Dewey/ Strike Readings for 2/17

Hi everyone,

I am attaching an additional article to go along with the readings and will also send it by email:

http://aands.virginia.edu/x6397.xml

Some questions to consider:

1. Dewey discusses nature, social efficiency, and culture as aims of education. Each of these aims holds relevance for education, however do you feel that a particular one of these aims is most applicable to today's classroom?

2. In the Social Efficiency section Dewey asserts that one of the "most educative experiences of life" is for an individual to be able to earn a living for themselves and their family, and also points out one's ability to do this (or lack thereof) affects everyone around them. Taking this into consideration, do you think schools should put more emphasis on giving students real and usable skills that will enable them to earn a successful living once their formal education is over? Do schools also have a tendency to push certain individuals towards a particular path regardless of their innate abilities because of their perceived demographic?

3. In the attached article psychologist Angeline Lillard studied Montessori schools and found that children from lower socio-economic backgrounds did much better in these schools as compared to traditional schools. What factors might Dewey suggest play a part in this?

4. Can you recall an incident similar to the case study of the high school student intent on publishing a potentially harmful story in his school's literary magazine? Where do your rights of free speech end as a student?

5. Do you agree with John Stuart Mill (Strike Ch 3) that those "not legally competent" should not have the same rights and freedoms as adults and at times "must be protected against their own actions"? Where can you draw the line on this as it is evident that those at every age have vastly varying degrees of maturity?

Looking forward to discussing this on Wednesday!

Feedback Wanted

We're about a third of the way through the semester and I wanted to hear from you all how the course is going. Is the discussion format working for you? Do I need to explain things more/better with a more traditional lecture? Is it too much Dewey? Do we need more of something else? Are the expectations clear?

Feedback on anything or everything is welcome at this point. Now's the time to right the ship if things aren't working out.

You can post your feedback in the comments. You can also email it to me directly if that's more comfortable. If you want to give me anonymous feedback, that's fine as well. Just leave a note in my box in 204.

Thanks in advance!

Dewey -- "The Moral Training Given by the School Community"

Here are some further thoughts and questions to add to Amy & Meredith's good stuff below:

This short piece touches upon a significant Deweyan theme we have seen before -- continuity. This time, Dewey's complaint is against the artificial separation between the moral life of the community and the moral life of schools. One should determine the other :"Apart from participation in social life, the school has no moral end or aim." (247) What happens in the school should mirror and prepare students for what happens outside the school, helping them form their social identities and the obligations such identities entail. These identities (parent, voter, worker, community member) constitute our social identity as adults; schools should inculcate the associated sense of identity with students. Note, however, that such inculcation ought to be liberating, not restricting. Such moral training should allow the student to eventually take charge of himself and give him the ability to change his environment (see end of 1st paragraph, 2nd column, page 247).

Housekeeping and A Research Link

I'm sorry we didn't get to fully discuss the Strike chapter last night. I've talked with Lauren; she will start our next class with her remaining Strike questions, then we will move on to the new stuff. Bring your Strike book!

Also, I ran across The International Portal of Teacher Education today. It's a clearing house for ed research related to teacher education. You can find summaries and abstracts of research articles, but then have to track down the full text articles yourself (but there's often a link). I thought it may be useful as you look for additional articles for class or for other research.

Assignments due on February 10, 2010

Hello Everyone,

For February 10th, please read Dewey and these two additional articles attached (also sent through email).

An Education in Ethics

For More Schools, Teaching Morals is Right

Questions:

1. According to author Steve Johnson, research in self-esteem proved, "... that chronic criminal offenders tend to have high self-esteem, whereas many of the most altruistic and productive members of society show low self-esteem." PG2 Does this fact shock you? What can we as educators do to help build self-esteem for all students- even those who are very anti-social and have no great role models at home?

2. Over the past 40 years, character development in schools has almost disappeared. Dewey believed that schools have a moral responsibility to society. What can educators do to improve character education over a short time period?

3. Has Dewey's vision of school having the social responsibility of children's morals been realized?

4. Lets assume that everyone agrees that children must be taught proper moral behavior. Lets also assume that everyone agrees that good morals and values are formally taught to children, not learned instinctively or informally. If these assumptions are correct, why then has formal moral or character education been almost eliminated from the public schools and relegated solely to the home, church, and parochial schools?

5. In regards to our youth and their evidence of anti-social behavior, why do you think this is such a problem in today's society?

6. Do you believe that moral education is best left to the individual child's family and religious institution? Or is it something that needs to be addressed in the classroom?

7. What role do you believe the media plays in moral education or lack there of? Does this new "anti-social" behavior that many children are displaying today have a lot to do with the effects of the media on our children?

Thanks,

Meredith and Amy

Ways of Thinking About Educational Quality

I just want to say that this is an excellent article. Does being educated mean you are a better person? Does education always make us better? For some people it can be worse. We need to respect our students' intelligence and question ourselves as well as authority...Really why are they learning this? What is the history and policy behind this information being learned? Can we relate it to other subjects so the students can understand why it is important? Do we as teachers even think it is important? If we are not convinced about the validity of our subject matter, students will pick up on it. Because I said so doesn't work in the parent-child relationship. It absolutely will not work in the teacher-student relationship. Has it worked for anyone anywhere besides Hitler and Stalin?

The Intellectual Lives of Teachers

Is there one?

I am not suggesting that teachers are not smart people, but I know that teaching can be extraordinarily dull, intellectually speaking. There's an irony here, as many people go into teaching because they love a certain subject and want to share it with others.

This blog post from Social Issues ostensibly talks about why teachers would want to contribute to an open access curriculum wiki when they have so much else to do. I think the argument Waks gives, however, says a lot about the intellectual life of teachers.

What do you guys think?