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    FILAMER CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY

    Graduate School

    Final Exam in Educ 403 (Historical, Philosophical and Legal Foundations of

    Education

    ANITA V. DECENA DR. JONATHAN P. LEAL

    MAT-Gen. Sci. Professor

    I. The Philosophy of Emil Viktor FranklFrankl believes that the meaning of life is found in every moment of living; life never ceases to

    have meaning, even in suffering and death. In a group therapy session during a mass fast

    inflicted on the camp's inmates trying to protect an anonymous fellow inmate from fatal

    retribution by authorities, Frankl offered the thought that for everyone in a dire condition

    there is someone looking down, a friend, family member, or even God, who would expect not

    to be disappointed. Frankl concludes from his experience that a prisoner's psychological

    reactions are not solely the result of the conditions of his life, but also from the freedom of

    choice he always has even in severe suffering. The inner hold a prisoner has on his spiritual self

    relies on having a hope in the future, and that once a prisoner loses that hope, he is doomed.

    What I find comforting in Frankl's perspective is that he's not denying the grief and rage that

    spring from suffering and tragedy. He's not "making the best of things." And he's not blithely

    suggesting that "everything happens for a reason" which I find a particularly unhelpful

    expression of condolence. What Frankl is doing is encouraging us to acknowledge our grief and

    rage, and also to see our suffering as an experience in which it is possible to find meaning. The

    nature of that meaning will be different for all of us, of course, even in response to the same

    tragedy. There's no one-size-fits-all meaning-of-life. And discovering that meaning will be

    hard work, made even harder by our grief and rage.

    II. Finding meaning in every object

    a. teacup- simplicity

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meaning_of_lifehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meaning_of_life
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    The mundane tea cup represents simplicity. The oriental culture of serving tea, the tea cup is

    an indispensable symbol. Zen teaches us to be calm, simple and meditative. In life simplicity is

    a goal. Not necessarily with an intent to keep things in life simple, but simple as a way of

    achieving clarity and enlightenment in our life experience.

    Life, after all, can be complex and full of details. One has to have To do lists and personal

    planners to keep one organized. But at the same time, simplicity in life is an ideal we strive for

    once those complexities and details in life are ironed out. I believe its important to keep a

    sense of simplicity in life, even so far as to approach a lot of situations with a simple, almost

    child-like manner. And many times, keeping life simple and clear is closest to the truth as one

    can get.

    When one ponders over this, life is too short to deal with too many details and complexities.

    Leading a more simplified lifestyle makes our lives more manageable and less stressful.

    b. Mountain- strength

    No matter how the wind howls the mountain cannot bow down to it

    -The Emperor in Mulan

    Mountains are majestic of all earths landscapes, for me it represents strength. When times are

    tough, its tough to be positive. Yet, that is your most powerful and effective choice. When

    youve been knocked down, its tough to be sure of what to do next. Yet you can be sure that

    feeling sorry for yourself will make things even worse. Its hard to be strong when the

    challenges seem insurmountable. But the amazingly powerful fact is, you can be strong. It is

    precisely because life can be so tough and painful that it can also be so beautiful and fulfilling.

    Those very challenges that seem so impossible to get through are what set the stage for a life

    that is magnificent beyond comprehension.

    Life can be terribly unfair and difficult and demanding. And yet, against such a background, it

    is nearly impossible to imagine anything more beautiful and fulfilling than life itself. Being

    strong in the face of difficulty is not a matter of training or ability. It is a choice you are free to

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    make in every moment, and a choice that will bring immense value and goodness to your

    world.

    c. Clouds change

    Most of us are wary, if not outright afraid, of changes over which we have little control. But the

    manner in which we respond to change can be among the most important choices we make.

    The seasonal metaphor is used as a conceptual framework to explain the nature of change and

    phases of human existence. Summer is living easy, fall is an indicator of a shift occurring,

    winter is confused and emotional, spring is exciting and the return of summer is confidence in a

    new role.

    Since seasons occur throughout one's life, the metaphor fits many transitions. The object of

    the book is for readers to understand the nature of change, to have a greater awareness of

    their responses to it, to begin to master inevitable change and to turn it to their advantage by

    making change an ally.

    Dealing well with change especially those changes that are out of our hands is important.

    Sometimes we long for and welcome the change, and at other times we resist it. From birth to

    death, changes keep coming. We know a lot about this in the military, dont we? A few years of

    this lifestyle can bring more changes than some people experience in a lifetime, but the pace of

    the change we encounter varies a lot. So how do we deal well with change if it seems to us to

    be slow, or steady or fast?

    Slow change: Perhaps the change you long for seems to be coming so slowly. Perhaps you are

    waiting for new orders, or for a spouses deployment to end, or to be reunited with someone

    you love, and it seems to be taking so long Experiencing slow change requires endurance,

    remembering always that were in this for the long haul.

    Endurance, patience, resilience these are qualities we need to deal well with lifes changes.

    Whether the changes you are encountering now seem slow, steady or fast, it helps so much to

    hold on in faith to God who has an abundant supply of what you need today and will need

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    tomorrow, and who has promised to be constant through every changing circumstance.

    21st Century Teachers

    Welcome to the 21st century, the age where the Filipino teachers are left behind. Mainly

    because many schools are not learning organizations but merchandise.. While many private

    companies encourage their employees to join especial groups and to attend learning sessions,

    most schools do not provide regular learning opportunities for teachers. They expect the

    teachers to change the world of a child, but rarely teachers attend seminars on leadership,

    assertive communication, corporate image, customer service, and personal effectiveness.

    There are very few teachers who continue their education after getting their license to teach.

    We need teachers who have the mastery of the subject matter that they teach. So, they need

    to continue educating themselves on those areas. And since they are dealing with people

    inside and outside the classroom, they also need to learn how to lead, how to relate with

    others, make their mark, delight their customers, plan their career through continuing

    education.

    Teachers are left behind because they do not have the initiative to educate themselves. Many

    of them are contented with what they know. They do not want to spend their own money on

    their education because they say that they do not get enough. While other professionals get

    more opportunities to make themselves valuable to organizations when they attend seminars

    and join trade associations, many teachers are more focused on collecting certificates from

    seminars.

    When teachers take the responsibility of educating themselves despite the lack of school

    support, they position themselves for promotion. Teachers are left behind because they think

    like laborers and craftsmen, not entrepreneurs. Many of our teachers are contented in good

    enough. But good enough is not good enough. While other professional are striving to increase

    their value in the marketplace, teachers pray to be permanent in their position.

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    We need teachers who can change the world and usher us into the 21st century. We need

    entrepreneurial teachers. We need those who rely not just on resources but on their

    resourcefulness. We need teachers who can help us get the change we want. We need more

    teachers who teach to change lives.

    But what is the 21st century teacher?

    Many countries have seen rapidly rising numbers of people with higher qualifications. But in a

    fast-changing world, producing more of the same education will not suffice to address the

    challenges of the future. Perhaps the most challenging dilemma for teachers today is that

    routine cognitive skills, the skills that are easiest to teach and easiest to test, are also the skills

    that are easiest to digitize, automate and outsource. a generation ago, teachers could expect

    that what they taught would last for a lifetime of their students. today, where individuals can

    access content on google, where routine cognitive skills are being digitized or outsourced, and

    where jobs are changing rapidly, education systems need to place much greater emphasis on

    enabling individuals to become lifelong learners, to manage complex ways of thinking and

    complex ways of working that computers cannot take over easily. students need to be capable

    not only of constantly adapting but also of constantly learning and growing, of positioning

    themselves and repositioning themselves in a fast changing world. these changes have

    profound implications for teachers, teaching and learning as well as for the leadership of

    schools and education systems. in the past, the policy focus was on the provision of education,

    today it is on outcomes, shifting from looking upwards in the bureaucracy towards looking

    outwards to the next teacher, the next school. The past was about delivered wisdom, the

    challenge now is to foster user-generated wisdom among teachers in the frontline. in the past,

    teachers were often left alone in classrooms with significant prescription on what to teach. The

    most advanced education systems now set ambitious goals for students and are clear aboutwhat students should be able to do, and then prepare their teachers and provide them with the

    tools to establish what content and instruction they need to provide to their individual

    students. in the past, different students were taught in similar ways, today teachers are

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    expected to embrace diversity with differentiated pedagogical practices. the goal of the past

    was

    Standardization and conformity, today it is about being ingenious, about personalizing

    educational experiences; the past was curriculum-centered, and the present is learner

    centered. teachers are being asked to personalize learning experiences to ensure that every

    student has a chance to succeed and to deal with increasing cultural diversity in their

    classrooms and differences in learning styles, taking learning to the learner in ways that allow

    individuals to learn in the ways that are most conducive to their progress. the kind of teaching

    needed today requires teachers to be high-level knowledge workers who constantly advance

    their own professional knowledge as well as that of their profession. But people who see

    themselves as knowledge workers are not attracted by schools organized like an assembly line,

    with teachers working as interchangeable widgets in a bureaucratic command-and-control

    environment. to attract and develop knowledge workers, education systems need to transform

    the leadership and work organization of their schools to an environment in which professional

    norms of management complement bureaucratic and administrative forms of control, with the

    status, pay, professional autonomy, and the high quality education that go with professional

    work, and with effective systems of teacher evaluation, with differentiated career paths and

    career diversity for teachers. Many nations around the world have undertaken wide-ranging

    reforms of curriculum, instruction, and assessments with the intention of better preparing all

    children for the higher educational demands of life and work in the 21st century. What are the

    skills that young people need to be successful in this rapidly changing world and what

    competencies do teachers need, in turn, to effectively teach those skills? This leads to the

    question what teacher preparation programs are needed to prepare graduates who are ready

    to teach well in a 21st century classroom. While comparative evidence on this is still scarce. As

    for the Philippines the worst is yet to come with the advent of many unstable education

    reforms. Just hoping, the best is yet to come.