5. How can accreditations help higher educational institutions in providing quality education to their students?

The greater challenge of all students is to compete in the outside world. After their graduation, they clogged in queues for jobs fair and mushroomed up in the online job hiring. More so, year after year, many graduates have stood by waiting for the miracles to come or waiting for the air planes to take off. Because of these stiff competitions, students wish to choose better schools for their future. In this matter, all college institutions should be accredited in order to promote higher standards and improve the quality of education. This accreditation focuses on the implementation of empowering change in the academic community. Also, it is to upgrade and uphold educational standards by checking the following aspects or fields: Research and Extension; Teaching Instructions or Curriculum; Facilities – Speech, Chemistry, Biology, & Physics; Buildings and Infrastructure; and Faculty Profiles. In this way, the mission and the vision of the college should be met.

The Philosophy of Marxism in Education

Karl Marx is the founder of communism and, maybe, has influenced political system in some other countries. In his utopian vision of communism, he said that education would help fully develop socialized individuals, create a cooperative and harmonious society, and unleash creativity in all of its forms. This vision is in fact appealing but the underground reality seems to be going disastrous. In historical retrospect, however, the lack of a more fully articulated theory of education and subjectivity, and of the subjective conditions of revolutionary transformation, in the classical Marxian theory vitiated its theory and practice. Marx seemed to think that class and revolutionary consciousness would develop naturally, as a result of the workers’ position in the process of production. I think of equality then. It is equality in the distribution of good, wealth, and even education as they are imbibed in his vision. In a communistic world, the people are chosen to be the working class to support the government and these people are promised to have equal access of good, even education. The fact seems not to be like that. Because of this education is not given to all, some people have not been given the chance to improve themselves.
Many of Marx’s texts also seem to place too heavy an emphasis on labor as the distinctly human activity, as the key to the development of the human being. Overemphasis on production is accompanied by an inadequate concept of inter-subjectivity, lacking a fully developed theory of individual consciousness and its development in communication, symbolic action, and culture. Unlike later social theorists, Marx failed to perceive the importance of wider communication in the development of new forms of association and solidarity. He thus put too much emphasis on class struggle, on direct action, and not enough on communication and democracy.
Indeed, Marx never grasped the significance of the institutions of liberal democracy as an important heritage of modern societies that should be absorbed into socialism. Although he espoused a model of radical democratic self-government in his writings on the Paris Commune, and while Marx long championed democracy as an ideal, he never properly appreciated the separation of powers and system of rights, checks and balances, and democratic participation developed within bourgeois society. Thus, Marx had an inadequate theory of education and democracy, and failed to develop an institutional theory of democracy, its constraints under capitalism, and how socialism would make possible fuller and richer democracy.

The Philosophy of Naturalism in Education

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."

Naturalism in philosophy is a position that attempts to explain all phenomena and account for all values by means of strictly natural, not supernatural categories. The particular meaning of naturalism varies with what is opposed to it. It is usually considered the opposite of idealism, is sometimes equated with empiricism or materialism, and is not easily distinguished from positivism. Naturalism limits itself to a search for causes and takes little account of reasons.
Naturalism has been maintained in varied forms by Aristotle, Bruno, Spinoza, Hobbes, Comte, Nietzsche, Marx, James, Dewey, and Whitehead, philosophers who differ widely on specific questions. Some, like Comte and Nietzsche, were professed atheists, while others accepted a god in pantheistic terms. Aristotle, James, and Dewey all attempted to explain phenomena in terms of biological processes of perception; Spinoza and the idealists tended to emphasize metaphysics; later thinkers of all schools have placed emphasis on unifying the scientific viewpoint with an all-encompassing reality. This combination of science and an overall explanation of the universe in naturalistic terms is the source of much of contemporary philosophic thought.

Naturalism in Education

Naturalism believes that education should be in strict conformity with the nature of the child. Education, according to nature, may mean any of the following discovery, formulation, and application of natural laws to educational process; education according to the natural laws of human development; and return to the natural as opposed to all its artificial. The teacher’s role is subsidiary whereas child’s position is central. Its supreme teacher is the nature. He is to set the stage for child and retire behind the curtain.

Idealism in Education

Idealism believes in refined wisdom. It is based on the view that reality is a world within a person's mind. It believes that truth is in the consistency of ideas and that goodness is an ideal state to strive to attain. In addition, the source of reality is clothed and dwelt in the mind. In other words, the real thing exists in the mind, and the representation of objects or materials as they may be seen in the visual world is only a matter of putting qualities of the certain object. For instance a chair, the idea that something one can sit on is only in the mind. The wooden material being formed in order to clothe the object chair is given exact or maybe similar form so to come out the material.
As a result of this philosophy in education, schools exist to sharpen the mind and intellectual processes. Students are taught the wisdom of past heroes and some meaningful insights and ideals of the things around them.

Realism in Education

Realism is the exact opposite of idealism. It believes in the world as it is. It is based on the view that reality is what we observe. In other words, if things exist only in the mind and if they do not appear in the real world, they are not real. Mental operations somehow to base this concept can be fabricated and corrupted by the human flaws of thinking, and by that reality in its sense varies from one person to another. It is in the same way as how one perceives may differ from the other people who perceive it. Meaning, it is also personalized or subjective. To go back to the main issue, the reality of life and of all things can be proven when and only when the things can really exist. So, whatever concepts or ideas plated in the mind are not real as they may seem. It believes that truth is what we sense and observe and that goodness is found in the order of the laws of nature.
As a result of the study in this philosophy of education, schools exist to reveal the order of the world and universe. Students are taught factual information about the existence of all things – living and non-living.

Existentialism in Education

Existentialists do not believe in absolute values. Indirectly, they concede absolute values like awareness of death, fidelity, sincerity, integrity, and many others. It is an ethic of integrity in which running away from one is evil, facing oneself is good. It is the integrity of character and action rather than of vision alone that is to be prized. It should be like to treat every man as an end and never as means. Everyone must choose without reference to pre-established values. Everyone has to discover a law for oneself. Yet, it is true that man makes himself. He is not found ready-made. He makes himself by the choice of his morality. He cannot choose anything else except his morality, which makes the pressure of circumstances upon him. The heart and center of existentialism is the absolute character of free commitment through which he realizes himself.

Goals of Education of Existentialism
Education is that which helps an individual realize the best of his or her potentials. In doing so, education must help the individual to realize the possibility of his existence to face the categories of these contingencies - dread, anguish, anxiety and fear - resolutely and courageously and finally prepare him to meet death with pleasure. It is to show how a person feels and experiences the so-called life. Thus, existentialists would welcome an education that throws open to children human suffering, misery, anguish and the dreadful responsibilities of adult life. The students must develop a consistent scale of values. These values are the benefits of the people and the world. Though values are relative to one person as it may seem, the values that I am trying to mention are the universal values – to help, love, and improve the quality of all humanity. This point makes a man unique, and this uniqueness will be developed by the very core of education.
Education must provide various opportunities to individual differences. It must make pupil aware of the infinite possibilities of his freedom and the responsibilities he must bear in life. The most important aim in education is the becoming of a human person as one who lives and makes decisions about what he will do and be. Knowing in the sense of knowing oneself, social relationship, and biological development, is all the parts of becoming. Human existence and the value related to it is the primary factory in education.
Moreover, education should train men to make better choices and also give the man the idea that since his choices are never perfect, the consequences cannot be predicted. The ultimate aim of education is to make man conscious of his destination, to give understanding of his being and ultimately lead him to his heavenly abode. So, it is clear that the existentialism accepts the principle of liberal education.
In short, the objective of education is to enable every individual to develop his unique qualities, to harness his potentialities and cultivate his individualities. It means the implication of existentialist formulations for child rearing education and counseling practices are at large. It also believes in the personal interpretation of the world. It is based on the view that the individual defines reality, truth and goodness. As a result, schools exist to aid children in knowing themselves and their place in society. Students learn what they want and discuss subjects freely.

Experimentalism
Experimentalism believes that things are constantly changing. It is based on the view that reality is what you experience. It believes that truth is what works right now and that goodness comes from group decisions. As a result, schools exist to discover and expand the society we live in. In schools, students study social experiences and solve problems.

Progressivism
Educational progressivism is the belief that education must be based on the principle that humans are social animals who learn best in real-life activities with other people. Progressivists claimed to rely on the best available scientific theories of learning. Most progressive educators believe that children learn as if they were scientists, following a process similar to John Dewey's model of learning. These are to become aware of the problem, define the problem, propose hypotheses to solve it, evaluate the consequences of the hypotheses from one's past experience, and test the likeliest solution.
Given this view of human nature, a progressivist teacher desires to provide not just reading and drill, but also real-world experiences and activities that center on the real life of the students. One typical slogan for the progressivists is “learning by doing.” It has been viewed as an alternative to the test-oriented instruction legislated by the No Child Left Behind educational training. Moreover, most progressive education programs have these qualities in common. First, it emphasizes on learning by doing – hands-on projects, and experiential learning. Second, Integrated curriculum focused on thematic units. Third, it strongly emphasizes on problem solving and critical thinking. Fourth, if mentions group work and development of social skills and understanding and action as the goals of learning as opposed to rote knowledge. Fifth, there should be collaborative and cooperative learning projects. Sixth, it de-emphasizes on textbooks in favor of varied learning resources. Seventh, it emphasizes on life-long learning and social skills. Lastly, it performs assessment by evaluation of child’s projects and productions.
Which philosophy should be used to educate the students? It seems that a combination of these seem appropriate. If you got locked in one philosophy, it seems that the view of the world and the ability to change are restricted. A combination of several of these philosophies or approaches may be the best route to take.