Me: Not so Idealist

Idealism has been influential in education for a considerable amount of time. It is considered a conservative philosophy because of its emphasis in preserving cultural traditions. The strengths of idealism include encouraging thinking and cognition, promoting cultural learning, and providing for character development of students.

As I have thoroughly read details about idealism in order to further understand my report on realism which is actually its conflicting philosophy. I have learned that idealist are those who for example on noticing that a rose smells better than a cabbage, concludes that it is also more nourishing.

In a classroom setting, we can say that idealism is being practiced if the teacher is considered valuable part of the educational process who strives to provide a comprehensive, systematic, and holistic approach to learning that stresses self-realization.

Nowadays, science has actually challenged idealism and brought about challenges to idealistic principles. Since science as we know it is based on hypothesis and tentativeness, but idealism promotes a finished and absolute universe waiting to be discovered. Idealism has often been linked with traditional religion. Sadly, with the weakening of religion among our young generations today has also led to the weakening of idealism as a philosophy. It has also been said that idealism leads to intellectual elitism. In the past, education was considered important for the upper classes of society, marking education as a luxury. Vocational and technical studies were considered good enough for the general public. 

As I see it, although idealistic education was considered bookish and that the character development aspect of the philosophy involved in it is somewhat irrelevant on the part of the learner. I still believe that this philosophy should always take its part inside the classroom in order to give importance to the students’ imaginations and sentiments. As a teacher, I strongly believe that it is still necessary that we inculcate the importance of ideals and values to our pupils.

The emphasis on the importance of knowledge and ideas in the idealist philosophy originally led me to believe that much of my thinking of education included idealistic tendencies. In fact, Francis Bacon’s quote that knowledge is power, which is posted as an inspirational quote inside my classroom, seems to agree with this premise. Because I believe strongly in project based education as a way to have students discover and learn new information, I also began to view the idealism in my thinking. However, as much as I value these things and continue to believe in the importance of continually gaining knowledge, the fact that I view science and technology as a valued part of all education, sets me apart from this philosophy. While the idealist considered science and technical studies good enough for the general public, I consider them an integral part of any education. However I do believe in the importance of teaching children to think, for not doing so results in children with book learning and no common sense.