Social intelligence in one world

Title

Language

English

Year

1947

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Fulltext

' I '1~ .. ·' SOCIAL INTELLIGENCE IN "ONE WORLD" FABIAN V. ABITONA Curriculum Division '· The recent global war has brought about profound changes in the field of education especially in the realm of the Social Studies. The necessity for preserving world peace and of educating people into thinking, doing, and feeliJ1g the need for ~i>~eserving it leads us directly into {he.G·problems inherent i'l the Social Studies. We have begun to f~~at there is a need for revising our fiotions, methods, and materials in the teaching of the ·subject. Hitherto we have been much concerned with the teaching of a multitude of geographical and historical facts and of developing a strong nationalistic spirit. We taught our children to think of what were strictly ours as paramount. We insisted on the idea that our country is the only place God has given us, that we ought to love and adore her, nay, die for her when callt>d upon to do the supreme sacrifice. We taught them love and admiration for our .heroes and unconsciously taught them also to think none-too-well on those who were responsible for the past miseries of our people. That the +.eachlng of these things are vital to our national survival can not be gainsaid. But with the passing of the great war, we have realized the futility of teaching exclusively on such a philosophy. The world is beginning to realize that peace can only be attained if peop!e are educated in the ways of peace, the ways of love, the spirit of goodwill, of neighborliness, and tolerance. In other words, our concept of nationalism must be made to expand, must 'transcend the barriers of race, creed, or political ideology. Nationalism must give way to the development of sound internationalism. How must we proceed in the teaching of the new philosophy? What should we teach and how? These arethe very problems that the UNESCO is trying to figure out. These are the same problems that we are faced in the schools today. We are a democratic country. ·We ' believe in the idea that man is endowed \\·ith certain inalienable rights. We believe that man is meant to be freefree to think, to love, and live with each other as brothers under the same sky. Our first task, therefor&;'is the teaching of what we mean b~ freedom. For freedom has been very much misunderstood, maligned, abused, and ;c()Orrupted. Under the guise of freedom, men often become intolerant and licentious. It is our duty to teach our children that we live in a group and are bound to it by ties of loyalty. That as members of a group, we are free to think and do what we honestly believe to be g"ood and righteous. 34 To little children, freedom does not mean anvthing. It would of course be futile, if not fatal to our purpose, to teach them the finer implications of this elusiYe tei"!Tl, limited as they are in their concepts and experience. It Is enough that they be given an atmosphere of freedom; that they live, work, and play in an atmosphere with the least possible compulsion and regimentation. Notice that the word ''least possible" is ~vf'n here. This does not preclude the po ;sibility of using com~rK-~~'!f~t~'~'-);"; ., -~~~j·~· '.'tt""'"•' ;;, ~ .... · ....... ,~... .. -.. ... ..... - ,ri , . '1;J. ~J.::.-:.~~r,/ s... , , " • ; ~ SOCIAL INTE~'LIGENCE IN "ONE WORLD" 35 .... ~~ :-<.'' .... ~~ ~- .\ . ) - :~! :<- -,)>tilsion ' at ~rta~:t~es., when there is ~En~fish··"ctil<tt~n: ~'His~"gaiii~s·''iil~y.,;e '~~! a.n· ac~ual need for it. There certainly found similar' to those ·played ·by the are ,times when stern necessity is the Mexican, the Eskimo, or the lgorpt ~' only· way and remedy. _ But in so far children. That all are dressed against .~ as. the nonnal course of life is co~- the same heat and the same cold; that• cern~d, there should be the freest pos- all live on the same earth and under ->' ~jbl~ ~!a~ionship within the grou.p con- the 'same sky and that whatever difsistent with the ability, experience, and ferences there are, anay be due to the homogeneity of that group. differences in local conditions, train • . ;· S~bject matter must concern itself ing, or necessity. In this way, children with "human relationship.''(l) The could be led to understand or apprechild should know that he lives with ciate the universality of childhood's inhis father, mother, sister, neighbors, terests or the unity of all peoples of• 'classmates, friends, etc. That his milk, all places .and climes. sugar cakes, and chocolate COJDe fro!ll As we said, it is not the mastery of '" many people in many places. That information that ~ cpunts, but rather his shoes, clothes, and even his toyR the attitudes that matter. The teach. were made by others. That all men ing of a one-world idea cannot of the world over, in one way or anothE>r course be taught at once ~one sit- · . 1 ~re ~reely helping ~ach other for the ting. Neither could it be tmfght succorilplon good. "Children's in tel-est, cessfully unless the children grow . concepts and ideas shoul!l . be broadened. gradually in their knowledge and- apThe slogan of . the school must be: preciation of their expanding exper.. Know your neighbors! Learn to know ience. the peoples of the world'' (2) To do this, we have to change our point of view in the teaching of the subject. Instead of the usual mastery ' of unrelated geographical and histo. rical facts, we have to stress the human side of the subject. We should stress more on the study of "man's motives, attitudes, and emotional adjustments"(3) in a fast changing world. Humanizing the historical account means the interpretation of facts and events as they affect people past and present. It means the appreciation of .the causes that motivated man in his dealings with others as well as an understanding of the sources of con. flicts arising from the clash of interests and the most adequate methods of harmonizing them. New sources of children's interests should be used. A child's toy may be looked 1 upon as a gift from other people's children. His books may be books of American, Chinese, Indian, or thought of as having like stories as the REFERENCES 1 Wesley, Bruce Edgar, and Adams, Mary A.: Teaching Social Studies - in Elementary Sclwols, p. 17. 2 Kazdan, C. S.: Postwar Problema in Education; The Journal of Educational Sociology, February, 1946, pp. 351-358. 3 Nosofsky, William: The Elementwry Social Studies Textbook in b~t tercultural Education, The Social Studies for Teachers and Administrators, VoL XXXVII, November, 1946, No. 7, pp. 297-299 . D•·a. T. F. Halili Central WOMEN'S 1430 Hotel, Room No. 217, Manila DISEASES & CHILDBIRTH Residence: Was~, Sampaloc Manila FOR MODERN OPTICAL NEEDS-SEE KEEPSAKE OPTICAL-SO Escolta

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