Educational & Social Psychology

1. According to Harris, school is supposed to be an area where students are able to learn skills which can enable them to lead peaceful lives in future. In addition, he believed that the knowledge of humanity existed in contemporary academic subjects (William, n.d). Hence, in order for democracy to be able to flourish, public schools were therefore supposed to bring the academic subjects to the practise of all American students. Moreover, school should not only be a place responsible for preparing students for job markets, but to prepare them for a life in an independent democracy.

This recommendations strongly reflect the idealist theory, simply they depict the way the idealist philosophy perceives things. According to the idealist philosophy, school should not only be a place where one acquires academic knowledge, but a place where a person is able to get basic knowledge on how to live a good life. On the other hand, these ideas have merit on today’s schools, simply because most schools are focused on equipping students with the knowledge of how to deal with real life situations (William, n.d). This has therefore led to the inclusion of subjects such as life skills, and communication skills, whereby students are taught how to live and to also relate with other people. In addition, communication skills and non-verbal cues are responsible for enabling students to maintain etiquette and use proper language depending on the setting of the conversation.

2. Human beings are supposed to believe in order to be able to know. On the other hand, having such a mentality might affect someone’s way of thinking, simply because it makes it hard for one to be able to know before believing it (Augustine, 2011). For instance, currently the internet is one of the best areas where one can be able to access information thus reading and understanding it, if a person does not believe that he cannot be able to understand whatever information he or she reads from the internet, then it means that he or she may not also be able to know. If one therefore believes that he can be able to understand something, then he can be able to do it without any problem at all.

This however conflicts with current ways of teaching, since according to the current ways of teaching, when someone concentrates on something then he can be able to understand it (Augustine, 2011). This therefore means that it is not necessary for one to believe before being able to achieve, thus one needs to focus on something hence being able to understand it.

3. Realist plea is usually based on facts which are based on the subject matter. This therefore means that realists are people who base their arguments only on facts and not on information which they do not have evidence in. Realist people therefore perceive things for what they really are and not what people tell them. Therefore realism requires people to look at things in the right way and not to depend on what they are being told. Realist approach is very significant in the modern day education, simply it motivates students to do a lot if research on the information given to them by their teachers, hence being able to pass their exams highly. In addition, realist approach enables students to be able to understand how to live work in order to make it in life (Augustine, 2011).

Reference

            William T. Harris. (n.d). Education Encyclopedia: State University.

Augustine. (2011). Chapter 1. Idealism and Education. Retrieved from: https://catalogue.pearsoned.co.uk/assets/hip/gb/hip_gb_pearsonhighered/samplechapter/0132540746.pdf