Fundamental Distinctions between Teaching and Drilling in the Classroom: A Search for a Philosophical Criterion

This paper makes a fundamental distinction between teaching and drilling within the class room. Whereas many teachers go to the classroom to teach, it has been observed that what really takes place in the class rooms is much of drilling than teaching. This paper while it criticizes the common pedagogical approaches oriented towards drilling, it also proposes a new approach; the philosophical minimum, which leads to meaningful teaching and learning. The Philosophical approach presents three criteria namely; the intentionality Criterion, the Indicative criterion and the Readiness Criterion. This approach attempts to solve the common problems and challenges encountered by teachers as well as learners in the teaching-learning process. This paper makes recommendations which are quite significant in the improvement of the education quality at all learning levels.