Book review filsafat

ELSINA SIHOMBING, Book Review “Philosophy of Education – by Arnstine” …… 1
BOOK REVIEW
BY : ELSINA SIHOMBING,M PD
BOOK TITLE :
AUTHOR :
Publisher :
Copy right :
Pages
Lecturers
:
PHILISOPHY OF EDUCATION
Leaning and Schooling
DONALD ARNSTINE
Harper & Row Publisher
1967
ix – x ## 1 – 388.
1. Prof.Dr. Jamaris Jamna, M.pd
2. Prof. Dr. Nurhizrah, M.Pd
A. PREFACE
Book Review in the subject of PHILOSOPY ANALYSIS AND EDUCATIONAL
THEORY is one of the mid term task in Doctoral Program of Post Graduate- Padang State
University.
This is assigned by the professors to pursue the students competence to actualize their learning
experiences as the practical study of learning how to do, as well as discovery learning.
The students of Doctorate Program at this campus are drilled and blended systematically with
various knowledge of education. All the subject matters are structured purposively and
terminated per-semester. The structure of the subject matters is well-design curriculum at this
campus, it is one of the strong points which is needed by all stratified students from under
graduate, graduate, and post graduate degrees. This subject for instance, Philosophy Analysis and
Educational Theory, as one of the curriculum content in this university encounter the students
with the valuable assignment, such as this book review, to tailor the ability of analysis in
philosophy and to master educational theory to the students. In doing this task, the students feel
that they have such a huge responsibility to drive their responsibility as the candidates of
Educational Doctor. in the other words, it is a vehicle that they should drive forward to gain their
certain goals.
One of the advantages of this task is that the students are able to interpret and paraphrase
a book dealing with their competence and intension. The vice versa, from the side of the author
PHILOSOPHY OF
EDUCATION
LEARNING AND SCHOOLING
Donald Arnstine
The University of Wisconsin
Harper & Row, Publisher
NEY YORK, EVANSTON

(encoder), it can endorse and fasten purposively the author message and passage to be delivered
to the readers (decoder), includes the reviewer.
The duration of doing this task namely to review or to report the book is actually assigned
by Prof.Dr. Jamais Jamna, M.Pd and Prof. Dr. Nuhizrah, M.Pd from the starting point of the
first semester prior to the lecturing, and should be submitted after the mid term test to the
lecturers. The very needed time job is, to select the book resources to be reviewed, it almost take
the time around 3 weeks and even more, since the lecturers put the standard of the book. Overall,
I got the book and try to start to do the task around the fifth week of the first semester.
Reviewing the book is not like a whole-sale work, but it should be installed per se regarding to
the count of pages in the selected book. In this case, the selected book I have had consists of 388
pages altogether.
Nevertheless, I use the time effectively to read the book either by skimming or scanning
alternately and frequently.
The source of the book to be reviewed is in English, so to do that effectively, I applied
some strategies such as : marking the main idea, supporting idea and sometimes paraphrasing,
making foot-notes and re-read the sources.
Throughout these strategies, they can shorten my time to finish this assignment well.
B. INDUCTION
Education is a strategic element which can not be separated from the program of a Nation
Development, in this case Indonesia for instance, needs qualified human resources throughout
the education to develop this country for all the various sides of life. Dealing with such a
circumstance, education plays main roles to improve the quality of the human resources in
creating BETTER SIGNIFICANT CHANGE. The reviewer of this book is Elsina Sihombing,
the student of Doctorate Program of Padang State University – Educational Science Department
on English Concentration, hopefully can gain the significant change of the education as stated
here, together with all the educators, practitioners, and the agents, as well.
To establish a better education is not an easy-going work, it needs well-planned program
from the outstanding agents in designing a fundamental, holistic, and universal system of

education. Doe to this white job, human is the subject who takes responsibility regarding to the
educational function, prior to the expansion all around.
Rooting from the background of how the education exists, is basically initiated by the
former philosophers, it is philosophy field as the mother of knowledge. Philosophy initiated to
think about the human demands, existence, and how to match and explore the human life.
Philosophically, education is risen preceded by a thought of “What is human?, why human life?,
what is thing behind the life?, how to make it being real?”. These ways of thought is always in
the form of continual doubt against something, exploring the answer to the risen doubt, then
asking the other curiosity, next re-exploring, gathering the result, curios again, this is such a
cycle if thinking process to fulfill the human curiosity up to lasting the everlasting education int
his world. It seemed therefore worthwhile to bring together some of the themes and topics
currently being addressed, and some of the writers addressing them.
There have always been philosophers interested in education, but for some education
has occupied a central position in their social and political philosophy. Among
the clear examples are Plato, Aquinas, Locke, and Rousseau, while Dewey went so
far as to claim that education is philosophy “in its most general phase.” Kant and
Hegel also paid attention to the universities, and Nietzsche’s writings are particularly
rich with educational insights. Nor must it be forgotten that around the world there
have been writers on education whose significance in their own time and within
their own culture was immense, but whom modern philosophy of education has
largely consigned to oblivion: we might instance Maimonides, Confucius, and Lao-
Tzu. Philosophy of education is sometimes, and justly, accused of proceeding as if it
had little or no past. Yet philosophy of education as a distinct subdiscipline, with its
own literature, traditions, and problematics, did not develop until the nineteenth
century. And to say even this is to refer to it as a discipline only in a much looser
sense than we normally do today. But the function of the philosophy as the mother of sciences
and knowledge is widening continually and even breakthrough the value becomes unlimited
value.

C. RIVIEW AND DISCUSSION
This book consists of 10 chapters with 388 pages together with appendices.
Chapter I, Consideration of Methods ; in this section the author, Arnstine describes briefly about
how to considerate appropriate methods regarding to the educational system, of which he says
that what makes learning worth thinking is not only its significance in human affairs, or the
university of its occurrence; it also merits attention because of its elusiveness.
Furthermore, what makes him thinking about education is because of human generation
proceeding life, focusing on the means and ends of education for each of generation.
According to me as the reviewer of this book, viewing that the writer’s intent doe to his book
title is to hold up a mirror against the experience especially the experience which has been
examined by certain measurement as to why it happened the way it did. Such a sincere effort is
implicated through the education and schooling, of which teaching or nurturing is the vital key in
learning process. Behind every school and every teacher is a set of related beliefs--a philosophy
of education--that influences what and how students are taught. A philosophy of education
represents answers to questions about the purpose of schooling, a teacher's role, and what should
be taught and by what methods.
But, as far as I read this chapter, the writer does not directly describe the abstract of both means
and ends of education he means in this chapter. This is very important to put directly here, so the
readers are not being stressed to find out until to the last chapter those two terms description .
Moreover, he argues and claims in this book that schooling is drama and teaching is an
art. Unschooling is a range of educational philosophies and practices centered on allowing
children to learn through their natural life experiences, including child directed play, game play,
household responsibilities, work experience, and social interaction, rather than through a more
traditional school curriculum. Unschooling encourages exploration of activities led by the
children themselves, facilitated by the adults. Unschooling differs from conventional schooling
principally in practice that standard curricula and conventional grading methods, as well as other
features of traditional schooling, are counterproductive to the goal of maximizing the education
of each child.
Hence philosophy of education generally requires not narrow concentration but a flexible and
imaginative drawing from different aspects of the “parent” discipline in relation to specific but
typically highly complex problems of practice.

In my mind as a reader and as the viewer as well, This is such a blended participation
among those three stakeholders which can build A GOLD TRIANGLE (educators- students-
parents), those who responsible against the students development in education. Obviously if
parents and teachers work together at the task of educating a child his education is likely to be
more successful. You can see that this kind of co-operation is particularly important where the
conditions in the home militate against his doing well in school. Any child is at a disadvantage
who comes from a home where material conditions are poor, where language and discipline are
radically different from that experienced in the school, where family relationships are poor and
where parents are unfavourably disposed towards educational institutions and those who teach in
them. A child in this situation gets off to a poor start in the early years of life, is already behind
when he begins school, and is less able to benefit from being there. Not only are his parents’
attitudes towards school unhelpful; often his teachers’ attitudes towards him leave much to be
desired. In the face of these difficulties some educationists have been moved to ask the following
questions, ‘Might not parents be re-educated to help them to give their children a better start in
life?’. BY emphasizing proportioned responsibility to those three stakeholders it can impulsely
gain the educational vision effectively.
Chapter II, Learning and Disposition ; in this chapter Arnstine’s explanatory is much
concerning about Learning, as deepening to preceded discussion. He says that schools exist
wholly for the purpose of fostering learning, and on the other words, it is a commonplace that
schools are places where pupils learn, or where they are supposed to learn.
In this case, the author of this book is very attentive to the process and the space of learning
itself, as he figures out that schools and teaching are the twofold terminologies that significantly
impact in education, as the main target of learning. This explanatory description, I think, is very
crucial regarding to some of people misconception against learning. What is learning actually?
Learning refers to a broad range of events, or the acquisition of a habit, or an attitude, or a
skill (Arnstine 1967 12). This statement is also strengthen by the other idea which says that
learning is the process of metaphysics of human being, (metaphysics means the learning of
how to learn).
The reviewer of this book wants to welcome the readers to see the comparison, let us
distinguish to education now, that Aims of education normally refer to long-term general ends,

often difficult to define clearly in terms of specific behavior. Thus, we talk of aiming to produce
the Philosopher Ruler (Plato’s Republic), or men able to use their leisure properly (Aristotle); of
aiming to bring a person to emotional and intellectual maturity or to ensure that children learn
how to learn. Such general statements differ in the extent to which they make clear what we as
teachers should be doing. Aristotle’s emphasis on learning to use leisure properly’ is more
informative than a statement about emotional and intellectual maturity, yet even it requires a
considerable examination of what is entailed in ‘using leisure properly’ before we can use this as
a basis for planning an educational programme. Long-term aims of education must inevitably
have some degree of generality but it is important to make such statements of aims throw some
light on the actual task we set out to or the exploration of some aspect of creativity such as the
writing of poetry. Yet, these objectives will dictate to some extent the way in which the activity
is undertaken and also the content of that activity. They also suggest ways by which we evaluate
the degree of success which has been achieved. If, however, when we consider the total
education experienced by an individual, or the education offered by particular schools, we ask—
what is the aim of such an education?—we imply a concern with the end to which the overall
experience has been directed. Thus a group of ex-pupils discussing their different school
experiences may well discover that though some schools appear to agree on the end aimed at in
their education, yet the routes to this end differ considerably. This same group of pupils may
equally discover that in other cases schools which appear to have different ends are nevertheless
offering their pupils educational experiences which are often very similar. Thus of two schools
aiming to give a sound general education, one might seek to do so by means of courses covering
a wide range of subjects, the other by courses in specially selected subjects. Alternatively, two
schools, one aiming to provide a highly specialized academic education and one aiming at a
sound general education (development of a literate and numerate population) might at some
point offer their pupils very similar courses in languages, literature, mathematics and science.
Schools can thus seek to achieve similar educational aims by pursuing different paths to them,
that is SKILLS OF LIFE. Similarly schools with differing aims may yet have certain courses in
common. It is clear on reflection however that at some point differences in educational aims
must make a marked and significant difference to what goes on within the educational process to

learn of GOOD HABITS —and this can best be seen when we consider the difference in the
education systems.
Well, the reviewer correlates to the teachers task now, how do teacher-centered
philosophies of education differ from student-centered philosophies of education?
 Teacher-centered philosophies tend to be more authoritarian and conservative, and emphasize
the values and knowledge that have survived through time. The major teacher-centered
philosophies of education are essentialism and perennialism.
 Student-centered philosophies are more focused on individual needs, contemporary relevance,
and preparing students for a changing future. School is seen as an institution that works with
youth to improve society or help students realize their individuality. Progressivism, social
reconstructionism, and existentialism place the learner at the center of the educational process:
Students and teachers work together on determining what should be learned and how best to
learn.
What are some of the psychological and cultural factors influencing education?
 Constructivism has its roots in cognitive psychology, and is based on the idea that people
construct their understanding of the world. Constructivist teachers gauge a student's prior
knowledge, then carefully orchestrate cues, classroom activities, and penetrating questions to
push students to higher levels of understanding.
 B. F. Skinner advocated behaviorism as an effective teaching strategy. According to Skinner,
rewards motivate students to learn material even if they do not fully understand why it will have
value in their futures. Behavior modification is a system of gradually lessening extrinsic rewards.
 The practices and beliefs of peoples in other parts of the world, such as informal and oral
education, offer useful insights for enhancing our own educational practices, but they are insights
too rarely considered, much less implemented.
The reviewer would like to bring the readers of how Arnstine keeps the same line with
the famousit former philosophers’ idea about teaching and learning as well, what were the
contributions of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle to Western philosophy, and how are their
legacies reflected in education today?
 Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle are the three most legendary ancient Greek philosophers.
Socrates is hailed today as the personification of wisdom and the philosophical life. He gave rise
to what is now called the Socratic method, in which the teacher repeatedly questions students to
help them clarify their own deepest thoughts.
 Plato, Socrates's pupil, crafted eloquent dialogues that present different philosophical positions
on a number of profound questions. Plato believed that a realm of externally existing"ideas,"
or"forms," underlies the physical world.
 Aristotle, Plato's pupil, was remarkable for the breadth as well as the depth of his knowledge.
He provided a synthesis of Plato's belief in the universal, spiritual forms and a scientist's belief in
the physical world we observe through our senses. He taught that the virtuous life consists of
controlling desires by reason and by choosing the moderate path between extremes.

after reading all these chapters in Arnstine’s book, the reviewer found that the author of this
book is also explains about ; metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, political philosophy, aesthetics,
and logic factor into a philosophy of education?
1. Metaphysics deals with the nature of reality, its origin, and its structure. Metaphysical
beliefs are reflected in curricular choices: Should we study the natural world, or focus on
spiritual or ideal forms?
2. Epistemology examines the nature and origin of human knowledge. Epistemological
beliefs influence teaching methods."How we know" is closely related to how we learn
and therefore, how we should teach.
3. Ethics is the study of what is "good" or" bad" in human behavior, thoughts, and feelings.
What should we teach about "good" and" bad," and should we teach that directly, or by
modeling?
4. Political philosophy analyzes how past and present societies are arranged and governed
and proposes ways to create better societies in the future. How will a classroom be
organized, and what will that say about who wields power? How will social institutions
and national governments be analyzed?
5. Aesthetics is concerned with the nature of beauty. What is of worth? What works are
deemed of value to be studied or emulated?
Chapter 3, Theories of Learning and Schooling ; In this chapter Arnstine briefly discuss all out
about the meaningful learning and appropriate schooling. The must current usage of the theories
he implied is concerning to the two families of the theory about human behavior, namely : EGO-
PSYCHOLOGY AND BEHAVIORISM.
According to me as the viewer of the book, he mostly concerns to these theories since
learning and schooling vitally tackle all about the students characteristics which are involving
their characters or attitudes and behavior as long as they are engaged in the school where they
are learning at, whereas the teacher give them the freedom of environment, the fairness of
learning circumstances.

Although a relatively small voice in the education and psychology fi eld, the behaviourists
continue to have an infl uence in current thinking, and the behaviourist principles have much to
guide pedagogy in our schools. The professional and practical advice arising from authors such
as Janice Baldwin, John Baldwin, Deborah Du Nann Winter, Susan Koger, Bill Rogers, John
Staddon and Julie Vargas stand as testimony to the continued value of behaviourist principles
guiding and underpinning the pedagogy and practice of twenty-fi rst-century classrooms and
learning environments.
Burrhus Frederic (B. F.) Skinner (1904-90) was an American psychologist, advocate for social
reform and poet. He is the fi gurehead of behaviourism with his philosophy based upon the idea
that learning is related to change in overt behaviour, and those changes in behaviour (responses)
are the result of an individual’s response to events (stimuli) that occur in the environment.
However, he extended Watson’s stimulus–response theory to operant behavior and placed a
greater emphasis upon the impact of the environment upon behaviour and his radical
behaviourism allows for private stimuli and private responses. The philosophy does not regard
them as mental (mentalistic) just because they are private. The classroom implication is that
behaviour can be modifi ed and learning can be enabled through reward; that reward can be
internal and arise from the satisfaction or satiation of a drive that is perceived by the learner but
not seen by the observer.
Ivan Pavlov (1849 – 1936) was a physiologist and whilst studying the salivary glands of
dogs noticed that they would salivate before the food reached their mouths. He called this a
‘psychic secretion’ and later coined the phrase ‘conditional reflexes’. He went on to show how
dogs could be taught to salivate on hearing a bell. He associated the bell with food by always
ringing it when food was shown to the dog. This is classical conditioning. We as teachers should
be aware that there are behaviours, habits or conventions of behaviour of learners that have been
conditioned, and our actions may condition inappropriate as well as appropriate behaviours, such
as the automatic lack of attention to the lesson the moment the bell rings.
Albert Bandura (1925 – present) began his thinking about psychology in a behaviourist
culture with an emphasis on experimental methods of observation, measurement and
manipulation that avoided the subjective and internal processes. He found the assertion that all
behaviour was caused by the environment a little simplistic and introduced the notion of

reciprocal determinism that accepted the underlying behaviourist premise but added that human
behaviour influences the environment, and importantly, human behaviour influences other
people’s behaviour. His work is influential in developing ideas of pedagogy associated with
observational learning and modelling and in developing the social learning theory that proposes
that people learn from one another, via observation, imitation and modelling. This acts as a
bridge between behaviourist principles and cognition. It also enables behaviourists to encompass
attention, memory and motivation but described in terms of outward behaviours. The work of
Bandura brings implications for the way in which learners learn, and what they learn can be
strongly modified and enabled by the examples of those around them.
Behaviourism does not account for all kinds of learning, since it disregards the activities
of the mind. Radical behaviourists do not disregard the activities of the mind! They simply state
that scientifi c effort should be directed towards measuring and explaining the product of the
mind – the behaviours exhibited. Skinner’s statements that the interrelationships are much more
complex than those between a stimulus and a response, and they are much more productive
in both theoretical and experimental analyses’ (1969: 8) indicates that there is more to
behaviourism than the simple stimulus–response relationship: The behavior generated by a given
set of contingencies can be accounted for without appealing to hypothetical inner states or
processes. If a conspicuous stimulus does not have an effect, it is not because the organism has
not attended to it or because some central gatekeeper has screened it out, but because the
stimulus plays no important role in the prevailing contingencies. (Skinner, 1969: 8) The second
citation illustrates radical behaviourism in that both theoretical and experimental analyses of
behaviour explain reinforcement and the change in behaviour. It is true that behaviourists,
through the focus on the outcomes of learning, are able to make accurate measurements and
clearly identify such things as forgetting, habit strength, fading, rote learning, retention, etc., and
because of the nature of scientific endeavour, short-term experiments are easier than long-term
experiments and so are more frequently carried out. However, behaviourist approaches are also
responsible for explaining complex and long-term behaviour changes, for example, complex
skills such as turn-taking in verbal communication and long-term development of social skills
by those with autism. The new behaviourists are now re-proving their theories by standing on
the shoulders of the social constructivists and expressing how learning is

fostered through intrinsic and extrinsic reward, and thus, the reinforcement
of learning-related behaviours of mind and body. Behaviourists accept that
learning is a complex activity but they are determined in the idea that
even complex behaviours can be analysed and explained in terms of the
stimulus–response model and behaviour modification through reinforcement.
This refl ection is one of many that have infl uenced the writing of this
book on developing behaviourist-based pedagogy:
Behaviourism was centrally concerned to emphasize active learning-by doing
with immediate feedback on success, the careful analysis of learning
outcomes and above all with the alignment of learning objectives, instructional
strategies and methods used to assess learning outcomes.
Chapter 4, The Conditions of Learning. In this section Arnstine talks much about varied
climates in learning activities. Even, he much makes some distinctions between human and
animal in the process of thought and behavior.
Conditioning and behaviour modification are both closely and most immediately
associated with the behaviourist movement. Ivan Pavlov’s classical conditioning is a form of
associative learning where one behaviour or response is connected or associated with another to
aid the learning process. It was first demonstrated by Pavlov, who repeatedly associated a neutral
stimulus – the ringing of a bell – with a stimulus of significance – the presence of food –
that caused his dogs to salivate. The presence of food and salivation by a dog are called
unconditioned stimulus and unconditioned response. The ringing of the bell is a conditioned
stimulus. Pavlov noticed that after conditioning the dogs would salivate on hearing the bell, even
though there was no food present. This salivation is called a conditioned response. Although this
form of classical conditioning has little direct application in the classroom, Pavlov’s research and
theorising identifi es an important basis for behaviourist strategies. Behaviour modification is a
pedagogic approach whereby behaviour of a learner is changed by positively reinforcing
(rewarding) an appropriate behaviour but ignoring inappropriate behaviour. Behavioural or
operant conditioning occurs when a response to a stimulus is reinforced. The more the
association between the stimulus and the response is rewarded, the more sustained the
conditioning and the more likely that the response will occur in the absence of the reward. The

removal of reinforcement altogether is called extinction. Extinction eliminates the incentive for
unwanted behaviour by withholding the expected response. Some behaviour modification
techniques also use negative consequences for inappropriate or bad behaviours. In those
situations, behaviour modifi cation works by conditioning children to expect positive reactions to
or reinforcement of appropriate behaviour and to expect to be disciplined for inappropriate
behaviour. However, many behaviourists believe that punishment is less of an infl uence upon
behaviour than reward and that reward alone will be just as effective. Behaviour modifi cation
assumes that observable and measurable behaviours can be changed. Behaviour analysis methods
are developed for defi ning, observing and measuring those behaviours; the next step is
designing effective interventions. Those interventions are based on the behavioural principles
of conditioning through positive reinforcement that is rigorously applied and based upon
consistent antecedents, contingencies or consequences. Conditioning a behaviour occurs when
the behaviour becomes associated with a reward. Interventions are designed to increase or
decrease the target behaviour by making the association between wanted behavior and reward
stronger. Proactive behaviour modifi cation is based upon interventions that avoid the use of
aversive consequences and usually involves teaching new and more appropriate behaviours that
are incompatible with the unwanted behaviour. For example, a child seeking attention by
wrongdoing is discouraged by rewarding attention seeking associated with academic or social
achievement. To reduce an inappropriate behaviour, an appropriate incompatible behaviour must
be taught as the alternative. Interventions include behaviour modifi cation used to increase
behavior such as:
■ rewarding (praise, celebration and approval);
■ modelling, shaping;
■ observation charts;
■ token economy; and
■ self-monitoring/sanctuary.
Interventions used to decrease behaviours include:
■ extinction;
■ reinforcing incompatible behaviour;
■ self-monitoring; and

■ shaping.
Edward Thorndike (1874–1949) was an animal and human psychologist who identified
that learning was a process of trial and error whereby in selecting a correct response and
receiving reinforcements a connection is made. Through his experiments he established
conditions of learning defined by three laws that indicate the effectiveness of learning
(Thorndike, 1898). He identified that reward reinforced the behaviour and punishment reduced
the behaviour. It was Thorndike who established that reward was more infl uential than
punishment and established the value of exercising learned behaviour to ensure it is sustained.
Making the learner ready for learning is important; once habits or appropriate behaviours have
been established, they should be exercised to sustain them. Learning behaviours can be
reinforced by success.
Research with animals
An underpinning principle of behaviourism is that human behaviour is similar to animal
behaviour. The behaviourists’ belief that how an animal reacts is exactly like how a human reacts
is fundamental. It is accepted that the sophistication of human behaviours and the complexity of
the combinations of the different rules makes our refl ections upon our behaviour more
detailed. Perhaps it is our unique position of being human that gives us the desire to see more
into the stimulus and reactions made by humans than we can possible perceive of that of a dog
where, with all the will in the world to understand, we are outsiders to their world of motivations.
Both animal and human operate under the same rules but human behaviour is far more complex
than that of a dog, and as a dog may perceive, its behaviour is far more complex than that of a
worm. All animals and human beings have their place on the spectrum of behaviour
sophistication but all are connected by underlying principles. Edward Thorndike’s important
work on animal intelligence was published in 1898 and marks for many the start of experimental
human learning and the experimental analysis of learning. Thorndike designed some simple
experiments that demonstrated learning in animals that enabled the formulation of a set of
principles that continue to guide pedagogy in our schools. He developed an objective
experimental method that could systematically measure the mechanical problem-solving ability
of cats and dogs. He devised a number of wooden crates (puzzle-boxes) that required various
combinations of latches, levers, strings and treadles from which a hungry cat or dog would

escape. After some trial-and-error behaviour, the cat learns to associate pressing the lever
(stimulus) with opening the door (response). This stimulus–response connection is established
because it results in a satisfying state of affairs – access to food (positive reinforcement).
Thorndike’s initial aim was to show that the anecdotal achievements of cats and dogs could be
replicated in controlled, standardised circumstances in the time of the burgeoning experimental
psychology movement. However, he soon realised that he could use the apparatus to measure
animal intelligence by setting repeating and different tasks and measuring the times it took
novice and experienced animals to solve the problems. By setting the same task repeatedly for
the same animal he could see the reduction in solving time that came with experience. Thorndike
then compared these ‘learning curves’ in different situations and different species. Through these
experiments he established a pattern of learning and described three laws relating
to learning based upon the consequences of behaviour. The law of exercise states that learning is
established because the stimulus–response pairing occurs many times. The law of effect states
that the learning is sustained because it is rewarded. The law of readiness relates to the
combining of activities to form a single sequence response thus leading to complex learning.
■ The law of exercise (practice) states that a response to a situation may be more strongl
connected with the situation depending upon the number of times it has been connected
(reinforced) and to the average strength and duration of the connection (reinforcement).
■ The law of effect states that the association between a stimulus and a response will be
strengthened or weakened depending upon whether a satisfi er or an annoyer follows the
response.
■ The law of readiness states that a learner’s satisfaction is determined by the extent of his
preparation or preparedness, that is, his/her readiness for learning. This law has two aspects:
— when someone is ready to perform an act, to do so is satisfying;
— and when someone is ready to perform an act, not to do so is annoying.
Thorndike turned his attention to human learning with experiments that measured the effi cacy of
learning a skill and retaining knowledge. In a classic investigation he identifi ed the infl uence of
improvement in one mental function upon the effi ciency of learning other functions. The
method was to ‘test the effi ciency of some function or functions, then to give training in

some other function or functions until a certain amount of improvement was reached, and then to
test the first function or set of functions’ (Thorndike and Woodworth, 1901). In the paper,
Thorndike presents his own evidence and that of others to show that developing skills and
knowledge in one area does not necessarily and automatically give enhanced skills and
knowledge in seemingly connected areas. Only when the skills are most precisely the same do
positive correlations occur between learning one thing and the impact upon another. Activities
such as:
■ accuracy in noticing misspelled words;
■ accuracy in multiplication;
■ acting quickly, such as noticing words containing r and e; or
■ identifying semicircles on a page of different geometrical fi gures
do not have an interrelationship in terms of learning.
Airnstine also adds some issues about the CONDITION OF LEARNING, which is
directly influences the outcome of learning for the students.
CONDITIONED REFLEXES
The reflex became a more important instrument of analysis when it was shown that novel
relations between stimuli and responses could be established during the lifetime of the individual
by a process first studied by the Russian physiologist, I. P. Pavlov. H. G. Wells once compared
Pavlov with another of his distinguished contemporaries, George Bernard Shaw. He considered
the relative importance to society of the quiet laboratory worker and the skillful propagandist and
expressed his opinion by describing a hypothetical situation: if these two men were drowning
and only one life preserver were available, he would throw it to Pavlov. Evidently Shaw was not
pleased, and, after what appears to have been a hasty glance at Pavlov's work, retaliated. His
book, The Adventures of the Black Girl in Her Search for God, describes a girl's experiences in a
jungle of ideas. The jungle is inhabited by many prophets, some of them ancient and some as
modern as an "elderly myop" who bears a close resemblance to Pavlov. The black girl
encounters Pavlov just after she has been frightened by a fearful roar from the prophet Micah.
She pulls herself up in her flight and exclaims: "What am I running away from? I'm not afraid of
that dear noisy old man." "Your fears and hopes are only fancies" said a voice close to her,
proceeding from a very shortsighted elderly man in spectacles who was sitting on a gnarled log.

the brains of innumerable dogs, and observed their spittle by making holes in their cheeks for
them to salivate through instead of through their tongues. The whole scientific world is
prostrate at my feet in admiration of this colossal achievement and gratitude for the light it has
shed on the great problems of human conduct." "Why didn't you ask me?" said the black girl. "I
could have told you in twenty-five seconds without hurting those poor dogs." "Your ignorance
and presumption are unspeakable" said the old myop. "The fact was known of course to every
child; but it had never been proved experimentally in the laboratory; and therefore it was not
scientifically known at all. It reached me as an unskilled conjecture: I handed it on as science.
The facts of science are seldom entirely unknown "to every child." A child who can catch a ball
knows a good deal about trajectories. It may take science a long time to calculate the position of
a ball at a given moment any more exactly than the child must "calculate" it in order to catch it.
When Count Rumford, while boring cannon in the military arsenal in Munich, demonstrated that
he could produce any desired amount of heat without combustion, he changed the course of
scientific thinking about the causes of heat; but he had discovered nothing which was not already
known to the savage who kindles a fire with a spinning stick or the man who warms his hands on
a frosty morning by rubbing them together vigorously. The difference between an unskilled
conjecture and a scientific fact is not simply a difference in evidence. It had long been known
that a child might cry before it was hurt or that a fox might salivate upon seeing a bunch of
grapes. What Pavlov added can be understood most clearly by considering his history. Originally
he was interested in the process of digestion, and he studied the conditions under which digestive
juices were secreted. Various chemical substances in the mouth or in the stomach resulted in the
reflex action of the digestive glands. Pavlov's work was sufficiently outstanding to receive the
Nobel Prize, but it was by no means complete. He was handicapped by a certain unexplained
secretion. Although food in the mouth might elicit a flow of saliva, saliva often flowed
abundantly when the mouth was empty. We should not be surprised to learn that this was called
"psychic secretion." It was explained in terms which "any child could understand." Perhaps the
dog was "thinking about food." Perhaps the sight of the experimenter preparing for the next
experiment "reminded" the dog of the food it had received in earlier experiments. But these
explanations did nothing to bring the unpredictable salivation within the compass of a rigorous

account of digestion. Pavlov's first step was to control conditions so that "psychic secretion"
largely disappeared. He designed a room in which contact between dog and experimenter was
reduced to a minimum. The room was made as free as possible from incidental stimuli. The dog
could not hear the sound of footsteps in neighboring rooms or smell accidental
REFLEXES AND CONDITIONED REFLEXES
odors in the ventilating system. Pavlov then built up a "psychic secretion" step by step. In place
of the complicated stimulus of an experimenter preparing a syringe or filling a dish with food, he
introduced controllable stimuli which could be easily described in physical terms. In place of the
accidental occasions upon which stimulation might precede or accompany food, Pavlov arranged
precise schedules in which controllable stimuli and food were presented in
certain orders. Without influencing the dog in any other way, he could sound a tone and insert
food into the dog's mouth. In this way he was able to show that the tone acquired its ability to
elicit secretion, and he was also able to follow the process through which this came about. Once
in possession of these facts, he could then give a satisfactory account of all secretion. He had
replaced the "psyche" of psychic secretion with certain objective facts in the recent
history of the organism. The process of conditioning, as Pavlov reported it in his book
Conditioned Reflexes, is a process of stimulus substitution. A previously neutral stimulus
acquires the power to elicit a response which was originally elicited by another stimulus. The
change occurs when the neutral stimulus is followed or "reinforced" by the effective stimulus.
Pavlov studied the effect of the interval of time elapsing between stimulus and reinforcement. He
investigated the extent to which various properties of stimuli could acquire control. He also
studied the converse process, in which the conditioned stimulus loses its power to evoke the
response when it is no longer reinforced —a process which he called "extinction." The
quantitative properties which he discovered are by no means "known to every child." And they
are important. The most efficient use of conditioned reflexes in the practical control of behavior
often requires quantitative information. A satisfactory theory makes the same demands. In
dispossessing explanatory fictions, for example, we cannot be sure that an event of the sort
implied by "psychic secretion" is not occasionally responsible until we can predict the
exact amount of secretion at any given time.

Chapter 5, School Methods : Assets and Liabilites ; the author of this book explanatory
here is dealing with the process of thinking, which is a part of problem solving, it is called the
school’s methods. When this conception of learning and thinking as solving problem is translated
into school setting, it results in a program of giving the pupils something to do, not something to
learn. In doing things, they will think the best ways of how, what, where, when, who, whom,
which regarding to what they handle whilst.
The fact that behavior is stamped in when followed by certain consequences, Thorndike
called "The Law of Effect." What he had observed was that certain behavior occurred more and
more readily in comparison with other behavior characteristic of the same situation. By noting
the successive delays in getting out of the box and plotting them on a graph, he constructed a
"learning curve." This early attempt to show a quantitative process in behavior, similar to the
processes of physics and biology, was heralded as an important advance. It revealed a process
which took place over a considerable period of time and which was not obvious to casual
inspection. Thorndike, in short, had made a discovery. Many similar curves have since been
recorded and have become the substance of chapters on learning in psychology texts. Learning
curves do not, however, describe the basic process of stamping in. Thorndike's measure—the
time taken to escape— involved the elimination of other behavior, and his curve depended upon
the number of different things a cat might do in a particular box. It also depended upon the
behavior which the experimenter or the apparatus happened to select as "successful" and upon
whether this was common or rare in comparison with other behavior evoked in the box. A
learning curve obtained in this way might be said to reflect the properties of the latch box rather
than of the behavior of the cat. The same is true of many other devices developed for the study of
learning. The various mazes through which white rats and other animals learn to run, the "choice
boxes" in which animals learn to discriminate between properties or patterns of stimuli, the
apparatuses which present sequences of material to be learned in the study of human memory—
each of these yields its own type of learning curve. By averaging many individual cases, we may
make these curves as smooth as we like. Moreover, curves obtained under many different
circumstances may agree in showing certain general properties. For example, when measured in
this way, learning is generally "negatively accelerated"—improvement in performance occurs
more and more slowly as the condition is approached in which further improvement is

impossible. But it does not follow that negative acceleration is characteristic of the basic process.
Suppose, by analogy, we fill a glass jar with gravel which has been so well mixed that pieces of
any given size are evenly distributed. We then agitate the jar gently and watch the pieces
rearrange themselves. The larger move toward the top, the smaller toward the bottom. This
process, too, is negatively accelerated. At first the mixture separates rapidly, but as separation
proceeds, the condition in which there will be no further change is approached more and more
slowly. Such a curve may be quite smooth and reproducible, but this fact alone is not of any
great significance. The curve is the result of certain fundamental processes involving the contact
of spheres of different sizes, the resolution of the forces resulting from agitation, and so on, but it
is by no means the most direct record of these processes. The illustration above shows some of
the students characters in problem solving. Problem solving of course has advantages and
disadvantages, these components are the limitation of the problem solving itself. As the reviewer
has been read all about this book, it has been already stated before that this book is majorly
concerning about the students as the core of educational process.
Chapter 6 & 7, Learning and Aesthetic Quality in Experience & The Practice of Aesthetic
and Anaesthetic ; I as the reader abd the reviewer as well, can see that this chapter prefers to
display all issues related to the students affective or attitude, responses, behavior, and self
actualization which remain art in the students personality. As we know that basically human
being has the two sides of personality namely ; angelic side and wild side. The education
function here is to maintain and qualifying the angelic side better than the wild one.
Drawing from copy. Our behavior in response to the spatial field in which we live is so familiar
that we are likely to forget how it is acquired. There are certain less familiar forms of behavior in
which the origin of a discriminative repertoire can sometimes be clearly traced. In drawing "from
copy"—or, less obviously, from an object— our behavior is the product of a set of three-term
contingencies. A given line in the material to be copied is the occasion upon which certain
movements with pencil and paper produce a similar line. All such lines and all such movements
comprise fields, but the behavior may not reach a condition in which it can be dealt with as a
field. This is easily seen in the behavior of the young child learning to draw. A small number of

standardized responses are evoked by the highly complex stimulus field. The behavior of the
skilled copyist is composed of a much larger number of responses and may seem as "natural" as
our responses to spatial positions. It does not reach the point at which it comprises a continuous
field if a given line in the copy is not reproduced exactly but rather with a characteristic response
in the "individual style" of the artist. An extreme case, in which behavior is divided into clearly
identifiable discrete units even though the stimulus has the characteristics of a field, is the
behavior of the electrical engineer who "draws a picture" of a radio set using perhaps twenty or
thirty unit responses.
Singing or playing by ear. Drawing from copy is like responding to the spatial world
insofar as both stimuli and responses approach continuous fields in the same way in both cases.
In playing an instrument or singing a tune "by ear," however, spatial dimensions are lacking.
Here appropriate repertoires are set up by similar three-term contingencies. A tone is the
occasion upon which certain complex behavior in the vocal apparatus will be reinforced
by generating a matching tone. The reinforcement is either automatic, depending upon previous
conditioning of the singer with respect to good matches, or supplied by someone—an instructor,
for example— whose behavior also reflects goodness of match. Such a repertoire may also
include responses to intervals, each heard interval being the occasion upon which a complex
response generating a corresponding interval is reinforced. Melodies, harmonic progressions, and
so on, may form the bases for similar repertoires. The same kind of relationships may govern the
playing of a musical instrument, where the topography of the behavior which generates the tones
or patterns is entirely different.
The arts which are reflected from the students inner-side are the angelic characteristics
that they have already obtained and nurtured in their deep personality.
Chapter 8, 9, 10 ; Curiosity, Discrepancy, Curriculum ; in these sections arnstine mostly
focuses on students readiness to learning to know, learning to understand, learning to do,
learning to behave, and learning to live together in the society. He talks much about the students
capability prior to learning, whilst learning and post learning, of which all among is tailoring to
them throughout the CURRICULUM as the vehicle to bring them to the goals that the school has
already well settled prior to the operational system of the school.

D. CONCLUSION
This book is generally offers the theories of how to establish education for human being
based on the humanistic existence in the world, so it is reasonable for Arnstine as the author of
this book to correlate the title with philosophy, so the title of this book is “PHILOSOPHY OF
EDUCATION”. He peels out all the material and theories of the educational process, especially
which are concerning with the students acquisition and learning development. He prioritizes the
students demands as terminated with STUDENT CENTERED, instead of teacher centered.
It is such a phenomenal case to bring this circumstance word-widely, since the students are the
subject of educational process but not as the object. And the educators, teachers, practitioners,
the agents, the stakeholders play their own roles regarding to what their position are as the
mediator, manager, driver, and the tailor of education.
As this book reviewer, I really appreciate the author of this book in existing this book.
There are many advantages to read this book, it describes in detailed the climate, the strategies,
the fundamental philosophical theory, and the curriculum as the main pies of the education.
It is very helpful for educators after reading this book, so they can distinguish the merely
educational process with those that are not. This book can be as a mirror in avoiding the biases of
such a mall practice of education, the vice versa, they can conduct the truly and sincere education
for the human being without discrimination.
This book also stated that one of the main vehicle to drive the students to gain the goals,
it needs curriculum, of which have been settled the content (subject matters), activities, vision
and missions, learning experience, competence inside. The curriculum takes a role as the bridge
for students and educators in running the program of teaching.

REFERENCES
Arnstine, Donald. 1967. Philosophy of Education. Harper & Row Publisher. New York.
Skinner, B.F. 2005. Science and Human Behavior. The B.F.Skineer Foundation. Cambridge.
Woolard, John.2010. Psychology for The Classroom ; Behaviorism. Taylor & Francis Group.
Ney York.
Frankl.Victor E. (1985). Man’s Search for Meaning. Pocket Book, New York: Washington
Square Press.
Havighursdt,R.J (1961). Human development and Education. New York:Longmans,Green &
Co.
Levinger,B. (1996). Critical Transitions: Human Capacity Development Across the Lifespan.
New York: Education Development Center, Inc.

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