Monday 12 March 2018

Eastern and Western Blended Philosophy: Important Educational Approach

In one of our previous courses, we were asked to talk about our opinion about the most two important philosophies, the western and the eastern ones in education. These philosophies contradict in the big picture in which countries in the west behave differently than eastern countries when it comes to creating an individual’s skills and attitudes. Thus, different countries have different cultures and philosophies which lead to different ways of teaching. Westerns believe in continuous change and progress in education however Easterns believe in status quo. Both philosophies share some of ideas that can prove the possibility of taking a moderate view between these two philosophies and combining them in our educational system. Educationally, our 21st century requires a blend of both the eastern and western philosophies which associates with the modern skills of students. Regarding life and job skills, the perspectives of the eastern philosophy help to cover all the values of responsibility, commitment and persistence in students. Self confidence, individuality and democratic education are values which the western philosophy can grow. When these tow philosophies are mixed together, a world of responsibility, commitment, creativity, strictness and carefulness can be included.  In terms of learning and skills, blended philosophy means that teachers have the responsibility to plan engaging lessons, holding inquiry teaching and giving the clear instructions to students. Also, students become familiar with active learning and creativity as important routines in the classroom. From the eastern philosophy, students protect personalized and individualized values which will result in peer support as an essential part of the learning process. Students of 21st century need good imagination, cleverness, transferability and inventions. Regarding information, media and technology, both the western and eastern philosophies encourage the wise use of modern equipments in their global learning process. The blended philosophies results in teaching students project based learning through using good technology and E-learning. Thus, the teacher in a blend of both philosophies plays an important role to decide the suitability in giving both compliments and criticism, as it will affect the development of an individual.


2 comments:

  1. An interesting topic to discuss Omar, it is true that the philosophy of education differs between the west and the east. But we have to mention that each philosophy has its own weaknesses and strengths, we cannot be supportive for one side. Changing is important in our era, the era of technology where being developed is essential to be in the flow, but without forgetting to maintain the our morals and ethics. In other words, we need to keep changing but this after understanding what we have and what we need keeping in mind the basics that we arise with.

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  2. Absolutely true, relation between education and culture is intertwined, where both affect each other and we need to be aware of our culture's needs and how we are facilitating our education systems to help and improve those needs.

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