Philosophy of Education: Classical and Contemporary.

Overview & Synopsis

Philosophy of education has had difficulty finding its proper role in recent years. It has been seen as too removed from educational matters, irrelevant to teacher and administrator training, and fostering skepticism and radical ideas. However, philosophy is a way to make educational leaders and teachers more rational and critical in their thinking and acting about education. Philosophy's emphasis on clarity, purpose, criticism, and justification are tools with which educators can accomplish their work effectively by presenting visions of what educators and schools should be and detailing criticisms of current efforts to realize these visions. This publication begins with a brief history of the philosophy of education and a discussion of the teaching of philosophy of education. The following eight chapters address content areas of education. Each chapter is divided into two large sections, first covering the philosophy of education in a specific content area from a historical or classical perspective, and then from a contemporary perspective. The eight content areas included are: (1) intellectual education; (2) moral education; (3) aesthetic education; (4) religious education; (5) political education; (6) vocational education; (7) physical education; and (8) special education. (Contains 244 references.) (ND)