A Brief Overview Ibn Haldun’s Philosophy of Education
Who is the Ibn Haldun?
Ibn Haldun, whose full name is Abd al-Rahman Ibn-i Muhammad Ibn Haldun, was a prominent North African Arab historian, philosopher, and scholar. He was born on May 27, 1332, in Tunis (in present-day Tunisia) and died on March 19, 1406, in Cairo (in present-day Egypt). Ibn-i Haldun is best known for his contributions to historiography, sociology, and economics.
His most significant work is “Mukaddime” (meaning “Introduction” in English), also known as “The Prolegomena” or “Ibn Haldun’s Introduction.” In this extensive work, he laid the foundation for the study of history and introduced innovative ideas on the rise and fall of civilizations, social cohesion, and the role of economics in shaping societies. Ibn Khaldun’s approach to history was holistic, incorporating elements of sociology, economics, and anthropology, which distinguishes his work from traditional historical writings of his time.
Ibn Haldun served in various administrative and scholarly roles throughout his life, working in places like North Africa, Spain, and Egypt. His ideas and works had a significant influence on later scholars and thinkers, both in the Islamic world and beyond. Today, he is considered one of the founding figures of historiography and social sciences, and his contributions continue to be studied and appreciated for their depth and insight.
His Perspective
If you provide students with more than necessary and complex books and resources to access information, they will have difficulty in reaching that knowledge. This is because students are required to research, find, and memorize each work to complete their education thoroughly. This will break their motivation and consume their lifetime. Therefore, it is crucial for educators to pay maximum attention to the principle of minimizing time, effort, and energy. In other words, the learning process should be economical.
According to Ibn Haldun, when there are numerous methods and works that hinder students from obtaining knowledge, achieving an advanced level in scholarship becomes more challenging. Even if a person dedicates their entire life to learning, it may not be sufficient. Therefore, Ibn Haldun advises against wasting too much time with technical terms and numerous works on the same subject in education. He suggests that teachers should provide the essence of the subject to students, discourages the effort to teach every written work on a particular field of knowledge, and considers forcing students to memorize all the terms as a misguided teaching method that hinders learning.
According to Ibn Haldun, excessively abbreviating works is detrimental for acquiring knowledge. Writing works in a concise manner, similar to a curriculum program for each field of knowledge, and attempting to convey a lot with short sentences and few words is not only linguistically incorrect but also complicates understanding. Some works are shortened solely to facilitate memorization and comprehension, but Ibn Haldun argues that this approach is harmful for learning and disrupts the teaching method. This method confuses a novice learner by presenting information from the end at the beginning. According to Ibn Khaldun, this is an incorrect teaching system. Additionally, despite gaining knowledge in a particular field from abbreviated works, students may have deficiencies and inaccuracies in their understanding. This is because lengthy works often include detailed explanations and numerous helpful repetitions, which facilitate the learning process. Those who choose to abbreviate works may have intended to benefit students and make memorization easier. However, the adopted teaching system has put students in a more challenging situation, deterring them from obtaining comprehensive knowledge.
In short, providing extensive explanations and reiterating the same information in different words facilitates students’ understanding when presenting knowledge. Therefore, the teacher should comprehensively explain each concept in the lesson and, when necessary, repeat the same information using different language. While this method may be tedious for the teacher, it is beneficial for the student as it provides an opportunity to grasp missed or misunderstood concepts.
References:
- Ibn Haldûn, Mukaddime
- Arife Süngü, İbn Haldûn’un Eğitim Felsefesi
