Q.1 Discuss the characteristics of exemplary teacher in detail.
Teaching is hard work and some teachers never grow to be anything better than mediocre. They do the bare minimum required and very little more. The great teachers, however, work tirelessly to create a challenging, nurturing environment for their students. Great teaching seems to have less to do with our knowledge and skills than with our attitude toward our students, our subject, and our work. Although this list is certainly not all-inclusive, I have narrowed down the many characteristics of a great teacher to those I have found to be the most essential, regardless of the age of the learner:
Reference:
https://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/philosophy-of-teaching/nine-characteristics-of-a-great-teacher/
Q.2 Critically discuss the educational philosophy of Allama Iqbal.
Dr Sir. Allama Muhammad Iqbal (The Poet Philosopher) envisioned education as the means towards the character-building of individuals who aim for the stars and excel in every sphere of life. Today, as the Greenwich University's Convocation 2017's theme revolves around the educational philosophy of the Poet of the East, Allama Muhammad Iqbal, we hope to carry forward his dreams for the youth. At Greenwich University, we dedicatedly work on carving out the futures of our youth so that they become Iqbal's proverbial Shaheen" for whom no mountain is too high and no aim is out of reach.
Iqbal's educational philosophy is not just about the development of the intellect, though intellectual development is of course is an integral part of the development of the "Self" - or "Khudi" as he calls it. However to him the intellectual self is only one aspect of the activity of our total self. Educational learning, then, to lqbal, aims at the development of a character. For this he suggests aligning one's self with God, with nature, and being open to the stimuli that experiences of life offer to us, to enrich us. Thus, the study of science and technology is an indispensable part of lqbal's educational ideology, as it almost mystically opens the eye of the young people to hidden truths. Iqbal sees science as a tool that makes one understand the wonders of Nature. But perhaps the biggest lesson we, at Greenwich University, learn from Iqbal is that in a time where mediocrity is the norm, his vision inspires us to try and excel in every role. Practically following his ideology is our tribute to this thinker, philosopher and poet who has left words that leave generations to follow inspired to excel.
Reference:
https://fp.brecorder.com/2017/12/20171224330069/
Q.3 Differentiate types of evaluation summative and formative with examples. Also discuss which type is better in Pakistani system of education?
Assessment allows both instructor and student to monitor progress towards achieving learning objectives, and can be approached in a variety of ways. Formative assessment refers to tools that identify misconceptions, struggles, and learning gaps along the way and assess how to close those gaps. It includes effective tools for helping to shape learning, and can even bolster students’ abilities to take ownership of their learning when they understand that the goal is to improve learning, not apply final marks (Trumbull and Lash, 2013). It can include students assessing themselves, peers, or even the instructor, through writing, quizzes, conversation, and more. In short, formative assessment occurs throughout a class or course, and seeks to improve student achievement of learning objectives through approaches that can support specific student needs (Theal and Franklin, 2010, p. 151).
In contrast, summative assessments evaluate student learning, knowledge, proficiency, or success at the conclusion of an instructional period, like a unit, course, or program. Summative assessments are almost always formally graded and often heavily weighted (though they do not need to be). Summative assessment can be used to great effect in conjunction and alignment with formative assessment, and instructors can consider a variety of ways to combine these approaches.
Examples of Formative and Summative Assessments
|
Formative |
Summative |
|
In-class discussions |
Instructor-created exams |
|
Clicker questions |
Standardized tests |
|
Low-stakes group work |
Final projects |
|
Weekly quizzes |
Final essays |
|
1-minute reflection writing assignments |
Final presentations |
|
Homework assignments |
Final reports |
|
Surveys |
Final Grades |
|
Examples of Formative and Summative Assessments |
|
Formative Assessment Ideally, formative assessment strategies improve teaching and learning simultaneously. Instructors can help students grow as learners by actively encouraging them to self-assess their own skills and knowledge retention, and by giving clear instructions and feedback. Seven principles (adapted from Nicol and Macfarlane-Dick, 2007 with additions) can guide instructor strategies:
Summative Assessment Because summative assessments are usually higher-stakes than formative assessments, it is especially important to ensure that the assessment aligns with the goals and expected outcomes of the instruction.
Reference:
https://poorvucenter.yale.edu/Formative-Summative-Assessments
Q.4 Discuss various efforts in connection with Islamization of education in Pakistan.
Sharization or Islamization (Urdu: اسلامی حکمرانی) has a long history in Pakistan since the 1950s, but it became the primary policy,or "centerpiece" of the government of General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, the ruler of Pakistan from 1977 until his death in 1988. Zia has also been called "the person most responsible for turning Pakistan into a global center for political Islam."
The Pakistan movement had gained the country independence from the British Empire as a Muslim-majority state. At the time of its founding, the Dominion of Pakistan had no official state religion prior to 1956, when the constitution had declared it the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Despite this, no religious laws had yet been adopted for government and judicial protocols and civil goverance, until the mid 1970s with the coming of General Muhammed Zia Ul-Haq in a military coup also known as Operation Fair Play which deposed the Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.
Zia-ul-Haq committed himself to enforcing his interpretation of Nizam-e-Mustafa ("Rule of the prophet" Muhammad), i.e. to establish an Islamic state and enforce sharia law.
Zia established separate Shariat judicial courts and court benches to judge legal cases using Islamic doctrine.New criminal offenses (of adultery, fornication, and types of blasphemy), and new punishments (of whipping, amputation, and stoning to death), were added to Pakistani law. Interest payments for bank accounts were replaced by "profit and loss" payments. Zakat charitable donations became a 2.5% annual tax. School textbooks and libraries were overhauled to remove un-Islamic material. Offices, schools, and factories were required to offer praying space. Zia bolstered the influence of the ulama (Islamic clergy) and the Islamic parties, whilst conservative scholars became fixtures on television. 10,000s of activists from the Jamaat-e-Islami party were appointed to government posts to ensure the continuation of his agenda after his passing. Conservative ulama were added to the Council of Islamic Ideology.
In 1984 a referendum gave Zia and the Islamization program, 97.7% approval in official results. However, there have been protests against the laws and their enforcement during and after Zia's reign. Women's and human rights groups opposed incarceration of rape victims under hadd punishments, new laws that valued women's testimony (Law of Evidence) and blood money compensation (diyat) at half that of a man. Religious minorities and human rights groups opposed the "vaguely worded" Blasphemy Law and the "malicious abuse and arbitrary enforcement" of it.
Possible motivations for the Islamisation programme included Zia's personal piety (most accounts agree that he came from a religious family), desire to gain political allies, to "fulfill Pakistan's raison d'etre" as a Muslim state, and/or the political need to legitimise what was seen by some Pakistanis as his "repressive, un-representative martial law regime".
How much success Zia had strengthening Pakistan's national cohesion with state-sponsored Islamisation is disputed. Shia-Sunni religious riots broke out over differences in Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh) – in particular, over how Zakat donations would be distributed. There were also differences among Sunni Muslims.
The Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA), a coalition of Islamist political parties in Pakistan, calls for the increased Islamization of the government and society, specifically taking an anti-Hindu stance. The MMA leads the opposition in the national assembly, held a majority in the NWFP Provincial Assembly, and was part of the ruling coalition in Balochistan. However, some members of the MMA made efforts to eliminate their rhetoric against Hindus.
Background and history
Pakistan was founded on the basis of securing a sovereign homeland for the Muslims of the subcontinent to live in self-determination.
The idea of Pakistan had received overwhelming popular support among British Indian Muslims, especially those in the Presidencies and provinces of British India where Muslims were in a minority such as U.P.The Muslim League leadership, ulama (Islamic clergy) and Muhammad Ali Jinnah had articulated their vision of Pakistan in terms of an Islamic state. Jinnah had developed a close association with the ulama. When Jinnah died, Islamic scholar Maulana Shabbir Ahmad Usmani described Jinnah as the greatest Muslim after the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb and also compared Jinnah's death to the Prophet's passing. Usmani asked Pakistanis to remember Jinnah's message of Unity, Faith and Discipline and work to fulfil his dream:
to create a solid bloc of all Muslim states from Karachi to Ankara, from Pakistan to Morocco. He [Jinnah] wanted to see the Muslims of the world united under the banner of Islam as an effective check against the aggressive designs of their enemies.
The first formal step taken to transform Pakistan into an ideological Islamic state was in March 1949 when the country's first Prime Minister, Liaquat Ali Khan, introduced the Objectives Resolution in the Constituent Assembly.The Objectives Resolution declared that sovereignty over the entire universe belongs to God Almighty. The president of the Muslim League, Chaudhry Khaliquzzaman, announced that Pakistan would bring together all Muslim countries into Islamistan-a pan-Islamic entity. Khaliquzzaman believed that Pakistan was only a Muslim state and was not yet an Islamic state, but that it could certainly become an Islamic state after bringing all believers of Islam into a single political unit. Keith Callard, one of the earliest scholars on Pakistani politics, observed that Pakistanis believed in the essential unity of purpose and outlook in the Muslim world:
Pakistan was founded to advance the cause of Muslims. Other Muslims might have been expected to be sympathetic, even enthusiastic. But this assumed that other Muslim states would take the same view of the relation between religion and nationality.
However, Pakistan's pan-Islamist sentiments were not shared by other Muslim governments at the time. Nationalism in other parts of the Muslim world was based on ethnicity, language and culture. Although Muslim governments were unsympathetic with Pakistan's pan-Islamic aspirations, Islamists from all over the world were drawn to Pakistan. Figures such as the Grand Mufti of Palestine, Al-Haj Amin al-Husseini, and leaders of Islamist political movements, such as the Muslim Brotherhood, became frequent visitors to the country. After General Zia-ul-Haq took power in a military coup, Hizb ut-Tahrir (an Islamist group calling for the establishment of a Caliphate) expanded its organisational network and activities in Pakistan. Its founder, Taqi al-Din al-Nabhani, would maintain regular correspondence with Abul A’la Maududi, the founder of Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), and he also urged Dr Israr Ahmed to continue his work in Pakistan for the establishment of a global caliphate.
Social scientist Nasim Ahmad Jawed conducted a survey in 1969 in pre-divided Pakistan on the type of national identity that was used by educated professional people. He found that over 60% of people in East Pakistan (modern day Bangladesh) professed to have a secular national identity. However, in West Pakistan (current day Pakistan) the same figure professed to have an Islamic and not a secular identity. Furthermore, the same figure in East Pakistan defined their identity in terms of their ethnicity and not Islam. But it was the opposite in West Pakistan where Islam was stated to be more important than ethnicity.
After Pakistan's first ever general elections the 1973 Constitution was created by an elected Parliament. The Constitution declared Pakistan an Islamic Republic and Islam as the state religion. It also stated that all laws would have to be brought into accordance with the injunctions of Islam as laid down in the Quran and Sunnah and that no law repugnant to such injunctions could be enacted. The 1973 Constitution also created certain institutions such as the Shariat Court and the Council of Islamic Ideology to channel the interpretation and application of Islam.
On 5 July 1977, General Zia-ul-Haq led a coup d'état. In the year or two before Zia-ul-Haq's coup, his predecessor, leftist Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, had faced vigorous opposition which was united under the revivalist banner of Nizam-e-Mustafa ("Rule of the prophet"). According to supporters of the movement, establishing an Islamic state based on sharia law would mean a return to the justice and success of the early days of Islam when the Islamic prophet Muhammad ruled the Muslims. In an effort to stem the tide of street Islamisation, Bhutto had also called for it and banned the drinking and selling of wine by Muslims, nightclubs and horse racing.
On coming to power, Zia went much further than Bhutto, committing himself to enforcing Nizam-e-Mustafa, i.e. sharia law. Most accounts confirm that Zia came from a religious family and religion played an important part in molding his personality. His father worked as a civilian official in army headquarters and was known as ''Maulvi'' Akbar Ali due to his religious devotion. Zia joined the army before partition and occasionally offended his British superiors with his refusal to give up religious and cultural traditions. Zia attributed his personal resistance to the lifestyle of the British Indian cavalry to his faith in ''God and his teachings.''
In his first televised speech to the country as head of state he declared that
Pakistan which was created in the name of Islam will continue to survive only if it sticks to Islam. That is why I consider the introduction of [an] Islamic system as an essential prerequisite for the country.
While in the past, "many a ruler did what they pleased in the name of Islam," he would not.
Unlike in Iran, Islamisation in Pakistan was politically conservative, working against, not with leftist forces and ideas. Zia had little sympathy with Bhutto or his populist, socialist philosophy—captured in the slogan, "Food, clothing, and shelter". General Zia explained in an interview in 1979 given to British journalist Ian Stephens:
The basis of Pakistan was Islam. ... Muslims of the subcontinent are a separate culture. It was on the Two-Nation Theory that this part was carved out of the Subcontinent as Pakistan.... Mr. Bhutto's way of flourishing in this Society was by eroding its moral fiber. ... by pitching students against teachers, children against their parents, landlord against tenants, workers against mill owners. [Pakistan has economic difficulties] because Pakistanis have been made to believe that one can earn without working. ... We are going back to Islam not by choice but by the force of circumstances. It is not I or my government that is imposing Islam. It was what 99 percent of people wanted; the street violence against Bhutto reflected the people's desire ...
While Zia initiated the Islamisation programme, he came under attack from conservative Sunni forces who considered his process too slow. He distanced himself from some of the ulama in 1980, and in 1983 religious opponents spread the rumour that Zia was an Ahmadi. Zia was "forced to deny this allegation publicly and denounce the Ahmadis as kafirs (infidels)".
In 1984 a referendum was held on Zia, the Islamization program, and giving him a five-year presidential term. Official results reported 97.7 in favor and voter participation of 60%. Independent observers questioned whether 30% of eligible voters had voted.
Opposition to state-sponsored Islamisation or aspects of it came from several quarters. Religious riots broke out in 1983 and 1984. Sectarian divisions between Sunnis and Shia worsened over the issue of the 1979 Zakat ordinance, but differences in fiqh jurisprudence also arose in marriage and divorce, inheritance and wills and imposition of hadd punishments.
Among Sunni Muslims, there were disputes between Deobandis and Barelvis. Zia favored Deobandi doctrine and the Sufi pirs of Sindh (who were Barelvi) joined the anti-Zia Movement for the Restoration of Democracy.
Reference:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamization_in_Pakistan
Q.5 Write a comprehensive note on the curriculum and teaching methods suggested by Ibn-i-Khaldun
In education, a curriculum is broadly defined as the totality of student experiences that occur in the educational process. The term often refers specifically to a planned sequence of instruction, or to a view of the student's experiences in terms of the educator's or school's instructional goals. In a 2003 study, Reys, Reys, Lapan, Holliday, and Wasman refer to curriculum as a set of learning goals articulated across grades that outline the intended mathematics content and process goals at particular points in time throughout the K–12 school program.Curriculum may incorporate the planned interaction of pupils with instructional content, materials, resources, and processes for evaluating the attainment of educational objectives. Curriculum is split into several categories: the explicit, the implicit (including the hidden), the excluded, and the extracurricular.
Curricula may be tightly standardized, or may include a high level of instructor or learner autonomy. Many countries have national curricula in primary and secondary education, such as the United Kingdom's National Curriculum.
UNESCO's International Bureau of Education has the primary mission of studying curricula and their implementation worldwide.
Etymology
The word "curriculum" began as a Latin word which means "a race" or "the course of a race" (which in turn derives from the verb currere meaning "to run/to proceed"). The word is "from a Modern Latin transferred use of classical Latin curriculum "a running, course, career" (also "a fast chariot, racing car"), from currere "to run" (from PIE root *kers- "to run")."The first known use in an educational context is in the Professio Regia, a work by University of Paris professor Petrus Ramus published posthumously in 1576. The term subsequently appears in University of Leiden records in 1582. The word's origins appear closely linked to the Calvinist desire to bring greater order to education.
By the seventeenth century, the University of Glasgow also referred to its "course" of study as a "curriculum", producing the first known use of the term in English in 1633. By the nineteenth century, European universities routinely referred to their curriculum to describe both the complete course of study (as for a degree in surgery) and particular courses and their content. By 1824, the word was defined as"a course, especially a fixed course of study at a college, university, or school."
There is no generally agreed upon definition of curriculum. Some influential definitions combine various elements to describe curriculum as follows:
According to Smith, a curriculum can be ordered into a procedure:
Step 1: Diagnosis of needs.
Step 2: Formulation of objectives.
Step 3: Selection of content.
Step 4: Organization of content.
Step 5: Selection of learning experiences.
Step 6: Organization of learning experiences.
Step 7: Determination of what to evaluate and of the ways and means of doing it.
Under some definitions, curriculum is prescriptive, and is based on a more general syllabus which merely specifies what topics must be understood and to what level to achieve a particular grade or standard.
A curriculum may also refer to a defined and prescribed course of studies, which students must fulfill in order to pass a certain level of education. For example, an elementary school might discuss how its curricula is designed to improve national testing scores or help students learn fundamental skills. An individual teacher might also refer to his or her curriculum, meaning all the subjects that will be taught during a school year. The courses are arranged in a sequence to make learning a subject easier. In schools, a curriculum spans several grades.
On the other hand, a high school might refer to their curricula as the courses required in order to receive one’s diploma. They might also refer to it in exactly the same way as an elementary school and use it to mean both individual courses needed to pass as well as the overall offering of courses, which help prepare a student for life after high school.
A curriculum can be seen from different perspectives. What societies envisage as important teaching and learning constitutes the "intended" curriculum.Since it is usually presented in official documents, it may be also called the "written" or "official" curriculum. However, at a classroom level this intended curriculum may be altered through a range of complex classroom interactions, and what is actually delivered can be considered the "implemented" curriculum.What learners really learn (i.e. what can be assessed and can be demonstrated as learning outcomes or competencies) constitutes the "achieved" or "learned" curriculum. In addition, curriculum theory points to a "hidden" curriculum (i.e. the unintended development of personal values and beliefs of learners, teachers, and communities; the unexpected impact of a curriculum; or the unforeseen aspects of a learning process). Those who develop the intended curriculum should have all these different dimensions of the curriculum in view. While the "written" curriculum does not exhaust the meaning of curriculum, it is important because it represents the vision of the society. The "written" curriculum is usually expressed in comprehensive and user-friendly documents, such as curriculum frameworks or subject curricula/syllabi, and in relevant and helpful learning materials, such as textbooks, teacher guides, and assessment guides.
In some cases, people see the curriculum entirely in terms of the subjects that are taught, and as set out within the set of textbooks, and forget the wider goals of competencies and personal development.This is why a curriculum framework is important. It sets the subjects within this wider context, and shows how learning experiences within the subjects need to contribute to the attainment of the wider goals.
Curriculum is almost always defined with relation to schooling.According to some, it is the major division between formal and informal education.However, under some circumstances it may also be applied to informal education or free-choice learning settings. For instance, a science museum may have a "curriculum" of what topics or exhibits it wishes to cover. Many after-school programs in the US have tried to apply the concept; this typically has more success when not rigidly clinging to the definition of curriculum as a product or as a body of knowledge to be transferred. Rather, informal education and free-choice learning settings are more suited to the model of curriculum as practice or praxis.
The great thinker IbnKhaldunwas born in Tunis, 1332 AD and died in Cairo, 1406 AD. His ideas have reflected their importance on the history of universal thought as much as within the Islamic realm. His thoughts are all self-created. He has been affected by savants before him but he is not a continuation of them. He created genuine and innovative ideas. It is due to this fact that although he lived during the 14th century his thoughts still manages to shed light among events of current times. His ideas have not lost their relevance as time has passed. Recognized as the founder of sociological sciences, IbnKhaldunhas been accepted and commented upon by historians, jurists, theologians, politicians, economists, teachers, educators and environmentalists alike. IbnKhaldun’sgreat work of art, The Muqaddimahhas been translated into the world’s most common languages.
Life of IbnKhaldoun
IbnKhaldun's public life is documented in his autobiography, which has come down to us as the last volume of Kitabu al Ibar. Nonetheless, there are different accounts of his imprisonment at various times, and of the circumstances under which he wrote the Kitabu al-Ibar and other circumstances in his life.
IbnKhaldoun was born to an upper class family that had migrated from Seville in Muslim Spain. He traced his ancestry to Yemenite Arabs from the Hadramuth who settled in Spain at the very beginning of Muslim rule in the eighth century, and migrated to Tunisia after Muslim Seville fell.
IbnKhaldoun's parents were able to give him a good classical Muslim education. He began what seemed to be a promising political career at the Chancellery of the Tunisian ruler IbnTafrakin with the position of Kātib al-'Alāmah, a scribe who wrote introductions to official documents. The Marinid invasion (748-50/1347-9) resulted in the arrival in Tunis,of a large number of theological and literary scholars, and he gained instruction in Muslim philosophy and the main problems of Muslim thought. However, the Marinid occupation ended in chaos and bloodshed. Additionally, the Black Plague which ravaged the world in the middle of the century, claimed many victims in the area, including Ibnkhaldun's parents. These events are reflected in his writings.
Tunis became a backwater owing to the disturbances, and IbnKhaldoun eventually left for Fez. IbnKhaldun followed his teacher Abili to Fez. There, the Marinid sultan Abu Inan Fares I appointed him to write royal proclamations. Nonetheless, IbnKhaldoun schemed against the sultan and was imprisoned for 22 months. He was freed on the death of the sultan and reinstated him in his rank and offices, and promptly began scheming against sultan Abu Salem Ibrahim III to bring to power the sultan Abu Salem. When Abu Salem came to power, he rewarded IbnKhaldun with a ministerial position. But Abu Salem was soon out of power. IbnKhaldun therefore decided to move to Granada, where he had an ally in the Sultan of Granada, Muhammad V, whom he had helped regain power.
In Granada, IbnKhaldoun earned the envy and ire of Muhammad's vizier, Ibn al-Khatib. IbnKhaldun tried to influence young Muhammad to act according to his concept of a wise ruler, which Ibn al-Khatib thought foolish and naive. IbnKhaldun was eventually sent back to North Africa. The the sultan of Bougie, an old friend from prison, welcomed him and made him his prime minister. After the death of Abu Abdallāh in 1366, IbnKhaldun allied himself with the ruler of Tlemcen, Abul-Abbas. Abbas was defeated by Abdul Aziz however, and IbnKhaldoun was taken prisoner and entered a monastic order. In 1370 he was freed and thereafter resided in Fez. In 1375 IbnKhaldun was either imprisoned or sought refuge with the AwladArif tribe in the town of QalatIbnSalama. There he lived for nearly four years, and there he wrote the Muqaddimah "Prolegomena", the introduction to his planned history of the world. According to some accounts he was imprisoned and wrote the entire Kitab al-Ibar there.
By 1378, IbnKhaldoun's patron and friend Abul-Abbas had conquered Tunis. IbnKhaldoun returned there and completed his history. However, Abul Abbas questioned his loyalty, especially since the completed work omitted the obligatory panegyric. IbnKhadoun claimed he was going on a Hajj pilgrimage and escaped to Alexandria.
IbnKhaldoun was impressed by Egypt, which had been largely untouched by the strife afflicting other Muslim lands. In 1384 the Egyptian Mamluk Sultan, al-Malik udh-DhahirBarquq, made him Professor of the Qamhiyyah Madrasah, and grand Qadi of the Maliki school of fiqh (religious law). However, IbnKhaldoun into political trouble and had to resign his judgeship. He also experienced personal tragedy as a ship carrying his wife and children sank off the coast of Alexandria. He decided to complete the pilgrimage to Mecca.
After his return from the Hajj in May 1388, IbnKhaldun was again involved in in a political scrap that put him out of favor, and was later reinstated nonetheless as Maliki qadi. This repeated itself a number of times. The Mongols had now invaded the Middle East however. In 1401, under Sultan Faraj, IbnKhaldun took part in the siege of Damascus against Timurlane. Though the Egyptian army was abandoned by Faraj, IbnKhaldun remained there seven weeks. He negotiated with Timurlane, who extracted information about North Africa from him. IbnKhaldoun was also gathering information. On his return to Egypt, he composed an extensive report on the history of the Mongol Tartars, and a character study of Timur. He sent these to the Merinid rulers in Fez.
IbnKhaldun spent last five years in Cairo completing his writings, teaching and acting as judge, when he was not being imprisoned for seditious activities. He died on 17 March 1406, one month after his sixth selection for the office of the Maliki qadi.
IbnKhaldun's Work
IbnKhaldun's chief contribution lies in developing a method of explaining the dynamics of historical changing and analyzing society as expounded in the Muqaddimah. The Muqaddimah was originally conceived, apparently, as a brief introduction, to be tacked on to a history of the Arabs and Berbers. The full title of the entire Kittabu al Ibar means ""Book of Evidence, Record of Beginnings and Events from the Days of the Arabs, Persians and Berbers and their Powerful Contemporaries."
The work grew into a universal history, and the Muqaddimah grew into an elaborate theory of history and society. In some respects, he revived the traditions and method of Polybius and Thucydides. In others, he anticipated 19th and twentieth century writers like Hegel, Marx, Spengler and Toynbee, who sought to find "covering laws" in history. He identified psychological, economic, environmental and social factors that influenced the course history. He devised a kind of dialectic in which group (national or tribal) feelings, al-'Asabiyya, motivate the ascent of a new civilization and political power and subsequently, its diffusion into a wider civilization invites the advent of yet another al 'Asabiyya. He identified rhythmic repetitions in the rise and fall of dynasties and tried to explain them.
Unlike most earlier writers who limited their analyses to political issues, ibnKhaldoun emphasized environmental, sociological, psychological and economic factors governing events.
In the introductory preface to the Muqaddimah, one is immediately struck by a tone that belongs in the 19th century and not the fourteenth, complete with admonitions about the need for scientific method, and exposition of a method for scientific criticism of historical sources, including the bible. Western civilization would not produce this sort of work for many centuries.
The most striking idea in IbnKhaldoun's work is that great civilizations decay and invite invasion by comparative barbarians on the periphery - the dialectic of the desert and the city that is familiar to Middle East historians. The barbarians however, assimilate the refined new culture, become somewhat degenerate and lax in their turn and are vulnerable to conquest by other ruffians, who repeat the process. Both the decline of Rome and the rise and fall of various Arab and Muslim empires can be conceptualized in this way. IbnKhaldoun also described the economy in terms that Karl Marx would use nearly six centuries later, postulating that all value is created by labor, and distinguishing between economic surplus and the minimum required for sustenance.
In some other respects, IbnKhaldoun was very much a product of the Middle Ages however. He discredited alchemy on various grounds, but he accepted supernatural explanations as well. This aspect is often overlooked by those seeking to read modern ideas back into his work. He quoted a treatise on alchemy by one IbnBishrun, and wrote:
The truth with regard to alchemy, which is to be believed and which is supported by actual fact, is that alchemy is one of the ways in which the spiritual souls exercise an influence and are active in the world of nature. (It may) belong among the (miraculous) acts of divine grace, if the souls are good. Or it may be a kind of sorcery, if the souls are bad and wicked.
It is obvious that (alchemy may materialize) as a (miraculous) act of divine grace. It may be sorcery, because the sorcerer, as has been established in the proper place, may change the identity of matter by means of his magic power. People think that a (sorcerer) must use some substance (in order) for his magical activity to take place. Thus, certain animals may be created from the substance of earth, of hair, or of plants, or, in general, from substances other than their own. That, for example, happened to the sorcerers of Pharaoh with their ropes and sticks. It also is reported, for instance, of the Negro and Indian sorcerers in the far south and of the Turks in the far north, that by sorcery they force the air to produce rain, and other things.
Thus, like Herodotus, who was the father of History, IbnKhaldoun offered a mixture of insight and ignorance.
The remaining volumes of the Kitab al-I'bar deal with the history of Arabs, contemporary Muslim rulers, contemporary European rulers, ancient history of Arabs, Jews, Greeks, Romans, Persians, etc., Islamic History, Egyptian history and North-African history. The last volume deals largely with contemporary events and the events of his own life and is known as Al-Tasrif.
Here, we shall try to enumerate his education-teaching views which shed light on current educational systems and consequently provide a text from which we may take benefit.
Imparting Information to Students at their Level of Comprehension
Information should be given to students gradually in stages, lower to higher, which they may understand. If teaching methods are gradually applied to students, the education will prove more effective for them. Initially, the main principles of information and sciences should be taught, and taking into consideration the learning capacity of the students these matters should be explained briefly. The subjects to be taught should be provided with this method until completion. Such a method will result in the students showing more aptitude to the given information. However, the students’ aptitude will remain weak and insufficient. The students during this period will have learnt to absorb the given information. Pursuant to this, the teacher should revise the subjects with a little more elaboration and continue to provide the information in a wider aspect until completion. Then the students’ knowledge and adjustments shall be enhanced accordingly. The teacher shall then revise the subject three times over from the beginning. During this period, the teacher shall be able to explain more difficult and deeper aspects of the subject. This will result in the students reaching their utmost aptitude. The subject needs revision three times over and then students become well familiar with the subject. This is the correct method of teaching according to Ibn Khaldun.1
Students should not be Forced to Memorize
Teachers usually explain the difficult and deeper aspects of subjects which students are learning for the first time, therefore, forcing the students to memorize the subject. They accept this as the correct form of teaching. However, the students’ brains are not capable of understanding this. It’s difficult enough for them to learn a lesson. This results in the students becoming lazy, their mind rejects the information and the period of learning is prolonged. This is subsequently a result of poor teaching methods. The teacher should not impose upon the students whether they are new or accustomed to the subject. He should not overload the students with lessons beyond their capabilities and capacities, or should not intrude beyond the textbook under study or begin a new textbook before the current one is completed. Otherwise, the issues will be scrambled and subjects will become complex. When teaching, one must provide thought and revision. Memorization should be avoided.
Subjects should not be taught in a Broken Sequence
To teach subjects in a broken sequence is to prolong the term of study for knowledge or the sciences. For breaking up lessons or pausing results in a further period to learn that subject. The connection of issues within a subject will lose its significance. If issues within the subjects of information are applied in an organized manner until completion, these subjects will become more profound and their impression more permanent and students will therefore gain more. The information shall be connected with relative subjects and concretely formed within the brain and the mind.
Two Subjects should not be Taught Together
Two subjects should not be taught at one and the same time or be mixed with another subject. One should not pass on to another subject while the first remains incomplete. For this separates the heart from the mind. Concentration on learning both subjects at the same time unfortunately leads to an incomplete knowledge of both the subjects; the student absorbs neither information correctly.
Appropriate Length of Subjects Taught
According to IbnKhaldun, an over-summarized text on certain information as well as an over-extended text will create difficulty in learning the actual information. Furthermore, he separates the sciences into two categories of science-means and science-purposes. He explains the drawbacks of over-emphasizing on science-means. He believes that the wise men of recent times and their emphasis on science-means have led to negative results in the learning of these subjects.
It is Harmful to be very Strict on the Student
During education and teaching, it is harmful to be very strict on the student especially if the student is of young age. This sort of aggressiveness negatively influences the child. It may affect the psychology of the child and create unhappiness as well as corrupt his desire to work and study. This will drive the child to misbehaviour and to lie out of fear. He will learn to display actions contrary to those really within his heart. In time, this will become his nature and part of his character. It will corrupt the enhancements of social activities, modernization and the whole meaning of humanity consisting of self-esteem and family values. Therefore, teachers, mothers and fathers should not be aggressive towards children in order to teach them obedience and manners.
Travelling and Conferencing with Scholars is Useful for Education
People sometimes learn knowledge, ethics, occupation, views and virtues from teachers and also from persons who are masters of their fields or simply others whom they accept as role models. Practical experience usually influences more concrete ideas on certain subjects. The more knowledgeable the teacher from whom information is gained, the more solid the knowledge is acquired by the student. Terminology of subjects usually complicates the learning process. Due to this, some assume that these terminologies are just part of the subject. This incorrect attitude may only be rectified by various means and teaching performed accordingly. Hearing the information from various masters shall strengthen his knowledge and assist him to differentiate between terminologies.
Education should be Practical
IbnKhaldunalso emphasizes the teaching of arts and crafts. He states the importance of practical application such as to observe, to feel and to apply the knowledge gained as much as possible. He places emphasis on the fact that these sort of subjects cannot specially be taught only in theory. He states that theoretical study must be accompanied by practical study.
Learning Science requires Skill
IbnKhaldunbelieves that learning science requires skill. Tradition is important in teaching. Tradition must be upheld for the progress of science. Otherwise, science and education will recede. Tradition of science and education only prevails in places which have progressed in prosperity.