Education - winter 1999

I. What kinds of questions and issues will be pursued in this course?

• how and why formal, public education developed in Western societies;
• the relationship between public education and the state;
• the history, purpose and controversial nature of compulsory public education in America;
• the role and status of teachers in American education;
• what is considered worth knowing, how curriculum is determined;
• education and democracy in a pluralistic society;
• forces for and against change in education;
• moral education within schools, problems and opportunities;
• the situation of the arts in education;
• the tension between private and public education, vouchers, etc.

II. How does the course work?

This course provides a survey of these and other major topics in educational philosophy and practice. The lectures and readings are chronologically comprehensive, beginning with Plato and culminating in the work of contemporary thinkers; at the same time, the lectures and readings are issue oriented and somewhat idiosyncratic. That is, they reflect the professor's intellectual priorities, rather than a strict historical progression in the study of educational thought. Furthermore, given the number of questions and authors considered in the course, both the lectures and readings are introductory; it will be up to students to pursue in greater depth those topics they find of particular importance.

The lectures, for the most part, do not interpret the readings, but provide a conceptual framework within which they may be explored. Occasionally, and in particular when a given author is especially difficult, the lecture will offer a gloss on the reading; but otherwise, it is your responsibility to understand and analyse the readings, bringing questions to section meetings if you wish.

III. What are the course requirements?

The course meets twice a week in lecture, and there are opportunities for voluntary participation in sections. Section arrangements will be announced at the beginning of the course. Course requirements include satisfactory performance on a midterm and a final exam which cover both lecture and reading material.

Generally, the course requires that students commute, conceptually, across centuries of educational thought, analysing current educational thought and practice in terms of its historical antecedents.

IV. What are the course readings?

All required readings for the course are contained in the anthology, The Evolution of Education, available from the Baytree Book Store. Selections in The Evolution of Education are grouped by topic, and correspond to each week's lectures. No other text is required.

Revised 7/26/04.