On Becoming a Leader
Chapter – 1
MASTERING THE CONTEXT
* In this chapter Bennis is talking about the important of leader by saying that one person can live on a desert island without a leader but if there are three or more someone has to take the lead, otherwise chaos erupts.
* Our quality of life depends upon the quality of our leaders.
* Why leader are important?
He gives three basic reasons:
i. They are responsible for the effectiveness of an organization (e-g football team cannot win without a leader)
ii. We need anchor in our lives and guidance leader fill that need.
iii. It is important for the integrity of our institutions learning from failure is one of the most important themes in this book.
* Two most important things essential for a good leader are:
i. Character
ii. Vision
Character is vital in leader without good character people do not but a leader in this regard he gives the example of self- made pea on ed. Who possesses all qualities good character and due to constraint, he did not become the president of factory.
A leader without a vision is not a leader. A leader must know where he has to take his organization. He gives the example / story of a successful T.V director and write Norman Lear.
There are four steps in the process behind Norman Lears success:
i. Becoming self- expressive
ii. Learning from the right mentor
iii. Listening to the inner voice
iv. Giving on self over a guiding vision.
Chapter 2
understanding the basics
“Hopes are the dreams of the waking man without hopes we cannot survive.” Tolstoy
According to Bennis almost all leaders share the following ingredients:
1. GUIDING VISION
Having a clear idea of what he wants to do personally and professionally.
2. PASSION
Integrity
Self-knowledge
(who am I?)
Maturity
(experience)
Caondor
(key to self-knowledge)Love for duty, enthusiasm leads to hope inspiration.
4. Trust
5. Curiosity
Different between leader & manager
· The manager administers the leader innovates.
· The manager is a copy the leader is an original.
· The manager maintains the leader develops.
· The manager focuses on system and structure the leader focuses on people.
· The manager relies on control the leader inspires trust.
· The manager has a short range view the leader has a long range perspective.
· The manager asks how and when the leader asks what and why.
· The manager has his eye always on the bottom line the leader has his eye on the horizon.
· The manager imitates the leader originates.
· The manager accepts the status quo the leader challenge it.
· The manager is the classic good soldier the leader is his own person.
· The manager does things right the leader does the right thing.
To reprise Wallace Stevens, manager wear square hats and learn through training. Leader wear sombreros and opt for education. Consider the differences between training and education.
EDUCATION TRAINING
Inductive deductive
Tentative firm
Dynamic static
Understanding memorizing
Chapter 3
KNOWING YOURSELF
* Know thyself means separating who you are and who you want to be from what the world thinks you are and wants you to be .
* Self knowledge and self invention is a life time process. The people who struggle to know themselves reflect on the experiences and test themselves.
* 4 lesson of self knowledge according to bennis are
1 One : you are your own best teacher.
2 Two : accept responsibility blame no one .
3 Three : you can learn anything you want to learn.
4 Four : true understanding comes from reflecting on your experience .
* Reflecting on experience leads to understanding this is what all the
leaders agreed upon.
* Leaders are self directed but learning and understanding are the keys to self direction and it is our relationships with others that we learn about ourselves.
Social interaction is very important for self knowledge . in this regard, he gives on equation:
Family + school + friends = you
Chapter 4
Knowing the world
* To become a true, one must know the world as well as one knows ones self. Au leaders demonstrates that certain kinds of experience are especially significant for learning these experience include:
* Broad and continuing education.
* Idiosyncratic families.
* Extensive travel /exile.
* A rich private life.
* Key associations with mentors and groups.
* He quotes john Gardner,
The maturing of any complex talent requires a happy combination of motivation character and opportunity most talent remains undeveloped.
* Universities unfortunately are not always the best place to learn. they produce narrow-minded specialist. These specialist have been taught how to do, but they have not learned how to be instead of studying philosophy, literature and history. Which are the experiences of human beings. They study computer programming .
Chapter 6
Deploying yourself
Strike hard,
Try everything
“Lettings the self emerge” is the essential task for the leaders. For this reflection is very important it is a way of making learning conscious.
As Roger Gould says,
Reflection permits us to process our feelings understand them, resolve our questions and get on with our work.
* We learn from our mistaken. It we think about them, well never repeat them.
*· Perspective is very important for the leader leadership without a perspective is not leadership and of cause a leader must have his own perspective and point of view.
TEST AND MEASURES
* The first test is knowing what you want, knowing your abilities and capital us.
* The second test is knowing what drives you knowing what gives. You satisfaction.
* The third test is knowing what your values and priorities are knowing what the values and priorities of your organization are and measuring the difference between the two.
The fourth test is – having measured the differences between what you want and what you are able to do.
MASTERY IS VERY IMPORTANT
When he asks Masty Kaplan to describe the qualities of leadership he said,
· Competence
· Ability to articulate
· Level of human sensitivity.
Chapter 7
Moving through chaos
In this chapter he defines leader, according to him,
“Leader is an innovator. He does things other people haven’t done or don’t do. He does things in advance. He makes things new having learned from the past, he lives in the present with one eye on the future.
§ Leaders learn by leading and they learn best by leading in the face of obstacles.
Leader’s curriculum is:
· Difficult bosses
· Circumstance beyond their control
· Their own mistakes
Chapter 8
GETTING PEOPLE ON YOUR SIDE
He describes some technique how to get people on your side in the regard he quotes British Philosopher I Berlin according to Berlin:
· Leader have to establish and maintain positive relationship with their subordinates inside the organization and their peers outside the organization.
· They must possess the ability to understand the organizations dimensions and purposes, but to articulate their understanding and make it manifest.
· They have to be straight with people not clever or cute.
· Since leader deal with people not things leadership without values, commitment and conviction can only be inhumane and harmful.
Peter Druker
Using your voice for change
· Leading through voice inspiring through trust and empathy does more than get people on your side.
“I think the first thing one has to do is get people on ones side and show them where you want to take the company. Trust is vital people trust you don’t play games with them . when you put everything on the table and speak honestly to them your intellectual honesty comes and people recognize that and respond positively.”
Chapter 9
ORGANIZATION CAN HELP OR HINDER
In this chapter he is talking about the importance of change. Change is fruitful for the improvement of organization.
· Leader should take new tasks within their organizations these tasks include:
Ø Defining the organizations mission so as to frame its activities.
Ø Creating a flexible environment in which people are not only valued but encouraged to develop to their full potential and treated as equal rather than subordinates.
Ø Encouraging innovation experimentation and risk-taking.
Ø Anticipating the future by reading the present.
Ø Identifying and responding to new needs.
· Leader are not made by college course but by experience.
Chapter 10
FORGING THE FUTURE
How does a leader learn to transmute chaos?
How does a leader learn not only to accept change and ambiguity, but to thrive on it? There are ten factors, ten personal and organizational characteristics for coping with change, forging a new future and creating learning organizations.
1. Leader manage the dream
2. Leader embrace error
3. Leaders encourage reflective backtalk
4. Leaders possess the nobel factor faith, hope
5. Leaders encourage dissent
6. Leaders understand the Pygmalion effect in management
7. Leaders see the long view
8. Leaders understand stakeholders symmetry
9. Leaders create strategic alliances and partnership.
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Thursday, April 16, 2009
The Relationship between Headmaster and Staff
by
Iram
Delicate and critical role of the principal, the principal has to play a very delicate and critical role as he has to strike a balance in the practical field among fighting and quarrelling students, grudging and grumbling teachers and complaining parents. The members of the teaching staff have their different whims: some sensitive, some emotional, some enthusiastic, some old, some young, some trained and other untrained and some marking time. The principal has to make the BEST use of them and seek their whole hearted cooperation in all the activities of the school, academic, co-curricular and administrative.
Encouragement in one case, assistance in overcoming difficulties in another, suggestions here, definite orders there, all are necessary, “writes H.G. Stead. The principal has to weld the members of the staff into a real team.
The principal is expected at various times and by various interests to play many roles. He must be nature of this position be:
a) A teacher of teachers.
b) A supervisor not only of teachers but of service personnel.
c) A disciplinarian just but effective.
d) A psychologist at least to the extent of discovering maladjustments, especially of teachers which hinder progress.
e) A financier in organizing the school budget.
f) A sociologist to the extent of understanding the relationships of the school with social forces.
g) A lawyer to the extent of being able to know his own obligations, rights, legal abilities as well as of those of all school personnel.
h) A technical expert in educational measurement and evaluation.
i) An expert in group dynamics to the extent of working effectively with staff, pupils, public and the authorities.
Relation of the principal with his colleagues:
Milo Stuart states, “The relation of the principal to his teachers should be the most intimate of any. If a teacher fails, the principal fails; if the teacher succeeds, the principal succeeds. To sum up what the principal’s job is, I shall call him a referee the captain of the ship the boss of the firm a juvenile judge before whose tribunal come out not only the culprits but the adults who frequently contribute to the pupil’s shortcomings. He is a promoter who must project the future of his institution and convert the public to his plan. He is a social physician to every parent who has wayward son who needs attention. He is a friend in need to pupils and to all the homes in which misfortune comes. His power, his activities, even the good he does, can not be measured by a material yardstick.
PRINCIPLES OF STAFF HARMONY:
Principle of Democratic Administration.
We have already discussed that a Head should follow the principles of democratic administration. According to K.G. Saiyidain, “To my mind a good Headmaster is one who can inspire and enthuse his colleagues without dominating over them like a hard task master”.
Principle of Sharing Responsibility:
He should be prepared to share the control and authority with his colleagues. He should not think that he is born to rule and should not desire to be on the top of everything in the school, i.e. the president of games, the chairman of literary societies and the patron of social service and health unions, etc. the different departments should be placed under the charge of the senior members of the staff. Principle of sharing responsibility should be the keynote of his policy. Supervision of the examinations, school cleanliness, morning assembly, funds, hostel, scouting, literary and social activities are some of the chief duties which would be delegated by the Headmaster to the other members of the staff. This will develop in them a sense of responsibility for the school.
PRINCIPLE OF MUTUAL CONSULTATION:
The Headmaster should frequently consult his colleagues regarding improvement in school discipline and instruction. Such consultations instill in them the spirit that they belong to the school and are as responsible to it as the headmaster is staff meeti9ngs should be called from time to time. The teachers should be given full freedom to put forth their problems in these meetings. Briggs found that the teachers expected in a staff meeting.
a. Help on their problems
b. The wider outlook in education
c. Meeting to be happy and wholesome,
d. Meeting based on appreciation of effort and accomplishment rather than shortcomings and faults. The head of the institution should take note of the teachers problems and accordingly given his suggestions for the solution of the problems concerned.
PRINCIPLE OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS:
A good headmaster keeps in view the human factor while dealing with the member of the staff. He treats them jut like friends and does not say anything to them in the presence of the students and their parents which may lower their prestige. He does not give them suggestions regarding methods of teaching when they are taking their classes but gives the same by calling them in his office and tries to avoid all bossing tendencies. The teacher should come out of the headmasters office a better person, wiser and in a more pleasant mood than he was when he went in his office. Autocratic heads are always ready to snub any pupil or teacher who puts questions to them and are easily annoyed when their colleagues differ from them.
Principle of constructive criticism:
The criticism offered by the Headmaster should be judicious, fair and constructive rather than destructive. Supervision should be a matter of inspiration to teachers. It should be moderate. Excessive supervision kills all the initiative and drive of teachers. The role of a policeman or a military officer does more harm than good.
Principle of cooperation:
On the close cooperation of the headmaster and the staff depends on the efficiency of the school and the head of the institution is to a great extent responsible for securing cooperation of teachers. According to Reavis, No matter what his personal characteristics are, he will not be successful unless he is able to inspire his associates and collaborators with the desire to work cooperatively for the goals for which the school stands. E will be judged by his ability to enlist and to utilize their ability in participating in the solution of school problems and in formulating educational policies that have the common objective of advancing the welfare of the children enrolled in the school. He does not attempt to conceal that he is their leader, but he does not on the other hand remind them what he is.
Principle of friendly supervision:
Speaking about administrators of tomorrow D.I. Lal observes, “He gives up the time old tradition of checking his teachers, frightening his teachers, weakening his teachers and examining them, but manipulates things so as to train his teachers, inspire his teachers and trust them. In this way he will not only create an excellent professional moral among the teaching staff but will also cultivate a vital interest in them for educational philosophy, so that they can continually test and re test their plans and purposes, ideas, ideals, methods and procedures, systems and organizations.
Jacobson observes, The principal should not interrupt classes, create disturbances on entering and leaving, or to take the class away from the teacher, unless invited to do so. If the principal stays to the end of the class period he should observe good manners by expressing in a sentence or two his pleasure in visiting the class but refrain from making condemnatory statements until there is sufficient time to discuss them at length, if indeed he indulges in them at all.
SUGGESTIONS FOR PROMOTING STAFF HARMONY:
1) Take the first step in being friendly.
2) Be cheerful.
3) Remember and use names
4) Take interest in the out of school activities of the members of the staff.
5) Be easily accessible to the staff.
6) Avod taking special privileges.
7) Be polite and courteous.
8) Avoid keeping people waiting.
9) Ask persons if they are willing to assume responsibility.
10) Take prompt action on requests.
11) Keep a record of promises and live up to them.
12) Attempt to see actions and decisions from the other persons point of view.
13) Give credit to the persons responsible when the school receives praise.
14) Let people know when their work is good.
15) Be concerned about the way a teacher feels about his job and his out of school life.
16) Be willing to listen.
17) Avoid any evidence of authority.
18) Ask questions that relieve anxiety about discussing a problem.
19) Give praise for reporting facts accurately.
20) Avoid giving advice.
21) Become fully informed about the social structure of the staff.
22) Refuse to accept the assumption that conflicting groups in staff are unavoidable.
23) Offer services to assist in seeking agreement when disagreements arise in the group.
24) Do not show any undue favour to any member of the staff.
25) Inform new teachers on matters of school regulation.
26) Visit teachers who are ill.
27) Keep in mind while preparing your schedule that other teachers are not put to inconvenience.
28) Show consideration for bashful teachers.
29) Give teachers a chance to tell their side of the story.
30) Do not make personal remarks to shame them.
31) Show consideration for the feeling of other teachers.
32) Do not embarrass a teacher of inferior ability or one who has physical defects.
33) Do not laugh at the actions which seem funny to you.
34) Learn to work, to play, to live successfully with your associates.
35) Learn to like people.
36) Find out how different teachers wished to be treated and treat them accordingly.
37) Be willing to help teachers secure better positions.
38) Make changes slowly, preferably at teachers suggestions.
39) Seek the help of teachers as co workers and special advisers.
40) Be sincerely interested in teachers, like them as persons. Lincoln said, “If you wish to win a man to your cause, first convince him that you are his sincere friend.
41) Give teachers your undivided attention both when listening and when talking to them.
42) Criticize only in private.
43) Smile! As they say in the Navy, “ a happy ship is a good ship” so, too, a happy school is a good school.
44) Always ask a teachers permission to break into a classroom activity.
45) Help teachers in difficulty with pupils, parents or other teachers.
46) Meet staff in informal situations.
47) Use the word co-workers in place of subordinates and treat them as such.
48) Motivate desirable action through commendation.
49) Share knowledge of coming events with colleagues.
50) Give reasons for instructions and orders.
51) Earn respect of colleges by character and behaviour.
52) Regard yourself as a member of the group rather than command respect through position.
53) Encourage suggestions, evaluate them carefully, and accept them on merit.
54) Deal appropriately with outside criticism of staff members or the organization.
STAFF MEETINGS:
Efficient running of the school demands that members of the staff should occasionally meet for sharing responsibilities as well as experiences. These meetings should be presided over by the principal.
These may be convened from time to time.
Briggs found that teachers expected the following things in a staff.
i. Help in their problems.
ii. A wider outlook on education.
iii. Meeting to be happy and wholesome.
iv. Meeting based on appreciation of effort and accomplishment rather than shortcomings and faults.
Planning of staff meetings:
The teachers should be informed in advance of the problems to be discussed in the meetings. It is very important for the head to listen to every teacher with attention and care. Minutes of staff meetings should be kept if possible.
A limit must be put to staff meetings and the BEST appears to be once a month of course, there need not be any rigidity in observing this principle. Occasional meetings for some particular purposes may have to be called. Sometimes it may become necessary for he head to convey staff meeting to clarify certain points of written order issued by him. An atmosphere of cheerfulness should prevail in all such meetings.
The head of the institution should take note of the teachers problems and accordingly give his suggestions for the solution of the problems concerned. His attempt should be to help the teachers as much as possible.
Time of meeting should be such as most of the members of the staff find it convenient to attend.
Staff meetings should not be too long. Usually not more than one and a half hours be spent upon these.
Characteristics of staff meeting:
1) All discussions should be above the personal level.
2) They should be economical in time.
3) Discussion should not go off the track.
4) They should start in time.
5) They should result in concrete suggestions.
STAFF CLUB:
The formation of staff club will facilitate intimate contacts between the head and the members of the staff and also among the members of the staff themselves. One member of the staff should serve as a secretary who should be elected every year so that most of the members get a chance of leading others.
The functions of the club would be recreational cum educational. It may arrange tea during recess for the staff members. Its another function would be to arrange welcome and farewell parties. Its third function will be to arrange excursions and picnics on holidays. Its fourth function will be to arrange discussions on important school problems.
The head should not look upon this club with suspicion. He should occasionally attend meetings of the club. Through such informal meetings, he will learn more about the members of the staff and this will also help in cementing the bonds of friendship, goodwill and mutual understanding.
Principal and the beginning teacher:
1) Plan a conference with the teacher.
2) Establish the systems educational philosophy and practices with him.
3) Discuss the systems educational philosophy and practices with him.
4) Visit the class and hold short conferences after the observation.
5) Arrange for the beginners observation of successful and experienced teachers
6) Help him in making lesson plans
7) Give a good deal of assistance during the first term
8) Suggest pertinent educational literature.
9) Give encouragement and appreciation to him
10) Make him feel that he is capable of becoming a successful
11) Show patience with his progress.
Delicate and critical role of the principal, the principal has to play a very delicate and critical role as he has to strike a balance in the practical field among fighting and quarrelling students, grudging and grumbling teachers and complaining parents. The members of the teaching staff have their different whims: some sensitive, some emotional, some enthusiastic, some old, some young, some trained and other untrained and some marking time. The principal has to make the BEST use of them and seek their whole hearted cooperation in all the activities of the school, academic, co-curricular and administrative.
Encouragement in one case, assistance in overcoming difficulties in another, suggestions here, definite orders there, all are necessary, “writes H.G. Stead. The principal has to weld the members of the staff into a real team.
The principal is expected at various times and by various interests to play many roles. He must be nature of this position be:
a) A teacher of teachers.
b) A supervisor not only of teachers but of service personnel.
c) A disciplinarian just but effective.
d) A psychologist at least to the extent of discovering maladjustments, especially of teachers which hinder progress.
e) A financier in organizing the school budget.
f) A sociologist to the extent of understanding the relationships of the school with social forces.
g) A lawyer to the extent of being able to know his own obligations, rights, legal abilities as well as of those of all school personnel.
h) A technical expert in educational measurement and evaluation.
i) An expert in group dynamics to the extent of working effectively with staff, pupils, public and the authorities.
Relation of the principal with his colleagues:
Milo Stuart states, “The relation of the principal to his teachers should be the most intimate of any. If a teacher fails, the principal fails; if the teacher succeeds, the principal succeeds. To sum up what the principal’s job is, I shall call him a referee the captain of the ship the boss of the firm a juvenile judge before whose tribunal come out not only the culprits but the adults who frequently contribute to the pupil’s shortcomings. He is a promoter who must project the future of his institution and convert the public to his plan. He is a social physician to every parent who has wayward son who needs attention. He is a friend in need to pupils and to all the homes in which misfortune comes. His power, his activities, even the good he does, can not be measured by a material yardstick.
PRINCIPLES OF STAFF HARMONY:
Principle of Democratic Administration.
We have already discussed that a Head should follow the principles of democratic administration. According to K.G. Saiyidain, “To my mind a good Headmaster is one who can inspire and enthuse his colleagues without dominating over them like a hard task master”.
Principle of Sharing Responsibility:
He should be prepared to share the control and authority with his colleagues. He should not think that he is born to rule and should not desire to be on the top of everything in the school, i.e. the president of games, the chairman of literary societies and the patron of social service and health unions, etc. the different departments should be placed under the charge of the senior members of the staff. Principle of sharing responsibility should be the keynote of his policy. Supervision of the examinations, school cleanliness, morning assembly, funds, hostel, scouting, literary and social activities are some of the chief duties which would be delegated by the Headmaster to the other members of the staff. This will develop in them a sense of responsibility for the school.
PRINCIPLE OF MUTUAL CONSULTATION:
The Headmaster should frequently consult his colleagues regarding improvement in school discipline and instruction. Such consultations instill in them the spirit that they belong to the school and are as responsible to it as the headmaster is staff meeti9ngs should be called from time to time. The teachers should be given full freedom to put forth their problems in these meetings. Briggs found that the teachers expected in a staff meeting.
a. Help on their problems
b. The wider outlook in education
c. Meeting to be happy and wholesome,
d. Meeting based on appreciation of effort and accomplishment rather than shortcomings and faults. The head of the institution should take note of the teachers problems and accordingly given his suggestions for the solution of the problems concerned.
PRINCIPLE OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS:
A good headmaster keeps in view the human factor while dealing with the member of the staff. He treats them jut like friends and does not say anything to them in the presence of the students and their parents which may lower their prestige. He does not give them suggestions regarding methods of teaching when they are taking their classes but gives the same by calling them in his office and tries to avoid all bossing tendencies. The teacher should come out of the headmasters office a better person, wiser and in a more pleasant mood than he was when he went in his office. Autocratic heads are always ready to snub any pupil or teacher who puts questions to them and are easily annoyed when their colleagues differ from them.
Principle of constructive criticism:
The criticism offered by the Headmaster should be judicious, fair and constructive rather than destructive. Supervision should be a matter of inspiration to teachers. It should be moderate. Excessive supervision kills all the initiative and drive of teachers. The role of a policeman or a military officer does more harm than good.
Principle of cooperation:
On the close cooperation of the headmaster and the staff depends on the efficiency of the school and the head of the institution is to a great extent responsible for securing cooperation of teachers. According to Reavis, No matter what his personal characteristics are, he will not be successful unless he is able to inspire his associates and collaborators with the desire to work cooperatively for the goals for which the school stands. E will be judged by his ability to enlist and to utilize their ability in participating in the solution of school problems and in formulating educational policies that have the common objective of advancing the welfare of the children enrolled in the school. He does not attempt to conceal that he is their leader, but he does not on the other hand remind them what he is.
Principle of friendly supervision:
Speaking about administrators of tomorrow D.I. Lal observes, “He gives up the time old tradition of checking his teachers, frightening his teachers, weakening his teachers and examining them, but manipulates things so as to train his teachers, inspire his teachers and trust them. In this way he will not only create an excellent professional moral among the teaching staff but will also cultivate a vital interest in them for educational philosophy, so that they can continually test and re test their plans and purposes, ideas, ideals, methods and procedures, systems and organizations.
Jacobson observes, The principal should not interrupt classes, create disturbances on entering and leaving, or to take the class away from the teacher, unless invited to do so. If the principal stays to the end of the class period he should observe good manners by expressing in a sentence or two his pleasure in visiting the class but refrain from making condemnatory statements until there is sufficient time to discuss them at length, if indeed he indulges in them at all.
SUGGESTIONS FOR PROMOTING STAFF HARMONY:
1) Take the first step in being friendly.
2) Be cheerful.
3) Remember and use names
4) Take interest in the out of school activities of the members of the staff.
5) Be easily accessible to the staff.
6) Avod taking special privileges.
7) Be polite and courteous.
8) Avoid keeping people waiting.
9) Ask persons if they are willing to assume responsibility.
10) Take prompt action on requests.
11) Keep a record of promises and live up to them.
12) Attempt to see actions and decisions from the other persons point of view.
13) Give credit to the persons responsible when the school receives praise.
14) Let people know when their work is good.
15) Be concerned about the way a teacher feels about his job and his out of school life.
16) Be willing to listen.
17) Avoid any evidence of authority.
18) Ask questions that relieve anxiety about discussing a problem.
19) Give praise for reporting facts accurately.
20) Avoid giving advice.
21) Become fully informed about the social structure of the staff.
22) Refuse to accept the assumption that conflicting groups in staff are unavoidable.
23) Offer services to assist in seeking agreement when disagreements arise in the group.
24) Do not show any undue favour to any member of the staff.
25) Inform new teachers on matters of school regulation.
26) Visit teachers who are ill.
27) Keep in mind while preparing your schedule that other teachers are not put to inconvenience.
28) Show consideration for bashful teachers.
29) Give teachers a chance to tell their side of the story.
30) Do not make personal remarks to shame them.
31) Show consideration for the feeling of other teachers.
32) Do not embarrass a teacher of inferior ability or one who has physical defects.
33) Do not laugh at the actions which seem funny to you.
34) Learn to work, to play, to live successfully with your associates.
35) Learn to like people.
36) Find out how different teachers wished to be treated and treat them accordingly.
37) Be willing to help teachers secure better positions.
38) Make changes slowly, preferably at teachers suggestions.
39) Seek the help of teachers as co workers and special advisers.
40) Be sincerely interested in teachers, like them as persons. Lincoln said, “If you wish to win a man to your cause, first convince him that you are his sincere friend.
41) Give teachers your undivided attention both when listening and when talking to them.
42) Criticize only in private.
43) Smile! As they say in the Navy, “ a happy ship is a good ship” so, too, a happy school is a good school.
44) Always ask a teachers permission to break into a classroom activity.
45) Help teachers in difficulty with pupils, parents or other teachers.
46) Meet staff in informal situations.
47) Use the word co-workers in place of subordinates and treat them as such.
48) Motivate desirable action through commendation.
49) Share knowledge of coming events with colleagues.
50) Give reasons for instructions and orders.
51) Earn respect of colleges by character and behaviour.
52) Regard yourself as a member of the group rather than command respect through position.
53) Encourage suggestions, evaluate them carefully, and accept them on merit.
54) Deal appropriately with outside criticism of staff members or the organization.
STAFF MEETINGS:
Efficient running of the school demands that members of the staff should occasionally meet for sharing responsibilities as well as experiences. These meetings should be presided over by the principal.
These may be convened from time to time.
Briggs found that teachers expected the following things in a staff.
i. Help in their problems.
ii. A wider outlook on education.
iii. Meeting to be happy and wholesome.
iv. Meeting based on appreciation of effort and accomplishment rather than shortcomings and faults.
Planning of staff meetings:
The teachers should be informed in advance of the problems to be discussed in the meetings. It is very important for the head to listen to every teacher with attention and care. Minutes of staff meetings should be kept if possible.
A limit must be put to staff meetings and the BEST appears to be once a month of course, there need not be any rigidity in observing this principle. Occasional meetings for some particular purposes may have to be called. Sometimes it may become necessary for he head to convey staff meeting to clarify certain points of written order issued by him. An atmosphere of cheerfulness should prevail in all such meetings.
The head of the institution should take note of the teachers problems and accordingly give his suggestions for the solution of the problems concerned. His attempt should be to help the teachers as much as possible.
Time of meeting should be such as most of the members of the staff find it convenient to attend.
Staff meetings should not be too long. Usually not more than one and a half hours be spent upon these.
Characteristics of staff meeting:
1) All discussions should be above the personal level.
2) They should be economical in time.
3) Discussion should not go off the track.
4) They should start in time.
5) They should result in concrete suggestions.
STAFF CLUB:
The formation of staff club will facilitate intimate contacts between the head and the members of the staff and also among the members of the staff themselves. One member of the staff should serve as a secretary who should be elected every year so that most of the members get a chance of leading others.
The functions of the club would be recreational cum educational. It may arrange tea during recess for the staff members. Its another function would be to arrange welcome and farewell parties. Its third function will be to arrange excursions and picnics on holidays. Its fourth function will be to arrange discussions on important school problems.
The head should not look upon this club with suspicion. He should occasionally attend meetings of the club. Through such informal meetings, he will learn more about the members of the staff and this will also help in cementing the bonds of friendship, goodwill and mutual understanding.
Principal and the beginning teacher:
1) Plan a conference with the teacher.
2) Establish the systems educational philosophy and practices with him.
3) Discuss the systems educational philosophy and practices with him.
4) Visit the class and hold short conferences after the observation.
5) Arrange for the beginners observation of successful and experienced teachers
6) Help him in making lesson plans
7) Give a good deal of assistance during the first term
8) Suggest pertinent educational literature.
9) Give encouragement and appreciation to him
10) Make him feel that he is capable of becoming a successful
11) Show patience with his progress.
Friday, April 3, 2009
Concept of Reality, Knowledge And Value In Islam
CONCEPT OF REALITY, KNOWLEDGE AND VALUE IN ISLAM
ISLAM
Islam is a monotheistic Abrahamic religion originating with the teachings of Muhammad (SAW). The word Islam is derived from the Arabic word Aslama, which means “to accept, surrender or submit" or "submission", or “the total surrender of oneself” to Allah. An adherent of Islam is known as a Muslim, meaning "one who submits (to Allah)".
The prime message of Islam is the Unity of God, that the Creator of the world is One and He alone is worthy of worship and that Muhammad (SAW) is His Messenger. A Muslim’s other beliefs are: God’s angels, previously revealed Books of God, all the prophets, from Adam to Jesus (peace be on them both), the Day of Judgment and indeed the Decree of Allah. A Muslim has five main duties to perform, namely; bearing witness to the Unity of Allah and Muhammad (SAW) as His Messenger, observing the prescribed prayer, payment of Zakat, keeping the fasts of Ramadhan and performing the pilgrimage to Makkah.
CONCEPT OF REALITY IN ISLAM (Ultimate Reality: God and His Attributes)
Reality, in everyday usage, means "the state of things as they actually exist." The term reality, in its widest sense, includes everything that is, whether or not it is observable or comprehensible. Reality in this sense may include both being and nothingness, whereas existence is often restricted to being. In other words, "reality", as a philosophical category includes the formal concept of "nothingness" and articulations and combinations of it with other concepts.
The ultimate Being or Reality is Allah. Allah, as described by the Quran for the understanding of man, is the sole self-subsisting, all pervading, eternal and Absolute Reality. He is the first and the last, the seen and unseen. He is transcendent in the sense that He in His full glory can not be known or experienced by us finite beings – beings that can know only what can be experienced through the senses or otherwise and what is inherent in the nature of thought or is implied by it. No vision can grasp Him. He is above all comprehension. He is transcendent also because He is beyond the limitation of time, space, and sense-content. He was before time, space, and the world of sense came into existence. He is also immanent both in the soul and the spatio-temporal order.
“He is the light of the heavens and the earth. The parable of His light is as if there were a niche and within it a lamp, the lamp enclosed in glass; the glass as if it were a brilliant star lit from a blessed tree, an olive, neither of the east nor of the west, whose oil is well-nigh luminous, though fire scarce touched it: light upon light!”.
Like wise for our understanding, He describes through revelation His attributes by similitude from what is loftiest in the heavens and the earth. These attributes are many and are denoted by His names, but they can all be summarized under a few essential heads: Life, Eternity, Unity, Power, Truth, Beauty, Justice, Love, and Goodness. As compared to the essence of Allah, these attributes are only finite approaches, symbols or pointers to Reality and serve as the ultimate human ideals, they are not illogical symbols. Allah has Himself implanted them in our being. For that reason they must, in some sense, be faithful representation of the divine essence.
God, is thus, a living, self-subsisting, eternal, and absolutely free creative reality which is one, all powerful, al-knowing, all beauty, most just, most loving, and all good.
“God is one and there is no God but He. He is the only one and there is none like Him. He is too high to have partners”.
If there were other gods besides Him, some of them would have lorded over others. He is the one and not one in a trinity.
“He has begotten neither sons nor daughters, nor is He Himself begotten. And how could He be said to have sons and daughters when He has no consort”?
God and the World
Allah is omnipotent. To Him is due the primal origin of everything. It is He, the Creator, who began the process of creation and adds to creation as He pleases. To begin with He created the heavens and the earth, joined them together as one unit of smoky or nebulous substance, and then clove them asunder. The heavens and the earth as separate existents with all their produce were created by Him in six days (six great epochs of evolution). Serially considered, a divine day signifies a very long period, say, one thousand years of our calculation or even fifty thousand years. Non-serially considered,
“His decisions are executed in the twinkling of an eye or even quicker, for there is nothing to oppose His will. When He says, “Be,” behold! It is. His decree is absolute; no one can change it. He draws the night as a veil over the day, each looking for the other in a rapid series. He created the sun, the moon, and the stars, all governed by the laws designed by Him and under His command. Every creature in the heavens and the earth willingly submits to his laws. The sun runs its course for a determined period; so does the moon. The growth of a seed into a plant bearing flowers and fruit, the constellations in the sky, the succession of the day and night-these and all other things show proportion, measure, order, and law. He it is who is the creator, evolver, and restorer of all forms. He it is who sends down water from the sky in due measure, causes it to soak in the soil, raises the life to land that is dead, and then drains it off with ease”.
He is the Lord of Throne and Honor and the Throne of Glory Supreme, the Lord of the dawn and all the ways of ascent. To Him belong the east and the west, where ever, you turn, there is His presence.
It is He who spreads out the earth like a carpet, sends down water from the sky in due measure to revive it with fruit, corn, and plants, and has created pairs of plants, each separate from the others, and pairs of all other things. He gives the heavens canopy its order and perfection and night its darkness and splendor, the expanse of the earth its moisture, pastures, and mountains, springs, streams, and seas, ships, and cattle, pearls and coral, sun and shadow, wind and rain, night and day and things we humans do not know. It is He who gives life to dead land and slakes the thirst of his creatures and causes the trees to grow in to orchards full of beauty and delight.
It is He who gives life and death and has power over all things. God is not only the creator, but also the cherisher, sustainer, protector, helper, guide, and reliever of distress and suffering, of all His creatures, and is most merciful, most kind, and most forgiving. God has not created the world for idle sport. It is created with a purpose, for an appointed term, and according to a plan, however hidden these may from us humans. The world is not without a purpose or a goal, to every one of them there is a goal and that goal is God Himself.
“God is the best of planners. He it is who ordains laws and grants guidance, creates everything and ordains for it a proportion and measure, and gives guidance. There is not a thing but with Him are the treasurers of it, but He sends them down in a known measure”.
Allah’s Relation to Man
Allah created man’s spirit out of nothing and created mankind from this single spirit. He created his mate of the same kind and form the twain produced men and women in large numbers. From the point of view of history and perhaps from the point of view of the evolutionary process, man is created for an appointed term as a being growing gradually from the earth, from an extract of certain elements of the earth, then by receiving nourishment from the objects of sustenance and being endowed with life, like all other living beings, taking the form of water, or watery clay or adhesive mud molded into shape in due proportions as a life germ, a leech like clot of congealed blood, growing into a lump of flesh, further developing into bones, and finally emerging as a new creation. A human being in two sexes gifted with hearing and sight , intelligence and affection, destined to become Allah’s vicegerent on earth, decreed to die one day, and destined to be raised again on the Day of Resurrection. In reality, man is the highest of all the creation Allah has created him in the most beautiful of moulds. He is born with the divine spirit breathed into him. Human perfection, therefore, consists in being dyed in divine color – in the fullest achievement and Assimilation of divine attributes, for Allah desires nothing but the perfection of His light, the perfection of these attributes in man. The sole aim of man therefore is a progressive achievement of all divine attributes. Allah is always near man nearer than his jugular vein.
Soul
The soul of man is of divine origin because Allah has breathed a bit of His own spirit into him. It is a deep mystery, a command of Allah, of the knowledge of which only a little has been communicated to man. The conscious self or mind is of three degrees. In the first degree it is the impulsive mind (nafs ammarah) which man shares with animals; In the second degree it is the careful or morally conscious mind (nafs lawwamah) struggling between good and evil and regretful for the evil done; in the third degree it is the mind perfectly in tune with the divine will, the mind in peace (nafs mutma”innah).
Man’s Power
Allah has subjected for the use of man, everything in the heavens and the earth – the sun and the moon, day and night, winds and rain, the rivers and the seas and the ships that sail, pearls and corals, springs and steams, mountains, moisture, and pastures, and animals to ride and grain and fruit to eat.
Free-will
Allah has given man the will to choose, decide, and resolve to do good or evil. He has endowed him with reason and various impulses so that by his own efforts he may strive and explore possibilities. He has also given him a just bias, a natural bias towards good.
Besides this He has given him guidance through revelation and inspiration, and has advised him to return evil with good, to repel it with what is best (ahsan). He never changes the gracious benefits which He has bestowed on a people until they change themselves. Therefore, whatever good comes from man or to man is ultimately from God. On the other hand, his nature has a bias against evil, his reason is opposed to it, and he has been given a warning against it through the revealed books; therefore, whatever evil comes from him or to him is from his own soul. If God had willed He would have destroyed evil or would not have allowed it to exist, and if it were His will, the whole of mankind would have had faith, but that is not His plan. His plan predicts man’s free use of the divine attribute of power or freedom to choose, and take all precautionary measures to suit different situations because in the beneficial scheme man’s role is not that of blind, deaf, dumb and driven herd of goats.
Death
Death of the body has been decreed by Allah to be the common group of mankind. Wherever a man is, death will overtake him. Every soul shall be given a taste of death and in the end brought back to Allah and duly judged on the Day of Judgment, and only he who is saved from fire will admitted to paradise; it is than he will have attained the goal of his life.
Life after Death
For everyone after death there shall be an interval lasting till the Day of Resurrection. On that day all the dead shall be raised up again. Even as Allah produced the first creation, so shall He produce this new one? We do not know in what form we shall be raised, but as a parable the Quran describes the Day of Resurrection as follows:
“On that day there shall be a dreadful commotion. The heaven shall be rent asunder and melted like molten brass. The sun folded up and the moon darkened shall be joined together, and the stars shall fall, losing their luster. In terrible repeated convulsions, the earth shall be shaken to its depths and pounded into powder. The mountains shall crumble to atoms flying hither and thither like wool, the oceans shall boil over, there shall be a deafening noise, and the graves shall be turned upside down”.
All shall fully remember their past deeds. Any one who would have done an atom of good shall see it and anyone who will have done an atom of evil shall see it. They will have neither a protector, nor an intercessor except Allah They shall all now meet their lord. The scale of justice shall be set up. All in proportion to their respective deeds and for a period of longer and shorter shall go to the state of pain and sorrow, designated in the Quran as hell, and the righteous saved from hell shall enter a state of perpetual peace, designated as paradise.
CONCEPT OF KNOWLEDGE IN ISLAM
Knowledge can be defied as “The state or fact of knowing.”
Man alone has been given the capacity to use names for things and so has been given the knowledge which even the angels do not possess. When angels questioned the superiority of Adam, it was his knowledge which made the angels admit the fact and bow down to him as ordained by Allah.
“He imparted knowledge to man which He did not do to angels”
Islam is the religion of knowledge. The first aayah of the Quran to be revealed enjoined reading which the key to knowledge is. Allah says:
“Read! In the Name of your Lord Who has created (all that exists). He has created man from a clot (a piece of thick coagulated blood). Read! And your Lord is the Most Generous. Who has taught (the writing) by the pen. He has taught man that which he knew not” [al-‘Alaq 96:1-5]
According to the Quran, the first teaching class for Adam started soon after his creation and Adam was taught 'all the Names'. Allah created man and provided him with the tools for acquiring knowledge, namely hearing, sight and wisdom. Allah says:
“And Allâh has brought you out from the wombs of your mothers while you know nothing. And He gave you hearing, sight, and hearts that you might give thanks (to Allâh) [al-Nahl 16:78]
Because of the importance of knowledge, Allah commanded His Messenger to seek more of it. Allah says:
“And say: ‘My Lord! Increase me in knowledge” [Ta-Ha 20:114]
Islam calls us to seek knowledge. The Prophet (SAW) made seeking knowledge an obligation upon every Muslim. He said that;
“The scholars are the heirs of the Prophets and that the Prophets did not leave behind dinars and dirhams (i.e., money), rather their nheritance was knowledge, so whoever acquires it has gained a great share”.
The Prophet (SAW) aid that seeking knowledge is a way to Paradise. He (SAW) said:
“Whoever follows a path in the pursuit of knowledge, Allah will make a path to Paradise easy for him.” (Narrated by al-Bukhaari, Kitaab al-‘Ilm, 10)
Islam calls us to learn all kinds of beneficial knowledge. Branches of knowledge vary in status, the highest of which is knowledge of sharee’ah, then knowledge of medicine, then the other fields of knowledge.
The best of all branches of knowledge are the sciences of sharee’ah through which man comes to know his Lord, and his Prophet and religion. This is the knowledge with which Allah honored His Messenger; He taught it to him so that he might teach it to mankind.
Knowledge brings a great reward. When the knowledgeable person dies, his reward with Allah does not cease when he dies, rather it continues to increase so long as people benefit from his knowledge. The Prophet (SAW) said:
“When a man dies, all his deeds come to an end except for three – an ongoing charity, beneficial knowledge or a righteous son who will pray for him.” (Narrated by Muslim, 1631)
The first and most crucial obligation on us is to acquire knowledge and secondly to practice and preach this knowledge. No man becomes truly a Muslim without knowing the meaning of Islam, because he becomes a Muslim not through birth but through knowledge. It is impossible for us to be a Muslim, and at the same time live in a state of ignorance. If we are blessed with the light of knowledge we will be able to see plainly the clear path of Islam at every step of our lives. We shall also be able to identify and avoid the dangerous paths of Kufr, Shirk Knowledge is follow and practiced with modesty and humility and leads to beauty and dignity, freedom and justice.
The main purpose of acquiring knowledge is to bring us closer to Allah. It is not simply for the satisfaction of the mind or the senses. Knowledge must be linked with values and goals.
Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah- rahimahullaah said that knowledge can be gained by six etiquettes of learning "These are six stages to knowledge:
Firstly: Asking questions in a good manner.
Secondly: Remaining quiet and listening attentively.
Thirdly: Understanding well.
Fourthly: Memorizing.
Fifthly: Teaching.
Sixthly- and it is its fruit: Acting upon the knowledge and keeping to its limits."
The first revelation that the Prophet Muhammad (SAW) received starts remarkably with special emphasis on the importance of knowledge:
“Read! In the name of thy Lord and Cherisher, Who created; Created man, out of a (mere) clot of congealed blood ; Proclaim! And thy Lord is Most Bountiful; He Who taught (the use of) the pen; Taught man that which he knew not.” (96:1-5)
Prophet Muhammad (SAW):
“The ink of the scholar is more holy than the blood of the martyr”.
Among men those who are granted wisdom are indeed granted great good.
Degree of knowledge
Knowledge can be gained by three degrees;
(i) Knowledge by inference (Ilm al-Yaqin)
The first type of knowledge depends either on the truth of its conjecture as in deduction, or it is only probable as in induction. There is greater certitude about our knowledge based on actual experience (observation or experiment) of phenomena.
(ii) Knowledge by perception (Ain al-Yaqin)
The second type of knowledge is either scientific knowledge based on experience or historical knowledge based on reports and description of actual experiences. Not all reports are trustworthy. Therefore, special attention should be paid to the character of the reporter. If he is a man of shady character, his report should be carefully checked.
Scientific knowledge comes from the study of natural phenomenon. These natural phenomena are signs of God, symbols of the Ultimate Reality or an expression of the Truth, a human behavior is the expression of the human mind. Natural laws are the set ways of God, in which there is no change.
(iii) Knowledge by personal experience or intuition (Haq al-Yaqin)
God reveals His signs not only in the experience of the outer world (afaq) and its historical vistas, but also through the inner experience of minds (anfus). Thus, the inner or personal experience is the third source of knowledge. Experience from this source gives the highest degree of certitude. Divine guidance comes to His creatures in the first instance from this source. The forms of knowledge that come through this source are (1) divinely-determined movement – movement determined by natural causes, as in the earth, and the heavens (2) instinct, e.g., in the bee to build it cell (3) intuition or knowledge by the heart (4) inspiration as in the case of Moses’ mother when she cast her tenderly suckled child into the river, and (5) revelation as in the case of all true prophets, God’s messengers.
It may be said that Islam is the path of "knowledge." No other religion or ideology has so much emphasized the importance of 'ilm. In the Qur'an the word 'alim has occurred in 140 places, while al-'ilm in 27. In all, the total number of verses in which 'ilm or its derivatives and associated words are used is 704. The aids of knowledge such as book, pen, ink etc. amount to almost the same number. Qalam occurs in two places, al-kitab in 230 verses, among which al-kitab for al-Qur'an occurs in 81 verses. Other words associated with writing occur in 319 verses. It is important to note that pen and book are essential to the acquisition of knowledge. The Islamic revelation started with the word iqra' ('read!' or 'recite!').
CONCEPT OF VALUE IN ISLAM
Values can be defined as “those things that are important to or valued by someone”. That someone can be an individual or, collectively, an organization. One place where values are important is in relation to vision. Values are what we, as a profession, judge to be right. They are more than words-they are the moral, ethical, and professional attributes of character. Values determine what is right and what is wrong.
There are some basic values in Islam and Islam preaches to that. A human being cannot live without these basic values. Individuals and states are advised to protect or at least to respect these basic values.
(i) Life
Allah is living one Himself and gives life to others. The moral laws pronounced in the Quran are life giving and life enriching and, therefore, by living in this world in accordance with these laws man is able to realize one of Allah’s attributes. Allah says:
“If anyone saved a life, it would be as if he saved the life of the whole people”.
In other words, physical self means all those that could provide a healthy body to lead a purposeful life. Islam holds the human soul in high respect. In Islam all men are equal, regardless of color, language, race, or nationality and consider the attack against innocent human beings a vital sin; this is emphasized by the following Quranic verse:
“Whoever kills a human being for other than manslaughter or corruption and mischief in the earth, it shall be as if he had killed all mankind, and whoever saves the life of one, it shall be as if he had saved the life of all mankind. Our messengers came unto them of old with clear proofs (of Allah's Sovereignty), but afterwards lo! Many of them became prodigals in the earth” (the Quran, 5: 32).
Allah created life to test which of the people are best in point of deed. The present world is a place of sojourn and a place of departure. In fact, life on this earth is a preparation for the life hereafter.
(ii) Religion
Religion is considered as a basic value or fundamental right of every individual. One is free to practice the religion of his choice. There should not be any compulsion in choosing one's religion, nor obstruction to practice it. The religion is for providing guidance, peace, harmony, comfort and purpose in life. The religion is for teaching man to uphold truth, justice, and all the virtues. The religion is for teaching man to avoid the vices. There is no compulsion in Islam; Islam came with the just word of our creator. Allah says:
"Let there be no compulsion in religion: Truth stands out clear from Error.” (Quran 2:256)
(iii) Eternity
This attribute in its fullness is exclusively Allah’s. Man is created within time for a stated term; yet, he has within himself a deep desire of eternity and for a kingdom that never fails or ends. The way is open for the finite and temporal man to attain life everlasting.
(iv) Unity
The greatest emphasis in the Quran is on the unity of Allah. Faith in Allah is the necessary prerequisite of moral life, but it should not be mere verbal acceptance; it must be accompanied by good deeds, implying an attitude of mind which is motivated by a complete submission to Allah’s will. All believing men and women are truthful in their words and deeds.
This ideal of unity also implies peace and harmony among members of a family. Unity also implies that members of a national or ideological group should develop ties of close relationship among themselves so that the ideal of an organic whole may be realized in a broader context. The Quran says that
“All Muslims are brothers and have great love and affection among themselves”.
It is as a consequence of this attitude of tolerance that according to the Quran
“All those who believe in Allah and the last day and practice righteousness whether they are Muslims, Jews or Christians shall get their reward from their Lord’.
Mankind was created from a single pair of a male and a female and from a single breath of life. All people are equal members of the human community; the only distinction recognized by the Quran is based on the degree of righteousness possessed by people.
(v) Power
God breathed His Spirit into a human being and made him His vicegerent on the earth. Everything in the universe was created subservient to him, even the angels were ordered to bow down to him. He has all the faculties that are necessary for his physical and spiritual development and can pass beyond the limits of the heavens and the earth with the power given to him by Allah.
He is given the power to distinguish between good and evil and therefore, he alone is responsible for what he does. He is endowed with freedom of action, but his freedom is limited by the free causality of Allah. His responsibility is proportionate to his powers, he has been shown the path of righteousness and it is up to him to accept its lead or reject it.
The ideal of power demands that in order to establish a state on the basis of peace, freedom of thought, worship, belief, and expression, the morally orientated individuals will have to strive hard.
Those who clearly persevere in the path of righteousness will be in possession of a determining factor in all the affairs of this life and will be above small weaknesses. Those who are firm and steadfast will never lose heart, nor weaken in will, nor give in before the enemy. A small band of steadfastly preserving people often conquers a big force. Similarly, trust in Allah is the moral quality of all believers.
(vi) Truth or Wisdom
Wisdom as a human ideal stands for mans search for knowledge or truth. It is something which is distinguished form conjecture or imperfect knowledge and mere believe. Different stories are related in the Quran, several similitude and signs pointing to reality are detailed and explained, so that people may reflect and think over things. It is the characteristic of the righteous that they not only celebrate the praises of Allah, standing, sitting and laying down on their sides, but also contemplate and ponder over the different phenomena of nature. The people are therefore, advised repeatedly to look at and observe the phenomena of nature pondering over everything in creation to arrive at the truth.
(vii) Knowledge
God is all knowledge. He is the Truth. He witnesses all things. Really, nothing on the earth or in the heavens is hidden from Him, not even as much as the weight of an atom. On the earth and in the sea not even a leaf does fall without His knowledge. He is full of wisdom. He understands the finest of mysteries. No secrets of the heart are hidden from Him, for He has full knowledge of all things, open or secret. He knows and would call us to account for what is in our minds, whether we reveal it or conceal it.
(viii) Justice
Allah is the best to judge and is never unjust. He does not deal unjustly with man; it is man that wrongs his own soul. On the Day of Judgment, He will set up the scales of justice and even the smallest action will be taken in to account. He is swift in taking account, and punishes with exemplary punishment. For those who refrain from wrong and do what is right there is great reward. Divine punishment is equal to the evil done.
(ix) Love
Islam, emphasis on the basic values of love. God is loving and He exercises His love in creating, sustaining, nourishing, sheltering, helping, and guiding His creatures; in attending to their needs, in showing them grace, kindness, compassion, mercy, and forgiveness, when having done some wrong, they turn to him for that; and extending the benefits of His unlimited bounty to the sinners no less than to the virtuous. It is therefore, befitting for men to be overflowing in his love for God and be thankful to Him for His loving care.
(x) Goodness
“Allah is all good, free from evil (Quddus). He is also the source of all good and worthy of all praise.”
Goodness is an attribute of Allah and therefore, it becomes the duty of every person to obey his own impulse to good. He should do good as Allah has been good to all and love those who do good. Believers hasten in every good work as all prophets were quick in emulating good works so all people are advised to strive together towards all that is good.
(xi) Beauty
Allah posses most beautiful named and highest excellence and creates everything of great beauty. Man is created in the best of moulds and is given a most beautiful shape. Allah created the universe with beauty
“Allah is beautiful and loves the beautiful.".
He created all beauties for humanity. The sun, the moon, everything that we see. He created for people to live beautifully, and He is giving good energy through all of it. If people know how to use this well, then they will find this beauty, and they will beautify their lives. If they are not able to find this beauty, then this beauty in them will become negative, and this example of paradise, this life, will turn into fire.
Allah did not create anything bad. He created everything as good and beautiful. He has given everything to the service of humanity. There is not one thing that will serve else as humanity. Everything that is done, everything that we see, is serving humanity. If we see these truths, these realities, then we will walk towards the Reality, and we will find beauty. Allah has revealed the most beautiful message in the form of a book and given the best of explanations in the revealed books we are, therefore, advised to follow the best of revelations from Allah.
In short, “Allah is omnipresent and every thing in this world has to prostrate Allah”.
Also,
“Science has proved that the voice which comes from heartbeat is LUBDUB…. But now they analyze that it is RUB RUB (ALLAH ALLAH). RUB is Arabic word which means One Who made journey of LIFE”.
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REFERENCES
M. M. Sharif. 2004. A History of Muslim Philosophy. Vol. I. Pakistan Philosophical Congress. 136-165.
Rizavi, S. S. 1986. Islamic Philosophy of Education. Malik Faiz Bakhsh (Secretary) Institute of Islamic Culture, Lahore. 65.
Akgunduz, A. 2008. Norms and Values in Islam. www.islamicuniversity.nl. Islamic University Rtterdam Aelbrechtskade. 100-3023.
http://www.al-islam.org/al-tawhid/islam-know-conc.htm
www.sherifbaba.com
www.google.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam
http://www-users.york.ac.uk/~socs343/khutbah_pdf/KNOWLEDGE.pdf
ISLAM
Islam is a monotheistic Abrahamic religion originating with the teachings of Muhammad (SAW). The word Islam is derived from the Arabic word Aslama, which means “to accept, surrender or submit" or "submission", or “the total surrender of oneself” to Allah. An adherent of Islam is known as a Muslim, meaning "one who submits (to Allah)".
The prime message of Islam is the Unity of God, that the Creator of the world is One and He alone is worthy of worship and that Muhammad (SAW) is His Messenger. A Muslim’s other beliefs are: God’s angels, previously revealed Books of God, all the prophets, from Adam to Jesus (peace be on them both), the Day of Judgment and indeed the Decree of Allah. A Muslim has five main duties to perform, namely; bearing witness to the Unity of Allah and Muhammad (SAW) as His Messenger, observing the prescribed prayer, payment of Zakat, keeping the fasts of Ramadhan and performing the pilgrimage to Makkah.
CONCEPT OF REALITY IN ISLAM (Ultimate Reality: God and His Attributes)
Reality, in everyday usage, means "the state of things as they actually exist." The term reality, in its widest sense, includes everything that is, whether or not it is observable or comprehensible. Reality in this sense may include both being and nothingness, whereas existence is often restricted to being. In other words, "reality", as a philosophical category includes the formal concept of "nothingness" and articulations and combinations of it with other concepts.
The ultimate Being or Reality is Allah. Allah, as described by the Quran for the understanding of man, is the sole self-subsisting, all pervading, eternal and Absolute Reality. He is the first and the last, the seen and unseen. He is transcendent in the sense that He in His full glory can not be known or experienced by us finite beings – beings that can know only what can be experienced through the senses or otherwise and what is inherent in the nature of thought or is implied by it. No vision can grasp Him. He is above all comprehension. He is transcendent also because He is beyond the limitation of time, space, and sense-content. He was before time, space, and the world of sense came into existence. He is also immanent both in the soul and the spatio-temporal order.
“He is the light of the heavens and the earth. The parable of His light is as if there were a niche and within it a lamp, the lamp enclosed in glass; the glass as if it were a brilliant star lit from a blessed tree, an olive, neither of the east nor of the west, whose oil is well-nigh luminous, though fire scarce touched it: light upon light!”.
Like wise for our understanding, He describes through revelation His attributes by similitude from what is loftiest in the heavens and the earth. These attributes are many and are denoted by His names, but they can all be summarized under a few essential heads: Life, Eternity, Unity, Power, Truth, Beauty, Justice, Love, and Goodness. As compared to the essence of Allah, these attributes are only finite approaches, symbols or pointers to Reality and serve as the ultimate human ideals, they are not illogical symbols. Allah has Himself implanted them in our being. For that reason they must, in some sense, be faithful representation of the divine essence.
God, is thus, a living, self-subsisting, eternal, and absolutely free creative reality which is one, all powerful, al-knowing, all beauty, most just, most loving, and all good.
“God is one and there is no God but He. He is the only one and there is none like Him. He is too high to have partners”.
If there were other gods besides Him, some of them would have lorded over others. He is the one and not one in a trinity.
“He has begotten neither sons nor daughters, nor is He Himself begotten. And how could He be said to have sons and daughters when He has no consort”?
God and the World
Allah is omnipotent. To Him is due the primal origin of everything. It is He, the Creator, who began the process of creation and adds to creation as He pleases. To begin with He created the heavens and the earth, joined them together as one unit of smoky or nebulous substance, and then clove them asunder. The heavens and the earth as separate existents with all their produce were created by Him in six days (six great epochs of evolution). Serially considered, a divine day signifies a very long period, say, one thousand years of our calculation or even fifty thousand years. Non-serially considered,
“His decisions are executed in the twinkling of an eye or even quicker, for there is nothing to oppose His will. When He says, “Be,” behold! It is. His decree is absolute; no one can change it. He draws the night as a veil over the day, each looking for the other in a rapid series. He created the sun, the moon, and the stars, all governed by the laws designed by Him and under His command. Every creature in the heavens and the earth willingly submits to his laws. The sun runs its course for a determined period; so does the moon. The growth of a seed into a plant bearing flowers and fruit, the constellations in the sky, the succession of the day and night-these and all other things show proportion, measure, order, and law. He it is who is the creator, evolver, and restorer of all forms. He it is who sends down water from the sky in due measure, causes it to soak in the soil, raises the life to land that is dead, and then drains it off with ease”.
He is the Lord of Throne and Honor and the Throne of Glory Supreme, the Lord of the dawn and all the ways of ascent. To Him belong the east and the west, where ever, you turn, there is His presence.
It is He who spreads out the earth like a carpet, sends down water from the sky in due measure to revive it with fruit, corn, and plants, and has created pairs of plants, each separate from the others, and pairs of all other things. He gives the heavens canopy its order and perfection and night its darkness and splendor, the expanse of the earth its moisture, pastures, and mountains, springs, streams, and seas, ships, and cattle, pearls and coral, sun and shadow, wind and rain, night and day and things we humans do not know. It is He who gives life to dead land and slakes the thirst of his creatures and causes the trees to grow in to orchards full of beauty and delight.
It is He who gives life and death and has power over all things. God is not only the creator, but also the cherisher, sustainer, protector, helper, guide, and reliever of distress and suffering, of all His creatures, and is most merciful, most kind, and most forgiving. God has not created the world for idle sport. It is created with a purpose, for an appointed term, and according to a plan, however hidden these may from us humans. The world is not without a purpose or a goal, to every one of them there is a goal and that goal is God Himself.
“God is the best of planners. He it is who ordains laws and grants guidance, creates everything and ordains for it a proportion and measure, and gives guidance. There is not a thing but with Him are the treasurers of it, but He sends them down in a known measure”.
Allah’s Relation to Man
Allah created man’s spirit out of nothing and created mankind from this single spirit. He created his mate of the same kind and form the twain produced men and women in large numbers. From the point of view of history and perhaps from the point of view of the evolutionary process, man is created for an appointed term as a being growing gradually from the earth, from an extract of certain elements of the earth, then by receiving nourishment from the objects of sustenance and being endowed with life, like all other living beings, taking the form of water, or watery clay or adhesive mud molded into shape in due proportions as a life germ, a leech like clot of congealed blood, growing into a lump of flesh, further developing into bones, and finally emerging as a new creation. A human being in two sexes gifted with hearing and sight , intelligence and affection, destined to become Allah’s vicegerent on earth, decreed to die one day, and destined to be raised again on the Day of Resurrection. In reality, man is the highest of all the creation Allah has created him in the most beautiful of moulds. He is born with the divine spirit breathed into him. Human perfection, therefore, consists in being dyed in divine color – in the fullest achievement and Assimilation of divine attributes, for Allah desires nothing but the perfection of His light, the perfection of these attributes in man. The sole aim of man therefore is a progressive achievement of all divine attributes. Allah is always near man nearer than his jugular vein.
Soul
The soul of man is of divine origin because Allah has breathed a bit of His own spirit into him. It is a deep mystery, a command of Allah, of the knowledge of which only a little has been communicated to man. The conscious self or mind is of three degrees. In the first degree it is the impulsive mind (nafs ammarah) which man shares with animals; In the second degree it is the careful or morally conscious mind (nafs lawwamah) struggling between good and evil and regretful for the evil done; in the third degree it is the mind perfectly in tune with the divine will, the mind in peace (nafs mutma”innah).
Man’s Power
Allah has subjected for the use of man, everything in the heavens and the earth – the sun and the moon, day and night, winds and rain, the rivers and the seas and the ships that sail, pearls and corals, springs and steams, mountains, moisture, and pastures, and animals to ride and grain and fruit to eat.
Free-will
Allah has given man the will to choose, decide, and resolve to do good or evil. He has endowed him with reason and various impulses so that by his own efforts he may strive and explore possibilities. He has also given him a just bias, a natural bias towards good.
Besides this He has given him guidance through revelation and inspiration, and has advised him to return evil with good, to repel it with what is best (ahsan). He never changes the gracious benefits which He has bestowed on a people until they change themselves. Therefore, whatever good comes from man or to man is ultimately from God. On the other hand, his nature has a bias against evil, his reason is opposed to it, and he has been given a warning against it through the revealed books; therefore, whatever evil comes from him or to him is from his own soul. If God had willed He would have destroyed evil or would not have allowed it to exist, and if it were His will, the whole of mankind would have had faith, but that is not His plan. His plan predicts man’s free use of the divine attribute of power or freedom to choose, and take all precautionary measures to suit different situations because in the beneficial scheme man’s role is not that of blind, deaf, dumb and driven herd of goats.
Death
Death of the body has been decreed by Allah to be the common group of mankind. Wherever a man is, death will overtake him. Every soul shall be given a taste of death and in the end brought back to Allah and duly judged on the Day of Judgment, and only he who is saved from fire will admitted to paradise; it is than he will have attained the goal of his life.
Life after Death
For everyone after death there shall be an interval lasting till the Day of Resurrection. On that day all the dead shall be raised up again. Even as Allah produced the first creation, so shall He produce this new one? We do not know in what form we shall be raised, but as a parable the Quran describes the Day of Resurrection as follows:
“On that day there shall be a dreadful commotion. The heaven shall be rent asunder and melted like molten brass. The sun folded up and the moon darkened shall be joined together, and the stars shall fall, losing their luster. In terrible repeated convulsions, the earth shall be shaken to its depths and pounded into powder. The mountains shall crumble to atoms flying hither and thither like wool, the oceans shall boil over, there shall be a deafening noise, and the graves shall be turned upside down”.
All shall fully remember their past deeds. Any one who would have done an atom of good shall see it and anyone who will have done an atom of evil shall see it. They will have neither a protector, nor an intercessor except Allah They shall all now meet their lord. The scale of justice shall be set up. All in proportion to their respective deeds and for a period of longer and shorter shall go to the state of pain and sorrow, designated in the Quran as hell, and the righteous saved from hell shall enter a state of perpetual peace, designated as paradise.
CONCEPT OF KNOWLEDGE IN ISLAM
Knowledge can be defied as “The state or fact of knowing.”
Man alone has been given the capacity to use names for things and so has been given the knowledge which even the angels do not possess. When angels questioned the superiority of Adam, it was his knowledge which made the angels admit the fact and bow down to him as ordained by Allah.
“He imparted knowledge to man which He did not do to angels”
Islam is the religion of knowledge. The first aayah of the Quran to be revealed enjoined reading which the key to knowledge is. Allah says:
“Read! In the Name of your Lord Who has created (all that exists). He has created man from a clot (a piece of thick coagulated blood). Read! And your Lord is the Most Generous. Who has taught (the writing) by the pen. He has taught man that which he knew not” [al-‘Alaq 96:1-5]
According to the Quran, the first teaching class for Adam started soon after his creation and Adam was taught 'all the Names'. Allah created man and provided him with the tools for acquiring knowledge, namely hearing, sight and wisdom. Allah says:
“And Allâh has brought you out from the wombs of your mothers while you know nothing. And He gave you hearing, sight, and hearts that you might give thanks (to Allâh) [al-Nahl 16:78]
Because of the importance of knowledge, Allah commanded His Messenger to seek more of it. Allah says:
“And say: ‘My Lord! Increase me in knowledge” [Ta-Ha 20:114]
Islam calls us to seek knowledge. The Prophet (SAW) made seeking knowledge an obligation upon every Muslim. He said that;
“The scholars are the heirs of the Prophets and that the Prophets did not leave behind dinars and dirhams (i.e., money), rather their nheritance was knowledge, so whoever acquires it has gained a great share”.
The Prophet (SAW) aid that seeking knowledge is a way to Paradise. He (SAW) said:
“Whoever follows a path in the pursuit of knowledge, Allah will make a path to Paradise easy for him.” (Narrated by al-Bukhaari, Kitaab al-‘Ilm, 10)
Islam calls us to learn all kinds of beneficial knowledge. Branches of knowledge vary in status, the highest of which is knowledge of sharee’ah, then knowledge of medicine, then the other fields of knowledge.
The best of all branches of knowledge are the sciences of sharee’ah through which man comes to know his Lord, and his Prophet and religion. This is the knowledge with which Allah honored His Messenger; He taught it to him so that he might teach it to mankind.
Knowledge brings a great reward. When the knowledgeable person dies, his reward with Allah does not cease when he dies, rather it continues to increase so long as people benefit from his knowledge. The Prophet (SAW) said:
“When a man dies, all his deeds come to an end except for three – an ongoing charity, beneficial knowledge or a righteous son who will pray for him.” (Narrated by Muslim, 1631)
The first and most crucial obligation on us is to acquire knowledge and secondly to practice and preach this knowledge. No man becomes truly a Muslim without knowing the meaning of Islam, because he becomes a Muslim not through birth but through knowledge. It is impossible for us to be a Muslim, and at the same time live in a state of ignorance. If we are blessed with the light of knowledge we will be able to see plainly the clear path of Islam at every step of our lives. We shall also be able to identify and avoid the dangerous paths of Kufr, Shirk Knowledge is follow and practiced with modesty and humility and leads to beauty and dignity, freedom and justice.
The main purpose of acquiring knowledge is to bring us closer to Allah. It is not simply for the satisfaction of the mind or the senses. Knowledge must be linked with values and goals.
Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah- rahimahullaah said that knowledge can be gained by six etiquettes of learning "These are six stages to knowledge:
Firstly: Asking questions in a good manner.
Secondly: Remaining quiet and listening attentively.
Thirdly: Understanding well.
Fourthly: Memorizing.
Fifthly: Teaching.
Sixthly- and it is its fruit: Acting upon the knowledge and keeping to its limits."
The first revelation that the Prophet Muhammad (SAW) received starts remarkably with special emphasis on the importance of knowledge:
“Read! In the name of thy Lord and Cherisher, Who created; Created man, out of a (mere) clot of congealed blood ; Proclaim! And thy Lord is Most Bountiful; He Who taught (the use of) the pen; Taught man that which he knew not.” (96:1-5)
Prophet Muhammad (SAW):
“The ink of the scholar is more holy than the blood of the martyr”.
Among men those who are granted wisdom are indeed granted great good.
Degree of knowledge
Knowledge can be gained by three degrees;
(i) Knowledge by inference (Ilm al-Yaqin)
The first type of knowledge depends either on the truth of its conjecture as in deduction, or it is only probable as in induction. There is greater certitude about our knowledge based on actual experience (observation or experiment) of phenomena.
(ii) Knowledge by perception (Ain al-Yaqin)
The second type of knowledge is either scientific knowledge based on experience or historical knowledge based on reports and description of actual experiences. Not all reports are trustworthy. Therefore, special attention should be paid to the character of the reporter. If he is a man of shady character, his report should be carefully checked.
Scientific knowledge comes from the study of natural phenomenon. These natural phenomena are signs of God, symbols of the Ultimate Reality or an expression of the Truth, a human behavior is the expression of the human mind. Natural laws are the set ways of God, in which there is no change.
(iii) Knowledge by personal experience or intuition (Haq al-Yaqin)
God reveals His signs not only in the experience of the outer world (afaq) and its historical vistas, but also through the inner experience of minds (anfus). Thus, the inner or personal experience is the third source of knowledge. Experience from this source gives the highest degree of certitude. Divine guidance comes to His creatures in the first instance from this source. The forms of knowledge that come through this source are (1) divinely-determined movement – movement determined by natural causes, as in the earth, and the heavens (2) instinct, e.g., in the bee to build it cell (3) intuition or knowledge by the heart (4) inspiration as in the case of Moses’ mother when she cast her tenderly suckled child into the river, and (5) revelation as in the case of all true prophets, God’s messengers.
It may be said that Islam is the path of "knowledge." No other religion or ideology has so much emphasized the importance of 'ilm. In the Qur'an the word 'alim has occurred in 140 places, while al-'ilm in 27. In all, the total number of verses in which 'ilm or its derivatives and associated words are used is 704. The aids of knowledge such as book, pen, ink etc. amount to almost the same number. Qalam occurs in two places, al-kitab in 230 verses, among which al-kitab for al-Qur'an occurs in 81 verses. Other words associated with writing occur in 319 verses. It is important to note that pen and book are essential to the acquisition of knowledge. The Islamic revelation started with the word iqra' ('read!' or 'recite!').
CONCEPT OF VALUE IN ISLAM
Values can be defined as “those things that are important to or valued by someone”. That someone can be an individual or, collectively, an organization. One place where values are important is in relation to vision. Values are what we, as a profession, judge to be right. They are more than words-they are the moral, ethical, and professional attributes of character. Values determine what is right and what is wrong.
There are some basic values in Islam and Islam preaches to that. A human being cannot live without these basic values. Individuals and states are advised to protect or at least to respect these basic values.
(i) Life
Allah is living one Himself and gives life to others. The moral laws pronounced in the Quran are life giving and life enriching and, therefore, by living in this world in accordance with these laws man is able to realize one of Allah’s attributes. Allah says:
“If anyone saved a life, it would be as if he saved the life of the whole people”.
In other words, physical self means all those that could provide a healthy body to lead a purposeful life. Islam holds the human soul in high respect. In Islam all men are equal, regardless of color, language, race, or nationality and consider the attack against innocent human beings a vital sin; this is emphasized by the following Quranic verse:
“Whoever kills a human being for other than manslaughter or corruption and mischief in the earth, it shall be as if he had killed all mankind, and whoever saves the life of one, it shall be as if he had saved the life of all mankind. Our messengers came unto them of old with clear proofs (of Allah's Sovereignty), but afterwards lo! Many of them became prodigals in the earth” (the Quran, 5: 32).
Allah created life to test which of the people are best in point of deed. The present world is a place of sojourn and a place of departure. In fact, life on this earth is a preparation for the life hereafter.
(ii) Religion
Religion is considered as a basic value or fundamental right of every individual. One is free to practice the religion of his choice. There should not be any compulsion in choosing one's religion, nor obstruction to practice it. The religion is for providing guidance, peace, harmony, comfort and purpose in life. The religion is for teaching man to uphold truth, justice, and all the virtues. The religion is for teaching man to avoid the vices. There is no compulsion in Islam; Islam came with the just word of our creator. Allah says:
"Let there be no compulsion in religion: Truth stands out clear from Error.” (Quran 2:256)
(iii) Eternity
This attribute in its fullness is exclusively Allah’s. Man is created within time for a stated term; yet, he has within himself a deep desire of eternity and for a kingdom that never fails or ends. The way is open for the finite and temporal man to attain life everlasting.
(iv) Unity
The greatest emphasis in the Quran is on the unity of Allah. Faith in Allah is the necessary prerequisite of moral life, but it should not be mere verbal acceptance; it must be accompanied by good deeds, implying an attitude of mind which is motivated by a complete submission to Allah’s will. All believing men and women are truthful in their words and deeds.
This ideal of unity also implies peace and harmony among members of a family. Unity also implies that members of a national or ideological group should develop ties of close relationship among themselves so that the ideal of an organic whole may be realized in a broader context. The Quran says that
“All Muslims are brothers and have great love and affection among themselves”.
It is as a consequence of this attitude of tolerance that according to the Quran
“All those who believe in Allah and the last day and practice righteousness whether they are Muslims, Jews or Christians shall get their reward from their Lord’.
Mankind was created from a single pair of a male and a female and from a single breath of life. All people are equal members of the human community; the only distinction recognized by the Quran is based on the degree of righteousness possessed by people.
(v) Power
God breathed His Spirit into a human being and made him His vicegerent on the earth. Everything in the universe was created subservient to him, even the angels were ordered to bow down to him. He has all the faculties that are necessary for his physical and spiritual development and can pass beyond the limits of the heavens and the earth with the power given to him by Allah.
He is given the power to distinguish between good and evil and therefore, he alone is responsible for what he does. He is endowed with freedom of action, but his freedom is limited by the free causality of Allah. His responsibility is proportionate to his powers, he has been shown the path of righteousness and it is up to him to accept its lead or reject it.
The ideal of power demands that in order to establish a state on the basis of peace, freedom of thought, worship, belief, and expression, the morally orientated individuals will have to strive hard.
Those who clearly persevere in the path of righteousness will be in possession of a determining factor in all the affairs of this life and will be above small weaknesses. Those who are firm and steadfast will never lose heart, nor weaken in will, nor give in before the enemy. A small band of steadfastly preserving people often conquers a big force. Similarly, trust in Allah is the moral quality of all believers.
(vi) Truth or Wisdom
Wisdom as a human ideal stands for mans search for knowledge or truth. It is something which is distinguished form conjecture or imperfect knowledge and mere believe. Different stories are related in the Quran, several similitude and signs pointing to reality are detailed and explained, so that people may reflect and think over things. It is the characteristic of the righteous that they not only celebrate the praises of Allah, standing, sitting and laying down on their sides, but also contemplate and ponder over the different phenomena of nature. The people are therefore, advised repeatedly to look at and observe the phenomena of nature pondering over everything in creation to arrive at the truth.
(vii) Knowledge
God is all knowledge. He is the Truth. He witnesses all things. Really, nothing on the earth or in the heavens is hidden from Him, not even as much as the weight of an atom. On the earth and in the sea not even a leaf does fall without His knowledge. He is full of wisdom. He understands the finest of mysteries. No secrets of the heart are hidden from Him, for He has full knowledge of all things, open or secret. He knows and would call us to account for what is in our minds, whether we reveal it or conceal it.
(viii) Justice
Allah is the best to judge and is never unjust. He does not deal unjustly with man; it is man that wrongs his own soul. On the Day of Judgment, He will set up the scales of justice and even the smallest action will be taken in to account. He is swift in taking account, and punishes with exemplary punishment. For those who refrain from wrong and do what is right there is great reward. Divine punishment is equal to the evil done.
(ix) Love
Islam, emphasis on the basic values of love. God is loving and He exercises His love in creating, sustaining, nourishing, sheltering, helping, and guiding His creatures; in attending to their needs, in showing them grace, kindness, compassion, mercy, and forgiveness, when having done some wrong, they turn to him for that; and extending the benefits of His unlimited bounty to the sinners no less than to the virtuous. It is therefore, befitting for men to be overflowing in his love for God and be thankful to Him for His loving care.
(x) Goodness
“Allah is all good, free from evil (Quddus). He is also the source of all good and worthy of all praise.”
Goodness is an attribute of Allah and therefore, it becomes the duty of every person to obey his own impulse to good. He should do good as Allah has been good to all and love those who do good. Believers hasten in every good work as all prophets were quick in emulating good works so all people are advised to strive together towards all that is good.
(xi) Beauty
Allah posses most beautiful named and highest excellence and creates everything of great beauty. Man is created in the best of moulds and is given a most beautiful shape. Allah created the universe with beauty
“Allah is beautiful and loves the beautiful.".
He created all beauties for humanity. The sun, the moon, everything that we see. He created for people to live beautifully, and He is giving good energy through all of it. If people know how to use this well, then they will find this beauty, and they will beautify their lives. If they are not able to find this beauty, then this beauty in them will become negative, and this example of paradise, this life, will turn into fire.
Allah did not create anything bad. He created everything as good and beautiful. He has given everything to the service of humanity. There is not one thing that will serve else as humanity. Everything that is done, everything that we see, is serving humanity. If we see these truths, these realities, then we will walk towards the Reality, and we will find beauty. Allah has revealed the most beautiful message in the form of a book and given the best of explanations in the revealed books we are, therefore, advised to follow the best of revelations from Allah.
In short, “Allah is omnipresent and every thing in this world has to prostrate Allah”.
Also,
“Science has proved that the voice which comes from heartbeat is LUBDUB…. But now they analyze that it is RUB RUB (ALLAH ALLAH). RUB is Arabic word which means One Who made journey of LIFE”.
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REFERENCES
M. M. Sharif. 2004. A History of Muslim Philosophy. Vol. I. Pakistan Philosophical Congress. 136-165.
Rizavi, S. S. 1986. Islamic Philosophy of Education. Malik Faiz Bakhsh (Secretary) Institute of Islamic Culture, Lahore. 65.
Akgunduz, A. 2008. Norms and Values in Islam. www.islamicuniversity.nl. Islamic University Rtterdam Aelbrechtskade. 100-3023.
http://www.al-islam.org/al-tawhid/islam-know-conc.htm
www.sherifbaba.com
www.google.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam
http://www-users.york.ac.uk/~socs343/khutbah_pdf/KNOWLEDGE.pdf
Theory of Learning, “Operant Conditioning"
by Nazneen Shah
Theory of Learning, “Operant Conditioning” by B.F Skinner
Learning: What goes in the process of learning? How do we learn?
There are various theories which throw light on the phenomenon of learning. Each theory with its systematic body of knowledge explains the nature and process of learning. These theories represent broad principles and techniques of learning. These theories also put forth various methods of learning and suggest the teacher and learner to take proper steps for the effective learning.
Modern learning theories maybe classified into two broad types, namely:
A) Stimulus response- associationist type of learning theory.
B) Gestalt field or field cognitive type of learning theory.
A) S-R associationst type of theory interprets learning in terms of the change in behavior of the learner brought about by association of the response to a series of stimuli. The chief exponents of this type of theories are:
1. Edward L. Thorndike: his idea and system is called “connectionism”, “Trial and Error” or “S-R learning theories.
II. John B. Watson and Evan Petrovich Pavlov: their idea and system is known as classical condition.
III. Burrhus Frederic Skinner is called “Operant conditioning”
None of these theories are said to be complete in all aspects for explaining the phenomenon of learning. Each one of them gives partial description. For example one theory is good in explaining the learning process in one situation while the others hold equally good in the other different situations
Trial and Error or S-R Learning theory
Thorndike put a hungry cat in a puzzle box. There was only one door for exit which could be opened by correctly manipulating a latch. A fish was placed outside the box. The smell of the fish worked as a strong motive for the hungry cat to come out of the box. Consequently the cat made every possible effort to come out. It tries to squeeze through every opening, it claws and bites at the bars or wires. In this way, it made a number of random movements. In one of the random movement, by chance the latch was manipulated. The cat comes out and got its reward response. Now it was able to open the door without any error or learnt the way of opening the door. This experiment sums up the following stages in the process of learning.
Drive: hunger intensified with the sight and smell of the food i.e. smell of a fish.
Goal: To get the food by getting out of the box.
Block: The cat was confined in the box with a closed door.
Random movements: the cat persistently tried to get out of the box.
Chance success: As a result of these striving and random movements, the cat, by chance, succeeded in opening the latch
Selection: (of proper movement) gradually the cat recognized the correct opening way by manipulating the latch out of its random movements
Fixation: At last the cat learned the proper way of opening the door by eliminating all the incorrect responses and fixing only right response. Now it was able to open the door without any error
Thorndike named the learning of his experiment as “Trial and Error” He maintained that the learning is nothing but the stamping in of the correct responses and stamping out of the incorrect responses through trial and error. In trying for the correct solution the cat made so many vain attempts. It committed errors and errors before getting success. On subsequent trial, it tried to avoid the erroneous ways and repeat the correct ways of manipulating the latch. Thorndike called it “learning by selecting and connecting” as it provides an opportunity for the selection of the proper responses and connect or associate them with appropriate stimuli. In this reference Thorndike has written “Learning is connecting. The mind is man’s connection system”
Evan Patrovich Pavlov’s “Classical conditioning” learning theory
Pavlov gave birth to a new theory of learning known as conditioned response theory or simply as learning by conditioning.
Experiment: In one of the experiments, Pavlov kept a dog hungry for the night and then tied him on to the experimental table which was fitted with certain mechanically controlled devices. The dog was made comfortable and distractions were excluded as far as it was possible to do so. The observer kept himself hidden from the view of the dog but able to view the experiment by means of a set of mirrors. Arrangements were made to give food to the dog through automatic devices. Every time when food was presented before the dog, he also arranged for the ringing of a bell. When the food presented before the dog and the bell was rung, there was automatic secretion of saliva from the mouth of the dog. The activity of presenting the food accompanied with a ringing of the bell was repeated several times and the amount of saliva secreted was measured.
After several trials, the dog was given no food but the bell was rung. In this case also the amount of saliva secreted was recorded and measured. It was found that even in the absence of food (the natural stimulus), the ringing of the bell (an artificial stimulus) caused the dog to secrete the saliva (natural response)
It considers the learning as a habit formation and is based on the principle of association and substitution. It is simply a stimulus-response type of learning where in place of a natural stimulus like food and water etc, the artificial stimulus like sound of the bell, can evoke a natural response. When both the artificial or neutral stimulus (ringing of the bell) and natural stimulus (food) are brought together, several times, the dog becomes habituated or conditioned to respond to this situation. There becomes perfect association between the types of stimuli presented together. As a result, after some times natural stimulus can be substituted or replaced by an artificial stimulus and this artificial stimulus is able to evoke the natural response.
Diagrammatic Presentation of the Experiment
Natural Stimulus Natural response
(Presentation of food) (Salivation)
S1 R2
S2 R2
Artificial Stimulus General Alertness
(Ringing bell)
Experiment No 2. In one of the experiment done by Watson, the subject was the human baby of eleven months. The baby was given a rabbit to play. The baby liked it very much and was pleased to touch its fur. He watched carefully the pleasant responses of the baby. After some times in the course of the experiment, a loud noise was produced to frighten the baby. As soon as the baby touched the rabbit the baby was frightened. Each time when he wanted to touch the rabbit, the loud noise was produced and he gave fear response.
From these experiments, Watson and Pavlov concluded that all type of learning can be explained through the process of conditioning. What is this process?
It is a learning process by means of which artificial stimulus is able behave like a natural stimulus when both natural and artificial stimulus are presented together. In this type of learning, association plays a great role since the individual responds to an artificial stimulus because he associates it with the natural stimulus
Burrhus Frederick Skinner (1904-1990) was born in Susquehanna Penensyvanian railroad town closed to the New York State border.
At school and College, skinner was interested in literature and biology and considered becoming a poet and novelist. However he becomes interested in psychology after reading books by Pavlov and Watson. He enrolled at the psychology department at Harvard University gaining a PhD degree in psychology in 1931. In1948 he joined psychology department in Harvard University there he remained professionally active until his death in 1990.
During World War II Skinner participated in a government research project, the result of which were not made public until 1959. He had been conditioning pigeons to pilot missiles and torpedoes. The pigeons were so highly trained that they could guide a missile right down into the smokestack of navel destroyer
Skinner’s Experiments regarding ‘ operant conditioning’
B.F Skinner conducted a series of experiment with animals. For conducting the experiments with rats, he designed a special apparatus known as Skinner’s Box. It was a much modified form of the puzzle box used by Thorndike for his experiments with cats. The darken sound proof box mainly consists of a grid floor, a system of light or sound produced at the time of delivering a pallet of food in the food cup, a lever and a food cup. It is arranged so that when a rat (hungry or thirsty) presses the lever the feeder mechanism is activated, a light or a special sound is produced and a small pallet of food or small drops of water is released into the food cup. For recording the observation of the experiments, the lever is connected with a recorder system which produces a graphical tracing of the lever pressing against the length of the time the rat is in box.
To begin with, Skinner, in one of his experiments, placed a hungry rat in the box. In this experiment pressing of the bar in a desirable way by the rat could result in the production of a click- sound acted as a cue or signal indicating to the rat if it respond by going to the food cup, it will be rewarded. The rat was rewarded for each of his proper attempts for pressing the lever. The lever press response having been a rewarded, was repeated and when it occurred, it was again rewarded which further increased the probability of the repetition of the lever press response and so on. In this way ultimately the rat learned the act of pressing the lever as desired by the experimenter
For doing experiments with pigeons Skinner made use of another specific apparatus called ‘pigeon box’. A pigeon in this experiment had to peck at a lighted plastic key mounted on the wall at head high was subsequently rewarded by receiving grain. With the help of such experiments, Skinner put forward his theory of operant conditioning for learning not only the simple responses like pressing of the lever but also for learning the most difficult and complex series of responses pressing of the lever or latch but also for learning the most difficult and complex series of responses.
Although classified and included in the category of conditioning, operant conditioning differs a lot from the classical conditioning advocated by Watson and Pavlov. The most outstanding difference lies in the order related with the initiation and response i.e. stimulus response mechanism. In classical conditioning the organism is passive. It must wait for something to happen for responding. The presence of a stimulus for evoking a response is essential. The behavior can not be emitted in the absence of a cause. The child expresses fear when he hears a loud noise; the dog waits for food to arrive before salivating. In each of such instances, the subject has no control over the happening. He is made to behave in response to the stimulus situations. Thus, the behavior is said to be initiated by the environment, the organism simply responds.
Skinner revolted against ‘no stimulus no response’ mechanism in the evolution of behavior. He argued that in practical situation in our life we can not wait for things to happen in the environment. Man is not a victim of the environment. He may often manipulate the things in the environment with his own initiative. Therefore, it is not always essential that there must be some know stimulus or causes of evoking a response. Quite often, most of our responses could not be attributed to the known stimuli. The organism itself initiates the behavior. A dog, a child, or an individual ‘does” something ‘behaves’ in some manner, it ‘operates’ on the environment and in turn environment responds to the activity. How the environment responds to the activity, rewarding or not, largely determines whether the behavior will be repeated, maintained or avoided.
From where Skinner got the cue for such ideas in a question that can arise at this stage. Definitely it was from the studies and observations of an earlier psychologist named Thorndike. Through his experiments, for propagating his famous trial and error theory of learning. Thorndike concluded that the rewards of a response (like getting food after chance success through the randomized movements) lead to the repetition of an act and the strengthening of S-R associations. These conclusions made Skinner begin a series of experiments to find the consequences of the rewards in repeating and maintaining behavior. Based on the findings of his experiments, he concluded that “behavior is shaped and maintain by its consequences”. It is operated by the organism and maintained by itself. The occurrence of such behavior was named as operant behavior and the process of learning, that plays the part in learning such behavior, was named by him as operant conditioning
Some concepts used by Skinner for bringing out his theory of learning---------- Operant conditioning.
Operant: Skinner considers an operant as a set of acts that constitutes an organism’s doing something e.g raising its head, walking about, pushing a lever, etc
Reinforcer and Reinforcement;
The concept of reinforcement is identical to the presentation of a reward. A reinforcer is the stimulus whose presentation or removal increases the probability of a response re-occurring. Skinner thinks to two kinds of reinforcers—positive and negative.
A positive reinforcer is any stimulus the introduction or presentation of which increase the likelihood of a particular behavior. Food, water etc, are classified as positive reinforcers. A negative reinforcer is any stimulus the removal or withdrawal of which increases the likelihood of a particular behavior. Electric shock, loud noise etc, are said to be negative reinforcers is the reinforcement operation schedule of gambling devices. Here rewards are unpredictable and keep the players well-motivated thou Operant: Skinner considers an operant as a set of acts that constitutes an organism’s doing something e.g., raising its head, walking about, pushing a lever, etc.
Reinforcer and Reinforcement: The concept of reinforcement is identical to the presentation of a reward. A reinforcer is the stimulus whose presentation or removal increases the probability of a response re-occurring. Skinner thinks of two kinds of reinforcers_____Positive and Negative.
A positive reinforcer is any stimulus the introduction or presentation of which increase the likelihood of a particular behavior, food and water are classified as positive reinforcers. A negative reinforcer is any stimulus the removal or withdrawal of which decreases the likelihood of a particular behavior. Electric shock, a loud noise, etc are said to be negative reinforcers.
The schedules of Reinforcement: Skinner put forward the idea of planning of schedules of reinforcement of conditioning the operant behavior of the organism.
1. Continuous Reinforcement Schedule: It is hundred percent reinforcement schedules where provision is made to reinforce or reward every correct response of the organism during acquisition of learning. For example, a student may be rewarded for every correct answer he gives to questions or problems put by the teacher.
2. Fixed Interval Reinforcement Schedule: In this schedule the organism is rewarded for a response made only after a set of interval of time e.g., every 3 minutes or every 5 minutes. How many times he has given correct response during this fixed interval of time does not matter, it is only on the expiry of the fixed interval that he is presented with some reinforcement.
3. Fixed Ratio Reinforcement Schedule: In this schedule the reinforcement is given after a fixed number of responses. A rat, for example, might be given a pallet of food after a certain number of level presses. The child solves five sums and he gets a chocolate.
4. Variable Reinforcement Schedule: when reinforcement is given at varying intervals of time or after a varying number of responses, it is called a variable reinforcement schedule. In this case reinforcement is intermittent or irregular. The individual does not know when he is going to be rewarded and consequently he remains motivated throughout the learning process in the wait of reinforcement. For example the card game and gambling, try and try again slogan, In classroom teaching learning VR schedule operates when student is not allowed to reinforce each time he raises his hand to answer a question, but the more often he raises his hand, the more likely he is to called upon by the teacher. Good marks and promotion may come at unpredictable time.
Defining Operant Conditioning. Operant conditioning refers to a kind of learning process where a response is made more probable or more frequent by reinforcement. It helps in the learning of operant behavior, the behavior that is not necessarily associated with a known stimuli.
The difference between the two types of conditioning
Classical respondent conditioning
Learning: What goes in the process of learning? How do we learn?
There are various theories which throw light on the phenomenon of learning. Each theory with its systematic body of knowledge explains the nature and process of learning. These theories represent broad principles and techniques of learning. These theories also put forth various methods of learning and suggest the teacher and learner to take proper steps for the effective learning.
Modern learning theories maybe classified into two broad types, namely:
A) Stimulus response- associationist type of learning theory.
B) Gestalt field or field cognitive type of learning theory.
A) S-R associationst type of theory interprets learning in terms of the change in behavior of the learner brought about by association of the response to a series of stimuli. The chief exponents of this type of theories are:
1. Edward L. Thorndike: his idea and system is called “connectionism”, “Trial and Error” or “S-R learning theories.
II. John B. Watson and Evan Petrovich Pavlov: their idea and system is known as classical condition.
III. Burrhus Frederic Skinner is called “Operant conditioning”
None of these theories are said to be complete in all aspects for explaining the phenomenon of learning. Each one of them gives partial description. For example one theory is good in explaining the learning process in one situation while the others hold equally good in the other different situations
Trial and Error or S-R Learning theory
Thorndike put a hungry cat in a puzzle box. There was only one door for exit which could be opened by correctly manipulating a latch. A fish was placed outside the box. The smell of the fish worked as a strong motive for the hungry cat to come out of the box. Consequently the cat made every possible effort to come out. It tries to squeeze through every opening, it claws and bites at the bars or wires. In this way, it made a number of random movements. In one of the random movement, by chance the latch was manipulated. The cat comes out and got its reward response. Now it was able to open the door without any error or learnt the way of opening the door. This experiment sums up the following stages in the process of learning.
Drive: hunger intensified with the sight and smell of the food i.e. smell of a fish.
Goal: To get the food by getting out of the box.
Block: The cat was confined in the box with a closed door.
Random movements: the cat persistently tried to get out of the box.
Chance success: As a result of these striving and random movements, the cat, by chance, succeeded in opening the latch
Selection: (of proper movement) gradually the cat recognized the correct opening way by manipulating the latch out of its random movements
Fixation: At last the cat learned the proper way of opening the door by eliminating all the incorrect responses and fixing only right response. Now it was able to open the door without any error
Thorndike named the learning of his experiment as “Trial and Error” He maintained that the learning is nothing but the stamping in of the correct responses and stamping out of the incorrect responses through trial and error. In trying for the correct solution the cat made so many vain attempts. It committed errors and errors before getting success. On subsequent trial, it tried to avoid the erroneous ways and repeat the correct ways of manipulating the latch. Thorndike called it “learning by selecting and connecting” as it provides an opportunity for the selection of the proper responses and connect or associate them with appropriate stimuli. In this reference Thorndike has written “Learning is connecting. The mind is man’s connection system”
Evan Patrovich Pavlov’s “Classical conditioning” learning theory
Pavlov gave birth to a new theory of learning known as conditioned response theory or simply as learning by conditioning.
Experiment: In one of the experiments, Pavlov kept a dog hungry for the night and then tied him on to the experimental table which was fitted with certain mechanically controlled devices. The dog was made comfortable and distractions were excluded as far as it was possible to do so. The observer kept himself hidden from the view of the dog but able to view the experiment by means of a set of mirrors. Arrangements were made to give food to the dog through automatic devices. Every time when food was presented before the dog, he also arranged for the ringing of a bell. When the food presented before the dog and the bell was rung, there was automatic secretion of saliva from the mouth of the dog. The activity of presenting the food accompanied with a ringing of the bell was repeated several times and the amount of saliva secreted was measured.
After several trials, the dog was given no food but the bell was rung. In this case also the amount of saliva secreted was recorded and measured. It was found that even in the absence of food (the natural stimulus), the ringing of the bell (an artificial stimulus) caused the dog to secrete the saliva (natural response)
It considers the learning as a habit formation and is based on the principle of association and substitution. It is simply a stimulus-response type of learning where in place of a natural stimulus like food and water etc, the artificial stimulus like sound of the bell, can evoke a natural response. When both the artificial or neutral stimulus (ringing of the bell) and natural stimulus (food) are brought together, several times, the dog becomes habituated or conditioned to respond to this situation. There becomes perfect association between the types of stimuli presented together. As a result, after some times natural stimulus can be substituted or replaced by an artificial stimulus and this artificial stimulus is able to evoke the natural response.
Diagrammatic Presentation of the Experiment
Natural Stimulus Natural response
(Presentation of food) (Salivation)
S1 R2
S2 R2
Artificial Stimulus General Alertness
(Ringing bell)
Experiment No 2. In one of the experiment done by Watson, the subject was the human baby of eleven months. The baby was given a rabbit to play. The baby liked it very much and was pleased to touch its fur. He watched carefully the pleasant responses of the baby. After some times in the course of the experiment, a loud noise was produced to frighten the baby. As soon as the baby touched the rabbit the baby was frightened. Each time when he wanted to touch the rabbit, the loud noise was produced and he gave fear response.
From these experiments, Watson and Pavlov concluded that all type of learning can be explained through the process of conditioning. What is this process?
It is a learning process by means of which artificial stimulus is able behave like a natural stimulus when both natural and artificial stimulus are presented together. In this type of learning, association plays a great role since the individual responds to an artificial stimulus because he associates it with the natural stimulus
Burrhus Frederick Skinner (1904-1990) was born in Susquehanna Penensyvanian railroad town closed to the New York State border.
At school and College, skinner was interested in literature and biology and considered becoming a poet and novelist. However he becomes interested in psychology after reading books by Pavlov and Watson. He enrolled at the psychology department at Harvard University gaining a PhD degree in psychology in 1931. In1948 he joined psychology department in Harvard University there he remained professionally active until his death in 1990.
During World War II Skinner participated in a government research project, the result of which were not made public until 1959. He had been conditioning pigeons to pilot missiles and torpedoes. The pigeons were so highly trained that they could guide a missile right down into the smokestack of navel destroyer
Skinner’s Experiments regarding ‘ operant conditioning’
B.F Skinner conducted a series of experiment with animals. For conducting the experiments with rats, he designed a special apparatus known as Skinner’s Box. It was a much modified form of the puzzle box used by Thorndike for his experiments with cats. The darken sound proof box mainly consists of a grid floor, a system of light or sound produced at the time of delivering a pallet of food in the food cup, a lever and a food cup. It is arranged so that when a rat (hungry or thirsty) presses the lever the feeder mechanism is activated, a light or a special sound is produced and a small pallet of food or small drops of water is released into the food cup. For recording the observation of the experiments, the lever is connected with a recorder system which produces a graphical tracing of the lever pressing against the length of the time the rat is in box.
To begin with, Skinner, in one of his experiments, placed a hungry rat in the box. In this experiment pressing of the bar in a desirable way by the rat could result in the production of a click- sound acted as a cue or signal indicating to the rat if it respond by going to the food cup, it will be rewarded. The rat was rewarded for each of his proper attempts for pressing the lever. The lever press response having been a rewarded, was repeated and when it occurred, it was again rewarded which further increased the probability of the repetition of the lever press response and so on. In this way ultimately the rat learned the act of pressing the lever as desired by the experimenter
For doing experiments with pigeons Skinner made use of another specific apparatus called ‘pigeon box’. A pigeon in this experiment had to peck at a lighted plastic key mounted on the wall at head high was subsequently rewarded by receiving grain. With the help of such experiments, Skinner put forward his theory of operant conditioning for learning not only the simple responses like pressing of the lever but also for learning the most difficult and complex series of responses pressing of the lever or latch but also for learning the most difficult and complex series of responses.
Although classified and included in the category of conditioning, operant conditioning differs a lot from the classical conditioning advocated by Watson and Pavlov. The most outstanding difference lies in the order related with the initiation and response i.e. stimulus response mechanism. In classical conditioning the organism is passive. It must wait for something to happen for responding. The presence of a stimulus for evoking a response is essential. The behavior can not be emitted in the absence of a cause. The child expresses fear when he hears a loud noise; the dog waits for food to arrive before salivating. In each of such instances, the subject has no control over the happening. He is made to behave in response to the stimulus situations. Thus, the behavior is said to be initiated by the environment, the organism simply responds.
Skinner revolted against ‘no stimulus no response’ mechanism in the evolution of behavior. He argued that in practical situation in our life we can not wait for things to happen in the environment. Man is not a victim of the environment. He may often manipulate the things in the environment with his own initiative. Therefore, it is not always essential that there must be some know stimulus or causes of evoking a response. Quite often, most of our responses could not be attributed to the known stimuli. The organism itself initiates the behavior. A dog, a child, or an individual ‘does” something ‘behaves’ in some manner, it ‘operates’ on the environment and in turn environment responds to the activity. How the environment responds to the activity, rewarding or not, largely determines whether the behavior will be repeated, maintained or avoided.
From where Skinner got the cue for such ideas in a question that can arise at this stage. Definitely it was from the studies and observations of an earlier psychologist named Thorndike. Through his experiments, for propagating his famous trial and error theory of learning. Thorndike concluded that the rewards of a response (like getting food after chance success through the randomized movements) lead to the repetition of an act and the strengthening of S-R associations. These conclusions made Skinner begin a series of experiments to find the consequences of the rewards in repeating and maintaining behavior. Based on the findings of his experiments, he concluded that “behavior is shaped and maintain by its consequences”. It is operated by the organism and maintained by itself. The occurrence of such behavior was named as operant behavior and the process of learning, that plays the part in learning such behavior, was named by him as operant conditioning
Some concepts used by Skinner for bringing out his theory of learning---------- Operant conditioning.
Operant: Skinner considers an operant as a set of acts that constitutes an organism’s doing something e.g raising its head, walking about, pushing a lever, etc
Reinforcer and Reinforcement;
The concept of reinforcement is identical to the presentation of a reward. A reinforcer is the stimulus whose presentation or removal increases the probability of a response re-occurring. Skinner thinks to two kinds of reinforcers—positive and negative.
A positive reinforcer is any stimulus the introduction or presentation of which increase the likelihood of a particular behavior. Food, water etc, are classified as positive reinforcers. A negative reinforcer is any stimulus the removal or withdrawal of which increases the likelihood of a particular behavior. Electric shock, loud noise etc, are said to be negative reinforcers is the reinforcement operation schedule of gambling devices. Here rewards are unpredictable and keep the players well-motivated thou Operant: Skinner considers an operant as a set of acts that constitutes an organism’s doing something e.g., raising its head, walking about, pushing a lever, etc.
Reinforcer and Reinforcement: The concept of reinforcement is identical to the presentation of a reward. A reinforcer is the stimulus whose presentation or removal increases the probability of a response re-occurring. Skinner thinks of two kinds of reinforcers_____Positive and Negative.
A positive reinforcer is any stimulus the introduction or presentation of which increase the likelihood of a particular behavior, food and water are classified as positive reinforcers. A negative reinforcer is any stimulus the removal or withdrawal of which decreases the likelihood of a particular behavior. Electric shock, a loud noise, etc are said to be negative reinforcers.
The schedules of Reinforcement: Skinner put forward the idea of planning of schedules of reinforcement of conditioning the operant behavior of the organism.
1. Continuous Reinforcement Schedule: It is hundred percent reinforcement schedules where provision is made to reinforce or reward every correct response of the organism during acquisition of learning. For example, a student may be rewarded for every correct answer he gives to questions or problems put by the teacher.
2. Fixed Interval Reinforcement Schedule: In this schedule the organism is rewarded for a response made only after a set of interval of time e.g., every 3 minutes or every 5 minutes. How many times he has given correct response during this fixed interval of time does not matter, it is only on the expiry of the fixed interval that he is presented with some reinforcement.
3. Fixed Ratio Reinforcement Schedule: In this schedule the reinforcement is given after a fixed number of responses. A rat, for example, might be given a pallet of food after a certain number of level presses. The child solves five sums and he gets a chocolate.
4. Variable Reinforcement Schedule: when reinforcement is given at varying intervals of time or after a varying number of responses, it is called a variable reinforcement schedule. In this case reinforcement is intermittent or irregular. The individual does not know when he is going to be rewarded and consequently he remains motivated throughout the learning process in the wait of reinforcement. For example the card game and gambling, try and try again slogan, In classroom teaching learning VR schedule operates when student is not allowed to reinforce each time he raises his hand to answer a question, but the more often he raises his hand, the more likely he is to called upon by the teacher. Good marks and promotion may come at unpredictable time.
Defining Operant Conditioning. Operant conditioning refers to a kind of learning process where a response is made more probable or more frequent by reinforcement. It helps in the learning of operant behavior, the behavior that is not necessarily associated with a known stimuli.
The difference between the two types of conditioning
Classical respondent conditioning
Operant conditioning
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Assessment of adolescence
Key words; Assessment of adolescence, Assessment, Definition of Assessment, Types of Assessments, Norm Referenced Assessment, Cognitive development in adolescence
Introduction:
In the professional life of a teacher there are so many decisions that he or she makes which actually counts on informal class room observation. For example; discussion in the class, and inquiring questions of a student, interest shown in a particular topic or a subject, leads a teacher to make a lot of decisions like; which area of study needs more time, point out the students which need special attention and specifically in which area or which method of instruction will be more appropriate in a particular situation. All such kinds of decisions depend upon the observations which are made during the teaching learning process inside and outside the class room. Such decisions need systematic gathering of data based on careful and continuous observation. Besides this information other supplementary techniques of evaluation and testing are also used to make the related information more complete and authentic.Other aspects of the current assignment are the adolescence period, if the whole life span of a person is roughly divided into stages we find the following stages:-
1. Infancy
2. Toddler
3. Child hood
4. Adolescence
5. Adulthood
Each of these stages is unique in all respects & needs unique instructions for cognitive social and emotional development. Therefore we must also adopt special assessment procedures to evaluate any particular stage in our discussion I have focused upon adolescence.
I will try my best to explain the problems which are faced while assessing the stage of adolescence.
Objectives:-
1. To explain the concept of assessment & adolescence.
2: To highlight the problems in assessing adolescence.
Assessment:
Assessment refers to the procedures used in apprising student learning. It incorporates both evaluations and measurement and is concerned with the processes involved in describing and reporting on the outcomes of learning and teaching. It can cover a broad range of learning out comes that is cognitive effective and social, from the simplest to the most complex. Assessment is defined as the collection, analysis’s, recording and communicating information about the out comes and learning and teaching (griffin and nix 1991)
Key Terms in Assessment
Definition of Assessment
Gathering, interpreting recording and communicating information about student achievement
Example: Planned observation, description and reporting of a students performance on a set task
Evolution
Making judgments about relative or absolute worth
Example :
Judging the quality (in terms of a standard criteria) of a sculpture submitted as part of final examination in visual arts
Measurement
Testing students performance using numerical values in form of scores
Example:
Counting the number of correct answers given by a student in a test of number fact and assigning a numerical value
Test
An assessment procedure used systematically to measure a sample of behavior
Exmaple:
On Friday students will be required to complete 20 questions based on material covered in this weeks mathematics lessons
Types of Assessments
Since there are different aspects of human personality which can be assessed according to there own specific need. Therefore we have different types of assessment depending upon purpose and function.
1: Norm Referenced Assessment
Used to compare the performance of individuals or groups with the performance of a comparable group on the same task. A norm is the mean or average performance of a group of people.
2: Criterion Referenced Assessment
In this type of assessment the achievements of the students are compared against a specified criterion or standard
3: Curriculum Based Assessment
Here the individual students’ performance is compared with curriculum goals. Curriculum based assessment can be used to diagnose students strength and weaknesses, and to plan for future teaching program. This type of assessment is usually carried out by classroom teacher for the purpose of
· Obtain information about the level of students entry skills so as to decide where to place them with in the curriculum
· Defining and planning appropriate teaching objectives
· Determine the degree to which these objectives are met by monitoring students progress through an instructional sequence
· Evaluating and refining teaching techniques
4: Ipsative Assessment
In this type of assessment an individual current achievements are compared with the pervious achievement of the same individual.
How do we assess?
As mentioned earlier assessment depends upon the purpose and function. Therefore when an assessment programme is designed a teacher has to collect many different types of information regarding the student being assessed. These in formations may range from very informal observations to highly structured and formal achievements or aptitude tests. The following major steps are undertaken while designing an assessment programme:-
1. Gathering information.
2. Technical interpretation of information.
3. Recording and reporting assessment results.
· Gathering information:-
For any assessment model information about the students are collected from various aspects including observation recording learning directly and mapping progress through students work products that contain examples of the student’s work.
In formations are collected by various means like:-
· Direct observation.
· Portfolios
· Anecdotal records
· Checklists
· Interviews
· Sociograms
1. Direct Observations:-
Direct observation is a practical way to collect information about student’s behavior in natural settings. Information derived from direct observation can be recorded in the form of anecdotal records, diaries & checklists. This technique is used to understand what is happening in the class room focused in individual students, on a small group of students or on a specific aspect on a class room activity. When direct observation is used as part of an assessment process, is usually more structured and purposeful and any behavior observed more systematically.
2. Portfolios:-
A portfolio is a collection of samples of a student’s work that can be used to assess student’s progress over a term or year by comparing after the fact, samples of work taken from different stages throughout the given period. They are often used for self assessment, parent teacher conferences & parent teacher child conferences.
Student’s performance:-
The progress of a student engaged in complex tasks like music, drama, physical education & design cannot be assessed through traditional methods. These areas of student’s performance can only be assessed through performance assessment involving on the spot evaluation of student’s demonstrating their mastery of a task.
3. Anecdotal records:-
Anecdotal records are objective description of behavior at a particular time & place recorded as soon as possible after the behavior has occurred. Teachers often find it helpful to keep brief notes about any unusual or significant occurrence during the school day. Such notes can be useful in documenting the actions of a particular child whose behavior is causing concern, intervention, report writing or discussion with parents.
Anecdotal records are most often used in early childhood settings & in situations involving children who are having social emotional or behavioral problems.
4. Checklists:-
Checklists are often used by teachers to collect information about easily observed behavior such as motor skills. Checklist comprises a list of description of specific behavior that can be systematically identified and tailed by observers as they occur during a specified time period.
Rating scale:-
Rating scales are similar to checklists but they have the added advantage of including a quantitative component in the resulting judgment. Instead of simply recording the occurrence of specified behavior (yes/ no), a value judgment is also made about the behavior as the record is compiled usually on a scale of 1-10.
5. Interviews:-
An interview is a form of observational assessment. Interviews maybe formal or informal, structured or unstructured. A formal or a structured interview using a defined procedure and a prepared set of questions is used in many intelligence tests where respondents are given precise instructions about the procedure to be followed. An informal or unstructured interview has no set procedures or questions and the interviewer is free to interact with the interviewee in a natural, conversational way. Informal interview technique is used to collect information about the way people think and solve problems.
6. Sociograms:-
Sociograms are used by teachers to assess a class group’s social structure. It is a graphical depiction of the pattern of interactions among group members. For example; children can be asked to write down the name of their best friends or the child they would like to sit next to, work with, play with or asked to a birthday party. These choices can be depicted graphically in the form of sociograms.
· Technical interpretation of information:-
In this step of the assessment design it is important to know that the type of assessment to be used and the way in which data is collected, one needs to be aware of the technical aspects of the assessment model which is applied. One needs to ensure that the procedure used should be reliable valid and fair.
Reliability:-
Reliability refers to the consistency of measurement that is how consistent test scores or other assessment results are from one measurement to another. Reliability can be defined as “as the extent to which a test or measuring device obtains the same result when used on successive occasions.”
Reliability refers to the results obtained with an evaluation instrument and not to the instrument itself. Any particular instrument may have a number of different reliabilities depending upon the group involved and the situation in which it is used. Thus it is more appropriate to speak of the reliability of the “test scores” then of the “test or instrument”.
Validity:-
Validity refers to the appropriateness of the interpretations made from test scores and other evaluation results with regard to a particular use. Validity is always concerned with the specific use of the results and the soundness of our proposed interpretations. Validity can e defined as “the extent to which a test or measurement device measures what is intends to measure”. For example if a test is used to describe a pupil achievement we should like to be able to interpret the scores as a relevant and representative sample of the achievement domain to be measured. If the results are to be used to predict pupil’s success in some future activity, we should like put interpretations to be based on as accurate an estimate of future success as possible.
· Recording and reporting assessment results:-
Having decided what should be assessed and how this information will be collected, the next step is to decide how the results of assessments should be recorded and then reported to students, parents and other interested stake holders. This step involves two activities:-
1. Recording
2. Reporting.
1. Recording:-
Once data on the student’s performance have been collected, decision must be made about the way in which this information is recorded so it can be easily retrieved and used at a later date.
The type of information collected for assessment purposes maybe statistical. For example marks, grades, records of attendance & standardized test scores etc. Informal notes, other information including reports from previous teachers, students self assessment. The different types of information is collected at different time of the school year so a time table may be setup for the completion of specific tasks, so decisions have to be made about who will complete which task and how data will be recorded. Relevant material maybe assembled in a portfolio or a record of achievement can be created containing detailed information about all aspects of student’s life at school.
2. Reporting:-
How assessment information is reported is influenced by the reports purpose and the audience. The main consumer of information about students achievements are teachers, parents, students and administration. The New South Wales department of school education “identified three ways reporting” as a useful strategy for reviewing student achievement. Such reporting maybe in the form of student’s take home examples of their work that has already been assessed and commented on by the teacher and student. Parent can then respond in turn with their own comments on the child’s work.
Adolescence
The word adolescence comes from the Latin word “adolescere”meaning to grow up or to grow into maturity.
(Muuss, 1982, page 4)
As it is generally used today adolescence refers to the period of life between child hood and adulthood, roughly corresponding to the teen age years. However the meaning of adolescence and the age at which it begins and ends differ from one part of the world to another.
Beginning of adolescence tends to be defined primarily, by the individual’s biological age. Secondly the ending of adolescence is most readily defined by the person’s social age. (Schlegel & Barry, 191, page 10)
Beginning of the adolescence:
The indicator used to determine the beginning of adolescence is the “biological age” which is measured by biological science like skeletal maturity development of pubic hair, breast development or genital growth which are closely related to hormonal changes or more accurate markers of beginning of adolescence.
Ending of adolescence:
The indicator used to determine the ending of adolescence is the “social age” which is measured by social indicators such as “right to vote” & “be tried as an adult for criminal offence.” This indicator represents the beginning of adulthood and end of adolescence.
The concept of adolescence can be easily understood through the idea of “transition” during the human life span. In the most general sense, the concept of transition refers to a period of change, growth and disequilibrium that serves as a kind of bridge between one relatively stable point in life and another relatively stable, but different point. In that sense adolescence represents the transition between the physical, social and sexual immaturity of childhood to the physical, social and sexual maturity of adult hood. Thus adolescence is a period of change growth and disequilibrium in terms of physical social and sexual maturity. In addition, the concept of transition implies that the period of life is defined in the culture as an in between period: one is not a child, but is also not an adult. But a “marginal” person “they are people who belong neither here nor there standing between the groups” (Kurt Lewin, 1948, page 179)
Another additional distinction between these transitions is “on time and off time transitions”. All types of physical changes can occur either on time or off time but their effects will be different depending upon their occurrence on time or off time.
Specific tasks of adolescence:
Each individual has to perform a series of developmental tasks at various points in the life cycle. These tasks might be related to specific knowledge, skills, attitudes or functions that individuals are expected to acquire at a particular age. Education plays a very important role in helping a person to achieve these tasks. Most significantly at the “teachable moment” when the person is developmentally ready for the task. It is argued that each task needed to be accomplished in sequence and so each task depends on the successful achievement of the earlier tasks. If a task is not achieved at the appropriate time it maybe difficult or impossible to master it later or to progress on successfully to subsequent tasks.
(Havighurst, 1972, page 45-75)
Specified eight tasks during adolescent period:
1. Achieving new and more mature relations with age mates of both sexes
2. Achieving a masculine or feminine social role.
3. Accepting ones physique
4. Achieving emotional independence
5. Preparing for marriage and family life
6. Preparing for an economic career.
7. Acquiring a set of values and an ethical system as a guide to behavior ( developing and ideology)
8. Desiring and achieving socially responsible behavior.
Cognitive development in adolescence:
Major characteristics that mark the difference between the thinking of adolescents and younger children are:-
1. Thinking about possibilities.
2. Thinking through hypothesis.
3. Thinking ahead.
4. Thinking about thoughts.
5. Thinking beyond old limits.
6. Thinking based on experience.
1. Thinking about possibilities:
The adolescents are able to think about ideas and things that are not concretely present, can form connections between various possible alternatives and can even think about the impossible. Thus reality becomes only one example of all possible situations. Examples of such thinking might include; in physics a particle that has infinite mass and no size “a black hole”, in mathematics square root of minus 1 “ an imaginary number i”, in philosophy the concept that consciousness precedes self consciousness & in psychology the idea that an individual’s personality can have many facets. Of course adolescents do not always think abstractly, the point is that adolescents are able to think about possibilities in a way that younger children typically do not. This ability to think about possibilities affect many areas of the adolescents life like thinking about ones self, one’s sense of identity, political ideas and moral issues. It also affects relation with parents, peers ad vocational choice.
2. Thinking through hypothesis:
Closely related to thinking about possibilities is the ability to develop hypothesis and to test them. However hypothesis is possibilities that may turn out to be impossibilities. Testing hypothesis is the basis of scientific method. To conduct an experiment one must hypothesize not only what will confirm one’s predictions but also what will disconfirm them & then design an experiment to test the predictions. This cognitive skill involves discarding hypothesis that turn out to be incorrect, accepting hypothesis, that are confirm, and developing additional hypothesis to be tested. It provides adolescents with the ability to make predictions act on those predictions and modify their expectations based on empirical evidence. Of course this does not imply that adolescents actually do function this way but the point is that their cognitive abilities allow them the possibility of applying these skills in a wide variety of areas in their lives.
3. Thinking ahead:
Children begin tasks without first considering what the out come will be and without systematically developing a strategy for achieving the tasks successfully. Planning involves the cognitive ability to think about all of the steps that are required in sequence in the abstract before beginning the task. This ability to plan is important to understand a wide range of adolescent behavior.
4. Thinking about thoughts:
The abiltity to think about thinking also characterizes adolescent cognitive skills. For example “introspection” is frequently noted among adolescents. Activities such as keeping a diary, writing poetry, spending time alone thinking about one’s self and “long deep” discussions with friends all indicate the fascination that adolescents find in thinking about thoughts. Another aspect of this ability to think about thoughts is the adolescents growing skill in finding ways to improve study skills, memory & problem solving ability. This Meta cognition or the ability to think about cognition and awareness of knowledge, increases with age during adolescence and becomes more sophisticated.
Piaget defined this stage of cognitive development as the ability to perform operations on operations. This process involves using logic to analyze logic, formulating rules about rules, and comparing and contrasting ideas using more abstract, higher order ideas.
5. Thinking beyond old limits:
Once the adolescent thinking ability is free from concrete reality and able to consider all manner of abstract possibilities, its scope increases greatly in the breadth of topics that are thought about. Adolescent can question reality and the way social physical and emotional issues have been seen before. Thus political questions religious beliefs moral issues and personal relationships maybe evaluated, questioned and debated. The act of challenging old ideas can be stimulating and occasionally enjoyed for the newness of the skill itself. This ability may provide an important source of intellectual ferment and even political change as young people think about important social issues.
6. Thinking based on experience:
As a result of greater experience and skill in selected domains, adolescents are able to solve problems similar to those they have dealt with in these domains previously. Consider also the cognitive skill of mapping that involves recognizing a relation ship between objects or events for example children are cable of inference but not of mapping until about the fourth grade. The ability to perform higher order mapping that involves recognizing a functional relationship between a relationship and an object or event is the characteristic of an adolescent.
Now at this stage of our discussion when we have build some idea about the assessment procedures the difference among assessment evaluation and measurement and understanding of the unique nature of the adolescence period we come to the problems associated with the assessment of this unique life stage; “the adolescence”.
Problems in assessing adolescence:
Basically there are three main problems:
1. Procedural problems
2. Age related problems
3. Adaptation problems of assessment procedures in adolescence period
Procedural problems:
While assessing the adolescents teachers face the following procedural problems:
1. Concept clarification problems
2. Model selection problems
3. Data collection problems
4. Problems involving technical interpretation
5. Recording and reporting problems
6. Implementation problems
Age related problems:
1. Special needs of adolescents
2. Social sphere related problems
3. Behavioral problems
4. Problems related to cognition in adolescents
5. Maturity problems
Adaptation problems of assessment procedures in adolescence period:
1. Lack of specialized teachers.
2. Selection of more appropriate selection model
3. Modifications in the selected model to meet the special needs
4. Misunderstanding the adolescent
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