Ars Cooperativa Naturae

Proposing a Teaching Art Based on the Dialogue between Bushnell's Christian Nurture and Maritain's Intermingling Educational Approach

Abstract

The teaching is understood mainly as the task and role of the teacher, at the same time, the learning outcome is heavily dependent on the role and responsibility of the teacher. This view has brought some impacts, such as the teacher-centred education, the one-way teaching method, and the view on the student who is seen as a container of the lesson taught by the teacher. However, as a human being involved in the learning process, the student comes with the capacity to think, to feel and to act. Therefore, the learning and teaching process should involve the readiness and role of students, which interact with the responsibility and roles of the teacher. Thus, an alternative paradigm of teaching is needed, which, on the one hand, does not ignore the teacher's authority. Still, on the other hand, it does not violate the presence of students as human beings involved in the learning process. In this article, the author explores an alternative paradigm of teaching by presenting an analysis and a dialogue from two educational ideas, and they are Bushnell's emphasis on the important role of parents in education based on his theory of Christian nurture and Maritain's proposal about two intermingling elements in education. This dialogue discovers Maritain's idea of ars cooperativa naturae as the art of teaching and shares a philosophical basis with Bushnell's ideas of Christian nurture. Ars cooperativa naturae is the art of service, which states that teaching is not just the teacher's one-sided action, but rather there is student readiness as elements that blend in a dynamic teaching and learning process. By applying the art of teaching “ars cooperative naturae,” it is hoped that teachers will acquaint their roles as text-people as they grow as professional teachers.