a good teacher. It is to learn to be a good teacher and keep on learning as you go through being a teacher.

To be a good teacher is to guide your students as best you can to that ideal but at the same time, also being open to learn and be a better teacher along the way.

What is the influence of Idealism in Philippine Education today?

I don't know a lot about the state of Philippine education today except for the tidbits I overhear from the news or the stories I hear from my friends who have gone on to become teachers whether in Public or Private school. I do still recall a lot from my own education. Hopefully, by a combination of these stories, I can begin to answer the question.

Let me first give you a history of my education, just so I could put everything in perspective. I was lucky enough to be brought up by parents who could afford to put all their children into the private schools. As such, I got to go the premier catholic private school in Cebu, Sacred Heart School for boys (as it was named then) and a small Montessori School in San Fernando, Pampanga when we had to move there in the middle of Grade 5. In high school, I passed and enrolled in Philippine Science High School and went on to Ateneo de Manila University for college.

From the list of educational institutions I listed above, I can't help but say that I did not get to experience what most would consider as "Philippine Education" - Public School. I can only speculate from what I see and hear about them.

Idealism I should say is very prevalent in the Philippine education system. It provides the systems by which education is done in this country, from the teacher-learner relationship to the concept of building on what was learned the previous year by adding and extending that year after year. From my experience, I have come to see the value of liberal arts in education and not just teaching what is needed for a certain job description. It is through my Philosophy, English, and sometimes even History classes that I have come to understand the world a little better and see the world a little different each time I learn something new. I am myself a science and engineering major in college and it would seem at first that such subjects are but nuisance to the advancement of my career in my field. I can't say that I am an expert in any of those subjects, much less that I can remember even half of what was studied then but I think they made a difference in how I perceive the world now. Well, that's for my own educational experience.

From what I've seen and heard, it might be quite different in other parts of the Philippine education system. It seems some educational institutions are more for churning out the right kind of skills for the job than for developing the human person and growth. It's sad to say but I feel that not everyone feels the same way I do about their educational experience and I think I might be the exception rather than the rule.