Eastern and Western Philosophies of Education

Eastern and western philosophers have different assumptions about the role of education in many different life fields; and in particular in the social life. Plato, as western Greek philosopher who started as a discipline of Socrates, and considered as an idealist, is one that had a great impact in the philosophy of education. According to him, people in their social life should concern themselves primarily with the search for truth. He believed also that people need, as much as possible, to free themselves from a concern with matter so that they can advance toward the good and this can be done by the use of dialectic, in which one moves from mere opinion to true knowledge. (Ozman, 2012).

       According to Plato, he agreed that education should not only stress development of mind but also encourage students to focus on all things of lasting value, and that is how one should act and believe through his social life, and that the value of any major work whether in arts, sciences or literature, should all lie in its carrying us to a higher point in our thinking. He added that, the proper function of education is to educate people to know and do their duty in ways that respect this demand, thus people who have a good will know what their duty is and conscientiously seek to do that duty, so one should never act in any manner other than how one would have all other people act through the social life.

       As Plato postulated, the main functions of education are to gain knowledge, to make future leaders, to search for the truth behind any event and also to build good characters for people. In addition, education aims in one’s self realization so that one knows his himself very well with the knowledge of what he wants, needs and at the same time to know what he has to do. All these ethical aspects will help people to stay within the standards of their society without being weird in some actions no matter what is the level of education they have reached.

      This philosophy was common according to western philosophers that are considered as realists also. Ozman claimed that their approach was dealing with the world as reflected through observations and studies and to verify the world as a whole, and the social, economical, and religious events in particular through experience and through the development of methods of rigorous inquiry (2012). Their aim of education was common with its general idea with the idealists with some methodological differences; they considered educational aim is to apply new information to understand it, and that life must be based on its organization, classification, categorizing, observation, lecturing and emphasis on all what is going around to discover its legend to deal with it in a logical, social-acceptable way.

       Easter philosophers have an opinion too. Siddhartha Gotama, an eastern philosopher who belongs to the Buddhism, was one philosopher that had a critical point of view in changing social life according to some criteria. He believed that people could find release from suffering in nirvana, a state of complete happiness and peace. To achieve nirvana, people had to free themselves from desires for worldly things. These are the eight precepts the Buddha taught that all beings must follow for their entire lives if they want to cultivate wisdom: 1. Right Understanding; 2. Right Thought; 3. Right Speech; 4. Right Conduct; 5. Right Vocation; 6. Right Effort; 7. Right Mindfulness; and 8. Right Concentration. Essentially, the correct way to think about all life is to view the world with compassion, wisdom, and love. Clear and kind thoughts build good character because a person is whatever he or she thinks about. Singer claimed that a person will earn respect for oneself and amongst his or her community building trust and good will, by speaking kindly and helpfully. Others will know a person from the way that he or she behaves no matter what attitude one’s words reflect. A person should never perform a job that causes harm to another being, nor seek happiness in the misfortunes of others (2004). All these beliefs are considered as the basics of living is a peaceful society.

      In addition to that, other eastern philosophies, unlike western ones, stress in intuition, inner peace, tranquility, attitudinal development and mysticism. They showed a strong bet toward the spiritual side of nature and their stories. Their main belief is to save the stable traditions; to keep the basics needs of people in many different fields, as morals, physiological and psychological needs conserved in societies.

The Social Effects of Education

Appropriate since the old circumstances, personal satisfaction, values at social and individual levels, otherworldly and material advance have been immediate results of training. Obviously, the shape and technique of instruction have been experiencing change continually and reliably with evolving times. In antiquated circumstances, training was personally associated with religion and the social estimations of the day. In any case, among the current hundreds of years, the extent of instruction has expanded immensely to incorporate significantly more than what it did already.    

       As education flourishes, a great refinement in the civilization, attitudes, social development and responsive administration are expected. Nowadays, educational impact is reaching all spheres of life and all corners of the globe.

        In the evolutionary history of education, right from Socrates to Galileo, many great intellectuals, scientists and philosophers made great sacrifices in sticking to the truths they discovered. Only on the foundations of such sacrifices and lifetime contributions of many great people, the education survived and evolved to its present form (Bhumireddy, 2014).

      Education has a crucial role in many different fields in life. Needs of the human beings and their consumption levels have raised sharply, making an enormous pressure on the natural resources. In addition, we see sudden birth of various diseases, health hazards and natural disasters because of the over exploitation of the nature. Here comes the essential role of education with its powerful research and development that can solve these problems and can also prevent its negative consequences. Whenever there was absence of education in some parts of the world, there were dark ages. Whereas, whenever there is quality of education, we see enlightenment, quality life and upward improvement of science, medicine and technology in addition to peace, development, order and refined culture.

          No one can under estimate the fruitful impact and improvement happened in public health, sciences, medicine, technology and living standards. All are originated making the life easier and finding solutions to the new problems and challenges facing us through our daily life. It is all because of the improvements occurring in education.

My Unforgettable Teacher

Almost everyone we know has been turned around, or at least seriously shaken, by

A teacher-in college, maybe, but often in high school, by a man or woman who drove

home a point or two about physics, literature, or ethics and look at us sternly and said, in

 effect, you could be more than what you are. (Denby, 2016). I have passed by a similar

thing. A Math male teacher who taught me Math in my Life Sciences grade in a public

school at Bekaa valley has influenced me too much. This teacher has changed my look at

Mathematics. I have always found Math a hard and boring class before I met this man.

 From that day after, Math is a nice, enjoyable and interesting course.

         My teacher has many great teaching skills. He always supported us in every

situation and whatever student’s level is. Each student found the support he needs and motivations he misses from him. Every day he enters the class, he recalls the whole explained information that has given before, so he can build the new information based on the explained one in order for ideas not to become disconnected. I love his organization for the given ideas, he gives description and interpretation for every single information, and he analyzes, synthesizes and then applies the described information step by step.

        A teacher’s character is the whole story. It leads him/her to act in a great or a bad way. The most beautiful point in my teacher’s character is his personality. He was able to help any student to learn. I remembered one of my classmates who was so lazy to study, he had failed the whole courses we have taken except at Math, it was like a “wow” for us and for the administration. That all returns to our teacher’s conscious toward every single person at the class and to his way in sending his message for different mind’s thinking levels. One of the best things he used to manage is his time management. He uses time precisely and effectively. In addition, he was able to adopt new curriculum and uses new strategies in teaching. Math periods were passing like a blink of an eye!

       Modeling was observable in his way; he has had his own way in teaching. He accepts every single idea given from students even if some others find it a “silly” idea, he was, in contrast, showing interest in hearing students’ different ideas he shows information is valuable and worth learning. When students’ given ideas are irrelevant, he gives emotional support and makes students happy and proud for sharing their ideas and information.

For sure the principals and administration of a school play a crucial role in supporting the teacher to do all his/her best as a teacher. My school’s administration was so friendly and understanding in every situation, which makes students as teachers comfortable and happily loving teaching. Barett and Breyer claimed that in an environment where principals demonstrate efficacy pedagogy and lead teachers in learning and adopting effective strategies, teachers can be both motivated and energized to implement fresh approaches to teaching. (2014).

       I’ve learned anything in my time as a teacher, it’s that the only heroes in this story are kids who go to school and do their best despite the systems that are keeping them down. (Mullis, 2015). So as a conclusion, students are the center of view in schools who will flourish and nourish the society they live in. This development and building needs a good leader to orient each single ability in the right direction, and later on, this leader will see him/herself in the eyes of these builders.            

Webinar 1: 12 Keys to High-Quality Early Childhood Inclusion

This webinar represented by Kathy Wahl. She aimed through this webinar to show the audience the importance of co-learning that is the inclusion in classrooms to include the whole students, even those with certain disabilities, within the same classroom for further improvements for such students with such disabilities, so students with disabilities will be mixed and addressed with normal students.

She claimed that kids need to feel that they do belong to a certain group, in other words to feel that they are valuable, in order to engage learning and feel that they are a part and a member in a community or even in a classroom. This will beneficially helps them engage the acquired curriculum effectively. Then, students will feel respectful so they will feel also safe and healthy.

Such results need some efforts that will bring benefits not only for those students with certain disabilities, but also to their parents and then communities. As for teachers, one must do certain activities, after the inclusion within a classroom, to engage students effectively, such as having pictures for students, holding their names in walls, knowing their hobbies and interests then provide them with some, and many other simple activities that will have a big positive impact.

Person First Terminology is an approach for such careers, where this model aims to respectfully referring to a person with disability by placing the person ahead of his/her label or disability. This will show that each person has value. It is the first step towards changing negative perceptions and attitudes about people with disabilities. This model emphasizes the importance of inclusion that is by definition, an attitude, a philosophy that promotes the sense of belonging, community and membership, it also values differences and diversity that will lead to the building of positive social relationships and friendships and promotes reaching full developmental and learning potential.

Inclusive programs mainly are as follows;

-         Use Evidence-Based practices

-         Creatively adapt activities to that each child can participate.

-         Make reasonable modifications to policies, practices and procedures.

-         Embed children’s developmental goals into daily routines.

-         Welcome all children!

Least Restrictive Environment is a low, which emphasizes that school districts must ensure to the maximum extent appropriate that students with disabilities ages 3-21 are educated with children who are not disabled and participate in non-academic and extra-curricular activities with children who are not disabled. A logo was done for such classes holds the letters ICP, stands for Inclusive Classroom Profile, to complement existing classroom quality measure and standards.

This ICP item measures 12 areas of inclusive practice,

1.     Adaptations of space and materials.

2.     Adult involvement in peer interactions.

3.     Adult’s guidance of children’s activities and play.

4.     Conflict resolution.

5.     Membership

6.     Relations between adults and children.

7.     Support for communications.

8.     Adaptation of group activities.

9.     Transitions between activities.

10.                        Feedback.

11.                        Family-professional partnerships.

12.                        Maintaining children’s learning.

Its benefits for children with disabilities are frequent;

-         Seen as a child first, special needs second

-         Observe and imitate other children

-         Become more independent and self-reliant

-         Learn to cope and problem solve

-         Learn appreciate social skills

-         Make new friends

-         Increase their self-esteem through helping others

-         Decrease fears and prejudices.

This will bring benefits for communities too;

-         Promotes acceptance of individual differences throughout the community

-         Provides more collaboration of resources within the community

-         Creates an environment of welcoming and belonging.

Teachers Day

A teacher is a friend, philosopher, and guide who holds our hand, opens our psyche, and touches our heart. The commitment of a teacher can't be disregarded by any stretch of the imagination. In numerous nations over the world, instructor's day is an exceptional day where educators of schools, schools, and colleges are respected uniquely. The date fluctuates from nation to nation.
Around acknowledged World Instructor's Day is fifth October. In India, the Educator's Day is praised on fifth September and this custom began from 1962. This is the when Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan was conceived. He was a thinker, researcher, instructor, and lawmaker and his devoted work towards training made his birthday a critical day ever. We recollect the considerable work of this excellent individual on this day.

In reality, this man, Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan was a benevolent educator and he was prominent among his understudies for the illustration he generally set before them. In this way, one day his understudies and companions asked for him to enable them to commend his birthday luxuriously. Consequently he said that it would be his pride and respect on the off chance that they praise his birthday in regard of all instructors. What's more, from that point forward this day fifth September is praised as Instructor's Day.

Presently, discussing whatever remains of the world, World Educator's Day is commended on fifth October and it began frame 1994. It was UNESCO who began this convention. The concentration set by UNESCO was to commend the immersion and achievement of instructors and furthermore the powers that they put on the field of training. Presently why fifth October is taken up as the Educator's Day? On this day in the year 1966, an exceptional intergovernmental meeting embraced the UNESCO underwriting with respect to the statuses of instructors.

Educational Specialists

Teaching the up and coming age of kids is a great duty. Planning connecting with educational modules, preparing instructors to motivate, choosing the correct course books and innovative apparatuses — these are real difficulties no school can stand to mess with. That is the reason numerous schools utilize instructive authorities.

Instructive masters work with schools to advance understudies' advance. They may center around serving understudies with learning inabilities or on actualizing innovation in the classroom. Regardless, they assume a significant part in the achievement of schools in the 21st century.
Educational specialists regularly work in a school, including classrooms and administrative meetings. Some school districts share a gathering of specialists among every one of their schools. This implies going between schools amid the day and meeting with directors and board individuals at night.

Be A Counselor

A teacher must be a counselor and a psychologist sometimes at some cases to deal properly with every upcoming situation. A teacher might pass with many different events with his/her students during the teaching mission. During such circumstances, teacher's job is to help the students overcome many difficulties; such as mental, physical, emotional and social difficulties that might affect their achievement, the academically and the non-academically ones at their schools.
There are some specialists for such cases. Those are becoming more common and popular at schools nowadays. Educational psychologists lead solo or group sessions to observe, test and evaluate the specific needs of young service users. They also assess pupils’ needs through one-on-one interviews. And in addition these hands-on responsibilities, you'll need to do what's coming to you of regulatory assignments. For example, you'll be entrusted with keeping up point by point records of guiding sessions and some other communications you have with troubled students.