Naturalism

Definition of Naturalism“Naturalism is not science but an assertion about science.

More specifically it is the assertion that scientific knowledge is final, leaving no room for extra scientific or philosophical knowledge.”

---R.B.Perry

“Naturalism is a loosely applied in educational theory to systems of training that are not dependant on schools and books but on the manipulation of the actual life of the educated.”

---J.S.Ross

Protagonist of NaturalismAristotleComteHobbesBaconDarwinLamarckHuxleyHerbert SpencerBernard ShawSamual ButlerRousseau etc

Naturalism in Education

In the field of Education, naturalism means the development of the child according to his inherent nature.

According to naturalism, the external laws of nature should cooperate with the internal nature of the child for his full natural development.

Forms of Naturalism

Characteristic of naturalistic edn**Back to nature.Opposition to bookish nature.Progressive.Negative Education.Central position of the child.Freedom of the child.Emphasis on the training of senses.

Negative education* Acc to J.S.Ross,”A negative education does not mean a time of

idleness, far from it .It does not give virtue but protects from vice. It does not inculcate truth, it protects from error. It disposes the child to take the path that will lead him to truth when he has reached it, and goodness, when he has acquired the faculty of recognizing and loving it.”

Acc to Rousseau, "Give me a 12 yrs old boy who does not know anything. By 15 yrs of age, I will teach him so much as other children read in 15 yrs of early life. The only difference will be that your student remembers only knowledge and my student will be able to use it in practical life.”

Positive edn emphasizes on the mind & tries to make a child an adult whereas negative edn strengthens the sense organs & the power of reasoning.

Contd.*According to Rousseau, "We give too much

importance to words. We produce by chattering education chatterers only. If you are all the time teaching morals only to the child you will make him a fool. If your mind is always giving instructions to the child, then his mind will become useless.

Whatever the child learns in the play ground is four times more useful than what he learns in the class room.”

Contd.**Back to nature:“All the things are good as they come

from the hands of the author of the nature, every where they degenerate in the hands of the nature.”-Rousseau

Progressive: “Nature wills that children should be children before they are men. If we seek to pervert the order,we shall produce fruits without ripeness and flavor.”-Rousseau.

Freedom of the child:”God makes all thing good,man meddles with them and they become evil.”-Rousseau.

Emphasis on training of senses:”Education should prepare the way for reason by the proper exercise of senses.”-Rousseau.

Naturalism and Aims

Contd. • To perfect the human machines: Since man is a small machine of the

huge machine(universe) hence the aim should be to make the individual to work efficiently .According to J.S.Ross,”Education must make the human machine as good as possible by attending to its constitution , elaborating it& making it capable of more & more complicated tasks.”

• Attainment…….happiness.:Bilological naturalism advocates the attainment of happiness in individual's life but Mac Dougall asserts that happiness & misery come according to the natural consequences & as such no voluntary seeking after them will be of any use. Hence he emphasized guiding & synthesis to attain natural progress & natural development.

• Adaptation to envt.:Human have a natural capacity to adapt to the changing environment for survival .Reinforcement by education will give the individual an added capacity to adapt.

Contd. Preparation ….existence:Acc to Darwin man has evolved from the lower

form of animals. Hence one has to struggle with the envt. For struggle. Thus edn has to develop such capacities so that the individual becomes victorious in the struggle of life & existence in this world.

Improvement of racial gains: Racial heritage of culture & civilizational achievements cannot be transferred from generation to generation by the mere process of inheritance.

Natural development: Edn should take into account the inborn tendencies & develop them naturally.

Autonomous Development:T.P.Nunn insisted that while formulating the aim, one must keep in mind that dev. Is to be free ,fully autonomous & self aquired.i.e aim of edn should be to develop a self developed self realized individuality.

Naturalism & Curriculum

Contd. Herbert Spencer advocated Complete living aim.

Main Subjects

SubsidiarySubjs.

Methods of Teaching

Nature as a sympathetic TeacherNaturalist do not like that their children should be taught by

teachers who are spoiled by the artificial atmosphere.

For them nature is the only supreme teacher in whose contact the children develop naturally.

The teacher should not impose anything on the students but should sympathetically &affectionately behave towards them so that they can naturally develop.

The teacher is to only to set the stage and allow the child to act accordingly to his inherent capacities and the teacher is only to act sympathetically observer and guide

Naturalism and discipline Naturalist advocate, "Discipline by natural consequences

"according to which nature will punish the child if he contravenes law of nature and thus he will learn by consequences of his own actions.

They decry all kinds of external interference and allow full freedom to the child to think and act accordingly to his interest ,inclinations, aptitudes and capacities.

According to Herbert Spencer ‘s HEDONISTIC theory ,pleasure & pains are the twin teachers who will discipline the child.

“When a child falls or runs its head against the table ,it suffers pain, the remembrance of which tends to make it more careful and by reflection of such experiences ,it is eventually disciplined into proper guidance of its movements.”--------Herbart Spencer.

Naturalism and SchoolAcc to them the school environment should be completely free & flexible

without no timetable, no ready made dozes of knowledge.

Nature will do the planning & processing for the natural development of the child & will structure all the desired experiences to develop the feeling of self learning & discipline.

The Summer High School of Neel & Tagore’s Vishwa Bharti are the models of naturalist schools where in the child develops its personality.

All modern and progressive schools adopt the concept of self discipline to promote self development.

Demerits of naturalism• One sided and unsatisfying aims of education.• Emphasis on present needs.• Ignores books.• Undue emphasis on physical education.• More importance to scientific subjects.• Unlimited freedom of child.• Un appealing principle of discipline by natural

consequences.• No importance of teacher.• Anti social development.

Merits of NaturalismDevelopment of child psychology.

Scientific study of society & sociology.

Emphasis on experience centered curriculum.

Important contribution in the field of education.

Opposition to repression in the field of discipline.