By Antonio G. Papa, Ph.D.
Education –– both spiritual and secular –– is highly being esteemed by the Christian families in these last days.
The New International Webster’s Dictionary of the English Language defined education as “The development and training of one’s mind, character, skills by instruction and training in an institution of learning.”
Through education, one’s knowledge, attitude, skills, and aspirations are being honed and molded for him to become a productive, proficient, pleasant, and wholesome person.
Understanding the educational domain
The pedagogy of inculcating proper knowledge, instilling the right attitude to the learners and practicing the needed skills provides an understanding of the educational domains among parents and guardians.
Education is said to be a lifelong process. During the new normal, it is assumed that both the learners and their parents or guardians will definitely learn from the educational process at home, employing the asynchronous mode of teaching.
The three domains of education that will serve as a guide of the facilitators of learning are as follows: cognitive, affective, and psychomotor.
The cognitive educational domain is the intellectual aspects of man’s life that involves knowledge and the development of abilities and intellectual skills.
As far as knowledge is concerned, Almighty God instructed us to choose instruction rather than silver, and knowledge rather than pure gold.
The affective domain is the behavioral aspects of man’s life, which include the manner in which individuals deal with things emotionally. In this domain, the development of individuals’ positive or favorable attitudes toward any educational pursuit is required.
In the same vein, Christians are exhorted to be tenderhearted and keep a humble attitude.
Meanwhile, the psychomotor domain is the manual or technical aspects learned by individuals through actual and hands-on exposure to the activities at hand.
Here, expertise is the name of the game––continuous and right practice makes perfect.
The individual learns by actually cultivating his own head or mind for the cognitive matters, his own heart or feelings relative to behavioral or attitudinal dealings with the subject, and his very own hands for the manual or technical activities that are required to be done.
Cultivating the three Hs
To live successfully in this competitive world nowadays, the individuals––whether involved in the world of education as students or in the world of work as a labor force––must learn how to cultivate the three Hs of their lives.
These three Hs stand for the head, heart, and hand which respectively correspond to the three educational domains.
The head––the first H––is basically concerned with the cognitive domain, the intellectual aspects of man’s life. According to B.S. Bloom, the cognitive domain involved knowledge and the development of intellectual skills. This includes the recall or recognition of specific facts, procedural patterns, and concepts that serve in the development of intellectual abilities and skills.
Daily, our knowledge system must be updated to become well-informed and fully aware of the phenomena and events surrounding us. For busy individuals, provide ample and quality time in reading newspapers, magazines, journals, books, and the like; in viewing and listening to television and radio programs; and in surfing the internet for the current events and other needed information as required in school and workplace. These must be practiced regularly.
The heart––the second H––on the other hand, involves in the affective domain, the behavioral aspects of man’s life. The affective domain as espoused by Bloom, et al. includes the manner in which we deal with tings emotionally such as feelings, values, appreciation, enthusiasm, motivation and attitude.
Development of individuals’ positive or favorable attitude towards any venture in life is required. The emotional quotient or EQ of individuals shall be enhanced to achieve excellence.
Accordingly, emotional intelligence (EQ) refers to the capacity to recognize our own feelings and those of others, to motivate ourselves, and to manage well our emotions and our relationships with others.
In 1999, D. Goleman reported that emotional competence is a learned capability based on emotional intelligence that results in an outstanding performance at work.
The hand––the third H––is involved in the psychomotor domain, the manual and technical aspects learned by men. To E.J. Simpson, the psychomotor domain includes physical movement, coordination, and use of the motor-skill areas. The development of these skills requires practice and is measured in terms of speed, precision, distance, procedures, or techniques in execution.
Thus, having gained updated knowledge is not enough for it must be put into actual practice. Hence, hands-on activities must be conducted to upgrade the skills of individuals.
Impact of education on man’s life
At the end of the day, whatever engagement was pursued by man––whether in an informal activity, a non-formal training, and/or formal schooling––consequently the outcomes include the acquisition of his updated knowledge system, development of a positive or favorable attitude, and possession of upgraded skills.
The application of updated knowledge and upgraded skills must be coupled with positive or favorable behavior in dealing with any venture in man’s life makes him a learned person.
Eventually, having attained these qualities, man’s aspiration in life will also be up-scaled. Hence, achieving a successful life.
Therefore, education is being valued by mankind because it develops a well-rounded and multi-faceted individual––the productive, proficient, pleasant, and wholesome persons.
For the humankind at present, the best source of spiritual education is the Bible, lessons are being learned during the conduct of the worship services––thus, producing God-fearing and loving individuals.
#####Dr. Antonio G. Papa is the second Head Deacon at the Local Congregation of Indang, Ecclesiastical District of Cavite South. He is a retired University Professor at the College of Economics, Management and Development Studies, Cavite State University (CvSU) in Indang, Cavite. In 2018, he served as a Scientist 1 and Consultant at Marinduque State College in Boac, Marinduque. He is a graduate of Bachelor of Science in Agricultural Education degree at the Don Severino Agricultural College now CvSU in 1978, and both Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy degrees in Extension Education at the University of the Philippines at Los Baños, College, Laguna in 1986 and 1991, respectively.
