Definizione e Finalità di Educazione
Verso un sistema educativo aderente
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Education cannot be neutral. You educate either for the
radical transformation of society or for conformity, domestication
and the preservation of existing structures -
helping people fit in with the status quo.,
(“Pedagogy of the Oppressed”
Paulo Freire, 1967)
...let us give the child a vision of the whole universe. The
universe is an imposing reality, and an answer to all
questions. We shall walk together on this path of life, for
all things are part of the universe, and are connected with
each other to form one whole unity. This idea helps the
mind of the child to become fixed, to stop wandering
aimlessly in the quest for knowledge. He is satisfied
having found the universal centre of himself with all things
(“To Educate the Human Potential”, Maria Montesssori, 1948)
Our hypothesis is that as the school places priority upon
developing a setting where children and youth have the
opportunity to experience and verbalize the meanings of
creating, loving, knowing, organizing, and other process
skills, they will orchestrate more beautifully the components
of tomorrow’s world than if they did not have such
new priorities established in the curriculum
(Louise Bermam 1069)
A democracy is more than a form of government; it is
primarily a mode of associated living, of conjoint communicated
experience. The extension in space of the number
of individuals who participate in an interest so that each
has to refer his own action to that of others, and to
consider the action of others to give point and direction to
his own, is equivalent to the breaking down of those
barriers of class, race, and national territory which kept
men from perceiving the full import of their activity
(“Democracy and Education”, John Dewey, 1916)..
Through dialogue, the teacher-of-the-students and the students-of-the-teacher cease to exist and a new term emerges: teacher-student with students-teachers. The teacher is no longer merely the one who teaches, but one who himself is taught in dialogue with the students, who in turn while being taught also teach... In this process, arguments based on “authority” are no longer valid; in order to function, authority must be on the side of freedom, not against it... Men teach each other, mediated by the world, by the cognizable objects which in (traditional) education are “owned” by the teacher (“Pedagogy of the Oppressed”, Paulo Freire (1967).
The task of the teacher becomes that of preparing a series
of motives of cultural activity, spread over a specially
prepared environment, and then refraining from obstrusive
interference. .....teachers can only help the great work
being done (by the child) as servants help the master.
Doing so, they will be witness to the unfolding of the
human soul and to the rise of a New Man who will not be
the victim of events, but will have the clarity of vision to
direct and shape the future of human society
(“Education for a New World,”, Maria Montessori 1946).
When a teacher is concerned with the facilitation of
learning rather than with the function of teaching, he organizes his time and efforts very differently than the
conventional teacher... he concentrates on providing all
kinds of resources which will give his students experiential
learning relevant to their needs
(Carl Rogers 1969)