Chapter 7 Learner-Centered Philosophy of Education

Specific Objectives:

1. Understand and explain the meaning of learner-centered philosophy of

education
2. Identify the value of developing the nature of learner
3. Understand the educational concepts based on the nature of the learner
4. Give examples of school programs, projects and activities that manifest learner-
centered education

Learner-centered education is anchored on the psychological principles of

learning. Interests, motivation and activity of the learner are the focus; hence, the
situation where learner is placed is based on his/her experiences. In this case, the
teachers role is to direct and guide the learner at his/her rate of space or ability to
learn (Gregorio and Gregorio, 1979).

This learner-centered philosophy places the learner as the focus of the teaching-
learning process. The process starts with the learners nature and his/her totality as an
individual.

Advocates of this educational philosophy are Rosseau, Pestallozzi, and Dewey.

To Rosseau, the educational process should gravitate around the [learner] . and that
the nature of the child rather than the logical order of the subject matter should
determine the nature of teachings (Gregorio and Gregorio, 1970).

Likewise, Pestallozzi stressed the learners nature in relation to content and

method of teaching. Understanding learners nature, progressive, and harmonious
development of all the powers and capacity of the human being (Gregorio and
Gregorio, 1979).

Moreover, Thorndike emphasizes on the nature of the learner as the educative

process. This simply means that the intelligence, attitude, interests, and desires of the
learner are primarily considered in the educative press. These play important role with
the learners acquisition of knowledge, formation of habits and skills, and development
of abilities and attitudes. Thus, the school has to provide the necessary conditions and
opportunities that are developed and applied (Gregorio and Gregorio, 1979).

Furthermore, Dewey agreed with the learner-centered philosophy of education.

However, the learner must consider other members of a group in the process of
learning. Thus, he claims that education is life in which learners nature, interest,
motivation, experience, and societal changes and development are important
considerations for effective learning.

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Learner-focused Teaching and Learning

The primary concern in the teaching-learning process is recognizing and

understanding the learner as a total person by the whole school (teacher, administrator,
non-teaching staff, and parents as well as its non-human resources). This means that
planning and developing effective school programs should be geared toward the growth
level of the learner. That is, school activities, materials, guidance and expectations
must be anchored on the growth status and of the learners. So, teachers and
school administrators in particular must be able to anticipate, understand learners
growth, and recognize learners readiness for certain types of experience.

Developing Learners Nature

Effective teaching and productive learning need understanding the learner,

his/her nature, and environment where he/she belongs. The teacher must know the
learners needs and activities, social and psychological environment, and the cultural
forces of which the learner is a part (Gregorio and Gregorio, 1979).

Likewise, Elevazo and Elevazo (1995) stated that understanding the learner
goes beyond physical attributes. A teacher must know what or who the learner is and
can become. Similarly, individual differences must also be taken into account. Thus,
differentiated learning experiences must be provided to the learners whose needs,
motivations, and problems are not the same that call for specific attention and
concern. All these factors mentioned can influence the learners behavior which may
be favorable. This means that human behavior is highly modifiable and that teachers
play crucial roles in developing childrens behavior. However, this does not exclude
equally critical roles that the family and the church play in changing human behaviors.

Because of these, teachers must provide good school/classroom activities and

conditions that can prepare learners for the next stage of growth development. Also,
teacher must understand intelligence as a measure of current performance that can be
improved by good teaching not a fixed quantity and that educational failure is not
due to dullness or low IQ (Gregorio and Gregorio, 1979).

Educational Concepts Based on Learners Nature (Gregorio and Gregorio, 1979)

1. The learner is an active organism who must be stimulated, directed and guided
toward the realization of all inherent potentialities, thereby becoming a worthy
member of a democratic society. Educational aims, methods and techniques
must be geared to the ability, needs, and interest of the learner.
2. The learner must be the center of educative process. The learners original
nature must be the starting point of his education. Teaching is effective when it
is based on the psychology of learning, making the learner as the center of
educative process.

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3. The growth and development of the learner is orderly and unified. The teacher
must work with the whole child who grows as a whole, not just on his/her
mental or emotional development.
4. Each learner is the product of his/her own peculiar heredity and environment.
The teacher must understand the distinctive growth patterns and developmental
characteristics of each learner and their effect upon his/her behavior. Each
learner then is provided for in special ways: not only as to single, immediate
needs, but also as to total future needs.
5. There is a high correlation between mental and physical growth of the learner as
measured on the basis of chronological age. Growth is continuous in all areas
of mental and physical activities. This fact must be taken into consideration in
selecting and organizing educational activities and projects.
6. Each learner must be considered a unit individual and as a member of the group.
This understanding helps teachers, administrators, and supervisors in planning
and implementing growth programs, and in evaluating the outcomes. Some
pupils can be stimulated to move along at a more rapid rate than others, since
there are variations in all around maturity from pupil to pupil.
7. The innate tendencies or powers of the learner can be used as drives for
individual work and as stimulus to learning. Some innate tendencies can also be
utilized to stimulate group activities and to establish a sound spirit of true
sportsmanship and fair play.
8. The innate tendencies of the learner can be used by the teacher to direct the
learners in such a way that they will produce activities that will lead to further
activities.
9. The nature of the child must be made the basis of the formulation of the
immediate and ultimate aims of education. If the aim of education is to lead
learners grow in terms of knowledge, habits, skills, abilities, and attitudes, their
original nature should be the starting point in leading them to grow and develop
for the achievement of the educational aim..
10. The nature of the child rather than the nature of the subject matter should
determine the nature of teaching. Likewise, the type of teaching to be used is
also determined by the type of learning involved in the process. Different types
of learning calls for different types of teaching methods and techniques.
11. Each pupil differs greatly within himself in his potentiality to learn. This
psychological concept is based on the principle of individual differences or the
principle of trait differences. The teacher should not expect the learner to
achieve equally in all school subjects and activities. Ability grouping as
practiced in some schools is a violation of the principle of individual differences
or trait differences, unless such grouping is done separately for each subject.
12. Each individual is created with the power to create. In other words, all pupils
possess creative ability, but in different degrees. Creativeness can be developed
in the classroom if the pupils are given freedom to be creative. It is an accepted
fact that we can be creative if we are free from preconceived standards set up by
the teacher. The school curricula must be organized to encourage creativeness
of the learners.

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A. Self-Assessment Questions

1. Do you believe on the learner-centered philosophy? Justify/Explain your

answer.
2. How do you explain this concept, The learner must be the center of the
educative process?
3. Why must the learners nature be the focus of formulating aims of education?
4. Do you agree that the 12 educational concepts given are important in the
educative process? If you do, can you add more? If not, will you explain why?

B. Activities

1. With your experience as a teacher, give specific examples of schools/classroom

activities that can illustrate each of the educational concepts based on learners
nature.

2. Looking at the philosophy of education of your country in general, in what way

does it manifest learner-centered philosophy? Please elaborate your answer and
if possible quote important provisions from documents to support your claim.

3. Write a brief lesson plan/course design/syllabus that shows its learner-

centeredness.

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MODULE 8. Education in Democracy, Socialism, and Communism

Objectives:

1. To define democracy according to ones perspective.

2. To explain the aims of education in democracy, communism, and socialism.
3. To analyze the philosophy of education in a democratic, communistic, and
socialistic society.
4. To illustrate the philosophy of education upon which certain school activities
and projects are anchored.

Democracy and Education

Democracy is defined according to perspective. As a form of government, it is a

government where sovereignty lies on the people. It recognizes and guarantees the
general welfare, civic liberty, and consent of the governed, the rule of reason, and the
pursuit of happiness (Calderon and Calderon, 1979).

It may also be defined as a way of life. The essence of democracy is in the

manner by which people participate and cooperate in living together to develop each
other for the general welfare. The keynote of democracy as a way of life may be
expressed as the necessity for the participation of every mature human being in the
formation of values that regulate the living of [humans] together; values necessary from
the standpoint of both the general welfare and the full development of human beings as
individuals (Gregorio and Gregorio, 1979).

In short, democracy is both a social and political organization, and a personal

way of life. Being social, it recognizes and guarantees the general welfare of its
constituents. Being political, it is a form of government that provides civic liberty and
recognizes the consent of the governed, and their cooperation and participation in
governace. As a personal way of life, democracy insures the individual citizens the
liberty in pursuit of their happiness be it economic, social, spiritual, educational, or
political within the sphere of democratic principles they themselves have cooperatively
adopted.

In a democratic state, education provides for growth and development of its

citizens . This is done by training them to be intelligent citizens who are conscious of
their responsibilities, dignity, integrity, and rights. It recognizes the dignity of the
individual and stresses cooperative and voluntary effort rather than control by fear and
force. It must be consistent with the principles of democratic statehood (Gregorio and
Gregorio, 1979).

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 Democracys first principle is respect for individuality. Corollary to this respect
are freedom of speech, press, religion, and thought. However, this freedom is not
absolute as it is only the freedom to what is right, what is good and what is just. It is
the freedom to enjoy ones right without trampling upon the rights of others. It
excludes doing what one wants and pleases or abusing the freedom that is provided.

The main focus of education is the welfare of the individual while democracy
recognizes the right of all for full and equal share in the cultural and educational, the
artistic and intellectual life of the nation. Moreover, democracy asserts that good life
for the individual is to seek only the good in society and in the state[hence],
individuals are the ends, institutions the means (Gregorio and Gregorio, 1979).

Functions of Education in a Democracy

(Gregorio and Gregorio ,1979):

1. Education in a democracy must have its main concern in the welfare of all the
people of the world.

2. Education in a democracy must serve each individual with justice, to provide

equal educational opportunity for all, regardless of intelligence, race, color,
religion, social status, economic condition, or vocational plans.

3. Education in a democracy must be considered with the maintenance of the

economic, political, and social conditions which are necessary for the
enjoyment of liberty.

4. Education in a democracy must use democratic methods, and observe

democratic practices in administration, supervision, and in the guidance of
pupils activities.

5. Education in a democracy must teach through experience that every privilege

entails a corresponding duty, every authority a responsibility, which
responsibility is due to the group which granted the privilege or authority.

6. Education in a democracy must seek to promote loyalty to democracy and keen,

positive understanding and appreciation of democratic ideals by summing youth
to serve for a greater cause.

7. Education in a democracy must guarantee to the adult members of the

community the right to share in determining the purposes and policies of
education.
8. Education in a democracy must develop citizens who are easy to lead, but
difficult to drive, easy to govern but impossible to enslave.

9. Education in a democracy must transmit truths and values through tentative and
experimental manner. Critical thinking is also utilized in the process.

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 10. Education in a democracy has two major functions, to impart accumulated
knowledge and traditions, and to encourage the discovery of the new truth.

Guiding Principles for Effective Education in a Democracy

(Gregorio and Gregorio, 1979)

1. The teacher must respect the personality of every child under his care and
guidance. He should serve as friend and counselor, always inspiring the pupils
and drawing the best there is in them. The first principle of democracy is
respect for the individual.

2. The administrators and supervisors should give the teachers a greater share of
responsibility in matters concerning the welfare of the school. They should be
given participation in the formulation of educational polices and in the planning
and execution of any school or community project. The administration and
supervision of schools in a democracy do not proceed on the basis of personal
bias and official authority. Professional prejudices coupled with unlimited
official authority will handicap rather than facilitate the solutions of problems of
administration and supervision.

3. The teacher should give the pupils maximum degree of participation in the
affairs of the school compatible with their physical and mental maturity. Like
the teachers, the pupils should be allowed to participate in the formulation and
enforcement of school rules, in the planning of school programs and activities,
and in some committee work. According to Washburne, students learn
citizenship by practicing, if in schools an atmosphere of democracy prevails.

4. The teacher must be conscious that his primary duty is to teach our young how
to live in a democracy. Our schools have been established for the purpose of
educating the youth for creative participation in a democratic society. The
school is the major channel by which our faith in democracy is perpetuated.

5. The teacher must recognize the principle that democratic ideals cannot be
accomplished until democracy has been established in education. If we desire
our youth to be lovers of democracy. It is necessary that, we practice
democracy. In the classroom, libraries, athletic fields, and gymnasiums. Our
school activities and policies must be designed for democratic living.

6. The teacher in a democracy is committed to teach aims and objectives which are
in harmony with democratic principles. He must see to it that his procedure is
democratic for otherwise satisfactory educational results cannot be achieved.
No teacher can teach it in an autocratic manner.

39
 It is true that the teacher indoctrinates his pupils in the basic tools of
learning, such as reading, writing and arithmetic. In doing so he is cognizant
of the fact that these tools are but means to an end. The end is to enable the
pupil, equipped with the tools of learning, to pursue activities which develop
in him habits, skills, knowledge, abilities and attitudes which produce a type of
character better adapted to a democratic life.

7. The teacher in a democracy should treat his pupils individually, not in masse.
He should look upon his pupils not as receptacles into which subject matter
may be poured but as active organisms whose education is a matter of gradual
and continuous growth. It is this growth which the teacher guides and directs in
accordance with the accepted educational aims.

8. The teacher in a democracy must keep up with the recent trends in education.
He must be a habitual reader of professional books and magazines. The teacher
must constantly broaden his interest. It is desirable that a teacher in a
democracy adopts a learning attitude, that attitude or disposition to learn more
from others engaged in the same understanding.

9. The teacher in a democracy must bear in mind that his first royalty as a free man
is his loyalty to truth; hence, as a teacher he should present all important facts
he knows which may help his students and the community to reach to or make a
decision on points at issue. The teacher should refrain from taking advantage of
his position to influence unduly the decision on a point at issue. In controversial
matters affecting the welfare of everyone, let everyone be free to decide on issue
according to his enlightened conscience.

10. The teacher in a democracy as an enlightened citizen and public official must
exert effort to strengthen the peoples faith in the basic democratic ideals.
Democracy is a great social faith which has been developing through the
centuries. The teacher must also believe in the dignity and the supreme value of
human personality above everything else. He must, likewise, believe that his
democratic ideal is the highest and the best.

Socialism and Education (Bauzon, 1994)

Socialism as a philosophy of life stresses society with group life taking

precedence over the individual, and that society is the only reality. The individual is a
product of the group; thus, the individual is subservient to the needs, purposes, and
desires of the former.

Furthermore, socialism makes society the center of life, views problems of life
as problems of society, and attempts to remove the anti thesis between individual and

40
society. Ethics is established in terms of its pragmatic value. It is rooted on the
conditions, exigencies, and demands of social life.

The socialistic theory of education claims that work or activity is the main
instrument employed. In this theory, activity is the bottom line and must lead to further
activity. Learning becomes largely a matter of experience. This is considered the
only means of acquiring knowledge.

Ideas are neither true nor false but these become so if they guarantee the success
or failure of human action through experience. This experience evaluates and approves
everything before considering it as true. There is no place for any spiritual guidance
because social and moral values are conceived as mere products of social experience
with no absolute sanction. The school is viewed as an embryonic community; a
miniature community.

Socialism and the School

To socialism, school is life itself, an active school, a living school, or a

community of workers. The school must reproduce the actual problems of social life
so that the student may face and solve them in a manner characteristic of real life.
Thus, the school must take up the task of setting up a miniature community which
reflects the needs and life of society itself. Science, industry, and democracy contribute
to all the essentials required to meet the needs of life. The principal factor is that social
life is held to be work, manual labor, or industry.

Socialism stresses adjustment. It is a modification of the environment through

cooperation and concerted group action. Conduct of a person as a group member must
be modified to conform to the needs of the group.

Effects of the Philosophy of Socialism on Education

1. False interpretation of human nature Socialism misinterprets human nature by

subordinating it entirely to society. Socialism excludes the concept of the
individual as an autonomous and free personality and regards a person as such
only when he/she contributes to societys welfare. Socialism interprets human
nature solely in terms of the physical and the economic, ignoring his/her
relation to the absolute.

2. False theory of education- The social theory of education states that conduct is
right when it produces a social good, and wrong when it produces a social evil.
The welfare of the people is the supreme law.

3. False Methodology Socialism, as a school of philosophy of education, holds

that the child is to learn by doing by his own direct experience. This doing

41
 means any activity that is real and true to life. This activity must be coupled
with constant guidance to insure maximum degree of individual and social
good.

As such, it fails to recognize the place and input of formal instruction

and authority in educating the child. However, it condemns indirect or direct
effort to inculcate in the person the ultimate end for which he/she was created.
Also, it ignores the fact that there can be no true education apart from the
development of the individuals intellect and the strengthening of the will.
Moreover, it fails to perceive that behind all purposeful activity lie the spiritual
intellect and the will.

4. False Notions of Discipline Socialistic philosophy of education denies

freedom of the will since it regards the will as only an extension of the will of
the group.

Conformity of the individual will to the groups will is obtained through

discipline of social approval or ostracism. Ones conduct must be fashioned
after the social pattern set fourth by the group to avoid social conflict. When
self-discipline and obedience to constituted authority are not present, social
education simply degenerates into social experience without any goal of its
own.

5. False Aims Socialism asserts that the ultimate aim of education is to achieve
maximum degree of self-realization by the individual through proper
participation in institutionalized activities of society. The ultimate objective is
to prepare the learner to take part in the affairs of society making the school
having only a social aim. The merits of socialism as philosophy of education
despite these shortcomings teaches some altruistic views in that the common
welfare is the supreme law.

Communism and Education

Definition of Communism

According to Karl Marx, communism is common ownership of the means of

production. It is an ideal system to be achieved by shifting control over economic
resources from the capitalist to the proletariat. This transfer of property rights would
bring permanent abolition of private property. All means of production is state owned
including farms and factories, raw materials, transportation, communication facilities,
etc.

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Communism, Reality, Religion and Morality

Communism is a materialistic philosophy of life that adheres to the belief that

matter is the only reality. It does not distinguish matter and spirit or body and soul.
As such, it does not believe in eternal life.

Communism takes religion as the opium of the people. It believes that religion
teaches only the rich their rights, sanctions, and reinforces their exploitation of the
poor; preaches that the poor obey and serve the ruling class. It contributes to the
exploitation of the poor and preaches passivity that tends to regress the economic
status of man.

Its vision is a classless society. It rejects the individual and the social ideal by
removing religion from social, economic, and political life of the people. As such, it
denies freedom of a person to engage in orderly thought and free will and holds that
human personality is merely a myth that must be eradicated.

In communism, morality is a product of society; thus, it is subject to continual

change. Also, it is a manifestation of what is useful for the group if it serves the
interest of the proletariat being the source and objective of morality.

Implications of Communism to Education

Communism regards education as a lifelong process. The aim of education is to

promote the development of the harmonious interest of all through acquisition of
communistic culture. Knowledge acquired will make learners specialists in the
economic organization. Thus, all learners will be fitted to serve the community in
whatever kind of work the occasion may demand.

The goal of education is to provide basic training for all. This can be achieved
by directing the educative process toward labor, nature, and society. These will supply
and govern the content of instruction both in theory and practice.

As such, communism destroys the foundations of the social order, the family,
the church, the state by denying God-given rights, dignity, liberty, pursuit of happiness,
and the personality of the individual. Being so, communism contains within itself the
seeds of its own destruction.

A. Self-assessment Questions

1. Identify some manifestations of democratic education in the level of education

you handle and explain your answer.

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 2. Based on your experiences in your school and observations on other teachers,
how do you think these can perpetuate democratic ideals and values?
3. What do you think of democracy as an educational philosophy?
4. Given other options, would you exchange democratic education with any of the
options read? Please explain to justify your answer.
5. What can you infer as the philosophy of education of socialism and
communism?
6. Where lies the similarity and difference of socialism and communism in their
philosophy of education, if any?
7. What implications to education can you make out of socialism and
communism?
8. Do you agree that communism contains within itself the seeds of its own
destruction? Please explain your answer.

B. Activities

1. Find out countries that adhere to socialism and communism and read about
their educational system. Evaluate the effect of their philosophy of education
on their society in all aspects of development, be it economic, political, social,
spiritual, etc.

2. Briefly trace the educational history of your own country and evaluate its
philosophy of education as anchor toward its development to include the
present. If it is possible to make a matrix of this development, please do not
hesitate to make one as your brief presentation.

3. As an educator, would you say that your country has been faithful to its
educational philosophy in content and method? Kindly explain your answer
and cite examples that support your claim.

4. With globalization of education, what can you say of the present situation of
education in your country? Are you satisfied with it? What can you do to
contribute to further improve it? Please write a capsule proposal for this with
your assessment as the problem situation.

5. Analyze democracy, communism, and socialism in terms of the fields of

philosophy by filling up the table below.

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______________________________________________________________________
Field of Democracy : Socialism : Communism
Philosophy
______________________________________________________________________

1. Metaphysics

2. Epistemology

3. Axiology

4. Educational Implications

______________________________________________________________________

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 MODULE 9 ACADEMIC FREEDOM

Objectives: After reading this module, you will be able to:

1. Discuss academic freedom as manifested in the philosophy of education

of your country and institution;
2. Identify the realm of academic freedom in other forms of government
than democratic state.
3. Illustrate manifestations of academic freedom in your own school.

Academic freedom is said to permeate all sectors of the academe particularly

in higher learning institutions. It cuts across high ranking school officials, teachers,
researchers and scientists, and students. In the Philippines, for example, Article XIV,
Section 5 paragraph 2 of the New Philippine Constitution provides that Academic
freedom shall be engaged in all institutions of higher learning.

Academic Freedom Defined

Professor Carlos P. Romulo as cited by Bauzon (1994) defined academic

freedom as the right of the teacher to teach the subject of his specialization according
to his best lights; to hold on other subjects, such as ideas as he believes sincerely to be
right; and to engage in outside activities and to express his opinions on public questions
in a manner that shall not interfere with his studies as a member of the faculty or negate
his loyalty to school, college or university that employs him. Also, it is incumbent on
the school administration to assure protection of the teacher in using this freedom
during the teaching-learning process without interference from political, authority,
pressure groups, or special interest (Bauzon, 1994).

Moreover, Elevazo and Elevazo (1995) stated that academic freedom pertains
to the search and dissemination of truth which should be untrammeled and
unencumbered by academic, political, religions or any form of bias or prohibitions,
especially on the part of who administers and supervises educational institutions. The
search for truth by scholars, researchers, teachers, students, or anyone in the academe
implies tentativeness and of human knowledge. There are truths that need to be
discovered or rediscovered.

Another definition of academic freedom was given by Prof. Arthur D. Lovejoy

as cited in Bauzon (1994), to wit:

Academic freedom is the freedom of the teacher or research

46
 worker in higher institution of learning to investigate and
discuss the problems of science and to express his/[her} conclusions
whether through publication or in the instruction of students
without interference from political or ecclesiastical authorities,
from administrative officials of the institution in which
he [she] is employed, unless the methods are found by qualified
bodies of his/[her] own profession to be clearly incompetent or
contrary to professional ethics.

Academic Freedom in Higher Education

Schools are the purveyors of knowledge resulting from research besides its
instruction function. Also, schools particularly higher institutions of learning serve as
venues for independent, creative thinking, and free flow of ideas among thinking
individuals [although] the process of doing this is within the purview of academic
freedom (Elevazo and Elevazo, 1995).

It is incumbent on higher education institutions to provide an atmosphere for

independent and creative thinking, and intellectual sharing. These may lead to
consensus and conflict but will consequently give evidence for truth. Something is
true if its values are shared and appreciated, and seen from different perspectives.

According to Elevazo and Elevazo (1995), academic freedom accommodates

agreement as well as dissent. Dissent or conflict of ideas should be seen as a situation
where the truth may not be seen for what it is in its fullness but must be seen from
different perspectives. The right to dissent is to be considered as of equal weight and
value as the right to consent. The former requires further search for clarity; the latter
for further evidence of validity.

Because the human mind is limited, a person cannot fully understand all that is
true on any aspect of reality immediately. Reality is seen by part not as a whole.
Hence, academic freedom involves the continuing search for knowledge and
understanding of an ever-increasing reality bigger than what the human mind could
grasp all at once. The probability of error of perception or judgment should temper the
invocation of institutional and individual freedom.

Academic Freedom of Students

(Elevazo and Elevazo, 1995)

If institutional academic freedom provides on academic grounds who shall be

admitted to study, who may teach and what shall be the subjects of the study and

47
research, students academic freedom must also be respected and balanced with
institutional academic freedom. A students right to freely choose his field of study,
subject to existing curricula, and to continue his course therein up to graduation, except
in case of academic deficiency, or violation of disciplinary regulations allows itself to
be the subject of conjecture.

It is part of students academic freedom to think freely and creatively without

fear of censure. Even if their thinking, supported by valid evidence, is different from
that of others or of professors, students must not be afraid to defend their freedom of
expression.

On the other hand, teachers who are provided with the same academic freedom
encourage the exercise of the same among students. They must not treat students as
mere depositories of knowledge. They must encourage students to interact with them,
even to disagree with them and with one another. A teacher- dominated classroom is
anathema to healthy academic freedom.

Moreover, students must be encouraged to discover the truth and to share such
discovery with their professors and fellow students. In the process of sharing truth with
others, greater clarity could be achieved.

Limits to Academic Freedom

(Elevazo and Elevazo, 1995)

Academic freedom has its limitations. There is no such thing as unlimited

freedom. The right to seek knowledge is limited, in the first place, by ones capability
to think. The human mind is not all-knowing.

There are also norms of correct and dignified thinking which must be upheld at
all times. Intellect perversions, making lies appear to be true, defending ones view
when wrong or erratic, fanatical adherence to ones inherited and habituated beliefs,
one-track mindedness, tunnel vision, religious bigotry, anti social ideologies are outside
the limits of academic freedom.

Under authoritarian regimes, academic freedom is more repressed if at there

exist any. In all dictatorial and totalitarian system, silence gradually becomes golden;
to some, this is the better alternative to becoming silent forever.

Academic Freedom as a Special Right

(Elevazo and Elevazo, 1995)

Unlike other rights, academic freedom is not a civil right, despite widespread
opinion to the contrary. Evidence to corroborate this point is the fact that, in our
definition, we referred to it as the right of professionally qualified persons. That makes

48
it a special, not a universal or general right. Thus, it is a form of freedom that must be
earned.

A universal or general human right is a right that does have to be earned. It is

inherent in man as man. He has the right either because he is a human being or because
he is a member of a civilized society. For instance, one does not have to earn the right
to life, liberty, or the pursuit of happiness, or the right to worship God according to his
conscience. He does not have to work for his right to speak, to participate in elections,
or to assemble freely or to join associations. It is due to him as a member of society, as
a citizen. Such universal rights are inalienable and inherent ones.

But academic freedom is quite different. It is something earned. The qualified

teacher or instructor or professor has the right honestly to reach, and hold, and proclaim
any conclusion in the field of his competence. His qualification is deducted from his
acquisition of tenure, academic rank, or designation as such.

To put it simply, academic freedom brings with itself the right to heresy as well
as the right to defend and restate the traditional views. Quoting an affirmation of a
conference of senior scholars from the University of Cape Town and the University of
Witwatersand; Justice Felix Frankfurther enumerated certain elements a university must
possess if it were to behave as true academic institution, to wit:

It is the business of a university to provide that

atmosphere which is most conducive to speculation,
experiment, and creation. It is an atmosphere in
which there prevail the four essential freedoms of a
university to determine for itself on academic
grounds who may teach, what may be taught,
and who maybe admitted to study.

A. Self Assessment Questions

1. Define academic freedom from your own perspective.

2. What is Professor Romulos focus in his definition of academic freedom? What

about the others?

3. How wide and how limited is the purview of academic freedom in schools,
teachers, and student?

4. Why is academic freedom provided only in higher education institutions?

5. Why is academic freedom said to be a special right?

49
B. Activities

1. Compare the academic freedom provided in your educational system and those
of other forms of government. Read and cite documents as references for the
provisions manifesting academic freedom which may be inferred from their
philosophy of education.

2. Make a short survey on your students and colleagues of their awareness of their
academic freedom and their sources of information. Include the extent of their
practice and their awareness of the limitations of such. Please write a short
report of this survey.

3. How do you practice your academic freedom? Please elaborate and illustrate?

4. How do you make your students practice their academic freedom? Please give
concrete examples to support your contention.

50
 MODULE 10. PAUL FREIRES METHOD

Objectives: After this module, you will be able to:

1. explain the conditions of society upon which Freires method was based;
2. determine whether the method is applicable to your situation;
3. identify the factors that may influence literacy /illiteracy in society.

Combating Illiteracy in Latin America ( Bauzon, 1995)

Latin America shares the problem of high illiteracy rates with other parts of the
underdeveloped world, including the Philippines. The exact extent and nature of the
problem is difficult to determine because people differ in the way they define literacy.
A very good example of this is Brazil where a person is considered literate when he can
write his name, but the country abounds with people who can meet this requirement and
still cannot read and write. In the Philippines, knowledge of the 3Rs is an indicator of
literacy. Alongside unquestioned illiterates who have had no education at all, we find
the category of semi- literates made up of individuals who have usually attended
school for limited periods but who have forgotten or cannot function with what they
were taught, so that in practice they neither read nor write. Hence, the estimates of
illiteracy in the state of Chile range from 15 to 30 per cent, defending on ones
definition.

We do not often ask why countries should combat illiteracy because the answers
seem so commonplace. Answers may range from raising the cultural level of the
society, providing minimal knowledge so that the bulk of the population can undertake
more complex roles in development, to incorporating all the population more
effectively into the mainstream, structure, values, and function of society. Until
recently, at least in theory, even the most essentialist groups agreed on the desirability
of education, generally using the argument that only then would the lower classes
deserve to participate in political, social, and economic processes.

Researches have shown that in Latin America, literacy training has become a
controversial issue. Long imitative of North America and European educational
theories and techniques, the region has produced an innovative method of
alfabetizacion which may also represent an outstanding contribution to our
understanding of social change. Its key concept is conscientization (or
conscientizacao in Portuguese). This term has spread from its origin in Brazil to
become usage in the Spanish-speaking countries. It has also recently entered the
French dictionary. Critical and thoughtful Latin Americans, as well as those connected
with the maintenance of existing structures, no longer think of learning to read as mere
acquisition of technical skill, but as a process implying values formation, forming
mentalities, and leading to social and political consequences.

51
 Paulo Freire and his Method

The chief intellectual exponent of this educational revolution is an amiable

Brazilian by the name of Paulo Freire. He was one of the victims of the Brazilian
military coup of April 1964. Jailed for seventy long days, he opted to move to Chile
rather than face what seemed the probability of further preventive arrest, and worked
quietly as an educational consultant in an agency of the United Nations dedicated to
research and training of personnel for the Chilean agrarian reform. The method which
Freire developed is sometimes called by his name. But, it is also known as the
psycho-social method.

At the time, it is worth noting that Brazils communist - chasing government

reflected the method as being highly subversive. It has since tried every witch-
hunting technique to efface vestiges of conscientizacao from educational programs in
the country. On the other hand, Chile adopted the method officially in 1965 for all
government programs of literacy training.

Paulo Freire was a full fledged professor of the history and philosophy of
education at the University of Recife until 1964. As early as 1947, he became
infatuated with education programs, especially among the illiterates who formed the
majority of the population of Northeast Brazil. A professor of educational pedagogy, he
was conversant with the standard methods, but he felt dissatisfied with them. For one
thing, essentially the same material were used for adults as well as for children.

Moreover, the language and situations common in the primers were drawn from
urban middle class culture and had little relation to the problems and interests of the
chiefly rural lower classes he was intending to teach. Most essential of all, however,
Freire was concerned with the philosophical effect on the pupil of the existent methods.
He saw culture as intimately linked with literacy (the word culto in both Portuguese and
Spanish conveys a sense of polished literary elegance), and the teacher, in bestowing
this culture of the middle- class, reinforced the sense of subordination and
worthlessness from which the lower class already suffered. Hence, the learning process
was, by its very nature, paternalistic. Education was made only one more manifestation
of the normal class relations of Latin America. He was well aware that education
aimed at adapting pupils to a society that he and all the other critical and well meaning
Brazilians believed should change. Class structures dictate ones consciousness.

Sources of the Method

Turning away from textbooks, Freire began to abstract ideas from three
important sources with which his methods was to merge:

1) The language, culture, and problems of the illiterates themselves.

2) The philosophies of knowledge, human nature, and history.

52
 Freires thought has a profound philosophical rootage; he built a system of
literacy training upon categories and concepts drawn from the phenomenology of
Husserl, the existentialism of Buber and Mounier , the Marxist humanism of Schaff ,
the psychoanalytical theory of Fromm, and a whole range of philosophers thinking on
science and language.

3) The analysis of underdevelopment that began to have an impact on Latin

Americans after World War II.

Like many other Brazilians, Freire concluded that an older epoch of

backwardness, dependence, and immobility was being replaced by one of new
economic orientations, industrialization greater national autonomy, and class mobility.
Politically and culturally, a closed society was moving toward an open society; the
traditional interpretations of such themes as democracy, popular participation, liberty,
property, and authority were seeking new content.

In Freires words Education therefore, in the phase of transition that we are

living, became a highly important task. Its strength would derive chiefly from our
capacity to incorporate ourselves into the dynamism of the epoch of transition. The
trauma of change began to divide society into two groups: 1) those who did not
understand the necessity of modernization and used paternalism and massification to
inhibit it: and b) those eager to participate in the changes.

As an educator and interpreter of this process, Paul;o Freire felt that his field
and function were to form a population capable of participating rationally, critically,
and democratically in both the present and future of the country.

Between 1960 and 1963, Freires reading and thinking, on the one hand, and his
immersion in the life of the people and problems of Brazilian development, on the
other, began to jell into a system. The principal catalyst was his participation in the
Movement of Popular Culture in recife, where such themes as nationalism, remission of
profits, development and illiteracy were discussed in groups using visual aids to
schematize the issues.

So satisfactory were the results of these dialogues in awakening the

consciousness of the participants that Freire decided to by the same methods with
literacy training. But it was possible to transform the mentality of the rural worker,
illiterate all of his life, from passive ingenuousness to critical participation at the same
time that he was learning to read.

His Critical Vision of the World

Freire distinguished between a magical, or unreflective, way in which man

may confront the world around him and a critical vision of the world. He wanted to
reform the illiterates basic perspective on reality, which has usually been a profound

53
pessimism of fatalism, by enabling him to gain awareness of his capacity to share his
environment and to acquire the means to do so. Literacy training should not immerse
the pupil in his status, but rather give him the capacity to overcome it.

Why take this approach rather than the older one? Freire contends that all
pedagogical methods imply a concept of man and capacity. There is no neutral
education. Traditional theories of literacy training have tried to adjust man to a given a
society, while their methods treated him as an object into which superior beings
poured knowledge. For Freire, however, man is not an object. Mans ontological
vocation is to be a subject who works upon and changes the world. If man is a being
transforming the world, the educational task will be different. If we look on him as a
person, our educational task will be more and more liberating.

Nevertheless, in Latin America the masses cannot express this destiny. To speak
of humanization as the basic object of mans existence points to the presence of
dehumanization, the product of centuries of exploitation of which the prevalent
illiteracy is only a manifestation. The educator facing a class of illiterates finds himself
with an option: to maintain their dehumanization through what he does with them or to
work toward the fulfillment of their human potential. It was precisely this problem that
disturbed Freire, for he felt that available methods gave no choice except to perpetuate
attitudes of passivity and ingenuousness to a certain extent.

The Paulo Freire method makes of literacy training a critical, active process
through which habits of resignation are overcome. The critical capacity of the pupils
grows out of dialogue about meaningful situations on their life, on which they have
insights to contribute. Both teacher and pupils join sympathetically on a common
purpose, seeking truth about relevant problems while respecting each others opinions.
The teacher serves as the co-ordinator of a discussion, while the pupils become
participants in a group trying to understand existence in a changing society. Dialogue
becomes a keystone.

Choice of Vocabulary

As a basic for the discussions, Freire believes that he could isolate a minimal
core vocabulary touching on life situations, which would also point to issues
stimulating discussion and the awakening of critical consciousness. For a Brazilian or
Chilean peasant, learning to read through such sentences as Run, Spot, run is only
alienating.

Thus, the first phase of the method became the study of the context in which the
illiterates live, in order to determine the common vocabulary and the problem issues
around which the process of reflection could develop. Through informal conversations,
a team of educators studies the thinking, problems, and aspirations of a given
community.

54
 While Paulo Freire method assumes that themes of national importance play a
role in the development of a critical mentality, it also assumes that the presentation of
them should be linked to the personal, local problems of the person seeking education.
The deeply contextual orientation of the method is illustrated by the regions of Brazil.
After his move to Chile, Freire developed different list of words and situations for rural
and urban illiterates and even for of words and situations for rural and urban illiterates,
and even for different regions of Brazil. Freire had to begin all over again and learn the
vocabulary, mentality, and problems there.

The second phase involves the selection of words from the vocabulary that has
been discovered, those most charged with existential meaning, and thus, major
emotional content, but also the typical expressions of the people. Three criteria
govern this choice.

The first is the capacity of the words to include the basic sounds of the
language. Both Spanish and Portuguese words are based on syllables, with little
variation in vocalic sounds and a minimum of consonantal combinations. Freire
discovered that sixteen to twenty words sufficed to cover the sounds.

The second criterion is that the vocabulary, when organized should enable the
pupil to move from simple letters and sounds to more complex ones. Experience and
insight contribute to an understanding of the problem, an illiterate has in learning to
read and write. Because the feeling of confidence in mastering these techniques is
important, difficulties should be graduated so that they can be more easily be overcome.

Each success that the illiterate has in overcoming a new difficulty gives him
internal satisfaction, increases his interest and learning, and gives him greater
confidence in himself. This is a case of re- enforcement theory in education coupled
with motivational factors.

The third criterion is that words are chosen for their potential capacity to
confront the social, cultural, and political reality. The words should provide mental and
emotional stimulation that is, they should suggest and mean something important.
House, for example, carries a meaning linked not only to the daily life of the family,
but also to local and national housing problems. Worked provoked a wide range of
associations with the nature of human existence, economic function, co- operation, and
unemployment.

Why operate with a minimal number of words rather than use a primer that can
constantly supply new vocabulary and sentences? Freire believes that no primer is
sufficiently contextual, and that all are paternalistic, in the sense of conveying from the
outside, themes and vocabulary the authors consider significant. On the other hand, the
richness of potential expansion in the word lists enables the pupils themselves to
acquire a feeling of creativity and originality by making their own words and sentences.
Thus, the word, casa, varied with other vowels, produces a whole family of syllables

55
ca,co,cu,sa,se,si,so,su- from which words like cosa, saco, casi, and seco can be
delivered.

In the very first session, the group forms its own words and even simple
sentences. To take an example that Freire often cites from Brazillia, the word used was
tijolo. An illiterate, on the first night, constructed, tu ja le, a slightly ungrammatical
from that can be translated, you already read. Within a few sessions, the pupils have
mastered sufficient syllables to express a wide vocabulary.

The third phase of the method develops teaching materials of two types. One is
a set of cards of slides which break down the words into parts of more careful analysis.
The second is a set of cards of pictorial situations, related to the words, which are
designated to impress on the pupil, through vision, and image of the word, and also
stimulate his thinking about the situation that it implies.

In Brazil, Freire used pictures separated from the words, but in Chile he has
combined the two. The pictures become the basis for dialogue, and, as his examples
illustrate, indicate both the style and subjects which are popular.

Concept of Culture

The actual literacy training in Brazil was preceded by at least three sessions of
motivation, in which the pupil entered into his new life through an analysis of the
concept of culture. In Chile, this stage has been incorporated into the literacy training
itself, for it was noted that the Chilean, unlike the Brazilian who liked discussion about
himself as a cultural and creative being, tended to lose interest if he did not begin to
learn immediately.

In Freires method, the beginning of a critical, as opposed to a magical, outlook

comes from distinguishing between nature and culture. Nature is viewed as a matrix in
which man lives; culture is an addition that man contributes through his own work. It
is significant to recognize that, for Freire, culture is not the property of the learned,
something that the pupil may acquire only after he can read and write; rather, culture is
something that all men possess.

To further elucidate his method, a picture shown to the pupils is that of an

Indian shooting a bird with a bow and arrow and illustrates the control that even
primitive men have over nature through their creativity. Thus, the illiterate discovers
that culture is relative. By means of the pictures, he sees that he already possesses
culture and a certain domination over the word itself, even though he was previously
not conscious of this phenomenon.

It does not come as a surprise, therefore, that the Paulo Freire method is
intimately linked with the so called popular culture movements. Such movements
usually stress the creativity of man and seek to enhance new forms among them.

56
Popular culture would somehow collide with the imitative cultural tendencies of the
Latin American upper and middle classes.

The method utilizes the promotion of self discovery. The questions employed
are simple and sophisticated. The Paulo Freire method itself has no answers for them
but experience indicates that common reflection by the pupils produces considerable
understanding. The illiterate comes to understand that lack of knowledge is a relative
thing and that absolute ignorance does not exist. He possesses the capacity for
thoughtful analysis and logical articulation of the issues when the issues are linked to
his everyday life. As an example of the method used, a picture showing a factory with
a sign announcing, No Vacancy, is shown. The attitudes reflected on the faces of the
persons probably reflect a real experience for many people in the class. Even through
the word is directed to a rural group, all have a personal interpretation of the meaning
of the factory.

The questions for discussion are the following: Where are the clothes that we
wear, but tools with which we work, and the paper and pencil with which we write,
produced? Does the factory participate in the production of food? What does a country
need in order to industrialize? Does industrial expansion affect the rural areas? These
and other similar questions are designed to awaken adult consciousness.

The key to the successful implementation of the method is the co-ordinator,

who does not teach but tries, instead, to promote self discovery in the other
participants through the exploration of the hidden dimensions of the pictures shown.
The livelier the discussion, the greater the number of ideas into the problems as well as
the memory of the word. The coordinator tries to get all the participants recite by
directing questions to them, prolonging the discussion so that they will gain deeper
insights. Like group psychotherapy, the Paulo Freire method stimulates participants to
move themselves by realistic assessment of themselves and their environment, from
inauthentic interpretations of life to creative initiative.

Value Assumptions

The Paulo Freire method rests on certain value assumptions that have not
received much implementation in Latin America. These are: a) the equality of all men;
b) their right to knowledge and culture; and c) their right to criticize their situation and
act upon it. It also implies a faith in the capacity of even the illiterate to achieve a
reflective outlook through self- discovery and dialogue.

The Paulo Freire method does not aim at chiefly literacy training per se; it is
directed at what is called in Brazil conscientizacao and in Chile conscientizacion. The
word first appeared, according to Freire himself, during the discussions held at the
Higher Institution of Brazilian Studies in the late 1950s but it was Freire who put
substance and spirit into the term. The term means an awakening of consciousness, a
change of mentality involving an accurate and realistic awareness of ones dignity as

57
man, or to use the title of Freires book, Educacao Como Practica de Liberdade, the
practice of freedom.

Both the Freire method and the concept of conscientizacion have attracted those
who believe in its new humanistic implications such as those we elucidated in the other
chapters of this treatise. It opts for the participation of the masses and also in the
necessity of a rapid and decisive restructuring of society for while structures are man-
made, structures also make the man. Its only ideology is a kind of humanism that
affirms the freedom and the capacity of the people to decide their destinies.

In the Philippines, we need this kind of humanism. Because of certain

similarities in demography, philosophical outlook and culture, the Paulo Freire method
is a welcome thing.

The fundamental aspects of Freire philosophy are, in fact, imbedded in the

educational philosophy that underlies the teaching-learning process in Philippine
education. By concepts, including self- discovering, environmental awareness, cultural
affirmation, critical thinking are integral parts of the substance and goals of Philippine
education. Possibly, these components of the Filipino thought, developed over nearly a
century, may have caused activist tendencies, the clamor for national identity, and the
strong feeling against foreign domination in the country.

xxx

A. Self Assessment Questions

1. What was the social situation in Brazil which made Paul Freire conceptualize
his psycho-social method?
2. What were the criticisms to the educational system of Brazil?
3. What can you infer as Freires aim of education? His philosophy of education?
4. Briefly state how Freire could attain this aim.
5. Why was this method not adapted in Brazil?

B. Activities

1. Do you think Freires method is applicable in your country? Please elaborate . If

you have to describe the social conditions of your place to support your answer,
please do so.

2. Analyze Freires method and infer from it his philosophy of education. Then try
analyzing this philosophy by filling up the table below. Please refer to the
previous modules on the fields of philosophy used to analyze/synthesize
traditional philosophies.

58
 Field of Philosophy Freires Method

A. Metaphysics

B. Epistemology

C. Logic

D. Axiology

3. State your philosophy of education and make a matrix of analysis/synthesis similar to

the above table.

59
 LITERATURE CITED

BAUZON, P.T. 1994. Fundamental Philosophies of Education. Manila:

National Book Store, Inc.

CALDERON, J.F. 1998. Foundations of Education. Manila ; Rex Book Store.

ELEVAZO, O.A. and R.A. ELEVAZO. 1995. Philosophy of Philippine

Education . Manila: National Book Store, Inc.

GREGORIO, H.C . and C.M. GREGORIO. 1979. Philosophy of Education in

Philippine Setting. Quezon City: Garotech Publishing.

ORNSTEIN, A.C. and D. U. LEVINE. 2003. Foundations of Education.

Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co.

ZULUETA, F. M. 2004. Foundations of Education. Manila: National Book

Store.

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