教育哲学educational philosophy

教育哲学：1. The Republic (excerpt):The allegory of cave. What do the images in the cave stand for? What is Plato‟s understanding of the nature of education?The central theme in the book seems to be the nature of justice, a topic in political philosophy, but Plato also has his characters explore issues inPhilosophical cosmology（宇宙）Philosophical theology神学,Philosophical anthropology人类学According to Plato,The best possible political system (state)will be ruled (governed) byPHILOSOPHERS!The Good & the SunThe Good is to the mind as the sun is to the eye, i.e., just as the sun‟s light enables the eye to see in the perceptible realm, so the Good illuminates the mind andenables it to “see” in the intelligible realm.The caveThe cave is the region accessible to sight or perception.The world outside and above the cave is the intelligible region (517B4), accessible not to perception but to reasoning.The upward journey out of the cave into daylight is the soul's ascent to the intelligible realmThe shadows on the wallStand for the notions of things that people have in their minds, notions that are more or less closely related to the things of which they are notions.The puppets and objects from which the shadows are castStand for what we call real things--real rhinos, real countries with their actual living conditions, and anything else that one encounters in the world.The sunStands for the idea of goodness or "the Good."The Allegory of the Cave describes four stages through which a person has to pass to get a sound education. These stages are distinguished by what a learner is able to see. An ignorant person can see only shadows—without even suspecting that they are not real things.A fully educated person can see the shadows, the puppets that cast the shadows,the original things after which the puppets are modeled, and the sun that makes the original things visible.The purpose of Platonic educationTo free the soul of the things that turn its sight downward and to reorient it towards the truth (519A8-B5). Such education is liberating. It is also liberal -- Plato insists that studies in the mathematical sciences not be "compulsory"(epanagkês), on the grounds that "compulsory intellectual work never remains in the soul" (536D5-E4).At the age of 30 there would be another selection; those who qualified would study dialectics and metaphysics, logic and philosophy for the next five years.They would study the idea of good and first principles of being. Afteraccepting junior positions in the army for 15 years, a man would havecompleted his theoretical and practical education by the age of 50.2. The Education of Nature:Education of nature, education of men, education of things; Habit vs. nature; Making a man vs. making a citizen; Public and common education vs. individual and domestic education3. The Democratic Conception in Education:¢1.What is democracy? What are two traits of a democratic society? What is democratic education?It is not just a form of government, but primarily a mode of social life that is unique in providing an adequate setting for human flourishing.“A freeing of individual capacity in a progressive g rowth directed to social aims.”Dewey thus conceives of democracy itself as educative in a way thatreconciles the good of the individual and the good of society.¢2. What are the strengths and critics of the Platonic educational philosophy?¢3.What are the strengths and critics of the “individualistic” ideal of the eighteenth century?¢4. What are the strengths and critics of the institutional idealistic philosophy of the nineteenth century?¢5.What is Dewey‟s philosophy of education?Education is a social process; education is growth; education is not a preparation for life but is life itself.4. Banking v. Problem-solving Models of Educationl What is banking mode of education?The teacher talks about reality as if it were motionless, static, compartmentalized, and predictable. Or else he expounds on a topic completely alien to the existential experience of the students. His task is to 'fill' the students with the contents of his narration.Banking education seeks to maintain the contradiction. It does not engage students in critical thinking, instead, it requires the students to be passive and to adaptthereby serving the purposes of oppression. It inhibits creativity, it resists dialogue, it is fatalistic in nature.l What is problem-solving mode of education?In problem—posing education, people develop their power to perceive critically the way they exist in the world with which and in which they find themselves; they come to see the world not as a static reality, but as a reality in process, intransformation." Teacher-students and student teachers are continually reflecting on themselves and the world, establishing "an authentic form of thought andaction.”It is in this way that education can be constantly remade, instead of being static. It helps people to look ahead, to hope and plan for the future. "Problem-posingeducation does not and cannot serve the interests of the oppressor.l What are students and teachers‟ roles in these two modes of education?l Can you associate Freire‟s theory to today‟s educational practices?5. Milton Friedman: The Role of Government in Education¢1. What is government‟s role in educ ation? What are the justifications?¢ 2. What role does Friedman propose for the government? What are the justifications?Friedman proposed supplementing publicly operated schools with privately run but publicly funded schools through a system of school vouchers.Friedman argues that choice would create a more efficient and diverse system of schools, a market system in which teacher salaries reflect merit, instead of abureaucratic and mediocre system in which teachers have colluded to link salaries to credentials and seniority¢3. Neighborhood effect, school choice, voucher,6.Philip W. Jackson: Real Teaching¢ What are the four approaches of defining teaching? What do you think of them?Generic approach: Teaching is a system of actions intended to induce learning (Smith). Whether Smith‟s definition of teaching as a system of actions intended to induce learning fits the bill. This definition is too broad.Epistemic approach: Teaching is primarily concerned with the transmission of knowledgeConsensual approach: t o teach is to acknowledge the …reason‟ of the pupil, i.e.his demand for and judgment of reasons, even though such demands are notuniformly appropriate at every phase of the teaching interval (Scheffler).So it is only in a democratic society, or one in the process of becoming so, that teaching can be carried on. This view turns out to be more limiting than edifying.Evolutionary approach: T his approach attempts to locate teaching within “anetwork of relations.” Its place within that network is its ultimate source ofmeaning and significance.¢After reading this chapter, how would you perceived the act of defining teaching?How would you understand teaching?Teaching cannot be defined behaviorally, and that the specific skills a teacher might employ are not “the heart of the matter.”7. Terence H. McLaughlin: Beyond the Reflective Teacher¢the nature, scope and aims of reflection¢the two continua concerning the nature of reflection8. Nel Noddings: The One-Caring as Teacher¢the four steps of teaching the ethics of careDialogue: an essential part of caring that we could not model caring withoutengaging in it. Dialogue can help us evaluate our attempts to care.”Modeling: We need to show the students how to care. Be example.“We do not merely tell them to care and give them texts to read on the subject, we demonstrate our caring in our relations with them”Practice: if we want to produce people who will care for one another, then we need to give students practice in caring and then reflect on that practice.Confirmation: Confirmation is important because it encouraging the acts ofcaring. Confirmation is encouraging and the best in others.9. A Discourse on Grading¢the three species of grading and the functions that each of them servesCriticism: Analyzes a product or performance in the light of standards thatstudents must use as points of reference in order to learn, and its contribution to learnin g place it “at the very heart of education”.Evaluation:issues judgments of absolute merit based on independent standards of excellence.Ranking: Yields a linear ordering based on comparative judgments of theperformances of different students.Wolff argues that evaluation and ranking are external to education as such, and have rationales that are professional and economic. Grades convey criticism in only the most summary way, and seem most useful (if also troublesome) asinstruments of evaluation and ranking.。