FERMO G.

RAMOS EDUC 301 Advanced Educational Philosophy

Ph. D. Educ. Student DR. ISAIAS A. BANAAG

EDUCATION BY KANT
Introduction
What is character formation from the idealist point of view? Is it vital in realizing
the aims of education? The following paper looks into the article of Immanuel Kant on
education. This aims to dig deeper into understanding the methods employed by idealist
in achieving the so called holistic education.
Summary
Emmanuel Kant is one of the greatest proponents of the philosophy of idealism.
In his popular article Education he expounded that educating the youth needs
foremost consideration of the introduction of morality to them.
According to him, moral culture must not be based discipline, rather it must be
based on maxims which the children will analyze or reflect from. Maxims according to
him trains the minds to think. The child should learn to act according to maxims, the
reasonable of which he is able to see for himself. Forming moral culture through
discipline is merely forming habits, the form of which becomes lessened in the course of
years. In other words, Kant suggests that morality should not be placed in the same
rank with discipline. Punishment must be abolished.
Kant discussed that there must be endeavors in the formation of the youths
character. He mentioned that there are subjective rules that must be strictly adhered to.
These endeavors include obedience, truthfulness, and sociableness.
The author mentioned that obedience is an essential feature in the childs
character. It can be absolute, or voluntary. All children must be placed under the same
rules. One child will become refractory if he sees that other children are not placed
under the same rules. Also, children must be aware of his duties and must understand
the necessity to perform such duties.
Transgression of a command, or inattention must be punished. Such punishment
may be natural, or artificial. Physical punishment must merely supplement the
insufficiency of moral punishment. A physical punishment made as a sign of anger is
useless. Worst, repetitive physical punishment will make the child stubborn.
Another important endeavor in forming the childs character is truthfulness. Kant
said that a man who tells lies has no character. To teach a child on truthfulness a
teacher must employ various ways deal with lying. One way is shaming. Shaming can
be used so that the child learns that lying is not good. However, Kant suggests that we
must not punish the children to force. Moreover, teachers must take care never to bear
children a grudge, as this would only lead to the childs alienation from the teacher.
 The last endeavor is sociableness. According to Kant, the child must form
friendship with other children, as preparations for sweet enjoyment in life. The teacher
must not prefer one child over another on account of talent because jealousy among
them will arise.
Teachers must encourage open-heartedness among children. Children must be
sometimes released from the constraints of the school. They must play games.
Children should only be taught those things which are suited to their age. A child
should be clever, but only as a child. This implies that children should not imitate the
manners of his elders, Kant said.
Teachers must fight all the signs of vanity in a child. Finally, parents must set as
good examples to their children.

My Reflection
The great concern for morality and character development is only one of the
strengths of the philosophy of idealism. The other strengths are the high cognitive level
of education, the promotion of cultural learning, the importance of self-realization, the
stress on the human and personal side of life, the systematic and holistic approach, and
the teacher who is revered as person central to the educational process.
Idealists like Kant may claim that they give more attention to the development of
character than the advocates of other philosophies. Their contentions may be true, but it
also raises serious questions as to why idealists are so concerned with character
formation and what kind of character they really want to develop. Commonly, what
intends to be character development in idealist philosophy may be conformity and
subservience on the part of the learner. Kant expounded that the first rule to be taught
to students is obedience, and that students should be taught to conform to general
standards and to put down everything that interferes with the function of the school.
More explicitly, students should have their lessons ready on time, rise at the ring of the
bell, and learn habits of silence and cleanliness. A person with an average mind might
ask whether this method is character training or animal training.
Granted that the idealist way of character formation might help in educational and
social stability, however it is often at the expense of self-direction and creativity. The
kind of training that the idealists suggests tends to make the students passive to
learning. It makes the student gullible, easily fooled, easily cheated- makes them accept
ready-made ideas without serious examination.
Many of the so-called great ideas rest on assumptions that are questionable, and
which might be harmful to the society. One idea is loyalty as pivotal to the development
of character. Although loyalty might be socially useful in some cases, it could also be
harmful when it encourages the students to become passive and suppress all
questioning and intellectual independence with regards to issues involving the school,
family, and the country.
The objectives of an idealist may be noble. However, there are obvious
disadvantages that can contribute to the failure of education. Character formation is a
necessity. However, it must not be done in such a way that it defeats the true purpose of
education which is not only to develop cognitive skills, but also physical and emotional
skills and creativity.