Idealism's impact on the Namibian education system
By Edward Shati
The purpose of education in any country is to contribute to the development of the mind and the self of the learner. The education-imparting ministry should emphasise intellectual activities, moral judgments, aesthetic judgments, self-realisation, individual freedom, individual responsibility, and self-control in order to achieve this development. In an idealistic education system emphasis should be placed on developing the mind, personal discipline and character development. A person should be literate and of good moral character. The aim of education is to bring the child as close to absolute truth as possible. All of the aims of the idealist as an educator find their ground in the conception of ultimate reality and the students’ relation to this reality. In idealism, the aim of education is to discover and develop each individual's ability and full moral excellence to better serve society.
Idealism as a philosophical concept and school of thought is also a metaphysical and epistemological doctrine that ideas and thoughts make up fundamental reality. It is of the ideology that the aim of the education system is to develop human beings’ mental capacity and thinking. This basically means to cultivate natural talent in those who take part in the learning and teaching process. Idealism as a philosophical concept has an impact on the Namibian education system for many reasons.
For instance, the Namibian education system is structured in a way that features idealist concepts. Namibian education is oriented and focuses on the development of mental capacity/thinking of the Namibian child in school. The Namibian child is made to think critically, independently and find solutions to problems that are encountered, such as solving mathematic problems and giving a critical response to any posed question.
Thanks to idealism the Namibian child can approach the above-mentioned issues and give critical analyses to the issues that affect them. Since the Namibian government gave the red card to the South African apartheid education structure and methods in 1989 which eventually paved the way for a new nation, the new Namibian education system has embodied idealism from the 21st of March 1990 to date. Through idealism the new education structure of 1990 had the tendency to be socially oriented and focus on the social welfare of the Namibian society by developing the mental and thinking capacity of the Namibian child. This therefore gave the Namibian child the opportunity to rise, mature and move the Namibian society higher than the one our parents knew in the 1990s.
Through idealism the Namibian education system has prepared Namibians from all the four corners of our country by teaching the Namibian child freedom, justice, equitability and preparing them to differentiate between good and bad - that bedrock idea that makes our land the home of the brave. Under the principle of equity and justice the Namibian education system produced patriots who hate injustice and inequality in society and those who see fights for social justice and equality for all as a danger to our society. The concept of idealism has an impact on the Namibian education system; Idealism shaped the Namibian education system.
The concept of the Namibian student is embodied in idealism of the “personality cult”. One of the most famous authors on idealism, Horne, once pointed out, “No civilisation or culture of a people surpasses that of its greatest leader”. This entails that the learner is a spiritual being in the process of becoming a success. His is a finite personality which, with proper moulding and guidance, might be more the ideal or the absolute. Man is, in a sense, a small representation of the absolute self. The student must bring himself closer to the absolute through imitation of the exemplar (the teacher/lecturer) and through study of those subjects (the humanities) which best represent or symbolise the true ideas of which the human race has knowledge.
Idealism wishes that education should develop the mind fully. Therefore, if a Namibian child’s mind is to fully develop, it should embrace the basics of idealism. It makes a person rational as well. Only the highly developed mind can understand the all-pervading force. The idealists believe that education must help in the full evolution of the mind, the emancipation of spirit, self-realisation and the realisation of the higher values of life and to train the whole man completely and fully for manhood and not some part of man only. If that is embraced, if sometimes we don’t let our emotions overwhelm us and start to think with our minds instead of our emotions, then I have no doubt that the concepts of idealism will stay in our hearts for years to come.
*Edward Shati is a third-year student studying towards a Bachelor of Education (Honours) at the University of Namibia.
The purpose of education in any country is to contribute to the development of the mind and the self of the learner. The education-imparting ministry should emphasise intellectual activities, moral judgments, aesthetic judgments, self-realisation, individual freedom, individual responsibility, and self-control in order to achieve this development. In an idealistic education system emphasis should be placed on developing the mind, personal discipline and character development. A person should be literate and of good moral character. The aim of education is to bring the child as close to absolute truth as possible. All of the aims of the idealist as an educator find their ground in the conception of ultimate reality and the students’ relation to this reality. In idealism, the aim of education is to discover and develop each individual's ability and full moral excellence to better serve society.
Idealism as a philosophical concept and school of thought is also a metaphysical and epistemological doctrine that ideas and thoughts make up fundamental reality. It is of the ideology that the aim of the education system is to develop human beings’ mental capacity and thinking. This basically means to cultivate natural talent in those who take part in the learning and teaching process. Idealism as a philosophical concept has an impact on the Namibian education system for many reasons.
For instance, the Namibian education system is structured in a way that features idealist concepts. Namibian education is oriented and focuses on the development of mental capacity/thinking of the Namibian child in school. The Namibian child is made to think critically, independently and find solutions to problems that are encountered, such as solving mathematic problems and giving a critical response to any posed question.
Thanks to idealism the Namibian child can approach the above-mentioned issues and give critical analyses to the issues that affect them. Since the Namibian government gave the red card to the South African apartheid education structure and methods in 1989 which eventually paved the way for a new nation, the new Namibian education system has embodied idealism from the 21st of March 1990 to date. Through idealism the new education structure of 1990 had the tendency to be socially oriented and focus on the social welfare of the Namibian society by developing the mental and thinking capacity of the Namibian child. This therefore gave the Namibian child the opportunity to rise, mature and move the Namibian society higher than the one our parents knew in the 1990s.
Through idealism the Namibian education system has prepared Namibians from all the four corners of our country by teaching the Namibian child freedom, justice, equitability and preparing them to differentiate between good and bad - that bedrock idea that makes our land the home of the brave. Under the principle of equity and justice the Namibian education system produced patriots who hate injustice and inequality in society and those who see fights for social justice and equality for all as a danger to our society. The concept of idealism has an impact on the Namibian education system; Idealism shaped the Namibian education system.
The concept of the Namibian student is embodied in idealism of the “personality cult”. One of the most famous authors on idealism, Horne, once pointed out, “No civilisation or culture of a people surpasses that of its greatest leader”. This entails that the learner is a spiritual being in the process of becoming a success. His is a finite personality which, with proper moulding and guidance, might be more the ideal or the absolute. Man is, in a sense, a small representation of the absolute self. The student must bring himself closer to the absolute through imitation of the exemplar (the teacher/lecturer) and through study of those subjects (the humanities) which best represent or symbolise the true ideas of which the human race has knowledge.
Idealism wishes that education should develop the mind fully. Therefore, if a Namibian child’s mind is to fully develop, it should embrace the basics of idealism. It makes a person rational as well. Only the highly developed mind can understand the all-pervading force. The idealists believe that education must help in the full evolution of the mind, the emancipation of spirit, self-realisation and the realisation of the higher values of life and to train the whole man completely and fully for manhood and not some part of man only. If that is embraced, if sometimes we don’t let our emotions overwhelm us and start to think with our minds instead of our emotions, then I have no doubt that the concepts of idealism will stay in our hearts for years to come.
*Edward Shati is a third-year student studying towards a Bachelor of Education (Honours) at the University of Namibia.
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