Introduction

The Foundations of Education I course provides students a survey analysis of the historical, philosophical, and sociological foundations of education from its origin to the present day. Application of the past to the present and implications for the future will be highlighted. It should be noted that the course is labeled "foundations of education" not "foundations of schooling." Education and schooling while related are not synonymous. This course will examine education in all its forms and functions.

This course will continually attempt to address "why" questions. You are likely a product of America's educational system, and while you had to attend the school, as a human construct, the school did not have to operate or appear as it did; rather, it was the product of a multitude of human choices. Consequently, there is a story behind why the United States school system functions as it does and an ongoing debate on how it could or should be altered. This course seeks to develop a clear understanding of the ideas, motivations, and goals of individuals who created America's school system. This understanding will then be used to enlighten and evaluate the current and continual debates over school reform.

Please note that this course’s definition means that it will not focus on the “how” of teaching. You will be taught teaching methods in other courses if you are interested. This course will focus solely on what it means to be a truly educated human being and how human institutions have assisted or hindered the process of becoming one.

Course Objectives

At the successful completion of this course, students will have:

a. Analyzed philosophically and historically the field of education particularly in a Western context. They will demonstrate mastery of this material in three exams that combine both objective and subjective questions.

b. Improved their ability to research and evaluate primary and secondary sources. Students will demonstrate acumen in this area through writing essays, taking reading quizzes, and participating in class discussion.

c. Demonstrated the ability to identify and evaluate the thesis of an author as evidenced through reading quizzes, discussion, and essay composition.

Required and optional texts

1) With All Your Mind: A Christian Philosophy of Education by Michael L. Peterson

2) The Great Tradition: Classic Readings on What it Means to be an Educated Human Being edited by Richard M. Gamble

3) Up From Slavery by Booker T. Washington

4) The Schools We Need and Why We Don’t Have Them by E.D. Hirsch Jr.

Assignments

1) Exams: There will be three in-class exams. All of them are cumulative. These tests will consist of a variety of types of questions and will call upon your knowledge of lecture and reading materials. The first one will count for 100 points, the second 150 points, and the final will count for 200 points towards your final grade.

2) Quizzes: There will be unannounced quizzes most weeks and these quizzes may occur anytime. They will focus on the readings since the previous quiz and include the readings due on the quiz day itself. The quizzes will be “objective” in nature (i.e., multiple-choice, matching, fill-in) and exacting. The good news is you may take personal notes on your reading and use these notes on the quizzes; the bad news is that you will be expected to spell things correctly. Due to the timely nature of the quizzes, they may not be made up. A missed quiz due to an unexcused absence will count as a zero. However, your lowest quiz grade will be dropped. (100 points)

3) Philosophy of Education Paper: You will be required to compose your own two to three page philosophy of education statement. (100 points)

4) Philosophical Development: Teachers need to demonstrate a love of learning and a serious commitment to their craft. As such, 50 points of the course will be awarded largely through your design. In order to further develop your philosophy of education you will attend pertinent lectures and/or do additional readings to complete this assignment. For every ten points you will write a one-page double-spaced reflection on the lecture or reading.

Activities will count as follows: a) attendance at a lecture, classical music concert, or sporting event – 10 points (You may only count two sporting events and/or two activities you participate in towards fulfillment of this project); b) reading an extra selection from Gamble (10 points); or an approved book (50 points). Suggestions for other types of assignments will be considered, but they must revolve around philosophical development, not practical experience or observations of classrooms.

5) Class Participation: Class participation is required. By class participation I mean not merely talking in class, but intelligently participating. This will require you to 1) attend all of the classes; 2) be both prepared and willing to orally summarize the reading assigned for the day; 3) actively yet moderately participate in the class discussion – even if you find it difficult to speak in class, at the very least you should take it upon yourself to ask for clarification on subject-matters you do not understand. We learn by communicating with others and the study of human nature in particular requires conversation with the members of our community. Though no set point total is associated with class participation, it is essentially impossible to get an ‘A’ in this course when failing in this area. Students will be penalized in the “Quiz” portion of the grading for weak or failing performances.

Total Points Possible: 700 (Please note: though some “bonus” questions will generally be offered on quizzes and exams, these will be the ONLY opportunity for “extra credit” available in the course. Please refrain from asking for more opportunities.)

Course Schedule

Tentative Schedule of Topics and Assignments: Topics may change as time permits; assignment due dates are essentially fixed unless moved forward. Reading assignments may be added at the instructor's discretion.

Assignments are due at the beginning of class for the day assigned. Readings will be listed on the day that they should be completed.

THE FOUNDATIONS OF EDUCATION

COURSE READING SCHEDULE

Class One: First Day Festivities

UNIT ONE: THE PHILOSOPHIC UNDERPINNINGS OF WESTERN EDUCATION

Crucial Terminologies and Categories

Class Two: Peterson Intro and Chp. 1

Reading Questions

a) What is philosophy of education?

b) Is practice without theory blind?

c) What does “best practice” really mean?

d) What are the branches of philosophy?

The Philosophy Wars

Class Three: Peterson 2

Reading Questions

a) What role do assumptions play in educational philosophy?

b) What does it mean to “move beyond freedom and dignity”?

c) Which educational assumptions dominate today?

d) Are Medievals better educated than moderns?

Class Four: Peterson 3

Reading Questions

a) What did John Dewey believe in regards to educational philosophy?

b) What are the existential contributions to educational philosophy?

c) What is the role of deconstruction in education?

d) Contrast modernity and postmodernity in educational terms.

Class Five: Peterson 4

Reading Questions

a) What is significant about the understanding of creation in Christian philosophy?

b) Does God “ordain” education? Schools?

c) What are sources of truth in the Christian tradition?

d) What is a Christian purpose of education?

Class Six: Peterson 5

Reading Questions

a) Contrast liberal learning with general education.

b) Explain the liberal arts.

c) What does it mean to have a Christian integration in your educational philosophy and practice?

d) Is professional training education?

e) Is moral training education?

f) What is the key role of the teacher?

Class Seven: Peterson 6

Reading Questions

a) Contrast the roles and mandates of public, private, and Christian education.

b) Evaluate academic freedom.

c) Consider multiculturalism.

d) Explain generational differences and their relative importance.

e) Technology: Blessing or curse?

Class Eight: Peterson 7

Reading Questions

a) Education is a product or process?

b) What is distinctively Christian thinking?

c) How should Christian educators be “salt and light”?

UNIT TWO: THE HISTORY OF EDUCATIONAL THOUGHT IN THE WEST

Class Nine: Gamble:

a) C.S. Lewis “On the Reading of Old Books”

b) Dorothy Sayers “The Lost Tools of Learning”

Reading Questions

a) What is Lewis’s concern in regards to Bacon and Rousseau?

b) What did Lewis hope we would engage in?

c) To what time does Sayers wish us to return in order to reform education? Why?

d) What contemporary educational movements echo Sayers?

The Greeks: Can You Escape Them? Should You Want To?

Class Ten: Gamble:

a) Plato “from the Republic”

b) Plato “from the Laws”

Reading Questions

a) What does the Allegory of the Cave indicate regarding Plato’s view of epistemology?

b) Where is Plato primarily concerned justice be found?

c) Who is education for?

d) Can virtue be taught?

Class Eleven: Gamble:

a) Xenophon “from the Memorabilia”

b) Isocrates “from the Against the Sophists”

c) Isocrates “from the Panathenaicus”

d) Isocrates “from the Antidosis”

Reading Questions

a) How does Xenophon’s portrayal of Socrates differ from Plato’s?

b) How does Isocrates balance the claims for a private and public education?

c) Does education inherently “corrupt” youth?

Class Twelve: Gamble:

a) Aristotle “from the Nicomachean Ethics”

b) Aristotle “from the Politics”

Reading Questions

a) Why does Aristotle suggest education should be prized and pursued?

b) What is the interest and proper role of the state in regards to education?

The Roman Republicans: The Virtuous Life of the Mind

Class Thirteen: Gamble:

a) Cicero “from Pro Archia Poeta”

b) Cicero “from De Oratore”

c) Cicero “from The Orator”

d) Cicero “from De Partitione Oratoria”

e) Cicero “from De Officiis”

Reading Questions

a) How would Cicero reform education?

b) How should philosophy and oratory be balanced? Intellectual and practical?

c) What is Cicero’s advice to the college student?

Class Fourteen: Gamble:

a) Vitruvius “from The Ten Books on Architecture”

b) Seneca “from ‘On Anger’”

c) Seneca “from ‘On the Private Life’”

d) Seneca “from ‘On Liberal and Vocational Studies’”

Reading Questions

a) How can anger be broken without breaking the spirit?

b) How would Seneca label life in twenty-first century United States?

c) How should liberal education be properly understood?

Class Fifteen: Exam I

The Roman Empire: Victorious Pagans; Fallen Christians

Class Sixteen: Gamble:

a) Quintilian “from the Institutes”

b) Tacitus “from A Dialogue on Oratory”

c) Plutarch “from ‘On Bring up a Boy’”

d) Plutarch “from ‘On the Student at Lectures’”

Reading Questions

a) Can scholarship and morals be separated?

b) What makes someone a true “orator”?

c) What is “liberal culture”?

d) What is a balanced life?

e) What responsibilities are born by the student?

Class Seventeen: Gamble:

a) Basil the Great “To Young Men, On How they Might Derive Profit from Pagan Literature”

b) Augustine “from the Confessions”

c) Augustine “from On Christian Doctrine”

Reading Questions

a) Is Pagan thought valuable to Christians?

b) What knowledge is useful aside from God?

c) Can learning be worship?

The Medieval Period: The Anything-but-Dark Ages

Class Eighteen: Gamble:

a) Alcuin “From Charlemagne’s ‘Capitulary of 787’”

b) Alcuin on St. Peter’s School, York, 732-86

c) Alcuin Letters

d) Thomas Aquinas “Letter to Brother John”

e) Thomas Aquinas “from On the Teacher”

Reading Questions

a) What role should the state play in education?

b) What role does the teacher play for the student?

c) How does Aquinas compare with Aristotle and Senecca?

Class Nineteen: Gamble:

a) Petrarch “Letters”

b) Erasmus “from The Antibarbarians”

c) Erasmus “from On Education for Children”

d) Erasmus “from The Education of a Christian Prince”

Reading Questions

a) What did the printing press do for education? The Internet?

b) What role for literature? Greek? Latin?

c) How should parents evaluate their child’s education?

d) What education should we want for our leaders?

The Reformation: The High Calling of Education

Class Twenty: Gamble:

a) Martin Luther “From To the Councilmen of All Cities in Germany”

b) Ulrich Zwingli “Of the Upbringing and Education of Youth in Good Manners and Christian Discipline”

c) John Calvin “from Institutes of the Christian Religion”

Reading Questions

a) Who is responsible for a child’s education?

b) What is the role of the library?

c) What are the characteristics of a well-educated person?

d) Can man learn the knowledge of God?

Modernity: Enlightenment and Romantic Thought Critically Assessed

Class Twenty-One: Gamble:

a) Edmund Burke “from Letter to a Member of the National Assembly”

Reading Questions

a) Why does Burke see Rousseau as a threat to civilization?

b) Free government is dependent on what type of education?

Class Twenty-Two: Gamble:

a) T.S. Eliot “from Notes Towards a Definition of Culture”

b) Christopher Dawson “from The Crisis of Western Education”

Reading Questions

a) What are the proper priorities of education?

b) What are the manifestations of Romantic thought in the twentieth century?

Nineteenth Century Champions of Liberal Education

Class Twenty-Three: Gamble:

a) John Henry Newman “Discourse V” from The Idea of a University

b) John Henry Newman “Christianity and Letters” from The Idea of a University

Reading Questions

a) What is a university’s true purpose?

b) What is the end of knowledge?

c) Are knowledge and virtue connected?

d) Can Jerusalem and Athens be reconciled?

Class Twenty-Four: Gamble:

a) Irving Babbitt “from Literature and the American College”

b) Paul Elmer More “Academic Leadership”

c) A.G. Sertillanges “from The Intellectual Life”

Reading Questions

a) What is humanism? Humanitarianism?

b) Is aristocracy antithetical to American government and education?

c) What is a Christian scholar called to do?

d) What is required of the scholar?

Nineteenth Century American Schooling: Divide and Conquer

Class Twenty-Five: John Gould Fletcher (handout)

a) Education, Past and Present from I’ll Take My Stand

Reading Questions

a) What are the shifting nineteenth century goals of education?

b) What is the proper role of supply and demand in education?

c) What is the problem of “common” schooling?

Class Twenty-Six: Washington 1 – 3

Reading Questions

a) What is Washington’s view of slavery’s legacy and why might he hold that?

b) What is the burden of freedom?

c) What is the proper education for a free people?

d) What is the lesson of the cap?

e) What does Washington think of “Great Man” education?

f) What does Washington think is the role of the teacher?

g) How might we apply Washington’s lesson of the bath?

Class Twenty-Seven: Washington 4 – 6

Reading Questions

a) Is Washington a stoic?

b) What is Washington’s approach to success?

c) What is Washington’s lesson of the toothbrush?

d) What is Washington’s approach to classical education?

e) What is the role of the head, hand, and heart in Washington’s education?

f) What might we learn from Washington’s “plucky class”?

Class Twenty-Eight: Washington 7-10

Reading Questions

a) Does everyone need the same type of education?

b) What are legitimate motivations for an education?

c) What is the role of locals in education?

d) What is the role of the home in education?

e) Should students labor at school?

Class Twenty-Nine: Washington 11-13

Reading Questions

a) Is Washington a Christian or Stoic?

b) How should we view vocational education?

c) What are Washington’s rules for work and philanthropy?

d) What is Washington’s view towards the “Gospel of Wealth”?

e) What are Washington’s rules for speaking?

Class Thirty: Washington 14-17

Reading Questions

a) Should the Atlanta address be celebrated or criticized?

b) How is the media of the nineteenth century different from today?

c) What is the role of biography in a quality education?

d) How does British culture differ from American? Is that a result of the school system?

Class Thirty-One: Exam II

Twentieth Century: American Progressives’ Dominance and Enduring Legacy

Class Thirty-Two: Hirsch 1

Reading Questions

a) How do “liberal” and “conservative” politics interact with “liberal” and “conservative” education?

b) What role has Columbia played in educational training?

c) Full participation by a citizenry depends on what?

Class Thirty-Three: Hirsch 2

Reading Questions

a) What is “intellectual capital?”

b) What type of “equality” does Hirsch focus upon?

c) Does “No Child Left Behind” comport with Hirsch’s thinking?

Class Thirty-Four: Hirsch 3

Reading Questions

a) What is Hirsch’s definition of a “progressive”?

b) Explain the “interlocking public school directorate”.

c) What does Hirsch think of local control of education?

Class Thirty-Five: Hirsch 4

Reading Questions

a) What is the tension Hirsch sees between “mainstream” and “educational” science.

b) What is the tension Hirsch sees between pre-romantic and Romantic thought in their American manifestations?

c) What are the potential problems with naturalism?

d) What determines success?

e) What are “critical thinking skills”?

Class Thirty-Six: Hirsch 5

Reading Questions

a) What role does automation play in learning and thinking?

b) How do the goals of educators differ?

c) How is “premature polarization” utilized?

Class Thirty-Seven: Hirsch 6

Reading Questions

a) Is testing essential?

b) What comprises a good test?

c) What is Hirsch’s understanding of “meritocracy”?

d) What is “Balkanization”?

Class Thirty-Eight: Hirsch 7

Reading Questions

a) What is the impact of Romanticism and Progressivism on American education?

b) What are the problems with formalism and naturalism in education?

c) How can the “Matthew effect” be applied to education?

d) How can equality be established in American schools?

UNIT THREE: “SOCIOLOGICAL” CRITIQUES OF MODERN EDUCATION

Twenty-First Century: Is the Medium the Message?

Class Thirty-Nine: Neil Postman (handouts from Conscientious Objections)

a) Defending Against the Indefensible

b) The Parable of the Ring Around the Collar

c) The News

d) My Graduation Speech

Reading Questions

a) Is there neutrality in communication?

b) How has television impacted the classroom?

c) Are American schools producing Athenians or Visigoths?

Class Forty: Educational Philosophy Papers Due

Class Forty-One: Charles L. Glenn and Albert Jay Nock

a) Glenn’s “Fanatical Secularism” (handout)

b) Nock “from The Theory of Education in the United States” (Gamble)

Reading Questions

a) What is the proper perspective of emancipation in the classroom?

b) In a free society who has the final right to determine educational content?

c) What is the appropriate role of religion in American education?

d) Are we living in an educationally destructive age?

Class Forty-Two: John Taylor Gatto and Simone Weil

a) Gatto’s The Seven Lesson School Teacher (handout)

b) Weil’s “Reflections on the Right Use of School Studies with a View to the Love of God” (Gamble)

Reading Questions

a) How can the medium of school be the message?

b) Do Gatto and Dewey agree?

c) What are the benefits of Romanticism in the classroom?

d) How should we treat students?

e) What should be our ultimate goal of education?

Class Forty-three: Participation packets due.

Study Day: TBA

Final Exam: TBA