Pragmatism’s Take on Education and Learning

Introduction

Pragmatism is a philosophical tradition that began in the US. Charles Sanders Peirce is often regarded as the Father of Pragmatism. Pragmatism revolves around the concept of accepting practical solutions rather than ideological ones. Pragmatists believe in change, rather than sticking to the idealist thoughts and concepts. It believes that reality is still changing to suit the needs and desires of men.

Pragmatists argue that most philosophical topics such as knowledge, beliefs, science are all best viewed in terms of their practical usage and successful utilisation of the concepts. Pragmatism believes that absolute concepts do not exist. There is nothing like absolute truth, or final solution to anything. Truth is always changing, relative to time, place and circumstances. Pragmatism has a lot of faith in experiments. Nothing can be asserted as true/false or good/bad before experimenting. Pragmatism strongly opposes traditionalism. It says that traditions are meaningful only if they help solve real world problems. If not, traditions are baseless and should be discarded. Education involves learning new things, enhancing knowledge, skills, beliefs and habits for an all-round development of a person in social, cultural, medicinal, economical, etc. sectors.

Education began in prehistorical times when the adults trained the younger ones in basic skills and knowledge which were considered necessary in the society. Before the birth of literacy, it was imparted orally. Stories were the medium of passing knowledge, skills, and morale down the generation. Eventually literacy came, later formal education came in existence, schools were formed, and we came to the form of education that is currently functional. Though most of the 21st century people consider education as a necessity, it wasn’t the same about a century ago. People thought education was just for limited people. It was to the efforts of the revolutions that the education came out to be a necessity for the people.

Discussion

Pragmatism focuses more on experiments than on ideas, so it has a tremendous impact on education. Pragmatism believes that if education contributes to the well-being of human, then it is truly useful. Thus, it believes that education should be ever changing, so as to cater to the happiness of men. One of the most influential concepts of pragmatism is that man creates his own values by his experiences in society and life and not some ideals laid down by someone. Education is not a rule book or a guide of life, education is life (John Dewey). Life revolves around a society which sets some parameters of itself, education is such parameter.

Education opens new paths for growth. According to John Locke children’s mind is an open vessel. As they progress in life, they fill it up with the gained experience, knowledge, and skills. As an ordinary empty vessel can store both dirty water or pure water, child’s mind can be filled with thoughts for the society or against it. It is like clay waiting to be mould. Education in life is mainly from two aspects:

• Thought
• Action

Pragmatism focuses more on the action part than thoughts. Although thought is not neglected. Thought is a subordinate to action. The practical significance of thoughts is verified by experiments, which is one of the core concepts of pragmatic thinking. In one sense education itself states its necessity pragmatically. It brings a sense of reality and gives an experimental character to education. Child creates values and virtue through his own activities. Educations should be according to aptitudes and abilities of an individual. Individual development should be contextual as per society’s requirements. Everyone is unique in their own way and their individuality can be developed through society. Thus, pragmatism brings democratic thought to education. It aims to make a child competent enough to manage their own affairs which turns out to be a good preparation for life. Addressing pragmatism’s take on education, we now bifurcate the discussion into these segments -

• Aim of education
• Changes in curriculum
• Teaching methodology and role of teacher