LIBERALISM AND EDUCATION

Philosophical and Ideological Perspectives of education Gerald L. Gutek

SUMMARY: Liberalism is an ideological perspective that search for the true meaning of education for all. The proponents of such ideology seeks to teach the whole of humanity especially those who are in the middle class in social, intellectual, moral, political and economic well-being. Liberalism operates such that there will be no oppression in the community especially to the poor by those authoritative rich persons. As such, liberalism provides rights to freedom and justice for every individual in the community. Among the proponents of liberalism is John Locke who propagated the ideals of freedom and intellectual progress. He said that the human person at birth does not know anything but by worthy experiences, he came to understand the world that he lives in. Thus, human character is formed and not innate. Education is important in forming the virtue, wisdom, good breeding and learning of a person. He also attacked the government during those times by conceptualizing the executive, legislative and judicial branches of a government who should protect the natural rights of every governed well-being. Everyone is free, equal and independent. They have the right to life, liberty and property. If the government cannot do its task to protect and serve the governed, the governed can revolt to restore their rights and choose for better leaders. Liberalism aims to maintain the social order by educating the mind to prepare every individual in the competitive world. By employing the scientific method, liberation of the human intelligence would lead to progress. By being process-centered and project oriented, one can improve his/her human condition. The school has its own academic freedom to establish and reinforce education as a preparation for individuals to habitually inculcate in them the standards of behavior that can be applied in a larger society. Everyone is free but freedom has its own responsibility. REACTION: Liberalism is the most prevalent ideology in the Philippines at present. It is embodied by the goal of education by 2015 which is the education for all (EFA). The constitution also stipulates that every individual should be educated for free. As such, public schools bloomed for educating the minds in the community to prepare them for a bigger responsibility outside school. In fact, the government is patterned on the ideals of liberalism. Well, we can trace this when our national hero, Dr, Jose P. Rizal, experienced liberation in Europe and adopted it here in the Philippines. Liberalism is a very good ideology because it seeks equality for everyone regardless of your status in life. But most often, the freedom that we impart to our fellow governed is being abused and perhaps causes tremor in a certain community. The natural rights of a person are being jeopardized in such a way that some people use them for
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their advantage. In the Philippines, for example, we are applying the concepts derived from the ideologies of liberalism but then, why is there a problem in Hacienda Luisita? Why is it that young people are still misled and most of them are not educated? Why is it that the majority in our legislative congress allow to pass bills that are against the natural human rights? These are just some of the many concepts that the government cannot handle. Yet, we come to liberate ourselves in the wrong direction. Liberalism in the Philippines is being overshadowed by the ideologies of a single group or even a single person in our country. The worse thing is, we are not doing anything to restore our rights against the oppression of this group or individual. Where is liberation in that case? Worst because most of us in the community do not know our rights, thereby, we do not know what we must do. Maybe, we can start this coming election by making it a legal and peaceful revolution. If it will not be again successful, then the drawback shall be against us again. We must learn from experience. Liberalism is not totally applied in the classroom context. Let us take for example, we only give emphasis the education of those who are bright, intelligent and skilled inside the classroom. We give less importance those who are lowly and those who are imprinted to our mind that this-child-will-be-worst-in-the-future. As such, there is no such thing as equality, freedom of information and academic freedom. It is more unimportant to these lowly persons the coercion and repression of the society just because of their status in life and in the school. While in fact, these are the persons who need more of our attention. This is why I love to teach in the lower sections of a certain school especially in a public school. It is on those sections where you can find the needs of every student. We might conclude that they are not the brightest in rationalizing but the skilled in terms of the practical aspect of life. There we can see that freedom is accompanied by responsibility because they are indeed trying to understand the concepts behind what has been applied in their life experiences. They become open to change that can somehow make their life more meaningful and the society better. Unlike if we are to compare those in the intelligent sections, students are only good at theories but never in the application. Most those who are intelligent are not fond of applying what they have learned. If they are in school, they know the principles and methods of cooking adobo or tinola, yet, in reality, they havent cooked one. Yet, parents tolerate these students/children. Another important aspect that we might want to consider is the role of government in the shaping of a school and perhaps the students per se. According to the liberals, the government has a limited role in the school. But we do not know on what aspect that should be. Is it in the infrastructure? curriculum? funding? If one of those aspects is handled by the government, then who will handle the rest? The school is not as autonomous as the government so it cannot have funds for the rest especially in the public sector of education. In the Philippines, the government appropriates the most allocation of funds for education. The government subsidizes even the private school for a better education. This, I think, is very important because the private schools are now decreasing in number of population because of the betterment of public schools due to governments help. As such, increasing the tuition fees and miscellaneous fees in the private schools is

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Ian Daryl Martin, MAT - Physics

detrimental. The point now is, the government should give enough attention to education. They may not give all the attention but should be a priority. Education is a challenge for the Liberals. They wanted to have equality through education but we know that it is never possible to have. We work for survival and we cannot work for those who have the same financial status with us. Let us just accept the fact that some are lower than us and some are higher than us especially in financial constraints. But the fact that we have life given by one and the same God, then the government should protect us from coercion and oppression. The law-makers should be the first persons to follow and embody equality and equity. However, in most cases, they are the proliferators of inequality and injustice. These are just some instances that makes freedom and equality a perennial problem of the country. Another bad effect of liberalism is the degradation of moral values. We are intellectuals but the education of the character is repressed. We can take a look at the Western countries where respect is out of coverage area. The young is like of the same age of that his parents and so on. In addition to, sex, marriage and family are something like irrelevant to them. Individual needs and wants are more important so long as they are happy with the outcome no matter how morally unjust it is. The problem is, the Filipinos are adopting these cultures and the society is now evolving on how the Western societies are doing. We can see this with the passing of the RH Bill and the law shall be deemed applicable later in our life. We cannot already stop the evolution of the society especially that media and internet technology are robust in this days. Cybercrime, prostitution, drug addiction and others are in somehow effects of liberation. Why? This is concerned primarily on the statement, I can do this because I have the freedom to do so. This is the challenge for us teachers because we should know how the community is changing so that we can still imbibe values necessary for good change and so the culture is preserved and the morality of all people is not sporadic. Yet, the media and internet are still more powerful in affecting the character and emotional aspect of the young. In fact, students, now a days, are already more mindful than the teachers in terms of modern technology. This is why traditional teachers should have courses on computer literacy or else students will laugh at them and embarrass them. This will degrade their capabilities and morality of their teaching. Or, we can also use technology to teach moral values especially in the preservation of the soul and attaining value for life. Well, the point now is, students have the rights to know every knowledge under the sun but we cannot give it at once and just let them synthesize whatever is included. We should also know the particular time on when to give such concept to them. It should be gradual. John Locke could have been wrong when he said that the mind is a blank sheet and experience is the only mechanism that can write on it. However, the mind is always ready, at least for the normal person, to understand things around given the certain time that the mind is ready to accept and apply it. To ponder, a person have the right to know and understand every knowledge but we cannot give them all even in his/her entire life is spent to education. As such, we may start at the basic things needed for

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survival and through their careful reflection, they shall add concepts based on experience. Liberation is a life-long process. It is endless in a way that concepts are endless.

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Ian Daryl Martin, MAT - Physics