Subject: Task-based presentation

Topic: Toward a Complementary Theory of the Concept « education »

Presenter: Abdelouahed OULGOUT
Target audience: CPR trainees
Objectives:
Participants will be able to:
1- Be aware of the basic components of education as a concept
2- Realize the centrality of education in human development
3- Make distinction between the traditional and the modern way of
educating
4- Understand our need to a complementary/moderate theory of
education

Task 1: What is education?

To know what education is, read the following quotations and guess the basic components of an
education:
-“Education is a method whereby one acquires a higher grade of prejudices”Laurence J. Peter.
-“Education is a progressive discovery of our own ignorance”. Will Durant.
-“education is the art of making Man ethical” Mark Smith.

Science: techniques, strategies,

training, management, process,
Methods…
Knowledge: ideas, thought,
information,…
Values: respect, obedience,
morality, humility…
The inner components of “education”
N.B: Note that the three circles/components above are bridged by a passage indicating that no
component is isolated from the other; they are rather complementary and open for one
another.

Task 2: Why education? Consider the following quote:

- “Education does not mean teaching people to know what they do not know; it means teaching them to
behave as they do not behave” John Ruskin (1819-1900) English critic.
- The individual
- Education Development/ behavioural change: - The society
- The nation
Task 3: How is it done? Read the two quotations and compare.
-“In the banking concept of education, knowledge is a gift bestowed by those who consider
themselves knowledgeable upon those whom they consider to know nothing” paulo freire
-“The great aim of education is not knowledge but action” Herbert Spencer
Traditional (focus on knowledge& values)
The philosophy of education
Educational system

Modern (science & technology)

The science of education
- Which one of these two systems is better?
Task 4: Read the following quotation:
-“While the science of education has made great advances under the modern tendency to think highly of
science, the philosophy of education is being neglected and is steadily declining”
From:http://www.tparents.org/library/unification/books/euth/euth05.htm
- On the light of this quotation, how can we reconcile between both systems of education?
Conclusion:
The Complementary theory of education is based on the reconciliation / unification of three educational components or
authorities: the authority of knowledge + the authority of values/ethics (this equals what the philosophy of education is
all about) + the authority of science/technology (that is the science of education).