Muslim Philosophers’ Contribution to Education

                                                  

Muslim Philosophers’ Contribution to Education

 

Ibn-e-Khaldoon (Historian, Philosopher & Educationist)

ü  Founder of philosophy of history

ü  He conveys that education consist of moral as well as intellectual training of human & emphasized social efficiency as an aim of education

ü  Education brings out the potential within a man that helps develop the character & builds up the personalities

ü  According to Khaldoon, knowledge can be divided into two parts of the stream;

§  Mental Potentialities & thinking subjects

§  Religious subjects

ü  Both are necessary & crucial for mankind

ü  Both play a role in the development & progress of any nation

ü  Education system of society should be formulated in accordance with the ideology of the society

ü  e.g: education, Holy Qura’an Sunnah is very important for both men & women in a Muslim society or for Muslims

ü  Advantages of education to man:

ü  Education should develop social & economic efficiency in man to be usefully absorbed in the society

ü  Education should be meant to bring happiness in the life of people.

ü  Education is to develop the power of thinking & reasoning

ü  Methods of Teaching:

ü  He discouraged such method of methods of teaching which don’t provide students any opportunities to interpret lessons & solve problems by their own.

ü  Students should not become passive listener, which discourages their participation & don’t provide motivation to learn

ü  Teachers should proceed from simple to complex, from known to unknown, & from concrete to abstract

ü  The best & easiest way to gain the ability of effective learning is to participate in discussions over problems & then find solutions via discussions & debate.

ü  subject should be taught according to the level of student's ability & capacity.

 

 

 

 

Process of Teaching:

Stage 1(introduction): brief introduction of the topic by explanation & example

Stage 2(Development): Explain the topic in detail thoroughly & critically

Stage3(Recap): At the end, topic must be revised again in order to know the learning of students & their understanding on topic.

Discipline:

ü  Relationship between teacher & students should be based upon love & understanding & teacher should act as parents.

ü  Teacher should avoid harshness & torture, because it leads to the destruction of students’ personality development & injure the mental health.

Curriculum:

ü  Criticized the text-book & reference-books

ü  Too much explanation is difficult to memorize for students.

ü  Religion instructions in curriculum help students for formation of the good character & habits.

ü  Emphasized on the need of professional & vocational subjects along with academic subjects.  

 

Modern Philosopher Contribution to Education

John Dewey( Philosopher)

ü  ‘Education is Life Itself’. John Dewey

ü  Children come to school to do things & live in a community, which gives them real, guide experiences which foster their capacity to contribute to society.

ü  Students should be involved in Real-Life tasks & challenges;

·         Maths could be learnt via learning proportions in cooking

·         History could be learnt by experiencing how people lived.

ü  He insisted on activities of diverse kinds in schooling

ü  Emphasized on the experimental method of science in education

ü  He had profound impact on ‘Progressive Education.

ü  His philosophy was called’ Instrumentalism’ (Pragmatism) which believes that truth is an instrument used by human beings to solve their problems.

ü  Education for employment & life.

ü  Teacher must be a GUIDE to the students, not a DICTATOR.