Education is one of the chief important facets towards human development. This means, it is of import in determining human life and development. There are several types of instruction viz. formal, informal and non formal instruction. These types of instruction are usually given since childhood to maturity and they vary from society to society. Childhood is a critical phase in human development so instruction provided during that period needs to be a particular one. Several writers have done some plants to demo failings in childhood instruction systems and teaching methods and they have identified some steps to better. Those writers include Maria Montessori and Margaret Mead. They show the demand for educational reform in order to convey people ‘s socio-economic development. The chief intent of this paper is hence to place some jobs and failings in educating kids and to supply suggested steps for betterment. It will concentrate on the work of Maria Montessori which was based in Italy experience and Margaret Mead establishing in America and Samoa [ 1 ] experience. The paper will concentrate on formal instruction in schools and informal instruction in the places.
Maria Montessori ( 1912 ) in her work, “ the Montessori method ” , argues that through different ways, the existed instruction system is non proper to kids. She shows failing of the old scientific teaching method and suggesting new sort of scientific teaching method. She says, the rule of bondage pervades teaching method and hence the same rule pervades school. She argues for reform and transmutation of the whole school environment including the functions of pedagogues, school edifices, sitting agreement, lessons to be taught every bit good as the instructions methods. She is suggesting the Montessori Method as a critical consideration of the new teaching method in its relation to modern scientific discipline. She shows the demand to travel off from a false and narrow manner of educating kids to a more free system in order to hold a true and proper system for developing the future coevals.
Get downing with the function of instructors or pedagogues, she says they should be really good prepared on how to cover and interact with kids. That readying should be based on the spirit instead than on the mechanism in order to rouse their head and Black Marias. To her, the instructors tend to pour certain cognition and facts into the caputs of the students and in order to win in that they need to train the students into stationariness and coerce their attending through systems of awards and penalties. She argues that awards and penalties are instrument of bondage of the spirit and they are inducements toward unnatural or forced attempt and that can non be considered as natural development of the kid. Even if presents there are no tannings or other signifiers of penalties in schools, even call on the carpeting of instructors or giving a student bad grade is non encouraged by the writer. This system of awards may turn an single aside from true picks and do him/her take a false one and forced to follow it.
Prizes and penalties may hold assorted negative effects for the kids because even in future, at work the kids will be given to work for awards and wagess alternatively of professional motive. However, the system is still really common and continues today in many parts of the universe and people are so stiff to alter it. It is argued that instruction should steer kids ‘s acquisition but it represses alternatively. Harmonizing to Montessori, the instructor ‘s undertaking should be to nurture, help, ticker, encourage, usher, bring on, instead than to interfere, curtail or order.
In instance of school edifices, category suites and sitting agreement, she says they are structured in such manner that they prevent and repress kids mobility and behaviors. They besides make the kids to analyze in unhygienic conditions which endanger even their physical development. She argues that it is non good for kids to turn up in an unreal environment so she proposes students ‘ autonomy, car instruction, constitution of harmoniousness between the work and activities of place life and school undertakings so as to better the kids instruction. She says the scientific teaching method in the school should allow free and natural manifestations of the kid. It is true that free kids can larn best than those tied to false and forge environment which does non portray their existent life. Restricting kids mobility in schools has similar effects like wagess and penalties. It degrades their organic structures and liquors and can take to forced subject and deficiency of assurance.
The Montessori Method consists of assorted lessons including rational instruction, muscular instruction and instruction of the senses to call a few. She believes that instruction of the senses is really of import for steering practical life. At the same clip, Montessori drives our attending to the function of spiritual instruction as being of import to steer kids moral life. In this instance, the instruction system needs to be comprehensive and it should non merely concentrate on learning kids reading, composing and arithmetic. However, in our modern-day society this may non be really practical because of the worsening function of faith in people ‘s life. There are people who do non pattern any faith any longer.
It is argued that, the Montessori system is non yet complete but it comprises a system good plenty established to be practical in all kid attention establishments and in the first simple categories. The system originated from the predating pedagogical experiences with unnatural kids when it was discovered that unnatural kids when taught in a different and particular manner and if helped in their psychic development they can be able to larn and vie with normal kids. This fact proved that the normal kids are being suffocated and repressed hence they do non make their full development. This derived the demand to use similar methods to normal kids so as to develop and put free their personality. It is believed that these methods will guard a individual ‘s natural life and free him or her from the so called oppressive and degrading society. Montessori now saw the demand to use her methods and to develop didactic stuffs [ 2 ] which could efficaciously be used in the so called Children Houses [ 3 ] . It is besides of import to advert that the Montessori system represents the consecutive work of other three doctors viz. Itard, Seguin and Kant.
The system had been widely accepted and it is applied in many states including the developed and developing states. However, it needs particular accomplishments, cognition and stuffs so it can be argued that it is expensive to run. It is applied in some private schools but it is a challenge in public schools. Besides it application can conflict with the place environment of the kid when there are two different systems at place and school. It can work good if parents are besides cognizant of it.
Mead ( 1928 ) , in her work on “ Coming of Age in Samoa ” , besides analyses spreads and failings in the instruction system in America by comparing it with Samoa experience. Mead focuses more on the kid ‘s place environment but besides she analyzes the kid ‘s school environment. When analyzing instruction of the Samoan kid, she explains how kids from infant phase are raised and different functions of household members in raising kids. She besides shows how kids are handled and educated before and after pubescence until they get married. Here, she has analysed an African society of Samoa which has non yet received external contacts from other states particularly the developed states. The society she besides describes as a crude society. She analyses this society by demoing how a kid learns from his or her encompassing environment. However, she does non reason that it is perfect manner of raising and educating kids but she points out that there are important things which a developed society such as America can larn from it. Like Montessori, she acknowledges the importance of a kid ‘s place and natural environment for acquisition.
In Samoa, from birth until the age of four of five a kid ‘s instruction is simple, concentrating on physical development such as larning how to sit and creep. Young miss and male childs of six or seven old ages are the 1s responsible for caring, socialising and training the little kids. However, there is unequal intervention for male childs and misss because misss are more burnt with child caring duty and they have small chance to larn some other signifiers of work and play compared to the male childs. However, it is noted that with the debut of formal schooling by the authorities, the kids are now being removed from place and they stay in school for many hours. This will in bend bring disorganisation and alteration of the traditional system.
Mead sees several jobs in the American instruction system in comparing it with Samoa. In Samoa, kids are non forced to larn or penalize harshly for awkwardness of development as in America. She argues that penalties such as tannings in schools can do a kid able to do mathematical computations but she/he wo n’t be able to construe or do sense of it. Like Montessori she criticizes penalties in schools but she does n’t place wagess as a job.
She besides argues that, the American instruction system tends to confound students because it fails to do of import connexion between the school and the place environment. There are instances where by things allowed at place are non allowed at school. American kids spend many hours in school acquisition undertakings which do non hold seeable connexions with what their parents are making as opposed to Samoan kids. They are besides encouraged and left to play with playthings and dolls which are meaningless. The instruction system fails to include kids engagement and incorporating school life with the environing community like what Samoa does to its kids. American male childs and misss finish school at the age of 14 and 18 and are ready to work but they have few picks to do because the instruction and the accomplishments they get influence which work they should make. Here, she calls for an instruction system which will fix and develop the kids the picks which confront them. She suggests instruction in the place even more than at school. Like Montessori, Mead besides stresses the demand for practical instruction. For Montessori, a good manner for work outing this job had been to set up kids houses.
Mead adds that, instruction system in America had the job of managing kids of different gift and different rates of development. There had been a inclination of maintaining kids in one educational measure for a long clip in order to give clip to the mentally faulty kids to catch up. This has many disadvantages to the kids and to Montessori besides, this is a manner of quashing and degrading kid ‘s full development.
By and large, Mead sees jobs in educating and handling kids at place and in schools. She urges for instruction reform which will enable kids to do of import picks for their life. Education should besides give more attending to mental and physical hygiene and in this manner like Montessori, she argues that a kid needs to be wellness in head and organic structure and she or he should larn freely without being tied to some systems or to one government. America has a heterogenous civilization and assorted doctrines so kids should be taught how to believe alternatively of non to believe. They need to be taught how to do single picks and to digest the heterogenous civilization.
In decision, the two writers have identified how instruction of kids is structured and they have identified mistakes spreads and failings which need to be worked on. Although the writers come from two different societies they have been able to place some common jobs and in one manner or another some similar steps on educational reform. This might be due to the fact that they have some similar background as developed states. It is surprisingly true that the jobs identified persist in many other states including the development states till today. In that instance, it can be argued that the developing states might hold adopted similar educational strategies through colonialism.
Mentions
- Mead Margaret ( 1961 [ 1928 ] ) Coming of Age in Samoa: A Psychological Study of Primitive Youth for Western Civilization. New York: Morrow Quill Paperbacks.
- Montessori Maria ( 1912 ) , The Montessori Method.
