We explain what the pillars of education are, its creator and what it means to learn to know, do, be and live with others.
Pillars of education
The four pillars of education are the four foundations that sustain the educational act as one of the most important of the society. They were established by Jacques Delors (1925-) in a report presented to the UNESCO. This French politician headed the European delegation to the second International Commission on Education, convened by UNESCO in 1991.
Under the title “Education locks up a treasure”, the also called “Delors Report” was a synthesis of what was thought and said about education from ancient thinkers such as Confucius or Socrates, to other contemporaries such as Durkheim or Gramsci.
There, the existence of these four pillars of education, that is, four objectives that education should meet. The pillars were defined as: “learning to know”, “learning to do”, “learning to be” and “learning to live with others”.
Learn to know
This principle establishes that education should not be content with transmitting to the new generations the contents or knowledge developed by third parties, as if memorizing were enough, but should teach learning.
This means teaching to build knowledge so that you can continue learning throughout your life, you can acquire a posture review regarding knowledge and can guide the thought towards the values transcendent. In simpler terms, it is about teaching to think.
To learn to do
Future generations will be able to develop their own techniques and practices.However, theoretical knowledge is not enough to make the life of the humanity better and more productive, so it is also essential to put them into practice.
This is what learning to do refers to: teaching the techniques, but also its meaning ethical and practical, so that future generations can build their own and develop new practices. This pillar is related to work, to commitment with the betterment of society and with the dignity of the Humans in relation to their subsistence activities.
Learn to be
Given that in education and the integral formation of the individual not only knowledge is transmitted, but also values and perspectives, education must also teach to be, that is, it must forge the identity based on the desired values, in order to guarantee better generations and more committed to the virtues of the culture.
In this way, the mere utilitarian sense of education must be transcended, to go on to form individuals and individualities, endowed with a sense of belonging, of Justice, of transcendence and of truth.
Learn to live with others
Finally, education must teach how to live together, that is, it must face the difficulties that humanity faces in the 21st century as a global society. We refer to the violence, the discrimination, the inequality and the injustice, problems that seem very difficult to solve, but still must be thought from an early age.
The social, moral and ethical formation of the new generations does not depend but on their education at the hands of the previous ones. That is why it is essential to educate based on harmony in the discovery of the other, and in a deep sense of community That allows to resolve the differences that exist or exist in a civilized, responsible and above all ethical manner.