LEC 07/14

EDUCATION AND HUMAN DEVELOPMENT: CREATIVE DIMENSION OF EDUCATION (PROGRESSIVISM-JOHN DEWEY)

Introduction

Human beings are unique. They are more than a material object at the mercy of physical chemical forces and more than a sensitive animal controlled by biological laws. He/she transcends the view that one is a mere product of society or an outcome of political, economic forces. The human person is endowed with ability to be actively involved in the world and be able to control in a limited manner his own destiny or life.

The four elements

Basically, the human person comprises of four elements:

1.      Ability to think -Cognition

2.      Ability to will -Volition

3.      Ability to act-Creation

4.      Ability to relate -Socialization

In the process of education, the child is considered to be a having the aptitude of developing into a more complete human being. Education thus serves the purpose of humanizing; bringing the child into a complete human being. It aims at influencing the child to come of age, to reach adulthood. The task of education in this case is two-fold:

Bi-partite role of Education in humanization

(i)  The individualization of man:

This involves a process of humanization where limitations/ inhibitions to his/her potential are deliberately removed or minimized. This is done by:

1.      Inculcating rationality in the learner to foster critical thinking ability to comprehend, justify and appropriately apply acquired knowledge.(Cognition and volition)

2.      Transmission of morality and ethics to enable the child attain moral judgment and moral behavior.(Socialization and volition)

3.      Inculcating skills and know-how (occupational capacities).(Creation and volition)

(ii) The socialization of man

Genuine humanization should enhance the social dimension of man where one is able to mutually interact with others and co-exist with them. By inference, we find the four dimensions of education namely; cognitive, normative, creative and dialogical. Each of these dimensions deserves attention in the process of education in order to realize genuine education. In the final analysis, we may define education normatively as the ‘inter subjective process of learning to be a self-reliant person in society’.

Education and Human Creativity

1.      Creativity: Creativity is the capacity or ability of an individual to create, discover or produce a new or novel idea or object including the rearrangement or reshaping of what is already known to him which proves to be a unique personal experience.

2.      Creativity in Education: In education, creativity refers to those aspects of education geared towards the development of an individual’s potential. As a dimension of education, it gained prominence with the rise of progressive movement in educational thinking.

3.      Dewey: The progressive movement arose from John Dewey’s educational ideas. He advocated for the child to be allowed to grow in a natural way: not just physically but also mentally.

4.      Teachers: There should be no direct interference with this natural process: teachers and educators should play the role of a ‘gardener’ providing the right environment that stimulates the growth.

5.      Influence: His ideas were influenced by earlier philosophies of Froebel (school = kindergarten) and Rousseau (educating Emile).

6.      Traditional Educational: Dewey advocated for a revolution in theory and practice of education. Dewey opposed the traditional authoritarian approach to education which regarded the teacher as the sole authority in the classroom. Traditional approach forced pupils to abide by a rigid system of rules and regulations for purposes of discipline and character formation. In addition, it gave prominence to content of learning where learners were expected to assimilate learning content in the given form. According to Dewey, this traditional approach violated the psychology of the child as well as the wide idea of democracy.

7.      Progressive/Deweyan Education (Growth, Experience)

Aim of Education: Helping a child to develop mentally, physically, socially and emotionally

Experience: He advocated the view that true education can only be found in ordinary experience as the individual interacts with his environment. In this case, children can best effectively learn by exploring the environment through inquiry and testing one’s ideas.

Growth: Dewey equated education to the process of growth whereby, an individual should learn independently through experience to adjust to life.

Heuristics: He advocated for child-centered education. This education entails a shift from content-centered and teacher-centered traditional approaches.

Operational zing Creativity in Education

In order to ensure the component of creativity in education, several aspects need attention.  These include:

1.      Child centered approach to education.

2.      Learning environment should be warm and encouraging – free from intimidation/ coercion etc.

3.      Learner uniqueness ought to be appreciated. Individual differences should be addressed in teaching and learning.

4.      Teachers should display care and concern towards learners – show understanding

5.      Dialogue should be the routine in educational communication.

6.      Teachers should fully grasp the essence of the process of knowledge production and dissemination/transmission to learners.

7.      Usually, knowledge tends to be produced/manufactured outside the classroom. It’s not only contained in textbooks. Therefore learners should feel that they too could produce knowledge and know it at the same time.

8.      Teaching methodology should involve problematization of content towards which both teacher and learner approximate by way of seeking for answers – task oriented learning.

9.      Content presentation should not be portrayed as though the content is final. Teachers should endeavor to relearn the content while learners learn the content the first time.

10.  The teacher should encounter the learner as equals in this shared humanity. The learner may look delicate, ignorant etc, but the focus should be on what the learner is becoming- Identify learner’s strengths and weaknesses and be able to advice them appropriately in terms of careers, talents etc.

11.  The teachers’ role is to guide, train and elicits the inner capacities that often lie dormant/idle.

The importance of creativity in education

1.      To develop individuality.

2.      It is an educational approach that is directed at personal growth and personal liberalization from limiting circumstances of life.

3.      Reflection and action, inherent in creativity is bound to produce a human response that is adequate and adaptive to the reality of a situation.

4.      Human beings are usually actors, producers, creators and workers. An approach which seeks to equip them appropriately is welcome.

5.      It tends to promote critical thinking and activity oriented learning process.

6.      It enhances the independence of mind, thought and action leading to autonomy.

7.      Allows for the exploration of self in connection with inherent potentialities.

8.      It helps the learner to realize that he/she is a task/project, - not yet complete – open ended being who can transform himself as he reconstructs the environment.

9.      It promotes self esteem, self expression, self determination, self reliance etc.

EDUCATION AND HUMAN CONSCIOUSNESS

The term consciousness is derived from the Latin verb ‘consicite’ where sicite means to know. It is an activity of the mind which involves awareness, feeling, perception and knowledge. In essence, consciousness involves two aspects:

1.      The subject person who knowing.

2.      The object being known.

Being conscious always implies being aware of something. When one is conscious of something, they direct their intellectual/mental attention to either something outside themselves; to the subject of their attention or to themselves introspectively i.e. in this process, one makes themselves actively present to it. They come into contact with it.

Levels of Consciousness

There are four levels of consciousness:

(i) Empirical consciousness

This is the lowest level of awareness where man experiences things empirically through senses. This level of consciousness is also shared with animals, even plants that may be said to be conscious of the environment. It is also a level of pre-reflection common to children.

(ii)Intellectual consciousness

This is the second stage of consciousness. It is a stage of concept formation where the mind develops ability to identify things, to name them. It is a stage of construction as opposed to concrete awareness. Concepts like table, chair etc begin to form in the mind.

(iii)Rational consciousness

Here the process of reasoning begins. An individual begins to make judgements based on values/norms of society. Conformity to societal norms sets in.

(iv)Responsible consciousness

The level is also called critical consciousness. It involves the ability to make judgement about the world (phenomena) and react to it in critical turmoil. Critical reflection involves questioning the norms, routine of things. It transcends the known strives to bring novelty, new approaches to doing things. Each stage of consciousness is essential for every individual. In teaching/learning environment, it is important to develop all the four stages/levels of awareness. The ultimate aim of education ought to be attainment of responsible conscious news. Where an individual attains this level, one discovers that they are limited in many ways; that there exist inhibitions along one’s development.