The Concept of Philosophy and Values in Education Essay

History and personal experiences have taught us inner-wellbeing arises from dreams that become fulfilled. My personal experiences have taught me it isn't until we take an attempt at what our hearts desires at the most profound level that we become genuinely happy. However, as human beings we experience a complex matter of extremes had effect our inner-wellbeing, these extremes are brought upon by the society we live in and our own personal definition of happiness.

As all children have experienced growing up, decisions and made by adults, they decide what we eat, how we dress and what behaviour patterns we should have, similar to my time in an education setting. Decisions were also made for me, for instance, what sports I should play, what subjects I should study and how to dress. Consequently, throughout my time I have come across a level of conflict between what I want and what is expected of me. 

Nevertheless, it wasn’t until my dream of becoming a professional football was unattainable, that I asked myself What do I really what? What makes me happy? It was then, I decided to pursue a path in higher education, specially a sport related subject. However, being from an ethical minority background were parents have an expectation for their children to be of lawyers and doctors my decisions were scrutinised. Nevertheless, based on my experiences with my social environment and educational setting, I have adopted five values which implement into my practice.

This essay will be written in a traditional format, however for some parts will include poems for better clarification for arguments and in some respects, it will add support to the argument. To simply use traditional format to explain Inner wellbeing without exploring historical and present meaning of the word ‘inner wellbeing’ will create inaccurate subjective arguments. According to Derrida, not looking at the historical meaning of words will be naïve and create confusing arguments that are inaccurate. However, there are simple, accurate words and statements that do not require such depth analysis consequently because inner wellbeing is subjective, hence, more unconventional literature will be appropriate.

An individual’s inner wellbeing is shaped by various factors, for instance, the society an individual life in and how someone personally defines happiness, based on this, I will be using a mixture of renowned philosopher, such as Friedrich Nietzsche, Simone de Beauvoir, Michel Foucault and Immanuel Kant.

Inner wellbeing is to some degree is shaped by principles and values of an individual and how they perceive what happiness is (Feste & Anderson, 1995), based on this understanding, following an axiology point of view throughout this essay is appropriate. Axiology in philosophy falls into two realms: ethics and aesthetics. According to Koetting & Malisa, they suggest ethics is the inquisitive curiosity of morals and individual principles and aesthetics is the investigation of what is beautiful, enjoyable. Additionally, Hart,  argues axiology education is more than just about knowledge but also quality of life.

Simone de Beauvoir suggests to be a human being is to be both an individual with particular individual desires and a member of state simultaneously. Been a human being is finding a balance within this state of ambiguity, between within this duality, it is coming to terms with one’s own legions between your own desires and comes to an end at your obligation to the state begins, for instance how the national curriculum expects a teacher to teach. However, when analysing how the ‘different’ people are treated in society, a constant narrative occurs.

Michel Foucault discipline and punish, the birth of the prison is questioning the dominate narrative that society used to be barbaric savages that tortured our prisoners, but we then evolved ethically to the point where we see the era of our ways and now, we treat prisoners better. If Foucault’s discipline and punish, the birth of the prison is questioning how we treat our prisoners, then Foucault madness and civilisation is questioning how we treat individuals deemed ‘mad’. However, when looking at the historical methods of how individual who were considered ‘mad’ were treated. For instance, in ancient Greece, it wasn’t uncommon attitude at that time, that individuals who were seen to be ‘mad’ was believed they were touched by God, and they lived normal and fulfilled lives . 

These individuals were accepted as different and usual refer to us ‘outside the box thinkers. In ancient Roman society, the ‘mad’ were seen as important and famous political figures (e.g. Plato) because through the unconventional style and the crazy things they said. They helped there respected societies flourish and improve. Foucault recognises the assumption that is easy is make is being born in the 21st century is for thousands of years that these people were unmedicated and untreated.

According to Foucault the more science has progressively diagnosed, and categorised individual’s society deems ‘not normal’ the more they are dehumanising them. Foucault states “the more people cared, the less people cured, the more they intervened, the more they oppressed”, this direct quote captures the essence of what Foucault’s madness and civilisation is suggesting. However, Foucault received some criticism throughout his time. Some contemporary thinkers such as Jürgen Habermas have described Foucault’s way of thinking as 'crypto-normativist'. Habermas suggests Foucault’s is arguing against the very same principles he is using. 

Diana Taylor, Nancy Fraser, similar to Habermas critic, argue 'Foucault's perceptive incorporates traditional subjective views, this in turn denies Foucault alternative thoughts e.g. 'freedom' and 'justice', and consequently creates absences to generate constructive possibility.'. Furthermore, Nancy Pearcey suggest Foucault has create a paradoxical stance within he’s theory, Pearcey suggest if an individual state, it is not possible to accomplish objectivity, that in turn is an objective stance.

Firstly, from the age of 5 through to 16 all children are required to attend primary school then secondary school, this fixed schedule for 11 years gives children an opportunity to education. However, it has been proven that education/knowledge is not all acquired in a classroom. Dave Mulder  article on education, asks the question; why is school like prison? During a conversation with a student. The student states to Mulder “Why is school like prison? We don’t have any freedom here. The teachers just order us around, and tell us what to do, and if we do anything they don’t like, we get punished for it.” This thought is based upon the fact that students do not have a choice on what to study during early stages of education.

A fundamental factor in does Foucault discipline and punish, the birth of the prison, is the way prisoner are punished and over time the way society treats prisoners has changed drastically. Furthermore, punishment in education has change, however according to Cruz, & Rodl, investigated a sample that consisted of archival data from 2010 to 2016 for approximately 56,000 students in 41 schools in a diverse school district in California. This study examined students' suspension risk over time using a multilevel model. The results suggest punishment doesn’t not fit crime, they argue, teachers do not set punishments as a way of rehabilitation but as a way to deter other students from making the same mistake. They also suggest. Where excessive punishment is given, the happiness of students drops, this affects student’s inner wellbeing.

Being reliable and trustworthy is significant in a learning environment. At the point when students trust and have confidence in you, they will put more time and different during a session. If a practitioner in a coaching setting is giving excessive punishment, this can lead to disengagement during sessions and games e.g. Jose Mourinho being highly critical of his defensive options during his time as United manager, with Antonio Valencia, Eric Bailly, Chris Smalling and Luke Shaw all coming under attack. Ultimately, Jose Mourinho sea of negativity was drowning the players. Throughout my experience coaching and been coaching the difference between playing better and having confidence is the level of trust between a player and the coach.

Schools commonly resort to punishments that excludes students from the classroom, such as expulsion, suspension, and in-school suspension, much like the criminal justice system excludes criminals from greater society (Welch & Payne, 2012). Throughout my time in education, individuals that exhibited undesirable behaviour patterns were placed into isolation, into room surrounded by other individuals to create a toxic learning environment. In some cases, students that required extra help were seen as disruptive and punished for it.

Foucault argues the more science has progressively diagnosed, and categorised individual’s society deems ‘not normal’ the more they are dehumanising the. Foucault has a degree on honesty in his argument. During my early stages of education, I was diagnosed with ADHD, which is Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Being labelled comes with certain disadvantages. These disadvantages created an isolated environment, it also resulted in a lot of teachers believing that students would use it as an excuse for their uncontrolled behaviour. 

Rather than trying to understand it and move forward they would prefer to remove the students from class leading to detentions and exclusions. As Foucault states “the more people cared, the less people cured, the more they intervened, the more they oppressed”, this was evident in my personal experiences in early education. Theses experiences have allowed me to adopt values and principles into my practice e.g. building confidence and owning up to responsibility. Bandura self-efficacy theory is a model I use during practice to build confidence, for instance vicarious experiences. Growing up I looked up to people that had accomplished goals in similar environments Therefore, during my practice, especially during coaching session with children, I relate back to famous sport stars as a way of demonstration.

Individual perceptive on inner wellbeing

Research done within the subject of inner wellbeing have suggested, it falls into two categories: subjective inner wellbeing and objective inner wellbeing. Subjective inner wellbeing is what an individual personally desires are and how they define happiness. Objective inner wellbeing is how society defines happiness, e.g. monetary happiness. However, objective inner wellbeing ultimately can be determined by the time and century an individual was born in. Aristotle argues 'Happiness depends on ourselves.' And the fulfilment of a happy life is based upon two factors, physical wellbeing and metal wellbeing. Nevertheless, when it comes to finding the true definition of inner wellbeing, each individual definition will be different, therefore, should there be objective inner wellbeing?

During self-reflection of coaching session, I tend ask me self what I should be doing? instead of what I shouldn’t be doing. I ask myself what the primary psychological motivation for me coaching? What I am I specifically trying to accomplish while coaching? According to Aristotle an individual is doing something because they ultimately believe it will bring them happiness. Some may argue that what they are doing is for the greater good and each choice is a sacrifice. 

However, some argue that, no matter how much pain you are putting yourself through on behave of others, ultimately, each individual is doing it because it brings them positive emotional happiness. Nietzsche, will argue that it is not a will to inner wellbeing or happiness or a will to life, but we do what we do as a pursuit to power, Nietzsche, describes this as a will to power. However, when Nietzsche, describes ‘power’, he doesn’t necessarily suggest physical power or psychological power but as the ‘power to be who you were meant to be’.

However, some philosophers have been critical of Nietzsche, the will to power. For instance, Santayana, argues, Nietzsche is an 'unconstitutional inacceptable,' thinker who choose subjective perspectives of truth. Be that as it may, his creative energy, similar to his judgment, was hypercritical; it couldn't harp on the real world, however, responded angrily against it. In like manner, when he talks about the will to power, power is simply an articulate word to him. However, Nietzsche has stated “So long as men praise you, you can only be sure that you are not yet on your own true path but on someone else's” 

Consequently, Santayana, criticism have been accepted by some, however, other argues Nietzsche, the will to power (1967). Is a concept of analysing your own imposes, desires and passions and by looking into your own imposes, desires and passions we can learn about what reality is.

Nietzsche suggest evolution of mankind is not yet finished, Nietzsche’s , theory of evolution is guided by a teleological force which controls the development of life from a lower spiritual state to a higher. This theory is evident in majority of the population of the world. As we are constantly improving. Throughout by experiences in education and coaching, I believe I am improving however, this is subjective. Consequently, to evolve, education/knowledge is key. As suggest in Nietzsche’s Thus Spake Zarathustra, the main character, Zarathustra states,