Reflection #13 EDF1005

Samantha Clarke
Reflection #13 EDF1005 Plato’s Ideas and its impact on Western Education

Plato a student of Socrates went on a mission not only to continue his master’s work but also to establish his ideas as well. The influence Plato had on western education came about through his inspiration for challenging materialistic convention hence developing idealism. Idealism is a theory that’s based on absolute truth and not materialism (little effort is placed on ethical or spiritual matter but greatly indulge in wealth and material possession). The influence on education is that emphasis should be place on the development of character, personal discipline and the mind. As a result the person should be of good moral standing and literate. Plato encourages depth of learning an approach that takes in consideration teaching the whole instead of its parts.

Like Socrates, Plato believes that the best way for learning to takes place is through a dialectic approach where ideas are debated in order to come up with a conclusion of the truth. Hence the role of teachers should be a skillful questioner and a model for the person we want children to become. The true role of the teacher is to help students comprehend ideas of information conveyed to them. Plato idea is that while teachers are not always present when learning is taking place they should aim at simulating the learner so learning will take place anyway. Plato also believed that we were born ignorant and those who overcame this ignorance has a responsibility to help the others to become enlightened. Therefore in the western society educators responsibility was to raise self awareness and to help the ignorant to attain knowledge.

Not only did Plato left his mark on real learning, he also played a significant role in his work of form. Plato speaks of the abstract entity and the immortal soul. He continues to say that the soul is immortal and that it exists before we were born. Hence he says that all that we know is a recollection of what we already knew before we were born. Plato impacted education by the influence of thinking abstractly, for the search of a grater truth not subjected to human experience but to the immortal form.