Homeschool Support Group
Do you have a philosophy of curriculum? Hitler did. The Communist did when they were taking over Russia after Tsar Nicholas was killed. Hitler knew to start young, to immerse his pupils in his philosophies, and he knew once he did this they were his. The communist didn’t start with the young; they started with propaganda, movie trains that would go from town to town, using the media to persuade the peasants, to teach the peasants, their ways.
A recent movie was about how a man took over Europe following several world catastrophes. He was able to manipulate the people because they were uneducated, they forgot their history, their roots, the lessons from the past, and in ignorance, they were willing to be led.
We see this today, people, willing to follow, in their ignorance, a strong leader, even to their death. Look at Jim Jones and David Koresh.
It is crucial that we have a philosophy of curriculum, not just a style, but a realization that we are to train up our child in the way he should go (paraphrased a bit). This is not the way we think they should go, nor the way society says they should go, but in THE way they should go. But what is THE way they should go? As I was reading about education/curriculum philosophies around the world, one key point I found interesting were the views that you are not teaching a subject but a person and a person’s education should address the whole child, not just the 3 R’s.
In Japan, the children compete to get into the better schools, they then walk to school, greet their teacher with a bow, then get down to lessons. At lunch the students help serve one another, then after lunch there is a scheduled time for cleaning the school. The teachers and students work together, sweeping, mopping, dusting, cleaning bathrooms, etc. You see with this that the teacher is respected as a leader and yet is someone who will get their hands dirty right along with the student. Through the respect and working side by side all take pride in their school.
Other parts of their curriculum include homemaking, values/morals, nationalism, calligraphy and arts and crafts. They emphasis the thought process more than the correct answer and encourage exploration and thinking. Their curriculum expresses what they value, the philosophies of their people, and the training of the whole child verses the training of subjects.
In an article written by an Islamic Muslim about the education system in his country, the author criticizes the current system for not teachinng the whole child. He states that their curriculum was based off Western World philosophies and yet is missing a crucial point, the 'core' curriculum. He goes on to say that the Islamic schools should have a curriculum which espouses the values of the Islamic religion. He says:
Knowledge, subject matters, or courses offered in the curriculum must be free from secular and Westernized elements that are alien to Islam. These elements - dualism, humanism, secularism, and tragedy - which are peculiarly Western and anti Islamic, must be isolated from our curriculum, then replaced with the Islamic worldview of tawhid (Oness of Allah). The curriculum should reinforce the following Islamic concepts:
- The Islamic view of the Creator (tawhid, iman or faith, and God's attributes);
- The creation of man and his purpose, namely, to worship Allah, to be His khalifah, to promote good and forbid evil, and to spread the message of Islam;
- Man's relationship with the Creator, that is, his consciousness of Allah, accountability to Allah, to do good deeds, to worship and supplicate;
- Man's relationship with others, which is to establish justice, to have respect for life, property, and dignity, to develop sound akhlaq (character traits), and to show religious tolerance;
- Man's relationship with the environment which emphasizes his role as God's vicegerent, to work with harmony with all of Allah's creations, and to recognize or discover Allah through his creation;
- Self-development, which provides room for self reformation and learning from past mistakes;
- Man's destination, that is, to promote accountability by evaluating our role, understanding the Last Day and the Hereafter and their implications; and
- Development of an Islamic ethos so as to create an environment conducive to Islamic practice.
We see from the above examples, ways in which philosophies in education affect what and how curriculum choices are made. In Japan, they want the moral instruction to infiltrate all subjects, for the Muslim, it’s the religious training. What is it for you?