- #1
John Creighto
- 495
- 2
According to Wikipedia in the progressive era the classics were removed from education. I know this isn’t completely true (At least world wide) because I learned a small amount of Greek Mythology (I live in Canada) in school. However, there was no study of Plato or any amount of philosophy at all were I went to school. I recall being in high school once and a teacher mentioned that they the teaching of philosophy in high school was tried but it was a failure. This seems false because from my reading of Wikipedia It seems as philosophy may have been taught for a significant period of time in Secondary school (At least in the United States).
Further reading of Wikipedia tells me that in the time of Woodrow the importance of both philosophy and the constitution (i.e. checks and balances) was downplayed in favor of “pragmatic administrators” who can be accountable to their citizens. How do we reconcile this shift from government by the people to government by “experts” in a world that still believes so strongly in democracy which is government by the people?
Even though Plato’s Republic was still highly authoritarian, in Plato’s Republic the importance of a set of principles to found the state (A.K.A. a constitution) was essential to the proper functioning of the state. It seems odd that a country founded so strongly on Jeffersonian principles of liberty (which were inspired by advocates of separation of powers from the age of enlightenment such as John Lock) would trust the governing to state/instructional sanctioned experts.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_education_in_the_United_States
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progressive_Era
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classics
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Separation_of_powers_under_the_United_States_Constitution
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Age_of_Enlightenment
What I want to know is exactly which parts of the classics were removed from education. There seems to be a ton of important concepts that could have been removed. For instances:
-In Plato’s Republic he said that trying to solve problems via legislation was like trying to cut the head off a hydra. A point of debate for essay style questions could be: How does the progressive era approach of trying to solve problems though legislation address this critic found in Plato’s Republic?
-In Canada they teach some dystopian works (one of Animal Farm, 1984 or Brave New World). When they teach, Brave New World in Secondary school do they compare and contrast how the guardians in Plato’s republic are raised like the children in Brave New World (they don’t know who their parents are). Do they discuss the greater impact of the state and corporation in the raising of the family and debate if this further separation between family and child moral?
-Plato’s Ideals of Forms seem relevant when discussion geometry and science.
-There is much to be learned about logic from Plato and Aristotle.
-In school they they try to address media literacy but they don’t teach informal logic (logical fallacies). With regards to the classic there is no discussion of Rhetoric. The study of Rhetoric is not only relevant to media literacy but also relevant to modern theories of psychology like cognitive dissonance. For instance in Aristotle’s rhetoric he argued to convince people one should using facts which people already believe. One of the most effective use of this technique was Martian Luther Kings use of the following phrase from the United states constitution: “we hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal in the eyes of god”
And I am sure there is many many good things that may have been removed from the education system in the name of progress.
Further reading of Wikipedia tells me that in the time of Woodrow the importance of both philosophy and the constitution (i.e. checks and balances) was downplayed in favor of “pragmatic administrators” who can be accountable to their citizens. How do we reconcile this shift from government by the people to government by “experts” in a world that still believes so strongly in democracy which is government by the people?
Even though Plato’s Republic was still highly authoritarian, in Plato’s Republic the importance of a set of principles to found the state (A.K.A. a constitution) was essential to the proper functioning of the state. It seems odd that a country founded so strongly on Jeffersonian principles of liberty (which were inspired by advocates of separation of powers from the age of enlightenment such as John Lock) would trust the governing to state/instructional sanctioned experts.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_education_in_the_United_States
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progressive_Era
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classics
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Separation_of_powers_under_the_United_States_Constitution
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Age_of_Enlightenment
What I want to know is exactly which parts of the classics were removed from education. There seems to be a ton of important concepts that could have been removed. For instances:
-In Plato’s Republic he said that trying to solve problems via legislation was like trying to cut the head off a hydra. A point of debate for essay style questions could be: How does the progressive era approach of trying to solve problems though legislation address this critic found in Plato’s Republic?
-In Canada they teach some dystopian works (one of Animal Farm, 1984 or Brave New World). When they teach, Brave New World in Secondary school do they compare and contrast how the guardians in Plato’s republic are raised like the children in Brave New World (they don’t know who their parents are). Do they discuss the greater impact of the state and corporation in the raising of the family and debate if this further separation between family and child moral?
-Plato’s Ideals of Forms seem relevant when discussion geometry and science.
-There is much to be learned about logic from Plato and Aristotle.
-In school they they try to address media literacy but they don’t teach informal logic (logical fallacies). With regards to the classic there is no discussion of Rhetoric. The study of Rhetoric is not only relevant to media literacy but also relevant to modern theories of psychology like cognitive dissonance. For instance in Aristotle’s rhetoric he argued to convince people one should using facts which people already believe. One of the most effective use of this technique was Martian Luther Kings use of the following phrase from the United states constitution: “we hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal in the eyes of god”
And I am sure there is many many good things that may have been removed from the education system in the name of progress.