National Philosophies of Education and Impact on National Development Bassey Ubong

Greek city states in antiquity were distinguished polities basically because of their education systems. Athens was particularly important, having hosted such popular institutions as the Academy of Plato and the Lyceum of Aristotle. Each city state had a defined philosophy of education that guided teaching and by extension, learning. Aristotle, in his Politics as quoted by Howie (1968) stated, “Thus in Sparta and Crete the educational system and most of the laws are directed towards the establishment of military power for the purposes of war” (p. 95). Sparta in particular was known for war and thus body building and gymnastics which in today’s world constitute health and physical education) were the focus of the education system. In Athens, the focus was on the humanities and logic and democracy were of prime interest. Why is it necessary to have a focus particularly in education? Peters (1980) notes, “To ask questions about the aims of education is therefore a way of getting people to get clear about and focus their attention on what is worth while achieving” (p. 28). One of the achievements of a system could be the development of the national economy. Peters (1980) presents a metaphor when he saw education thus: “Just as gardens may be cultivated in order to aid the economy of the household, so children must be educated in order to provide them with jobs and to increase the productivity of the community as a whole” (p.28). There is a positive relationship between level of education in a country and the level of socio-economic development. This is why Campbell (1964) in Maduewesi (1998) holds that “the leading nations are the reading nations.” In the specific area of entrepreneurship, research by the Global Economic Monitor (2003) has shown that there is a positive correlation between entrepreneurship and economic development as well as positive correlation between entrepreneurship education and total entrepreneurship activity in a nation. One approach to national development is to develop the citizens by way of making them self-reliant. Self-reliance implies independence that can be achieved through private effort in entrepreneurship. This is the situation in capitalist economies where private entrepreneurship has been allowed to flower. Socialist economies such as China and Russia have subtly and slowly but surely embracing private entrepreneurship which, in China in particular, has had a salutary effect on economic growth. Developing countries should consider having definite national philosophies of education with self-reliance at the core. Some national philosophies of education and the impact on national development are discu