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Introduction
It takes a whole village to raise a
child…
This proverb is used originally by the
African people, and Hillary Clinton was right in using this. How true it is! A
child is born from a man and a woman, but that is not the whole story. Even from
the very start of a child’s life, it is part of a community. Therefore society
needs parents and parents need a society.
A child needs education. Let’s at least
assume that. There have been people arguing that a child is a tabula rasa, a
blank canvas. On the other hand there have been people arguing that a child is
determined from the start, because of its genes. I for one will not deny our
genetic passport, so a child is never a totally blank canvas. But studies of so
called wild children and other studies have definitively shown that a child
needs education.[1]
Why education?
This forces us to think about what
education really is or should be. Is there a philosophy of education that we can
use here? Let’s try to reflect on three different aspects of education: its
values, its goals and its content.
According to the Jewish Christian
tradition that I rely on, I have to learn, my whole life long. It is not
something I can do in my spare time, like a hobby. Instead, it is my duty to
learn whether I’m rich or poor, sick or healthy, young or old. Of all the rules
for behaviour, learning is the most important. Learning leads to action and
becoming a “Tov” person, according to Jewish tradition. “Tov” means not only
good in itself, it means good as we are meant to be. It is not important that I
am not like mother Teresa. It is about the importance of being me, Jet.[2]
But in becoming myself as I am meant to
be I do not stand alone. I am a part of a community such as my family, my
church, my village or my country. I am not being educated in a vacuum. Education
is not only individual empowerment but education is by and for this community.
The question we have to ask ourselves is what kind of people does our community
need?
The goal of education is to educate new
members of the community. You can not separate education from the community it
is in. It is a mistake to think that we are independent individuals. In this
respect education is always conservative.[3]
It wants to cherish and protect the child against the world and the
world against the child, the new against the old and the old against the new.
Education has to achieve humanness. But not humanness as a natural phenomenon,
but humanness the way society wants it, as society needs it.[4]
Education is needed for a child as a
person, but always for that person as a part of society. But what is it that
needs to be learned? Who is the best educator for a child? And what is the role
of society in this? These are the questions that need to be answered next.[5]
What is to be learned?
If education is by and for this
community, what should we teach and what should we learn? What knowledge do we
want to pass on? What helps me to become a valuable member of my community?
Within our community reality is
structured in a certain way. This structure determines what we consider to “be”.
But with this “being” a “meaning” is given. It is not only a description but
also a prescription. We prefer some values over others. We prefer certain
behaviour. Objective knowledge is not possible. Knowledge and values are
inseparable.[6]
Humans are givers of names. These names
are not just arbitrary tags, either. In this giving of names there is an
inherent calling. It is the calling of creatures and therefore the meaning of
those creatures. It is a calling to fight against chaos, which always seems to
prevail. Knowledge then becomes a way of creating structure. Passing on
knowledge is the way to make our children tread the same path.
Then we have to ask ourselves if there
is such a thing as absolute knowledge, meant to control reality. Cil Wigmans
states this:
“It seems to be a dilemma. The
secularisation that took place in our western world in the past centuries is a
blessing and a curse. It liberated us from the unjust claim of those who forced
upon us, what they said God wanted. The powerful have come down from their
thrones. But the meek didn’t come to power. Instead came the claim of the laws
of nature, the power sui generis, or the will of people, that grant power far
too often to those who promise mountains of gold (or as the bible says: golden
calves). The wealth of Egypt is chosen over the dangers of the desert.”
These
false powers are idols. Therefore we have to think of ways to
structure chaos without praying to those idols. The best way to do that is by
telling stories. Stories that stand in a long line of common, shared tradition.
Therefore we need teachers that stand in this tradition themselves. On the other
hand there is room in these stories for the listener, the receiver. The receiver
will have to travel his own path.[7]
In the bible Psalm 78 gives us a
beautiful example:
“He decreed statutes for Jacob and
established the law in Israel, which he commanded our forefathers to teach their
children, so the next generation would know them, even the children yet to be
born, and they in turn would tell their children. Then they would put their
trust in God and would not forget his deeds but would keep his commands. They
would not be like their forefathers – a stubborn and rebellious generation,
whose hearts were not loyal to God, whose spirits were not faithful to him.”
[8]
The bible book Isaiah says:
“Those who hope in the LORD will renew
their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles.”[9]
Traditional education wants to create
clones. It wants to copy the achievements of the past generations. It
spasmodically maintains the existing order. But that is conservatism without any
foundation, without a starting point. It has no moral point of reference. So we
have to take it from a different perspective entirely. We have to choose a
starting point in our worldview. Very early in the Old Testament the idea comes
up that the Torah also opens the future. The biblical God is a God of history,
but also of hope and renewal.
In the perspective of psalm 78 carrying
over tradition from one generation to another is not “look how well we have done
and what we have achieved. We expect you to take over and do exactly the same.”
No, it is about taking over the essentials of life from your ancestors and walk
your own way. It is about handing over the essentials of life, knowing that
perhaps you didn’t live up to it yourself. And you hope that your children will
do better. Then you need to let go and give them the space to grow. It means
that all of us, both old and young, have to go back again and again to the basic
values of society.[10]
And this is not only important for
individual persons. It is also important, perhaps even more so, for the entirety
of society. We can make the future. We are called to act and create! More and
more we have to realize that values are vital for society. We can not rule out
these values. We have to try to live up to these values.
Of course there may be differences in
opinion about the important values we have to learn. Recent examples have shown
that small groups of fanatic religious people can damage society by teaching
people to isolate themselves from their own society, or even worse: to fight
against their own society. Therefore I have to keep in mind that our democratic
society has to make laws for all inhabitants to keep. And because of this I have
to take into account the historical and cultural background of the community and
the society I am in.
Who educates?
Every child is born from a man and a
woman. That is no moral statement but just a biological fact. Those 2 people
than make the most logical primary educators. This is the core family of a
father and a mother with one or more children.
From the beginning of a child’s life it
is educated by these biologically attached people. It comes naturally. But this
can never be enough. Not only because natural parents may be absent, but also
because of choice.
From very early civilisations we can
plainly see that there are always other people involved. The Greek had their
pedagogues, slaves that could educate children. The Jews had their Beth ha
Midrasj, the house of learning, apart from the synagogue. We in modern society
have our schools.[11]
In all those places and times education
was never purely transfer of objective knowledge or practical skills. Education
has always been a vehicle for worldview aiming for the improvement of the
community. Its aim is to make the new generation responsible members of that
community.[12]
But in all this parents remain
responsible for the education of the child. It is not the state, the church or
any other institution that has primary responsible. Parents hand over some of the
responsibility for education to others, but they are the ones that form the
basis of education. Why? Because of love. The basis of a family is love.
Unconditional love. Other people may give love, but that is not the same as the
unconditional love that parents have for their children.
For the benefit of society?
I think that this is exactly the point
where we begin to feel uncomfortable in modern society. More than ever we feel
first of all that we are individuals. We want to be independent. We want to be
unique. We don’t want to be part of a mass. We want to be free. We know what is
good for ourselves and for our children. We don’t want anyone else to interfere
and mess with that. We don’t want anyone else to spoil the loving care we give
to our children. Society seems to be more of a threat than a benefit for our
children.
This individualistic lifestyle reflects
on the way we educate our children.
We, that is, in western society, also
see our children as some kind of project, one way or the other. Furthermore,
they are a very personal project.
This works in 2 ways:
Society now sees children as some kind
of hobby. A hobby is one’s own choice, not something that society should be
bothered by or spend money on. Education should be free, costless. In the end,
by means of financing education, a society invests in its own existence and
future. Seeing education as a commodity that you can buy is wrong. If it works
that way, the best education goes only to those that can pay for it, instead of
to the ones that need it for the benefit of the community. It is wrong when
schools see parents only as the people that pay for the education of their
children; like some kind consumers. Wake up! Look for ways to cooperate in stead
of separate! Parents are partners in education.
Even while we push our children away,
at the same time we cling to them. Sometimes we even do so very possessively. We
want them to be happy, and perhaps they should be, but avoiding authority and
reality is not the way to happiness. Grow up! Take some responsibility. Behave
like real adults. Behave like mothers and fathers. And be aware that you are
part of a community. You can neither hide from society on your self-created
family island, Nor can you expect your government or other formal authorities,
not even teachers, to fix what you fail to do.[13]
You have to behave like partners in society. You can’t do it alone and neither
can your neighbour. It takes all of the responsible people in a village to raise
a child, for the benefit of our children and in the end for the benefit of
society.
Endnotes:
[1] Langeveld,, M.J., 1974, Beknopte
theoretische pedagogiek, Wolters-Noordhoff, Groningen
[2] Abram, I.B.H., 1986, Joodse
traditie als permanent leren, Kok, Kampen
[3] Hannah Ahrend
[4] Émile Durkheim, Éducation et
sociologie
[5] Ritzen, R, 2004, Filosofie van het
onderwijs. Een analyse van acht hoofdvragen, Damon, Budel
[6] Woudenberg, R. van (red.), 1996,
Kennis en werkelijkheid. Tweede inleiding tot een christelijke
filosofie, Buijten en Schipperheijn, Amsterdam
[7] Wigmans, C.M., 2004, De oude
wortels van het nieuwe leren. Bouwstenen voor geďnspireerd onderwijs,
Scope scholengroep, Alphen aan den Rijn
[8] Psalm 78:5-8
[9] Isaiah 40:31
[10] Buijs, G., 2005, Spanning in de
familie – een portret, Nederlands Dagblad
[11] Noordam, N.F., 1976, Inleiding in
de historische pedagogiek, Wolters-Noordhoff, Groningen
[12] Savater, Fernando, 1997, El Valor
de Educar
[13] Savater, Fernando, 1997, El Valor
de Educar
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