BACKGROUND This essay focuses on the importance of self-assessment.

To avoid losing common ground in subjective introspection we shall start by grounding firmly in the theoretical background of Masters, throughout the history of Education, before spiraling through the stages of human development. The first writings on education take us back to our.. GREEK LEGACY. Early documentation of Plato, describes 3 facets in Mans Soul: Desire , Spirit, and Reason. He said Desire and Spirit were developed during childhood, when children received education focused on Music and sports. Character and reason (rational thought), he said, were developed during adolescence. Education then focused on Science and Mathematics when the intellect began its development. His educational philosophy was based on his vision of an ideal Republic, wherein the individual was best served, by being subordinated to a just society. He advocated removing children from their mothers' care and raising them as wards of the State, with great care being taken to differentiate children suitable for the various castes, the highest receiving the most education, so that they could act as guardians of the city and care for the less able. Education was holistic, including facts, skills, physical discipline, Music and Art, which were considered, the highest forms of endeavor. Plato believed that talent was distributed nongenetically and could thus be found in children born in all social classes. He built on this, by insisting that those suitably gifted, were to be trained by the State so they could assume a role within the ruling class. This established a system of selective public education, under the assumption that an educated minority would guarantee healthy governance. Plato is foundational for democratic philosophies of Education because, though his methods were autocratic, his motives were geared towards a meritocracy. Democracy today, however, looks down upon a democratic philosophy of education where only some of the students are educated to the fullest, leaving others by the wayside. Other of his writings on Education contain some of the following ideas: y y y y y y y Elementary education should be confined to the guardian class till the age of 18, followed by two years of compulsory military training.

Higher education was for those qualified.

While Elementary Education worked on making the Soul responsive to the environment, Higher Education helped the Soul search for truth and illumination. Both boys and girls got the same kind of education. Elementary education consisted on Music and gymnastics, designed to train and blend gentle and fierce qualities in the individual and create harmony. At the age of 20, a selection was made. The best one would take an advanced course in Mathematics, Geometry, Astronomy and harmonics. The first course in the scheme of Higher Education would last for ten years. It would be for those who had a flair for Science. At the age of 30 there would be another selection; those who qualified would study Dialectics and Metaphysics, Logic and Philosophy, studying righteousness, for the next five years. After accepting junior positions in the army for 15 years, a man would have completed his theoretical and practical education by the age of 50.

Aristotle (384 BC - 322 BC) , on the other hand, describes mans development in stages: infancy, boyhood and young manhood. He ratified that it was during early manhood, when man developed his ability to choose. It is precisely this self-determination that signaled maturity, though he described adolescents as individuals who were unstable, impatient and lacking self-control. His treatise On Education considered human nature, habit and Reason to be equally important strengths to be cultivated through Education. He considered repetition a key tool for good habits. Teachers were to guide students systematically, rather than through questioning as Socrates had suggested. He emphasized on balancing both, theoretical and practical aspects of subjects that included: Reading, Writing and Mathematics; Music; Physical Education; Literature and History; and a wide range of Sciences. He also stressed the importance of play. Thus, teachers would produce good and virtuous citizens for the Polis. He said All who have meditated on the art of governing mankind have been convinced that the fate of empires depends on the education of youth.

THE MIDDLE AGES During the Middle Ages, children and adolescents were thought to be miniature adults, having the same adult interests. Thus, they were treated as adults using strict, harsh discipline. Religious Masters became the keepers of the Truth, transcribing the only written documentation of past Knowledge.

Avicenna (980 AD - 1037 AD) talked about Elementary Schools known as maktab, in the Islamic world during the 10th century, and madrasahs (referred to Higher Education), both built next to mosques, because of the intimate relatedness between Truth and Knowledge with Religion.
A century later, Ibn Sina (known as Avicenna of the West), wrote a chapter on "The Role of the Teacher in the Training and Upbringing of Children", as a guide for teachers working at maktab schools. He wrote that children learned better with teaching in classes, instead of individual tutoring, giving a number of reasons that included the value of competition, emulation among pupils, and group discussions and debates. He described the curriculum of a maktab in two stages: from age 6 to 14, when they should be taught Primary Education, and from 14 on, when Secondary Education should teach the Qur'an, Islamic Metaphysics, Language, Literature, Ethics and manual skills. He stressed the importance of acquiring manual skills, regardless of social status. He wrote that children after the age of 14 should be given the choice to choose and specialize in subjects they have an interest in, whether it be Reading, manual skills, Literature, preaching, Medicine, Geometry, trade and commerce, craftsmanship, or any other subject or profession. He described a transitional stage that needed flexibility for emotional development. He further developed the Greek empirical notion of tabula rasa, describing that "human intellect at birth is rather like a tabula rasa, of pure potentiality that is molded through education and learning" . He said that knowledge was attained through "empirical familiarity with the objects of this world from which one can abstract universal concepts". Thus, he developed a syllogistic method of reasoning where observations lead to abstract concepts.

Ibn Tufail (1105 1185), an Andalusian-Arabian philosopher and novelist (known as "Abubacer" or "Ebn Tophail" in the West) demonstrated the empiricist theory of 'tabula rasa' as a thought experiment through his Arabic philosophical novel, Hayy ibn Yaqzan, in which he depicted the development of the mind of a feral child "from a tabula rasa to that of an adult, in complete isolation from society" on a desert island, through experience alone. The Latin translation of his philosophical novel, Philosophus Autodidactus, published by Edward Pococke the Younger in 1671, had an influence on John Locke's formulation of tabula rasa in "An Essay Concerning Human Understanding".

Thomas Aquinas (1225 1274) was primarily concerned with uncovering the transcendental truths that would lead a person back to God through a life of moral and religious choice. The objective of Medieval Education was an overtly religious one with the firm belief that Truth could be uncovered through dialectic debate. It was an Art, a Science, and a fascinating entertainment. Like Socrates, Thomas Aquinas believed that scholastic disputation was not a personal contest in cleverness, nor was it just sharing opinions. It was a shared journey of discovery.

THE AGE OF ENLIGHTENMENT Children were not considered to be the same as adults and were treated as if they were potentially harmful. Until the age of 12 (approximately), children were freed from adult restrictions, allowed to experience their world naturally. John Locke (1632-1704) outlined how to educate the mind in his essay Some Thoughts Concerning Education, where he expressed the belief that Education maketh the man and that the mind is an empty cabinet", stating "I believe we can identify whether the men we meet, be good or evil, useful or not, by their Education." He also wrote that "the little and almost insensible impressions on our tender infancies have very important and lasting consequences." He argued in his Essay that the "associations of ideas that one makes when young are more important than those made later because they are the foundation of the Self. They are, put differently, what first marks the tabula rasa. Locke warned against letting a foolish maid convince a child that goblins and sprites are associated with the night, for darkness shall ever afterwards bring with it those frightful ideas, and they shall be so joined, that he will no more bear the one than the other." "Associationism", as this theory would come to be called, exerted a powerful influence over eighteenthcentury thought, particularly Educational Theory, as nearly every educational writer warned parents not to allow their children to develop negative associations. Later, it would lead to theoretical development in Psychology and other disciplines where David Hartley would attempt to discover its biological mechanism in his Observations on Man (1749).

Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) rejected Platos belief that people were born with skills
appropriate to their castes. He had a different theory for human development where there was one developmental process common to all humans. This was an intrinsic, natural process, of which the primary behavioral manifestation was curiosity. This differed from Locke's idea that a childs 'tabula rasa' depended completely on external imprinting. He believed that learning and adaption was an active process deriving from the child's inner nature. He described four stages in their development: Infancy, Savage, Stage 3 and Stage 4. He wrote in his book Emile, that all children are perfectly designed organisms, ready to learn from their surroundings so as to grow into virtuous adults. That it was the malign influence of corrupt society, that made them fail to do so. He advocated an educational method which consisted on removing the child from society (for example, to a country home) conditioning him, through changes in the environment, to solve and overcome problems. He recognized and addressed the potential of problem-based teaching. He advocated that adults always be truthful with children, never basing their authority, teaching under physical coercion: "I'm bigger than you." Once children reached the age of reason, at about 12, they should be engaged as free individuals with a personal, ongoing process of their own. He once said that a child should grow up without adult interference, guiding him only to suffer from the consequences of his own acts and behavior. Only through experience will he fully become his own adviser.

Later, Immanuel Kant (1724 1804) stated that Education differed from training, the latter involving thinking whereas the former, did not. For him, the most important reason for Education was to develop character and moral reasoning. He believed in Public Education and in learning by doing. John Deweys (1859-1952) Democracy and Education: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Education stated that in its broadest sense, Education was the means to guarantee the social continuity of life". He said that despite the "primary ineluctable facts of the birth and death of each one of the constituent members of a social group, the group goes on." Therefore, Education became a necessity. Dewey was a proponent of Educational Progressivism and was a relentless campaigner for reforms that pointed out that the authoritarian, strict, pre-ordained approach of modern traditional education was too concerned with delivering knowledge, without enough understanding for students' actual experiences. Educational Progressivism believed that Education was based on the principle that humans are social animals who learn best in real-life activities with other people. Progressivists were highly influenced by scientific development, at the time. Thus, Dewey proposed a methodological approach to Education following a model of learning similar to that, used in Science: y y y y Become aware of the problem. Define the problem. Propose hypotheses to solve it. Evaluate the consequences of the hypotheses from one's past experience. Test the likeliest solution.

William Heard Kilpatrick (1871-1965) was a US American philosopher of Education and a colleague and a successor of John Deweys. He was a major figure in the Progressive Education Movement of the early 20th century, developing the Project Method for early Childhood Education. Progressive Education, as he called it, organized curriculum and classroom activities around a
subject's central theme. He believed that the role of a teacher should be that of a "guide" as opposed to an authoritarian figure and that children should direct their own learning according to their interests, being allowed to explore their environment and experience their learning through their natural senses. Proponents of this Progressive Education and the Project Method rejected traditional schooling that focused on memorization, rote learning, strictly organized classrooms (desks in rows; students always seated), and typical forms of assessment. POSTMODERNISM Jean Piaget (1896-1980) was a Swiss developmental psychologist known for his epistemological studies with children. His theory of Cognitive Development placed great importance on the education of children, as described in his epistemological view called "Genetic Epistemology. As the Director of the International Bureau of Education, he declared, in 1934, that "only education is capable of saving our societies from possible collapse, whether violent, or gradual." He created the International Centre for Genetic Epistemology, in Geneva, 1955 and directed it until 1980. According to Ernst von Glasersfeld, Jean Piaget is "the great pioneer of the constructivist theory of knowing." Jean Piaget defined himself as an epistemologist, interested in the process of the qualitative development of knowledge. As he says in the introduction of his book "Genetic Epistemology: "What genetic epistemology proposes is discovering the roots of the different varieties of knowledge, in their elemental forms, following them through to their next levels of development, as determined scientifically."

Jerome Bruner (1915- ) contributed to the method of inquiry in Education, with his book The Process
of Education and Toward a Theory of Instruction, a landmark in conceptualizing learning and curriculum development. He argued that any subject can be taught with intellectual honesty, to any child, at any stage of development. This notion was an underpinning for his concept of the spiral curriculum which posited the idea that a curriculum should revisit basic ideas, building on them continually, until the student grasped the full formal concept. He emphasized the importance of intuition, essential in productive thinking. He felt that true interest in the subject taught was the best stimulus for learning, rather than external motivation such as grades. He developed the concept of discovery learning which promoted learning as a process of constructing new ideas based on current or past knowledge. Students were encouraged to discover facts and relationships and continually build on what they already know. Martin Heidegger (1889-1976) talked about Higher Education, believing that teaching and research in the university, should be unified, aiming towards questioning and testing ontological assumptions and presuppositions which guide research in all domains of knowledge."

Mortimer Jerome Adler, (1902-2001) American philosopher, educator, and popular author, worked within Aristotelian and Thomistic traditions. Living in New York City, Chicago, San Francisco, and San Mateo, California, he worked for Columbia University, the University of Chicago, Encyclopdia Britannica, and Adler's own Institute for Philosophical Research on Educational Perennialism.
Perennialists believe that one should teach the things that one deems to be of everlasting importance to all people, everywhere. They believed that the most important topics are those that help develop a person. Since facts are continuously being updated, these cannot become the most important thing to be taught. One should teach principles, not facts. Since people are human, one should first teach how to become humane, rather than technical or mechanical. People are people, first, and workers, later, so teaching should focus primarily on Reasoning and Wisdom, rather than on facts. Liberal Arts should be taught before vocational training.

Harry Broudys (1905-1998) philosophical views were based on the tradition of classical realism, dealing with Truth, Goodness, and Beauty. However, he was also influenced by the modern philosophy of Existentialism and Instrumentalism. In his textbook Building a Philosophy of Education, he introduced two major ideas about Truth and about the universal conflict of Humanity's struggle for a Good Life. He also studied society's demands on school. He thought Education could be a link to unify diverse societies and urged for more trust and commitment to be put into schools and a good education.
Nel Noddings, (1929 ) sole-author of her book on Caring: A Feminine Approach to Ethics and Moral Education, published in 1984, a little after Carol Gilligans ground-breaking work on the Ethics of Care, In a Different Voice. While her work on Ethics continued, with the publication of Women and Evil (1989) her later works on Moral Education have introduced an educational theory on Educating for Intelligent Belief or Unbelief (1993) and Philosophy of Education (1995).

Paulo Freire, (1921-1997) Brazilian critic of Pedagogy, was committed to the cause of educating the
impoverished peasants of his country, collaborating with them in pursuit of their liberation from oppression. He is best-known for his attack on what he called the "banking concept of education," in which students were viewed as empty accounts, to be filled by teachers. Freire also upheld the deep reciprocity there should be, between teachers and students, opposing the common dichotomy that polarizes their relationship within the classroom. He described their roles as a teacher who learns and a

learner who teaches. Reactive postures suggest that inversion of relationships within school grounds overrides the teacher's authority. Aspects of Freirean philosophy have been highly influential in academic debates over 'participatory development'. His emphasis on emancipation, through interactive participation has been used as a rationale for participatory focus on development to empowerment the poor and marginalized. Though not the main representative of Social Reconstructionism and Critical Pedagogy he did initiate an educational movement, guided by passion and principle, that lead students to develop conscious freedom, recognizing authoritarian tendencies and associating Knowledge with Power. He started what would later develop into the constructive approach of education based on Marx, unleashing future ideas on radical democracy, anarchism, feminism, and other movements for social justice. Allan Bloom, (1930-1992) professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago, argued for traditional Great Books-based Liberal Education in his lengthy essay The Closing of the American Mind. .

William Chandler Bagley (1874-1946) taught in Elementary Schools before becoming a professor of education at the University of Illinois, where he served as the Director of the School of Education from 1908 until 1917. He was a professor of education at Teachers College, Columbia, from 1917 to 1940. He was an adamant opponent of Pragmatism and Progressive Education, insisting on the value of knowledge for its own sake, rather than as an instrument. He criticized his colleagues for their failure to emphasize systematic study of academic subjects. Bagley was a proponent of Educational Essentialism, an educational philosophy where children, are believed, should learn traditional basic subjects, thoroughly and rigorously. An essentialist program normally teaches children progressively, from less complex skills to the more complex ones.
Maria Montessori (1870-1952) was an Italian physician, educator, philosopher, humanitarian and devout Catholic, best known for her philosophy in Montessori Education. Her method has educated children from birth to adolescence in a number of public as well as private schools throughout the world. It is an approach based on her research and experiences discovering what she referred to as "a child's true normal nature". In 1907, her experimental observation of young children, enhanced their learning when given a protected and free environment, prepared with materials designed for their self-directed learning. This supported her idea that respecting childrens true natural way of being they seek to learn on their own.

Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925) founded a holistic educational movement based on his spiritual philosophy, Anthroposophy. It is now known as Steiner or Waldorf Education, a Pedagogy that emphasizes on balanced development between cognitive, affective/artistic, and practical skills (head, heart, and hands). Schools are normally self-administered by faculty and emphasis is placed upon giving individual teachers the freedom to develop their own creative educational approach.
Steiner's theory of Child Development divides Education into three developmental stages predating those described by Piaget, but with close similarities:

y Early Childhood Education starts with imitation. Teachers provide practical activities and a
healthy environment. He believed young children should know only Goodness.

y Elementary Education is strongly Art-based, centering on the teacher's creative authority.

Elementary School-aged students are now introduced to Beauty.

y Secondary Education develops Judgment, Intellect, and Practical Idealism. Adolescents are then
guided to discover Truth. Waldorf or Steiner Education is a humanistic approach to Pedagogy where learning is interdisciplinary, integrating practical, artistic, and conceptual elements. Its approach emphasizes the role of imagination, in developing thinking that includes creativity, as well as, analysis. Its overarching goal is to provide young people with the basis on which to develop into free, morally responsible and integrated individuals, helping every child fulfill his or her unique destiny. Steiner s Anthroposophy is based on this individual right to give personal meaning to ones own existence. Thus, schools and teachers are given the freedom necessary to set curricula towards this goal, within collegial structures. A.S. Neill (1883-1973) founded Summerhill School, the oldest existing Democratic School in Suffolk, England in 1921. He wrote a number of books that now define much of contemporary philosophy of Democratic Education. He believed that the happiness of a child should be the paramount consideration in decisions about his upbringing, growing from a sense of personal freedom. He felt that deprivation of this sense of freedom during childhood and the consequent unhappiness experienced after repression were responsible for many of the psychological disorders of adulthood. He was strongly influenced by the contemporary work of Sigmund Freud and Wilhelm Reich, opposing sexual repression and the imposition of the strict Victorian values of his childhood. He stated clearly that to be anti-sex was to be anti-life. Naturally, these views made him unpopular with the Establishment. Democratic Education is a theory of learning and school governance in which students and staff participate freely and equally in School Democracy , sharing decision-making among students and staff, on matters concerning living, working, and learning environments.

In reviewing highlights of the great Masters, the burden of the current situation in Education seems somewhat lighter. Educators are not alone. They stand on the shoulders of those who have long fought for them to see further. The real burden is on them. Introducing new ideas to break paradigms and shift a change for Mankind is no easy task. Educators must build upon efforts started long ago, to ground into a common togetherness to empower their individual efforts.