3 Realism and Education

I. Realism
A. Like Idealism, Realism is among the Western worlds oldest and most enduring
philosophies. In contrast to Idealism, Realists assert that objects exist regardless of our
perception of them. For example, this hand-out that you are reading exists as an object-
in-itself and its existence does not depend on your perception or use of it. Even if you
are not reading it, this text would still exist.

B. Realism is a philosophy that seems to be the basis for much contemporary education.
Drawing from its Aristotelian origins, it argues that the primary goal of education is to
contribute to the discovery, transmission, and use of knowledge. Such knowledge is
essential in realizing the human potential for rationality; such knowledge is our surest
guide to conduct in all the dimensions of living- personal, social, economic, political,
ethical, and aesthetic.

II. Essential Doctrines of Realism

A. We live in a world of real existence in which many things, such as persons and objects,
exist.
B. The objects of reality exist regardless of our wishes or preferences about their
existence and the uses that we make of them.
C. By using our reason, it is possible for us to know something about- to have some
knowledge of- these objects.
D. Knowledge about these objects, the laws that govern them, and their relationship to
each other is the most reliable guide to human conduct.

III. Variations of Realists

As is true of Idealists, there is also a variety of Realists which have their common origin in
Aristotles work.
A. Classical Realists trace their philosophical origin to ancient Greek philosophizing.
B. Theistic Realists, among them the Thomists, envision a supernatural Supreme Being as
the creator of the natural world
C. Scientific Realist see the natural sciences and the scientific method as the basis for
understanding reality.

IV. Aristotle: Founder of Realism

A. Aristotle, a student of Plato, was for a time the tutor of Alexander the Great, the Greek
king who conquered most of the known world. He founded the Lyceum, a philosophical
school in Athens in334 B.C., and wrote on such philosophical matters as metaphysics,
logic, and ethics and on the natural sciences of astronomy, zoology, and botany.

B. For Aristotle, education was to be a mean of aiding human beings in their quest for
Eudaimonia, or happiness, which meant possessing excellence.

C. He believed that the curriculum should conform to the patterns of human growth and
development. He designed for youths aged 14 to 21 a curriculum that stressed
intellectual subjects such as arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, music grammar, literature,
poetry, poetry, rhetoric, ethics, and politics. After age 21, the more sophisticated
intellectual disciplines such as physics, cosmology, biology, psychology, logic, and
metaphysics were introduced.
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V. The Educational Implications of Realism
A. Realisms Educational Goals
1. Cultivate human rationality, the humans highest power, through the study of
organized bodies of knowledge.
2. Encourage human beings to define themselves by framing their choices rationally, to
realize themselves by exercising their potentiality for excellence to the fullest; and to
integrate themselves by ordering the various roles and claims of life according to a
rational and hierarchical order.

B. The Realist Concept of School

1. The school is a special institution that has the primary mission of advancing human
rationality. As a formal institution, it should be staffed by competent teachers who
possess knowledge of a subject or skill and who know how to teach it to students.
2. The school has the well-defined and specific function of transmitting bodies of
knowledge and inquiry to students. The schools task is primarily an intellectual one.
3. The Realist conception of school clearly prescribes policies designed to protect the
school from interference that detracts from its central mission.
4. Although the school may perform recreational, community, and social functions,
these are secondary and should not interfere with the efficient performance of the
primary intellectual function.

C. The Realist Curriculum

1. The Realist curriculum at the primary level involves instruction in the tools of reading,
writing, and computation that are needed for subsequent successful study and inquiry
into the systematic subject-matter discipline.
2. Children should also gain experience with research methods such as using the library,
which aid in later learning.
3. Secondary and collegiate curriculum consists of the bodies of funded knowledge that
are regarded as repositories of the wisdom of the human race as determined by the
most authoritative scholarship.
4. Basic to the Realist curriculum is the rationale that the most efficient and effective
way to find out about reality is to study it through systematically organized subject-
matter disciplines.
5. The liberal arts and science curriculum of the undergraduate college and the
departmentalized secondary school curriculum represent the subject-matter mode of
curricular organization. The subject- matter curriculum consists of two basic
components.
a. The body of knowledge that is the structure of a learned discipline; an organized
way of viewing a certain aspect of reality, that is, historically, sociology,
biologically, chemically, psychologically, geographically, and so on.
b. The appropriate pedagogical ordering of the subject matter according to the
readiness, maturation, and previous learning of the student.

D. Realist Instructional Methods

1. Instruction in the Realist school involves a teacher teaching some skill or subject to a
student. While this may appear to be a simple statement, it carefully defines and
prescribes the instructional act. There are three elements in the act of instruction: the
teacher, the skill or subject, and the student.
a. The teacher is knowledgeable in the content of the subject; he or she is a
generally educated person who knows how the subject relates to other areas of
knowledge. The teacher also knows when the limits of ones competence ends.
Thus, the goal of instruction is to provide the student with the body of knowledge
possessed by the teacher.
b. The second element in the instructional act is that there is some body of
knowledge, such as history, or some skill, such as reading, that is to be taught to
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 the students. Sometimes there are situations involve such things as therapy or
sensitivity sessions, entertainment, or unfocused talking, but they lack the goal of
transmitting knowledge from teacher to learner. Situations such as these, which
lack the knowledge or skill element, are less then teaching and often distort it.
c. The third element in the act of instruction is the student, the person who is
present to learn the skill or knowledge.

E. Realist Teacher- Learner Relationship

1. The teacher
a. Is a professional educator who should possess subject- matter knowledge and
instructional skill.
b. Should be generally educated in both the liberal and sciences- these general
knowledge is designed to assist them in being educated persons who appreciate
the relationships of bodies of knowledge to each other and to the cultivation of
human rationality.
c. In addition to being generalists, teachers should be specialists in educating
students.
2. The learner
a. Is regarded as an individual who has the essential human rights of self-
determination, self- realization, and self-integration.
b. Seeking to grow in maturity in the areas of human knowledge, students have the
right to have as teachers educated and professionally prepared experts.
c. Learning, which requires commitment and application, is the students primary
responsibility.

Reference:
Gutek, Gerald L. Philosophical and Ideological Perspectives on Education. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1988.

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