On Pragmatism

Philosophy of Education: On Pragmatism

Joshua Caesar O. Elegado, 3^rd Year Philosophy

University of Santo Tomas-Legazpi, Philippines

“Education is either from nature, from man or from things. The developing of our faculties and organs is the education of nature; that of man is the application we learn to make of this very developing; and that of things is the experience we acquire in regard to the different objects by which we are affected. All that we have not at our birth, and that we stand in need of at the years of maturity, is the gift of education.”

-Jean-Jacques Rousseau

In the ever-changing world and of societies, we have progressed so far that made truth relative and sprouted pluralism, this is the result of progress and of change that is inevitable, to begin with. Pragmatist Education comes into play by embracing the change and making sense out of such change and acknowledging the difference between people in a cultural spectrum and becoming a catalyst of change in societies. Pragmatist education is the most efficient mode of education when it comes to eyeing transformative, progressive, and developmental praxis of education because it discusses social realities and democratic inquiries that suggest correction on injustices and offers a solution to any problems there is through a democratic fashion. The mode of interaction in a Pragmatist education is democratic, in which the teacher is not an expert to impose knowledge on students, rather, they are facilitators who let children be, in a properly guided fashion, in effect, children can develop such habits of democracy and bring it to the real world being and ultimately transform and develop societies without sacrificing their personal lives, pragmatist education is indeed a catalyst of change. To implicate, in the societies where injustices are rampant, just like the Philippines, to which the quality of life is poorly added by an authoritarian government, education as a developmental tool is urgently needed, because people still do not know their rights, such learnings about the power of democracy must be taught as early as in school to make it a habit even after they graduate and ultimately become a catalyst of change.