Philosophy of Education
ED203 Spring 2002
Dr. Ana M. Martínez Alemán
Campion 222 Office Hours:
alemanan@bc.edu T & Th 10-12 and 3-4
(617) 552-1760 and by appointment
Course Description
Throughout the semester, we will explore major Western philosophical traditions and their influence on educational practice and policy in the U. S. We will examine how these ideological frameworks have shaped the schooling experiences of students, the role of the teacher in the classroom, and our understanding of the meaning and purpose of education. As a class, we will critically investigate the philosophical underpinnings of American education in order to better educational practice, policy, and participation.
As an introduction to the philosophy of education, this course is designed to present issues and perspectives central to the study and practice of education. Our goals are to critically question and investigate assumptions about such things as the role of government in education, the constitution of classroom instruction, and the function of social identities (race, ethnicity, gender, class, etc.) in education. As would be expected, much of this examination will encompass discussions of the nature or properties of knowledge, of reality, of value, and of the individual. In the course of these queries, I hope that we can improve our analytical skills in order to better understand and assess educational practices and policies.
Required Texts:
Craver, S. & Ozmon, H. (1995). Philosophical foundations of education.
New Jersey: Merrill. PFE
Dewey, J. (1968). Experience and education. New York: Collier.
Rodriguez, R. (1982). Hunger of memory: The education of Richard Rodriguez.
New York: Bantam Books.
Course Pack available from the instructor. CP
Student Responsibilities:
1. Attendance and Participation: Students are expected to attend class having read the assigned texts. Participation in class can take many forms. Throughout the semester we will engage in group discussions, lectures, and collaborative group exercises. Your participation in all of these activities, together with the record of your attendance, will comprise 15% of your final grade.
2. Exams: There will be three take-home exams that will incorporate the assigned readings and group exercises. I will distribute each exam two weeks before its due date and we will review the exams the week before they are due. Please be prepared to ask questions about the exam on the review day. We will go over the graded exams in class. We will discuss the format of the exams in class. Please abide by the university’s academic honesty guidelines when completing exams and essays. Each exam will comprise 20% of your final grade.
3. Reflection Essays: There will be two reflection essays. Reflection Essay 1 will be comprise 10% of your final grade while Reflection Essay 2 will be worth 15%. The focus of Reflection Essay 1 will be “What is my philosophy of education?” The class will decide the focus of Reflection Essay 2.
Assignments Schedule:
Due
Date
Reflection Essay 1 January 31
Exam 1 February 28
Exam 2 March 26
Reflection Essay 2 April 25
Exam 3 May 7
On-Line Sources:
Encyclopedia of Philosophy of Education:
Philosophy of Education Society:
cuip.uchicago.edu/pes/
Women in Philosophy: billyboy.ius.indiana.edu/WomeninPhilosophy/WomeninPhilo.html
Feminist Theory:
www.cddc.vt.edu/feminism/enin.html
Educational Theory Home Page:
www.ed.uiuc.edu/EPS/Educational-Theory/index.html
The Center for Dewey Studies
Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy:
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy:
plato.stanford.edu/
A Field Guide to the Nomenclature of Philosophy:
Syllabus
January 15 Introductions.
Course goals and responsibilities.
January 17 Langston Hughes, Poem for English B (HANDOUT)
In-class group exercise: Purposes of education, the role of the teacher, the role of the student, the role of government, definitions of knowledge and learning.
January 22 The Purposes of Education
Baldwin, A Talk to Teachers CP
PFE, Introduction
January 24 In-class exercise and discussion: Compare Baldwin, Hughes and PFE; develop a working list of the purposes of education.
January 29 Idealism
and Education
& 31 PFE Chapter 1 (Plato and Kant)
February 5 Realism and Education
& 7 PFE Chapter 2 (Aristotle and Locke)
February 12 Pragmatism and Education
& 14 PFE Chapter 4 (James and Dewey)
February 19 Dewey, Experience and Education
& 21
February 26 Behaviorism
and Education
& 28 PFE Chapter 6
Exam 1 Due
Spring Break
March12 In-class group exercise and discussion: Compare Dewey, the Realists (Aristotle & St. Thomas Aquinas), the Idealists (Plato & Kant), and the Behaviorists (Hobbes & Skinner); update purposes of education list.
March 14 Rodriguez, Hunger of Memory
&19
March 21 Existentialism, Phenomenology, and Education
& 26 PFE Chapter 7 (Greene)
Easter Break
April 2 Film: “American Dream at Groton”
& 4 In-class group exercise and discussion: Race and philosophy of education.
April 9 Marxism and Education
& 11 PFE Chapter 9 (Marx)
April 16 Philosophy, Education, and the Challenge of Postmodernism
& 18 PFE Chapter 10 (Giroux)
April 23 Feminist Theory and Pedagogy
On On-line reserve:
Nel Noddings, An ethic of caring and its implications for instructional arrangements
bell hooks, toward a revolutionary feminist pedagogy
Frances Maher, Pedagogies for a gender balanced classroom.
April 25 Film: “The American Experience: In the White Man’s Image”
In-class group exercise and discussion: Race and philosophy of education.
April 30 Synthesis: The Purposes of Education
David Mura: Strangers in the Village CP
Ishmael
Reed: America: The Multinational Society CP
Review of take-home Exam 3.
Course evaluations.