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PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION BY NEL NODDINGS Chapter 9: Social and Political Philosophy Note: To click on links you must be in Slide Show mode
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P HILOSOPHY OF E DUCATION B Y N EL N ODDINGS Chapter 9: Social and Political Philosophy Note: To click on links you must be in Slide Show mode.

Mar 31, 2015

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Page 1: P HILOSOPHY OF E DUCATION B Y N EL N ODDINGS Chapter 9: Social and Political Philosophy Note: To click on links you must be in Slide Show mode.

PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATIONBY NEL NODDINGS

Chapter 9: Social and Political PhilosophyNote: To click on links you must be in Slide Show mode

Page 2: P HILOSOPHY OF E DUCATION B Y N EL N ODDINGS Chapter 9: Social and Political Philosophy Note: To click on links you must be in Slide Show mode.

THE CURRENT DEBATE

Focused on individuals Concerned with liberty

and equality Liberals-greater

emphasis on equality Conservatives-greater

emphasis on liberty Classical Liberalism

Click on link above

Focused on communities

How individuals are developed within communities

What individuals owe to their community

LiberalismCommunitarianis

m

Page 3: P HILOSOPHY OF E DUCATION B Y N EL N ODDINGS Chapter 9: Social and Political Philosophy Note: To click on links you must be in Slide Show mode.

IMMANUEL KANT(1724-1804)

Ethics is highly individualistic Liberated ethics from the

authority of the church, ruler, and community

Rely on individuals “good will” and logic

“Act that you can logically will that your act should become law; that is, act so that you can logically will that all others in similar situations will be bound to do what you have chosen”

Page 4: P HILOSOPHY OF E DUCATION B Y N EL N ODDINGS Chapter 9: Social and Political Philosophy Note: To click on links you must be in Slide Show mode.

RENE DESCARTES(1569-1650)

Emphasis on individual knowers working toward knowledge through systematic doubt

Knowledge liberated from authority and placed on a rational base

The “individual” is a generalized rational agent – not a real person with attachments, emotions, and community affiliations

Page 5: P HILOSOPHY OF E DUCATION B Y N EL N ODDINGS Chapter 9: Social and Political Philosophy Note: To click on links you must be in Slide Show mode.

KANT AND DESCARTES Individuals are a general mechanism of

practical reasoning The individual as an actual, embodied person

is irrelevant Complex people are reduced to a reasoning

machine Paradox: great emphasis on autonomy but

uniformity is expected for the products of that autonomy

Page 6: P HILOSOPHY OF E DUCATION B Y N EL N ODDINGS Chapter 9: Social and Political Philosophy Note: To click on links you must be in Slide Show mode.

KANT AND UTILITARIANISM Utilitarianism – assumes an impartial, individual

calculator Prioritizes the good (usually happiness) over the right

Increased theoretical and practical interest in individual rights

All attention focused on the rights of individuals Critics claim it has become difficult to talk about

the rights or legitimate demands of a community Strips people of their identifiable social

characteristics and reduces them to utilities Require thinking that is hyperrational and is not

the sort of thinking that most of us do in moral situations

Page 7: P HILOSOPHY OF E DUCATION B Y N EL N ODDINGS Chapter 9: Social and Political Philosophy Note: To click on links you must be in Slide Show mode.

JOHN RAWLS(1921-2002)

Locates himself in the Kantian tradition

“The original position” – people are fully rational, but have no idea what their actual positions in society will be; they must create the rules by which they will live

The “individualist paradox” – the individual is sacred, his or her rights are “settled,” and yet he or she is not recognizable as an individual

More on Rawls Click on link above

Page 8: P HILOSOPHY OF E DUCATION B Y N EL N ODDINGS Chapter 9: Social and Political Philosophy Note: To click on links you must be in Slide Show mode.

JOHN RAWLSTHEORY OF JUSTICE

Persons in “the original position” are behind a “veil of ignorance” – they know nothing of their own character or personality The “veil of ignorance”

Click on link; ignore the parts where he talks about video games

First Principle: each person is to have an equal right to the most extensive basic liberty compatible with a similar liberty for others

Second Principle: social and economic inequalities are to be arranged so that they are both reasonably expected to be to everyone’s advantage, and attached to positions and offices open to all

The underlying assumption: individuals exist before communities and that they enter a “social contract” when they form communities and societies

Page 9: P HILOSOPHY OF E DUCATION B Y N EL N ODDINGS Chapter 9: Social and Political Philosophy Note: To click on links you must be in Slide Show mode.

RIGHTS OF INDIVIDUALS

Certain rights are settled and not subject to political bargaining

Products of negotiation or a consensus of beliefs

Describe how certain ethical rules, customs, procedures arise from the moral life of communities

Prescribe how we should think and act in building and critiquing moral communities

Rawls Communitarians

Page 10: P HILOSOPHY OF E DUCATION B Y N EL N ODDINGS Chapter 9: Social and Political Philosophy Note: To click on links you must be in Slide Show mode.

THE COMMUNITARIAN ARGUMENT

The persons deliberating behind the veil of ignorance are not real people and what emerges are just hypotheses for real people to try out

Rawls and Kant rely too much on rationality and the procedures that come from purely logical processes

Real people are affected by things that are not strictly logical

Page 11: P HILOSOPHY OF E DUCATION B Y N EL N ODDINGS Chapter 9: Social and Political Philosophy Note: To click on links you must be in Slide Show mode.

JOHN DEWEY(1859-1952)

Rejected utilitarianism A mistake to claim one greatest

good Objected to the separation of

means and ends He is a “pragmatic liberal” or a

“democratic communitarian” “What the best and wisest

parent wants for his own child, that must the community want for all its children. Any other ideal for our schools is narrow and unlovely; acted upon, it destroys our democracy.”

Page 12: P HILOSOPHY OF E DUCATION B Y N EL N ODDINGS Chapter 9: Social and Political Philosophy Note: To click on links you must be in Slide Show mode.

JOHN DEWEY(1859-1952)

Has sympathies for just procedures but insists they be tested in real communities

Justice comes from consequences, not procedures that come before deliberation and reflection

Separates himself from the whole social contract

Does not agree with hierarchy, elitism, and exclusivity (common with communitarians)

Insisted on a dynamic view of community

People must be taught the values and mores of a community before they can communicate effectively

“Pragmatic Liberal”“Democratic

Communitarian”

Page 13: P HILOSOPHY OF E DUCATION B Y N EL N ODDINGS Chapter 9: Social and Political Philosophy Note: To click on links you must be in Slide Show mode.

JUSTICE & EQUALITY IN EDUCATION

Inequalities in physical resources Physical facilities Instruments Maps Books

Inequalities in relationships Children with no academically competent, loving

adults in their lives Inequalities in the curriculum

All the same curriculum?

Page 14: P HILOSOPHY OF E DUCATION B Y N EL N ODDINGS Chapter 9: Social and Political Philosophy Note: To click on links you must be in Slide Show mode.

INEQUALITIES IN PHYSICAL RESOURCES

Jonathan Kozol’s description of urban schools: “Savage Inequalities” –

windows boarded up, faulty heating systems, toilets that do not work, sewage backing up, paint peeling from walls and ceilings, crowded classrooms

Review of Savage Inequalities by Jonathan Kozol Click on the link above

Page 15: P HILOSOPHY OF E DUCATION B Y N EL N ODDINGS Chapter 9: Social and Political Philosophy Note: To click on links you must be in Slide Show mode.

INEQUALITIES IN PHYSICAL RESOURCES

Arguments: A certain amount of inequality in society is

necessary to promote the general welfare We would not seek equality if it meant misery for

all of us When a substantial part of the population is

content, social change is very hard to effect

Page 16: P HILOSOPHY OF E DUCATION B Y N EL N ODDINGS Chapter 9: Social and Political Philosophy Note: To click on links you must be in Slide Show mode.

UTILITARIANISM & INEQUALITY

Some people can live in comparative misery, but does not allow huge numbers to suffer Does not allow a small number to suffer horribly for the

hedonistic happiness of many Does support a world in which most of the

inequalities described by Kozol exist There is only so much money to spend on

education How should it be spent to achieve the maximum benefit If children in community A are destructive to the school

building, why waste money making repairs The money would be more effectively spent on science

equipment and books for children in community B, who will not destroy what is bought for them

Page 17: P HILOSOPHY OF E DUCATION B Y N EL N ODDINGS Chapter 9: Social and Political Philosophy Note: To click on links you must be in Slide Show mode.

RAWLS & INEQUALITY “The intuitive idea is that the social order is not to

establish and secure the more attractive prospects of those better off unless doing so is to the advantage of those less fortunate.” Liberty and Equality (click on the link)

The “difference principle” – to support inequalities, one has to show that the extra funds invested in the education of well-off children benefits the least advantaged

First the conditions of the first principle have to be met – “each person has an equal right to the most extensive liberty compatible with a similar liberty for others”

More on the Theory of Social Justice Click on the above link

Page 18: P HILOSOPHY OF E DUCATION B Y N EL N ODDINGS Chapter 9: Social and Political Philosophy Note: To click on links you must be in Slide Show mode.

OPPONENTS OF RAWLS Financial resources do not determine the

quality of education Class size does not affect how teachers teach The low number of students taking college

preparatory courses in poor schools is a result of poor student attention and ability Not a sign of neglect or the limitation of a basic

liberty

What can be done to demonstrate that children living in schools described by Kozol are deprived of basic liberty?

Page 19: P HILOSOPHY OF E DUCATION B Y N EL N ODDINGS Chapter 9: Social and Political Philosophy Note: To click on links you must be in Slide Show mode.

DEWEY & INEQUALITY Face-to-face community life is key The problem with Dewey’s approach:

important political decisions are no longer made in such communities

Minorities and the poor are increasingly isolated in their own communities No communication between poor communities

and those making the political decisions We must act in direct communication with

one another

Page 20: P HILOSOPHY OF E DUCATION B Y N EL N ODDINGS Chapter 9: Social and Political Philosophy Note: To click on links you must be in Slide Show mode.

CRITICS OF DEWEY If nothing changes, how can we justify

pouring more money into poor schools? Money is not the answer

Dewey would respond “give money a chance” We should provide adequate resources Look for more than higher test scores when

assessing consequences Care advocates:

The conditions, not the money spent, are the real inequality

No defense for miserable conditions

Page 21: P HILOSOPHY OF E DUCATION B Y N EL N ODDINGS Chapter 9: Social and Political Philosophy Note: To click on links you must be in Slide Show mode.

INEQUALITIES IN BASIC RELATIONSHIPS

School reforms mention importance of family involvement, but very little about quality of relationships to help build healthy intellectual, moral, and emotional development of children

Two main reasons for this neglect: Theorist are reluctant to talk

about the quality of relationships in cultures other than their own

Traditional theories have concentrated on the public aspect of lives, not the private

Page 22: P HILOSOPHY OF E DUCATION B Y N EL N ODDINGS Chapter 9: Social and Political Philosophy Note: To click on links you must be in Slide Show mode.

IMPORTANCE OF RELATIONSHIPS

An impoverishment of spirit often accompanies financial poverty Working hard with little return; suffering

humiliation of being helped; feeling helpless Doubting that their children’s efforts in school

will ever pay off Poor parents become the living

representation of meaninglessness and helplessness

Teachers must represent whole persons, not just instructors

Students need to see that possibilities in education are real for their own future

Page 23: P HILOSOPHY OF E DUCATION B Y N EL N ODDINGS Chapter 9: Social and Political Philosophy Note: To click on links you must be in Slide Show mode.

RELATIONSHIPS & COMMUNITIES

Growing emphasis on importance of community

Care must be taken Communities can be self-serving, exclusive, and

demanding Communities can be coercive as well as

cooperative, unforgiving and punitive as well as protective

Community can be either good or bad, wise or foolish

Liberty and Community Click on link above

Page 24: P HILOSOPHY OF E DUCATION B Y N EL N ODDINGS Chapter 9: Social and Political Philosophy Note: To click on links you must be in Slide Show mode.

CURRICULAR INEQUALITIES Mortimer Adler’s Paideia

Proposal: All students should have the same

curriculum through 12th grade Same education for all is a

requirement of democracy Children have many different

interests and talents Academic, mechanical, artistic,

athletic, musical, etc. Society has organized schools

and their curriculum by class not by individual interests

Page 25: P HILOSOPHY OF E DUCATION B Y N EL N ODDINGS Chapter 9: Social and Political Philosophy Note: To click on links you must be in Slide Show mode.

CURRICULAR INEQUALITIES Michael Apple:

“The decision to define some groups’ knowledge as the most legitimate, as official knowledge, while other groups’ knowledge hardly sees the light of day, says something extremely important about who has the power in society.”

“…behind the educational justification for a national curriculum and national testing is an ideological attack that is very dangerous.”

In the interests of national competitiveness and the privileged classes, children of the poor will be more rigidly ranked and more firmly stuck in their lower places

Page 26: P HILOSOPHY OF E DUCATION B Y N EL N ODDINGS Chapter 9: Social and Political Philosophy Note: To click on links you must be in Slide Show mode.

DEWEY AND CURRICULUM The content of study is not nearly as

important as how it is learned and the amount of thought invested in learning

Dewey recognized the importance of some common learning (i.e. geography)

The “best and wisest parents” do not define equal education as identical education

Education organized around a few broad talents and interests and enhanced by a serious study of common human problems, stands the best chance of achieving a meaningful equality

Page 27: P HILOSOPHY OF E DUCATION B Y N EL N ODDINGS Chapter 9: Social and Political Philosophy Note: To click on links you must be in Slide Show mode.

CONCLUSION Today, the best the

school can do is provide: Adequate facilities

for all children Long-term caring

relationships that support intellectual development

Differentiated curricula