The Need for Learning in the 21st Century

Philosophy Statement

Education is an experience that entails receiving or giving instructions, knowledge, skills, values, beliefs, and habits in a given setup, especially at school or university. Education also involves an interaction between the learner and the surrounding environment, from which the person learns through experience and obtains some values, habits, and beliefs from the surrounding environment. The argument is supported by John Locke (1632-1704), who was known as the father of empiricism. He pointed out that, an individual usually begins as a ‘tabula rasa’ (blank slate) regarding knowledge, but with time due to experience, the person starts to gain information (Androne, 2014).

In his argument, Locke helps one to understand that education is a process and experience which provides an opportunity for students to develop desirable qualities which make them fit well in society.

Historical Underpinnings

Education is a tool that determines what a person becomes in society regarding personal behavior, intellectual reasoning, social interactions, physical appearance, creativity, cultural awareness, spiritual development, and involvement in community activities.

Desiderius Erasmus (1466-1536) argued that education makes all difference in people’s lives (Rummel, 2017). People who have received proper training have always been respected in their communities regardless of age and gender because they adopted and put into practice the competent knowledge, skills, ethical values, good habits, and beliefs that they learnelearned during their education at school or university. Therefore, they become the role models in their communities as other people tend to emulate them. Besides, they are involved in decision-making, significant community activities, and the leadership of their society.

Get quality help now

Bella Hamilton

Verified

Proficient in: Philosophy Of Education

5 (234)

“ Very organized ,I enjoyed and Loved every bit of our professional interaction ”

+84 relevant experts are online

Hire writer

In his argument, Erasmus (1466-1536) makes one acknowledge and appreciate that education makes a noticeable difference in someone’s life. Educated and uneducated persons are two different people regarding reasoning, creativity, problem-solving skills, critical thinking, and cultural awareness. Therefore, young children who are not school-going should immediately join schools to reap the endless benefits of education.

Formal education usually begins at an early childhood age, whereby a child is introduced to school at the lowest level. Marcus Quintilian, (35-95 CE), noted that formal training begins at about the age of seven years (Clarke, 2017). He further argued that during teaching, the lessons should be made as enjoyable as possible as this makes them enjoy education and motivates them for subsequent lessons. Marcus discouraged the corporal punishment of learners. Instead, he encouraged the teachers to adopt the culture of talking to children as he believed that talking to someone with passion will motivate him or her to change their behavior. In an argument by Marcus (35-95 CE), the author convinces one that the earlier the children start school, the better. Children should begin education at approximately seven years old.

Purpose of Schooling

Schooling helps one to improve intellectual capability, in that; one can come up with solutions in life through critical and excellent problem-solving skills. Educated persons usually argue with facts and win arguments due to intelligence. Besides, through schooling, people learn to develop and maintain social friendships; therefore people adopt good ways of relating with other people.

Philosophical Arguments

John Locke (1632-1704), the father of empiricism also argued that, through various experiences in school, the students could adopt good habits such as proper etiquette during communication, table manners, respect for older people, and discipline. Students develop these traits and exhibit them in the community, where they behave well and become role models to other children. At school, the examinations and assessments that students encounter, teach them how to reason well and formulate necessary solutions for specific problems. Also, as these students excel in their academics, they tend to develop healthy self-esteem. John Locke (1632-1704), shapes the educational philosophy as one is left to confidently believe that, the intellectual capability is acquired from no other place apart from the school. One is expected to engage in the learning process and go through various continuous assessment tests in school to develop proper reasoning which will help him or her to adopt critical thinking while solving problems both in and out of school. Various examinations sharpen one’s mind, logic, and thought.

School builds the capacity of students to carry out research. As studies become enjoyable and exciting, students end up being curious about more knowledge on certain phenomena. The father of empiricism, John Locke (1632-1704) argues that, as students gain knowledge through experience, they tend to develop curiosity which helps to acquire more knowledge, as they could engage in research. John Locke (1632-1704) helps one to understand that as one gains knowledge, there is the need and urge to seek more. This occurs when the students in their studies encounter new phenomena which challenge their reasoning and therefore develop an interest in understanding such events. As a result, students expand their knowledge about many activities.

Spiritual development is a crucial aspect of students’ lives that is usually nurtured in school. Generally, schools have religious unions that bring together students of the same faith. In these unions, students inspire each other in Christian life and therefore grow together as a Christian family. As a result, students are shaped well in the spiritual life aspect and become good people in society. According to Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274), education is to understand the presence of God. Therefore, as people study in schools, they should acknowledge and appreciate the existence of God. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274), shapes educational philosophy as he makes one not only focus on academics in school but also on the spiritual life. Spiritual life is essential since it helps one to explore more about the origin of humanity and understand and appreciate the existence of a supreme being as postulated in the holy books.

Employment- generally people go to school so that they can get knowledge and skills that will enable them secure job opportunities after school. As many students engage in academics, they anticipate having a stable income and job security in the future. Therefore, many students attend schools with the perception that they will get jobs after school so that they can live a better life. School prepares one for career aspirations in the future.

Acquisition of knowledge and skills- the purpose of school is to impart knowledge and skills to the students. The school enables students to know how to read and write and develop life skills that make them cope with problems in life. John Locke (1632-1704), points out that, as students take part in the learning process, they acquire knowledge of various phenomena, and this improves their reasoning and problem-solving skills.

Practical Application Challenges

Education Funding

Most students study in public schools which are usually underfunded by the government. As a result of inadequate funding, the educators are demoralized as they are underpaid as well as get salaries late (Litvinov, Álvarez, Long, & Walker, 2018). The limited resources make some educators quit teaching, and the students are left with few teachers. Therefore students are forced to crowd in classes hence making the learning environment unconducive. Also, inadequate funding leads to poor infrastructure whereby, the school cannot maintain teaching facilities leaving students to study using the dest equipment in the oldest facilities, where ceilings are leaking during rains. As a result, the conditions enhance an unhealthy environment which is not ideal for the teaching process to take place.

Safety of Students

In some schools, students encounter gunshot sounds around the school’s premises, and this makes them feel unsafe. If the students do not feel safe at school, they would always remain worried while doing their studies and this affects their performance tremendously and negatively.

Pressure

Most students encounter unnecessary pressure to achieve excellent grades. Therefore, this makes them suffer from anxiety during the period they are about to start examinations and before the exam results are released. Some students who fail to achieve their target grades suffer from depression, and this may complicate suicidal attempts since they do not feel fit inintolack likely into the system.

Discipline the

There are emerging trends of indiscipline among the students. Unlike the old days, when corporal punishment was being used in dealing with indisciplineindisciplined students, nowadays due to increased campaigns against child abuse, the students have unto lacklikelylack likely lacked morals. Indiscipline contributes to academics, in that it leads to poor performance.

Chronic Absenteeism

Based on the US department of education Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) Litvinov et al. (2018) note that approximately eight million students missed more than three weeks of school during the 2015/2016 school year, which is up from 6.8 million the previous year. Chronic absenteeism is usually a signal of the students dropping out of school. If the students do not regularly attend school, they are likely to exhibit poor academic performance.

New Technologies

Rapid technological changes which occur after every few months concerning the classroom environment make the teachers acquire a lot of changes in a short period. The rapid changes make the teachers remain resistant to changes, and therefore the students do not benefit from the new technology.

Pushing Back Against Privatization

School privatization has been a threat to public education for a very long time, and these private schools are usually funded by a few persons to undermine the mission of the public school’s education, by using their financial ability and propaganda to attract students to their school and gain more profits.

Philosophy of Education

The philosophy of education has answered the need for training in the 21st century by providing the broad meaning of education which is the experience that involves receiving or giving knowledge, skills, values, beliefs, and habits. Therefore, the training will attract more people, and they would join school knowing that they would not only benefit from knowledge and skills, but also moral values, beliefs, and good habits.

The philosophy of education has elaborated purposes of schooling, and it includes improvement of intellectual capability, research promotion and spiritual development, acquisition of knowledge and skills, and job opportunities. Generally, one has various reasons for going to school. These reasons for schooling are interrelated and therefore form a strong basis for joining the school.