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.