Integrating Intellectual Maturity and Morality: A Philosophy of Education Perspective on Family Tarbiyah

Abstract

The modern society's understanding of education is often reduced to merely the process of transferring knowledge in formal schools, thereby obscuring the essential function of the family. This study aims to examine and deconstruct the concept of tarbiyah in the family based on a philosophical review and formulate its practical implications in the contemporary era. This type of research is qualitative with a library research approach. Data were collected from various relevant scientific literature and analyzed using the content analysis method through a philosophical hermeneutic framework, which includes ontological, epistemological, and axiological aspects. The results of the study indicate that tarbiyah is a holistic effort to cultivate a child's innate potential (fitrah) oriented towards achieving a balance between intellectual maturity (reasoning) and moral maturity (adab). This process places parental role-modeling as the primary epistemological instrument, simultaneously rejecting the tabula rasa view that considers children as passive objects. The practical implications of this study recommend the need to redefine the role of parents from merely providers of material needs to dialogic facilitators, in order to build family moral resilience and children's independence in facing the challenges of digital era pragmatism.