A Reflection Paper on The Aims of Education by Alfred North Whitehead
After reading The Aims of Education by Alfred North Whitehead, I learned that one of the
most significant aims of education is that subjects must be connected and unified to keep the
modern curriculum alive and to let the students understand the applications and make it
his/her own. To summarize, the academic article states that self-development is a valuable
intellectual development, inert ideas are ideas that must be watched out in training a child
because it mostly causes the infection of education, subjects taught must not be too many,
subject taught must be taught thoroughly with only a few and important ideas introduced, past
knowledge is only used to be equipped in the present, ideas must be utilized and related to our
lives, study with systematic theoretical exposition the important applications of the theoretical
subjects, the art of utilization of knowledge is acquired by education, uniform external
examination kills the best part of the culture, good discipline can help get inert knowledge but
interests on education or a subject must be evoked now, all groups of children will not fit in into
one train of thought, do things with style, the true educational unit is school, and being
religious is the essence of education.
The academic article really caught the readers’ attention, especially me. One of the
quotes in the academic article is “The child should make them (main ideas) his own and should
understand
their application here and now in the circumstances of his actual life.” When I read this line, I
realized that it is not enough that we study for a certain subject, we must also apply it in our daily
lives so that we can truly learn. Yes, it is important to learn about the technicalities needed, but
what is the point if we do not understand the concept, its purpose, and its importance? As an
Engineering student, I always face problems that need solutions in the academe, if I practice
enough, I could solve a similar problem that I would encounter later. However, I still do not
understand the concept, which is why I will not be able to apply the practices that I learned to
other problems that are outside the box, because I did not let myself think, understand, and relate
to other subjects or to myself, I only let myself learn to memorize how to solve a certain problem.
In terms of applying, it is not enough that we simply watch our subject teachers teach us how to
solve, we must write and apply what we learn and continue practicing, this is education, not the
blind memorization. When I was reading the essay, I also encountered the same issue, I was
reading the text, not comprehending and applying it to my life, which is why I was experiencing
writer’s block. When I read it again, this time relating it in real life situations, I was able to write in
this reflection, this is education. It was also mentioned that History as a subject is significant in
our lives because the past should be used to help our present. However, History is not taught
well, it is taught with memorizing the names, dates of past events, but not the significant
learnings and lessons that those people or events taught us, History has lost its purpose. For the
subjects taught, one of biggest realizations I had was that the subject itself was not worthless, it
was significant in our lives, it was how it was taught that was the problem. In relation to this
realization, one of the highlights of the academic article is the enunciation of two academic
commandments, which are “Do not teach too many subjects,” and “What you teach, teach
thoroughly.” Based on experience in my junior and senior high school, there were so many units,
and some subject teachers do teach too many subjects
due to being understaffed. It never worked out well for both teachers and students, we were
overworked, and they were underpaid. There was too many information that needed to be
learned, which resulted to learning nothing at all. We were all just experiencing a massive
burnout and had to continue. There needs to be a massive curriculum reform, allowing us to
breathe, fully understand and apply the learnings we gain. This is how we become productive,
not forcing us to cope with tons of information that leads us to be walking dead. Those two
academic commandments reminded me of 3 Idiots in a student’s perspective. The main
character named Ranchoddas Chanchad stated that “This is college, not a pressure cooker, even
a circus lion learns to sit on a chair in fear of the whip, but you call such a lion ‘well trained’ not
‘well educated’.” When we are studying, we are not excited, instead we are scared that we
might fail and that we need to survive. We must not conform to one standard of examination,
because we are all made differently, what may work for you will not work for some, but it
doesn’t mean that they are lesser than you, they are simply If the academic load that we have
is not that heavy, we would be able to study in comfort and with more time in that certain
subject that we need in the future. When I was studying Calculus during my vacation, I was able
to enjoy and appreciate studying it because there is no time pressure or too many subjects that
came along with it. I was able to ace the subject because I was learning it thoroughly and I was
able to apply it in real life. Relating the subjects, I was able to realize the importance of
education, not just blindly following because it is what was most people do, with that I was able
to motivate myself because I already knew its purpose.
To conclude, subjects learned must be unified and connected and students should
understand the applications and make it his/her own so that education continues to be vital. I
learned that we must apply what we learn, to truly learn. I also learned that we must not
be
overloaded with subjects and information so that we can truly learn what matters for us
thoroughly. Significant changes in the academe must also be made so that both students and
teachers collaborate healthily. The aims of education is to apply the learnings and connect it to
other subjects or life so that we can truly educate ourselves.