Interestingly enough, the question of the One and the Many often leads toward the question of how we are to educate the youth.
But what does it mean to educate? At the time when the gigantomachia (battle of giants) was being waged philosophically, education was paediea (cultivating excellence). Granted, that is a loaded idea, though at least the Greeks took a stand on what it meant to educate. Today, we no longer question education, simply how to train individuals in particular forms of thinking. Perhaps that is excellence? How are we to know?
This I do know. Tuition is going up while Humanities courses are being cut. Business courses and the sciences lose few if any instructors/courses when compared to the "uselessness" of the Humanities courses such as History, Religious Studies, Philosophy, etc. So they will argue your education is simply being streamlined to serve your needs; hence the tuition increase.
So education is training. Correct?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I honestly believe American society has lost or is unaware of the meaning of education. Education has become institutionalized within a capitalistic society and with it comes capitalistic principles. Now, education is all about survival of the fittest (whoever gets the highest grades), leading towards the concept of competitive learning. It makes you wonder why so many people are sick of their education and why so many people don't take their education seriously and drop out.
ReplyDeletePrioritizing subjects is completely absurd and a lagging economy should not be an excuse to put more subjective classes aside for more objective ones. Students have a wide diversity of interests and go to college in hopes of strengthening their already honed strengths. By eliminating courses involved with philosophy, art and history, it ruins people's hopes of education, because you can not simply cut them off from their desires nor force them to have interest in fields of math, science and busieness (objective fields in my opinion that are very blandly taught and practiced).
I could go on writing a master's thesis concerning the problems of our educational policies... Someday I may, being an education major.
Do you study critical pedagogy? If so, who do you like/dislike, etc.
ReplyDeleteI do a lot of work in educational theory, in fact, my central argument is that philosophy needs to address how we educate our youth in light of radical diversity.
We have a long way to go.
I haven't studied critical pedagogy on a professional level. It's one of those things I developed an understanding of as I was grueling through 4 years of high school. I basically spent my time in high school evaluating my teachers and criticizing their methods of teaching instead of actively participating in classes. I've always been one to question instead of mindlessly following along (which is how I viewed High School class participation). In an ironic way it brought me closer to some of my teachers.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your argument. Philosophy and education basically goes hand in hand. If I'm not mistaken, philosophy means "searching for truth". Isn't that what education is? What we're seeing today is less questioning in education and more "memorize and shut up" approaches.
I agree with your account of current education. Let me just add that philosophy really just means a friend of wisdom. What we mean by wisdom need not be limited to the search of "T"ruth.
ReplyDeleteIf you are thinking a career in education, you really need to engage critical pedagogy. The No Child Left Behind act is going to be overturned by Obama, more than likely, and we are going to need something to replace its ontology. Having a step up on this issue can only help you.