Importance of Consensus
In many Universities and Colleges follow the process of consensus, the consensus of the students and the university officials are very important manners in terms of good quality of education and the other beneficiary needs. Consensus in a sense that it is a agreement in opinion in a sense that it is a agreement in opinion in a certain topic or event, like for example last September, the Lakas-Kampi CMD party conduct a consensus event regarding to their party presidential representative this coming National Election, this event tell us that who is the fittest representative for their party, the whole party vote or have an agreement for who is the fittest. The agreement done with no confusion meaning agreement solves the conflict tells their biases and come up with a great and clean result.
And now we will discuss the consensus among philosophy of Education, many agencies affect the education here in thePhilippines, like for example, the press (mass media), the family, the government, and the church. According to the book of Modern Philosophies of Education (John S. Brubacher, 1978). The Educators will not be able to fulfill this great function if they are preoccupied with stressing the divisions and achieve some consensus if they are to become molders of the new world. To the philosophy of education this is not centered in some kind of Religion like muslim, Christianity, or Buddhism, but the proposal must be ‘organic’ Philosophy of Education, what is good to this view philosophy is bipolar it has many ingredients of educational stand in opposition to each other like for example the Realist and Idealist. They both defined the same thing but differs in methodology.
This process of education is very common to the academics like for example the debate competition. It is meaningless agreement if both of the negative and positive view in a certain topic did not define the same position or the topic, another example is if the teachers did not predicate their policies on same common philosophic principles, promotion through the various grades would lose all sense of continuity. The unity of the pupil’s experience of the curriculum would be seriously interrupted
Practical Consensus
We already discussed the importance of consensus among the Philosophy of Education, we are now move on to the practicality of Consensus, how this agreement or the importance of agreement can be apply to the status quo or to the present situation. All together now the following areas of significant agreement on such obvious matters as making school buildings safe against fire hazards protecting children against traffic hazards on the way to schools, and providing children with glasses if they need them. There is also quite general agreement that children assent to the fact that only teachers who can meet certification requirements by virtue of professional preparation should be allowed to teach.
There are Seven Cardinal Principles of Education, the command of the fundamental processes of communication and computation; health; competency; in family, civic and vocational relations; worthy use of leisure; and ethical sensitivity. Educators will differ on how these aims serve realization of the ultimate aims of education, and they will also differ on what any one of these aims demands when broken down into more specific details.
Philosophical Agreement
Because of the relative understanding or rather a different perspective of the philosophers. In the field of Education, it must be synthesized or must be open to agreement to understand more accurately of the children. Like for example, the realist view to the education is realists believe that reality exists independent of the human mind. The ultimate reality is the world of physical objects. The focus is on the body/objects. Truth is objective-what can be observed. Aristotle, a student of Plato who broke with his mentor’s idealist philosophy, is called the father of both Realism and the scientific method. In this metaphysical view, the aim is to understand objective reality through “the diligent and unsparing scrutiny of all observable data.” Aristotle believed that to understand an object, its ultimate form had to be understood, which does not change. For example, a rose exists whether or not a person is aware of it. A rose can exist in the mind without being physically present, but ultimately, the rose shares properties with all other roses and flowers (its form), although one rose may be red and another peach colored. Aristotle also was the first to teach logic as a formal discipline in order to be able to reason about physical events and aspects. The exercise of rational thought is viewed as the ultimate purpose for humankind. The Realist curriculum emphasizes the subject matter of the physical world, particularly science and mathematics. The teacher organizes and presents content systematically within a discipline, demonstrating use of criteria in making decisions.
Teaching methods focus on mastery of facts and basic skills through demonstration and recitation. Students must also demonstrate the ability to think critically and scientifically, using observation and experimentation. Curriculum should be scientifically approached, standardized, and distinct-discipline based. Character is developed through training in the rules of conduct. While the idealist view to education is Idealism is a philosophical approach that has as its central tenet that ideas are the only true reality, the only thing worth knowing. In a search for truth, beauty, and justice that is enduring and everlasting, the focus is on conscious reasoning in the mind. Plato, father of Idealism, espoused this view about 400 years BC, in his famous book, The Republic. Plato believed that there are two worlds. The first is the spiritual or mental world, which is eternal, permanent, orderly, regular, and universal. There is also the world of appearance, the world experienced through sight, touch, smell, taste, and sound, that is changing, imperfect, and disorderly. This division is often referred to as the duality of mind and body. Reacting against what he perceived as too much of a focus on the immediacy of the physical and sensory world, Plato described a utopian society in which “education to body and soul all the beauty and perfection of which they are capable” as an ideal. In his allegory of the cave, the shadows of the sensory world must be overcome with the light of reason or universal truth.
To understand truth, one must pursue knowledge and identify with the Absolute Mind. Plato also believed that the soul is fully formed prior to birth and is perfect and at one with the Universal Being. The birth process checks this perfection, so education requires bringing latent ideas (fully formed concepts) to consciousness.
As we can see the mind of a philosophers is very irritated every ideas are prone to criticism therefore it ,must be open to agreement to understand more accurately mostly the children.
Philosophical Disagreements
Among the philosophies of education, there is a ongoing situation agreements for the schools here in the Philippines but we all know that all of these are not good for the development of mind of a child, like for example, the schism in metaphysics between educational philosophies emphasizing change and those emphasizing the changeless widens and becomes more unbridgeable when reinforced by theological considerations. Those who seek to overcome the uncertainties of education in the natural order by an appeal to certainty in the supernatural order almost put themselves out of communication with those who insist on restricting the universe of educational discourse to the natural order. Yet, in all sincerity, the supernaturalist does not see, for instance, how consensus on the dignity of man can hold any secure place at the center of educational philosophy unless it have a divine authorship.
Whatever reason for taking a rigid or intransigeant stand in one’s educational philosophy, the ultimate and deplorable result is to breakdown communication between the adherents of conflicting philosophies of education. Each group seems to have its own universe of discourse, consequently they do not speak the same educational language. Community breaks down into several communities each with its own separate system of schools. The danger here is that separate schools systems will breed suspicion and misunderstanding.
Methods for Consensus
We must remember that no worthwhile consensus is possible which violates the integrity of any party thereto. In seeking for consensus we must have entire respect from us, even where our differences stiffen into rigidity. If a consensus of educational philosophies is to be forthcoming in the twentieth century, as was a medieval synthesis in the thirteenth century. It will in all probability have to be the cooperative product of many minds. Some one man, likeSt. Thomas, may succeed ion summing it all up, but the groundwork will have to be laid by many lesser minds with appropriate humility by all and appropriate charity to all the success of such a consensus or synthesis does not appear impossible.
-Christopher Taguinod (Written Report on Philosophy of Education)
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