ED7701— Educational Philosophy and Change – Discussions 
										
Online Journal:

"I hear and I forget, I see and I remember, I do and I understand." (Confucius, 551 B.C.)      from Christy in 7701
www.infed.org
http://www.funderstanding.com/constructivism.cfm <http://www.funderstanding.com/constructivism.cfm> 
http://tip.psychology.org/>
sites for making literature reviews:
http://library.ucsc.edu/ref/howto/literaturereview.html#components   <http://library.ucsc.edu/ref/howto/literaturereview.html> 
<http://www2.ems.uq.edu.au/phdweb/phfaq03.html> 
<http://www.utoronto.ca/writing/litrev.html>

Philosophy of Education and Change Position Paper Guidelines
Capella University © 2003
Guidelines for Preparing a POSITION PAPER for your Philosophy of Education
Course Project
Guidelines for Position Paper:
McMurray (Clabaugh & Rozycki, 1990, p. 597) stated, “Philosophy of education is an attempt to
find the most rationally defensible reasons for doing education one way rather than some other."
A personal philosophy of education emerges from thoughtful responses to questions such as
the ones listed below and professional experience. As you work toward clarifying, reviewing,
and refining your philosophy and theoretical view of education, respond to the questions in a
way that helps you understand your innermost beliefs about schooling, teaching, and learning.
DIRECTIONS:
 Your position paper should be 10 to 15 pages including all parts.
 Use complete sentences and follow APA formatting and conventions.
 The philosophy position paper is evaluated on content, clarity, organization, ability to
compare or contrast, grammar, spelling, punctuation, etc. (See the Position Paper Rubric in
the MediaCenter for a precise list of criteria by which your paper will be evaluated).
 The position paper must include a title page, an abstract, an introduction, a main body, a
conclusion, and references. Use the course paper template in the Writing Center, which
contains the appropriate title page and is already formatted and paginated.
 You may find it easier to prepare the abstract and introduction after you have completed
writing the main body and conclusion.
 Do not repeat the questions below in your paper; however, you must answer all the
questions below that apply to your educational setting in your paper. Divide your main body
into sections that logically and sequentially present your position. You may use the main
categories below (personal philosophy, philosophy of education, theories, and conclusion)
as main sections that you may further divide into subcategories as appropriate.
 Throughout your paper, compare or contrast the literature to illustrate and support your
positions. A position paper by its name indicates that you are taking a position, or in the
case of this paper, you are taking several positions that you will describe, identify, and
analyze both the strengths and weaknesses in the reasoning for each of the opposing
positions, concepts, theories, models, or paradigms.

Capella University © 2003
2
Required format for Proposal for Change document:
Your Proposal for Change for Change document should follow the suggested format outlined below.
Your complete plan is likely to be about 10 to 15 pages in length to include all parts. Although a
suggested format is provided for you, your creativity should not be confined by this structure. Please
do not simply fill in the blanks. However, be sure to follow the Capella University Writing Guidelines
for proper paper and APA citation format. These guidelines and other available resources located in
iGuide in Writing Support.
 Title Page - Obtain the course paper/project template from the writing center. It contains the
appropriate title page and is already formatted and paginated.
 Abstract - An abstract should be a synopsis or executive summary of your paper that also
describes the purpose of the paper and what it accomplishes.
 Introduction - This would be a restatement of your proposal, which is a development of the
background, self-assessment, and rationale that allows helps your reader understand why
this Proposal for Change is important and what you intend to accomplish. Your proposal
(introduction) should (a) introduce the project, (b) sufficiently develop the background (explain
the setting, environment, conditions, etc.), (c) assess the circumstances and self-assess/selfreflect
on your role in the change process and (d) explain the purpose and rationale of the
project. For part (c) above, as you development the background and as part of the planning
process, you should do some self-assessment and self-reflection regarding an appraisal of
the circumstances and of your own role in the process. Section (c) should answer the
following questions:
q What is happening here that suggests a change is needed?
q What are the key elements?
q Why is this important?
q How do I fit?
q What changes are needed?
 Literature review (philosophical and theoretical justification for action and conceptual
framework for Proposal for Change) - this is where you will justify your Proposal for Change
as an expansion or outgrowth of your personal philosophy, educational philosophy, and
theoretical orientations. The literature review forms the theoretical foundation and conceptual
framework for your Proposal for Change. Much of this philosophical and theoretical
justification can come directly from Position Paper; however, you may need to find literature
(the conceptual framework) that provides specific support for the objectives, strategies, and
implementation. Incorporate additional literature as needed to plan and carry out the Proposal
for Change.
 Objectives - What are the objectives you intend to accomplish through this plan? By what
dates do you intend to accomplish them? You may choose to present your objectives in the
form of a table along with target completion dates. Your objectives should be manageable,
realistic, and attainable within a reasonable period of time.
 Strategies - What strategies do you intend to use in order to accomplish your objectives?
This forms the basis of your implementation plan. Are there particular research methods that
apply here? If so, include a description of any research you intend to carry out. Your
strategies should be clear and easy for the reader to understand.
 Implementation Plan - Your implementation plan should tell the reader exactly what steps
you will take, by when, to enact your plan. This is how you put your strategies to work.
Philosophy of Education and Change Proposal Guidelines
Capella University © 2003
3
 Conclusions - In addition to tying the plan together with coherent conclusions, provide some
reflection on what you have learned by doing this plan, what your hopes and fears about it
may be, and some future projection about how you see the success of this plan.
Ideas for a Proposal for Change for Workplace Change:
 Title Page - Obtain the course paper/project template from the writing center. It contains the
appropriate title page and is already formatted and paginated. Make sure to follow the standard Capella
format such as name, specialization, email address, etc.
Title Example: A Plan for Implementing Online Learning in a Community College
 Abstract - An abstract should be a synopsis or executive summary of your paper, which also describes
the purpose of the paper and what it accomplishes.
 Introduction - This would be a restatement of your proposal, the background the reader needs to
understand why this Proposal for Change is important and what you intend to accomplish.
The introduction to this plan should include information about the growing trend toward online learning,
the need for online learning in this institution, and what will be done to develop and implement it in this
setting.
 Self-Assessment/Self-Reflection - Before any planning process begins, it is important to do an
assessment of the circumstances and of your own role in the process. This section s hould answer the
following questions:
q What is happening here that suggests a change is needed?
Questions to consider for this plan are: Why is this needed here? What will it accomplish? What
will it take to implement this program?
q What are the key elements?
Who would need to be involved with developing and implementing this plan? Do you have the
information about the need for this program? If not, how will you obtain it?
q Why is this important?
This is a critical question to answer here - What demographic and market research data can you
use to address it?
q How do I fit?
What would your role in this project be? Have you been asked to take this on or do you need to
sell it to your college administration? Whom else do you need to involve?
q What changes are needed?
To answer this question, you would need to address the nature of your student population and the
needs that the program would address. In order to accommodate the program, you would also
need to make changes within the institution - what might those be?

 Literature review (philosophical and theoretical justification for action and conceptual framework for
Proposal for Change) - this is where you will justify your Proposal for Change as an expansion or
outgrowth of your personal philosophy, educational philosophy, and theoretical orientations. The
literature review forms the theoretical foundation and conceptual framework for your Proposal for
Change. Much of this philosophical and theoretical justification can come directly from Position Paper;
however, you may need to find literature (the conceptual framework) that provides specific support for
the objectives, strategies, and implementation. Incorporate additional literature as needed to plan and
carry out the Proposal for Change.
Here are examples of good sources:
Bates, A. (2000). Managing technological change. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Palloff, R., & Pratt, K. (2001). Lessons from the cyberspace classroom. San Francisco: Jossey-
Bass.
 Objectives - What are the objectives you are intending to accomplish through this plan? By what dates
do you intend to accomplish them? You may choose to present your objectives in the form of a table
along with target completion dates. Your objectives should be manageable, realistic, and attainable
within a reasonable period of time.
Assess the need for the program - 4 weeks.
Develop team for program and curriculum development - 4 weeks.
Select course management system - 8 weeks.
Planning process - 6 months.
Faculty Training and Launch of Program - by January 2004.
 Strategies - What strategies do you intend to use in order to accomplish your objectives? This forms
the basis of your implementation plan. Are there particular research methods that apply here? If so,
include a description of any research you intend to carry out. Your strategies should be clear and easy
for the reader to understand.
Present proposal to college administration.
Present proposal to faculty senate.
Ask for volunteers/appointments to planning group.
Conduct faculty trainings regarding the need for online learning.
 Implementation Plan - Your implementation plan should tell the reader exactly what steps you will take
by when to enact your plan. This is how you put your strategies to work.
A first step would be to assign dates to the strategic items in the previous section and then design
specific tasks for the implementation, such as the development of the proposal and agendas for the
presentations and the trainings.
 Conclusions - In addition to tying the plan together with coherent conclusions, provide some reflection
on what you have learned by doing this plan, what your hopes and fears about it may be, and some
future projection about how you see the success of this plan.
 Reference list - Using APA format, list all literature and resources that you used to complete the plan.
Also, include interviews or conversations you may have had, referenced as personal communication per
APA format.

QUESTIONS:
A. Personal Philosophy
 What do you see as the essential nature of human beings? Why?
 What is the basic meaning or purpose of life?
 Who or what determines morality? Do you believe there are universal moral
values? Why or why not? If yes, what are these values? What values should
schools teach?
 What do you believe about the constancy of life? Unchanging or always
changing? Why?
Philosophy of Education and Change Position Paper Guidelines
Capella University © 2003
B. Philosophy of Education
 What is your perception of an educational philosophy? Why do you need a
philosophy? What has been the basis or source of your educational philosophy?
How has your philosophy changed or evolved over time?
 Identify the philosophy or philosophies or philosophical orientation you think best
fit you. Why? (e.g., Idealism, Realism, Thomism, Neo-Thomism, Naturalism,
Humanism, Transpersonal Humanism, Pragmatism, Existentialism,
Perennialism, Reconstructionism, Behaviorism, Constructivism)
 What is the purpose of education, teaching, and schooling?
 Are students intrinsically motivated to learn?
 Should schools address human differences such as multiple intelligences,
learning styles, gender, exceptionalities, developmental stages, and cultural
diversity? Why or why not?
 Select 12 of the topics below that you will develop to delineate and express your
philosophy of education. Regarding each of your selected 12 topics, what do
you believe? What do you value? What are your ideals?

1. Teaching and Learning?
2. Knowledge and Content?
3. Knowledge Worth Knowing?
4. Curriculum Content, Approach, and Development?
5. Instructional Methods?
6. Character Education?
7. Ethics Education?
8. Educational Standards?
9. Teachers' Roles?
10. Students’ Roles?
11. Administrators' Roles?
12. Counselors' Roles?
13. Board of Education’s or Other Governing Body’s Roles?
14. Learning Styles?
15. Communicating Your Beliefs on Controversial Topics to Students?
16. Teacher and Administrator Leadership Styles?
17. Interactions (Including Relational Trust) Between the Teacher and
Students?
18. Interactions (Including Relational Trust) Between Teachers?
19. Interactions (Including Relational Trust) Between Teachers and
Administrators?
20. Relationship Between Schools and Community?
21. Counseling Program?
22. Classroom Management?
23. Teacher Preparation Programs?
24. Technology and Teaching and Learning?
25. Distance, Online, or Other Alternative Delivery Methods of Education?
26. Bilingual Education?
27. Home Schooling?
28. Inclusion, Multicultural Education, and Diversity?
29. Global Education?
30. For-Profit Schools?
31. Student Assessment?
32. Measuring and Reporting Student Progress?
33. Accountability?

Do you have a philosophy or conceptual framework for improving your practice?
If so, describe it. Has it worked?
C. Theories
 What is a theory? Why are theories of learning and teaching, counseling, or
school administration necessary?
 Which theories of development, learning, counseling, administration, leadership,
motivation, psychology, etc. align with your educational philosophy and best
match your image of yourself as a teacher, counselor, or an administrator? Be
specific, support with literature, and give examples from your own experiences.
D. Conclusion
 Is your philosophy of education practical (does it work)?
 Does your educational philosophy fit your personality and style of teaching,
counseling, or administration?
 How does your educational philosophy help you address the instructional needs
of students? Does it effectively address the learning and teaching process?
Does it focus on student learning?
 How does you philosophy fit within the hidden curriculum of your current
educational setting?
TIMELINE:
Part A. Personal Philosophy - Upon completion of Unit 1.
Part B. Philosophy of Education - Upon completion of Units 2, 6, 7, and 8, you will select and
write about 12 of the 33 topics.
Part C. Theories - Complete during Units 4 and 7.
Part D. Conclusion - Compete the hidden curriculum portion in Unit 3. The remainder must be
written for Unit 9.
Reference:
Clabaugh, G. K., & Rozycki, E. G. (1990). Understanding schools: The foundations of
education. New York: Harper & Row.

Criteria for course assessment:

Participation 40% 
Personal Philosophy 10%   *
Idea for Change 5%           *
Hidden Curriculum 5% 
Position Paper 10% S
Contemporary Philosophy 5% 
Learning/ Developmental Theories 5% 
Assumption that Actuate Change Process 5% 
Interview 5% 
Action Plan 10%

U1D1

An educational philosophy is a theory, thought, or belief as to what methods should be used in the educational process as well as what is the purpose and goal of education.  A philsophy is necessary for the same reason someone needs a plan to proceed in life or a map to find one's destination.  The source of my educational philosophy is a combination of read and studied thoughts of others (rationalism or idealism) and personal experiences and read experiences of others (direct and indirect empiricism or realism).  Over time, the changes that have occurred are mostly in the area of technology and not in the essential core of my educational philosophy.  Computer and Internet technology have made these online courses possible. The creation an effective online learning community requires that the learners share knowledge, thoughts and suggestions so interaction with the other learners and instructors is essential as well as is completing and contributing to the assignments and reading the assigned texts.

Concerning human learning, how we learn is through sensory perception and cognitive retention; why we learn, or the motive of all living organisms stripped to the barest essentials, is (the drive for) survival.  Prehistoric humans began to gradually realize, that in order for all to survive, it became essential to pass along skills and information, or, in other words, to educate the members of a society and transmit information from generation to generation.
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U1D2

I would say that all educational experiences today contain both rational/abstract (idealist or Plato's rationalism) and experiential/concrete (realist or Aristotle's empiricism) so would therefore be utilizing Thomist principles.
Although we might not remember the exact first moment, we learn early on in life that if one touches fire or a hot stove one is likely to get burned (learning through experience or realism and empiricism).  Later, we begin to also learn sounds and words by listening and repeating from others and then begin to learn other words and more complex concepts and abstract ideas ( idealism and rationalism and Thomism).
I think that children seem to learn best by doing (realism), which are the principles espoused by Herbert Spencer, John Dewey, and Jean Piaget, among others.  In the school where I have been teaching, where the Calvert system is the method used for educating the children from pre-kindergarten to eighth grade,  the term TPR (Total Physical Response) is used to express the belief that knowledge that is actively and physically experienced is more readily retained than knowledge that is more passively received (idealism).  I think I too have learned more through physical, sensorial experiences than through only abstract contemplation.  For instance, traveling (realism and empiricism) and experiencing a foreign culture can offer experiences that can enable one to learn about the culture, language, geography, history, etc. of a society to complement what can be read (idealism and rationalism) about it in books.   The combination of the two approaches could be considered Thomism.

--

Shawn, 

I don't usually mention principles of religion while teaching but I think Christ's maxim know as the Golden Rule (which almost everyone knows is "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you") is a good rule for all societal interactions including classroom management.  But it is interesting to note that, in China, Confucius (551 -- 479 B.C.) had a similar saying in one of his moralistic fables which was an almost identical thought though it was expressed in negative terms.  He said: "Don't do unto others what you would not want to have done to yourself".  And he might not have been the first to have expressed that idea; it might have even have been included in Hammurabi's Code.  (By the way, does anyone know if that cultural treasure was salvaged from the looting of the archaeological museum in Bagdad during the Iraq War?)

Richard

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It would seem that education of certain populations of mentally or emotionally disabled people, including autistic students, would require a higher percentage of the techniques of realism (since reasoning and rationality would not be used by them as much) and a certain amount of flexiblity and adaptability would also be in order.  The rational or idealistic components, as you mentioned, would involve mostly those surrounding the autistic students such as parents and family and community members.

--
Thank you for listing the percentages.

Though the answers will probably emerge as the course progresses I thought I would ask now since I have a few questions concerning the listed items, in particular, could you please briefly tell us what some of the terms below refer to:

Hidden Curriculum  
Position Paper
Contemporary Philosophy
Learning/ Developmental Theories
Assumption that Actuate Change Process
Interview 
Thank you,
Richard Bloodworth
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U1A5
Personal Philosophy
ED7701
Educational Philosophy and Change
Richard Bloodworth
P.O.Box 78123
Atlanta, GA   30357
RBloodworth99@yahoo.com
Dr. Callie Welstead
wenze001@idyllwild.com
 What do you see as the essential nature of human beings? Why?
I think the essential nature of humans is good, however, their strongest drive, survival, can cause them to resort to uncharacteristic behavior if they are, or feel that they are, forced to do so.

 What is the basic meaning or purpose of life?
This question has never been answered to everyone's, or perhaps to anyone's, satisfaction throughout the course of human civilization (and is in fact, I think, beyond the range of human comprehensive ability as is contemplating and understanding infinity) so I don't think that I will be able to answer it either but instead only discuss it.  
To examine the purpose of something, it first must have a beginning or origin and then a direction or goal.  We could also ask why there is something (the universe) instead of nothing (infinite nothingness).  Exponents of the 1) Big Bang theory say that, since the universe seems now to be expanding, the universe began with a point of infinite density, smaller than an atom and that contained all of the present matter of the universe and that particle existed in the infinite ocean of nothingness.  Fifteen billion years ago that particle exploded and the resulting matter eventually formed the universe in which we all now reside.  This is a difficult theory to absorb as are the ideas that 2) this is a infinite universe of inifinite matter that has always existed or that 3) the current universe was created by a Supreme Being or God.  There may be other explanations that will be offered in the future but these are the main three views now currently considered as explanations for the origin of the universe.
However the universe or life began, the answer of which would contain the answer of the meaning of life, and then evolved, the purpose or goal of life for the organisms that are all presently involved in living it is, stated simply, to survive.  Astrophysically, survival involves the continuation of celestial bodies (galaxies, stars such as the sun, etc. -- all of which will eventually extinguish) and the planetary survival of our own solar system.  Survival on Earth involves survival of the planet (supply of natural resources, avoidance of asteroidal impact, atmospheric retention, species survival, etc.).  Survival of the human species (though this species may evolve into other, new species in the future) mostly involve the requirements above mentioned for planetary survival and also avoidance of incurable epidemics, avoidance of nuclear war, and population supply -- though in the future (and now in China and India where the population of each country is over one billion people) population excess will be a survival detriment.
Individual survival of living organisms requires that their biological needs be met.  Personal survival of human beings requires also that their biological needs be met (food to eat, air to breath, water to drink, moderate climate and temperature, etc.).  Humans also need psychological and emotional support and they are the only species that needs intellectual enlightenment, not only for their enjoyment, but also for their species and personal survival and this is accomplished mostly through the procedures of educational processes.
 Who or what determines morality? Do you believe there are universal moral values? Why or why not? If yes, what are these values? What values should schools teach?
Morality, which according to Emmanuel Kant proves the existence of God, is determined (some say by God or religious principles or mandates, but I would say) by general consensus of what human beings consider behavior that is conducive to fair, just, productive, and efficient human interaction which, after all is said, is behavior that is ultimately beneficial to human survival.  All societies and cultures seem to have developed separate and unique but similar moralistic systems which would lead one to believe that there are indeed universal moral values.  Examples are philosophical or religious principles such as the Golden Rule and religious, governmental, and societal laws such as laws to protect human rights such as property rights, freedom of speech, etc.
 What do you believe about the constancy of life? Unchanging or always changing? Why?
Many basic principles seem to stay the same such as the need to satisfy biological needs, laws of the universe or laws of physics (even though there theoretical explanations may change over time) and moral values, though with the changes in society moral tolerance and acceptance of cultural differences seem to change over time.  The fact that technology (such as travel and communications technology) is changing at such a rapid pace is a factor that is causing change in all aspects of society and life.  But life is change.  As a Buddhist saying states: you can never put your foot in the same river twice.
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U2D1
Develop two or three paragraphs describing your philosophy of education in light of the philosophies of Naturalism, Pragmatism, and Existentialism. Describe your philosophy of education in terms of how it is alike and different from Naturalism, Pragmatism, and Existentialism with regard to the purpose and goals of education. 

Naturalism states that people should study nature and cause-and-effect relationships, use the scientific method of observation, use the senses to learn (empiricism), interact with the natural environment and learn at a natural and unhurried pace. Naturalism, akin to humanism and romanticism, is most identified with Jean-Jacque Rousseau (1712-1778), the author of Confessions, Emile, and the Social Contract.  Rousseau suggested learning at a natural and steady rate using "activity, exploration, and learning by doing", that humans should go through their natural phases and that childhood is "a necessary evil to be gotten through as quickly as possible."  (Gutek, 1997).  Pestalozzi referred to "Anschauug" or clear concepts from sense perception.  Another naturalist was Herbert Spencer (1820-1903) who, though he had the metaphor of comparing human education and learning to human evolution correct, seemed to use the concept of social Darwinism or social Spencerism to justify, among other injustices, racism and oppression.  With its utilitarian leanings, naturalism paved the way for pragmatism.
Pragmatism (with similarities to realism, empiricism, materialism, and positivism and the opposite of idealism) says that ideas and theories should be examined by experimentation (the scientific method) and that there are no absolute truths and values and stresses adaptability to changing conditions.  It is, as the name implies, utilitarian, pragmatic, practical, and utilitarian and utilizes a minimum of abstraction.  Education must be a problem solving activity with the purpose of creating a better society and a more informed public in order to create and maintain a democratic society.  All areas of philosophy should be adapted to create useful and practical philosophical doctrines.  Though useful for humans, pragmatism seems to be human-centered, but humans are just a fraction -- though of course a very important fraction -- of life on Earth (or perhaps in the universe).  The most influencial pragmatists are American philosophers Charles S. Peirce (formal principles, scientific method and mathematics), William James (relativism, systems of morality, religion, and faith, and the will to believe) and John Dewey (experience, intelligence, and communities as always changing and progressing, knowledge is tentative and not absolute).  Pragmatism has many advantages in that it can adapt to a constantly changing world, use methods of social experimentation make society better, discard useless beliefs, and function in a pluralistic society though some might think of its philosophy as somewhat vague and  undefined.  Pragmatism basically states that truth is relative to the historical context in which a society exists and that changes need to be made when new discoveries are made and that all knowledge should have practical use.

Existentialism involves the philosophical explorations of Freedom to choose, responsibility, commitment, subjectivity, free will, individual personality, and the recognition of emotions (contentment, fulfillment, dread, anxiety, nausea, anguish, etc.) and their relation to human existence.  Whereas Plato and most philosophers since him up until the point of existentialism believed that there are universal truths and that what is moral truth that is true for one person or society is true for all but the highly subjective existential philosophy suggests that truth can be relative to each individual who can construct their own philosophical system.  The 19th-century Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard, the first to call himself an existentialist, said  “I must find a truth that is true for me . . . the idea for which I can live or die.” (Dreyfus, 2002).  Kierkegaard, who considered the founder of existentialism, reacted against the rational system of Hegel and recognized the absurdity of the human condition and advocated the "leap of faith" into Christianity. Pascal recognized human paradoxes and set the stage for existentialism.  Nietzsche, who influenced existential philosophy and who, since he was an atheist, was on the other side of the religious coin from Kierkegaard claimed that "God is dead" and opposed  Judeo-Christian doctrines in favor of heroic individualism and the nurturing of individual genius. Martin Heidegger thought that humans must learn to live in an incomprehensible, meaningless, and absurd world and yet must choose a goal and strive for it and accept the certainty of death and the meaninglessness of human existence which is a stance very similar to that held by the philosopher most identified with existentialism,  Jean-Paul Sartre ("existence precedes essence") who said that human life is “futile passion.”  This sentiment is represented in the existentialist themes of writers such as Karl Jaspers, Martin Buber, Paul Tillich, Edmund Husserl, John Holt, Franz Kafka, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, and Albert Camus.

Since the present is the accumulation of the past and all new philosophies are influenced by previous philosophies even if they are reactions in opposition to them, I could coin a new term for my philosophy and call it eclecticism or unionism, which is selecting parts of each of the previously mentioned philosophies (idealism, realism, thomism, naturalism, pragmatism, and existentialism) and uniting them into one workable philosophy.  I think of the ones studied, I liked the rationality of idealism, the practicality and scientific nature of empiricism or realism and naturalism, the democratic nature of pragmatism and the creative force of existentialism.

Gutek, G.  (1997).  Philosophical and Ideological Perspectives on Education.  Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon

Dreyfus, H. & Hollinger, R (2002) Encarta Encyclopedia. Seattle, WA:  Microsoft Corporation.
Ferreira, J.M.,(2003). Columbia Encyclopedia.  New York: Columbia University Press
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U2D2
From the "Guidelines for Preparing a Position Paper" (in the MediaCenter), select three topics from the 33 topics listed and discuss each of these three topics in light of your beliefs, your values, and your ideals. When applicable, relate your response to the philosophies from the textbook that the course has covered thus far. If you can present other philosophical or theoretical support for your positions regarding the three topics, please do so. 
.
I. Instructional Methods
Idealism, Realism, Thomism, Naturalism, Pragmatism, Existentialism
1.  N		 child-centered. 
2.  E		 student-centered. 
3.  PT		 community-centered. 
4.  NE		 stages of development. 
5.  P		 problem-solving. 
6.  EN		 self-awareness. 
7.  E		 self-directed.
8.  ET		 self-determined. 
9.  E		 self-discovery. 
10 .PT		 discovery method. 
11. PRN	 learning by doing. (TPR)
12. PR		 experimental inquiry. 
13. PR		 scientific inquiry. 
14. P		 scientific method. 
15. E		 open classroom. 16. E		 open learning. 
17. IE		 open-ended questions. 
18. I		 Socratic dialogue. 
19. P		 service-based learning
20.  EP		*creating, making

II. Distance, Online, or Other Alternative Delivery Methods of Education
In today's world, technology is changing at a rapid pace and as a result society is changing at a rapid pace.  The traditional classroom will probably always be around with its face to face interaction but the traditional classroom now has a new partner supplying the same information but which offers instead interface interaction.
Cisco Systems president and CEO, John Chambers has reportedly said that “the next big killer application for the Internet is going to be education. Education over the Internet is going to be so big it is going to make e-mail look like a rounding error.”  (MacNamara, 2001).

III. Global Education
The term global education can have several meanings or connotations:
	1. Schools that are distributed or franchised worldwide giving the same informative and instructive technique
	2. Globalization or the tendency to create one world culture through cultural exchange and global education
	3. The capability to be able to receive an education from anywhere in the world through books, television or, more currently, online distance education.
References:
Gutek, G.  (1997).  Philosophical and Ideological Perspectives on Education.  Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon
MacNamara, O'Donnell. (2001).  Developing e-Citizens and e-Consumers, an Irish e-Commerce Case Study.   http://66.218.71.225/search/cache?p=The+E-citizen.+Instructional+Technology.,+Lee,+John+K.++&sub=Search&ei=UTF-8&url=fe_aPyZrSDAJ:www.efmd.be/learninggroups/chapter/eisb2001proceedings/pdfs/MacNamara%2520%2520O%27Donnell%2520.pdf
--
Response
I think the art of being able to discuss controversial topics without offending people can be developed so that practically all topics can be discussed.  Controversial topics are what generate interest in people and in students.  And besides, in the U.S. we even have freedom of speech to protect our right to discuss controversial topics.
--
U2A2
Locate the "Guidelines for Preparing a Position Paper" in the MediaCenter. Within Question B "Philosophy of Education," and under the sixth bullet is a listing of 33 topics. For your position paper, you will select 12 of the 33 topics and develop your position regarding each. You must relate your position to philosophies presented in this course. For each of the 12 topics selected, you will delineate your position by answering: What do you believe about this topic? What do you value? What are your ideals? This subsection will require a substantial portion of the total position paper. Therefore, in this unit and Units 6, 7, and 8, you will address this requirement. 

Select any three topics to address in the unit this week. Select three more each for Units 6, 7, and 8.

1. Teaching and Learning?                                                                                                                                                                                                                            2. Knowledge and Content?                                                                            U4                                                                                                                              3. Knowledge Worth Knowing?
4. Curriculum Content, Approach, and Development?              *
5. Instructional Methods?                                                                                U2
6. Character Education?
7. Ethics Education?
8. Educational Standards?
9. Teachers' Roles?            *
10. Students’ Roles?           *
11. Administrators' Roles?
12. Counselors' Roles?
13. Board of Education’s or Other Governing Body’s Roles?
14. Learning Styles?             *
15. Communicating Your Beliefs on Controversial Topics to Students?
16. Teacher and Administrator Leadership Styles?
17. Interactions (Including Relational Trust) Between the Teacher and
Students?
18. Interactions (Including Relational Trust) Between Teachers?
19. Interactions (Including Relational Trust) Between Teachers and
Administrators?
20. Relationship Between Schools and Community?                                       U4
21. Counseling Program?
22. Classroom Management?
23. Teacher Preparation Programs?
24. Technology and Teaching and Learning?                                                    U4
25. Distance, Online, or Other Alternative Delivery Methods of Education?     U2
26. Bilingual Education?
27. Home Schooling?              *
28. Inclusion, Multicultural Education, and Diversity?           *
29. Global Education?                                                                                       U2
30. For-Profit Schools?
31. Student Assessment?
32. Measuring and Reporting Student Progress?                                                                                                                                                                       33. Accountability?
--

U2A3
Front matter
Introduction
Literature review 
Core questions and hypothesis 
Research Methodology 
Data analyasis 
Projected findings 
Implications for practice and research 
Back matter
to Dr. Callie Welstead: Direct Democracy Curriculum Action Plan
PROPOSAL:
	An action plan for direct democracy be introduced and taught in Social Studies and Political Science courses in educational institutions.  The initial introduction to the subject would begin in the early grades of elementary school then gradually up through high school and also in post-secondary and adult learning environments to prepare the learners to be educated voters in a direct democracy.
EXPLANATION:

	One problem with the educational system, and society in general, involves political philosophy: if most societies are called democratic then why don't the people govern by voting directly and democratically (as is done in Switzerland, for example) on issues rather than voting only for representatives? When educating post-secondary or adult students (or even K-12 students to prepare them for being adults), how can the concepts of democratically controlled governments be conveyed and transferred to the learners and how can they become directly involved in the implementation of democratically determined plans?  My project involves exploring what methods have been used previously to establish direct democracies (which are basically the public voting directly on issues rather than through elected representatives who can, after elected, vote any way they choose.) and to establish a curriculum to teach the principles and techniques of direct democracy in schools, primarily through social studies and political science classes.
	[To get ideas from social studies and political science teacher in developing a curriculum one approach could be to send an emailed questionaire to as many as possible of the Social Studies and Political Science teachers in public and private schools from the K-12 levels up through post-secondary and adult education. The questionaire could contain closed and open ended questions in addition to a blank suggestion space at the end of the questionaire where the instructors can add any thoughts that they may have on the subject.]
	In Adult Education for Social Change: From Center Stage to the Wings and Back Again, Thomas Heaney views adult education as participatory and as a tool for social change and where educational progressivism is the contemporary approach to educating the public.  " 'Adult education turns out to be the most reliable instrument for social actionists' since it assures that any action undertaken would be authentically democratic" (Brookfield, 1984).  Eduard Lindeman, as influenced by John Dewey who formulated his philosophy in his book, Democracy and Education, considers education to be intrinsically connected with democracy, social action, and control by people over their day to day existences.  To Lindeman, adult education equals social change, a method to create good and productive citizens.  The concept of using the educational system to implement a direct democracy is closely connected with the ideas expressed by Heaney, Miles Horton, Paulo Freire, and Jack Mezirow since their approach is to empower the populace through education in order to create a democratic society. Since it is necessary to have an educated public in order to have democracy function efficiently, democracy is dependent on the educational system to survive.  Direct democracy, utililizing computer and Internet technology, has been implemented and used in various countries, including Switzerland, and institutions and the educational systems can be  instrumental in the implementation and continuing use of direct democracy in the United States of America.
	In "Developing e-Citizens and e-Consumers, an Irish e-Commerce Case Study", John MacNamara and David O'Donnell offer a comprehensive study of the effects the new cyber culture of the computer and the Internet and their effects on society, culture, and education. and the necessity for society and the educational system to produce "e-literate" citizens for the resulting new society. As they state it in their abstracted introduction: "We present a very simple argument: e-business needs e-consumers and e-literate workers; e-government needs e-citizens". They give many examples from Ireland where they are based and other nations and institutions using online voting. I think they present an in-depth description and qualitative analysis of the trends toward e-government, e-commerce, e-education, and e-culture in general backed by knowledge, examples, and statistics. 
	Democracy was discussed by Socrates and written about by Plato in Republic, Aristotle in Politics, Machiavelli in The Prince, Locke in Essay Concerning Human and Two Treatises of Government, Montesquieu in The Spirit of Laws, Hobbes in Leviathan, Rousseau in The Social Contract, and Thomas Jefferson in his writings. Democracy was first used in Athens, Greece before500 B.C., where each citizen voted directly on all legislative issues, thereby being a true
democracy. It was considered impractical to have a direct democracy before now, primarily because there was no technology to supply it. Now, with computer and Internet technology, there is.

	Computer and Internet technology can supply the forum for the voting of citizens to occur and schools and community and governmental organizations can supply the knowledge, information, and training for the implementation and continuing use of a direct democracy.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Anderson, S.R. & Ray, P. (2000).   The Cultural Creatives: How 50 Million People are Changing the World.  Harmony Books.

Aronowitz, S., Martinsons, B., Menser, M., and Rich, J. (1996). Technoscience and Cyberculture.  New York and London: Routledge.

Becker, T. & Slaton, C.D.  (2000).  The Future of Teledemocracy.  Praeger Publishers.

Benhabib, S., and Dallmayr, F. (1990). The Communicative Ethics Controversy. London: The MIT Press.

Blaug, Ricardo (1999). Democracy: Real and Ideal, Discourse Ethics and Radical Politics. Albany, New York: State University of New York Press.

Boorstin, Daniel J. (1974).  The Americans: The Democratic Experience.   New York: Vintage Books, Random House.
			
Bourne, R. (1917). Education and Living. New York: The Century Co.

Bowler, S., Donovan, T. & Tolbert, C. (1998).  Citizens As Legislators: Direct Democracy in the United States.  Columbus, OH: Ohio State University Press.

Bowler, S, & Donovan, T. (2001).   Demanding Choices: Opinion, Voting, and Direct Democracy.  Ann Arbour, MI: University of Michigan Press.

Broder, David S. (2000).  Democracy Derailed: Initiative Campaigns and  the Power of Money.  New York: Harcourt, Inc. 

Browning, G. & Powell, A.C. (2002).  Electronic Democracy: Using the Internet to Transform American Politics. Cyberage Books.

Budge, Ian. (1997).   The New Challenge of Direct Democracy.  Polity Press. 

Bushell, Sue. (2003).  Where to Now for E-Voting?  Retrieved Oct. 24, 2003 from:  http://www.cio.com.au/index.php?id=405941257&eid=-601

Caldwell, John Thornton. (2000). Electronic Media and Technoculture. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.

Castells. Information Technology, Globalization, and Social Development

CRED. (2003). Centre for Research in Education and Democracy.  Retrieved on October 2, 2003 from  http://edu.uwe.ac.uk/cred/bibliographic/papers.asp
Chomsky, N. (1994). Democracy and Education. Retrieved November 25, 2003 from  http://www.zmag.org/chomsky/talks/9410-education.html

Chomsky, N. (1994). Prospects for Democracy. Oakland: AK Press Audio.

Clift, Steven. (2003).  E-Democracy, E-Governance, and Public Net-Work.  Retrieved on November 2, 2003 from  http://publicus.net/articles/edempublicnetwork.html

Corrado, A. & Firestone, C.M.  (1997).  Elections in Cyberspace:  Toward a New Era in American Politics.   Aspen, CO: Aspen Institute Publications Office.

Cronin, Thomas E. (1999).  Direct Democracy: The Politics of Initiative, Referendum & Recall. Cambridge, MA and London: Harvard University Press.
Becker, T. & Slaton, C.D.  (2000).  The Future of Teledemocracy.  Praeger Publishers.

Bridges, William. (1980). Transitions: Making Sense of Life’s Changes.   New York: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Inc.

Davies, P.  Citizenship and Economic Understanding in England.  Retrieved November 25, 2003 from  http://www.oekonomische-bildung.de/materialien/download/Citizenship.pdf 

Dewey, John. (1980).  Art As Experience.  New York: Perigee Books, Penguin..

Dewey, John.  (1997).  Democracy and Education: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Education.  New York: Free Press, Simon & Schuster.

Dewey, John. (1997).  How We Think. Boston, MA: Dover Publications.

Dillman, Don A.  (1999).  Mail and Internet Surveys: The Tailored Design Method.  New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

E-Democracy articles by countries. Retrieved October 24, 2003 from http://dmoz.org/Society/Politics/Democracy/Direct_Democracy/ 
Education Information. (2003). Civic / Moral Education.  Retrieved October 2, 2003 from http://www.lib.ied.edu.hk/edarticle/civic.htm

Egan, Kieran.  (2002).  Getting It Wrong from the Beginning: Our Progressivist Inheritance from Herbert Spencer, John Dewey, and Jean Piaget.  London: Yale University Press.

Englund, T. (2000).  Rethinking Democracy and Education: towards an education of deliberative citizens.

Education Information. (2003). Civic / Moral Education.  Retrieved October 2, 2003 from http://www.lib.ied.edu.hk/edarticle/civic.htm

Fossedal, Gregory A. (2002).  Direct Democracy in Switzerland. Transaction Publications.

Frow, J. & Morris, M.  (2000).   Chapter 11: Cultural Studies and Chapter 20: Three Approaches to Participative Inquiry  in the Handbook of Qualitative Research.   Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.  

Gall, M.D., Borg, W., & Gall, J.P. (2003). Educational Research: An Introduction. 7th Ed. Boston: Pearson Education, Inc.

Gerber, E. R., Lupia, A., McCubbins, M.D. & Kiewiet, D.R. (2000). Stealing the Initiative: How State Government Responds to Direct Democracy. Prentice Hall.

Greek, Dinah. (2002).E-voting developers dismiss criticism: academic's accusations dismissed as outdated.  Retrieved Oct 24, 2003 from:  http:://www.pcw.co.uk/News/1136146

Hagey, E. The Use and Abuse of Participatory Action Research. http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/pphb-dgspsp/publicat/cdic-mcc/18-1/a_e.html

Haskell, John. (2000).  Direct Democracy or Representative Government?: Dispelling the Populist Myth.  Boulder, CO: Westview Press.

Heaney, Thomas. Adult Education for Social Change: From Center Stage to the Wings and Back Again.  (1996).  Retrieved October 15, 2003 from  http://www.nl.edu/ace/Resources/Documents/ERIC1.html

Hobbes, Thomas. (1998). Leviathan. New York: Oxford University Press.

Isin, Engin F. (2000).  Democracy, Citizenship and the Global City.  New York and London: Routledge.

Jeffs, D. B., Hugo, V.  (2000).  America's Crisis: The Direct Democracy and Direct Education Solution.  Hard Shell Word Factory.

Kable.  (2002). France tests e-voting.  Retrieved Oct. 24, 2003 from : http://www.kablenet.com/kd.nsf/Frontpage/723B42A73CC7BFA980256B87005D0C30?OpenDocument

Lebihan, Rachel. (2003). Arm twisting to hinder home electronic voting.  Retrieved on October 24, 2003 from http://www.zdnet.com.au/newstech/communications/story/0,2000048620,20265293,00.htm

Left, Sarah. (2001).  Estonia set for online elections.  Retrieved Oct. 24,  2003 from http://www.guardian.co.uk/internetnews/story/0,7369,464577,00.html

MacNamara, O'Donnell.  Developing e-Citizens and e-Consumers, an Irish e-Commerce Case Study.   http://66.218.71.225/search/cache?p=The+E-citizen.+Instructional+Technology.,+Lee,+John+K.++&sub=Search&ei=UTF-8&url=fe_aPyZrSDAJ:www.efmd.be/learninggroups/chapter/eisb2001proceedings/pdfs/MacNamara%2520%2520O%27Donnell%2520.pdf 

Mautner, Michael Noah. (2000).  A Constitution of Direct Democracy : Pure Democracy and the Governance of the Future ~ Locally and Globally.  Legacy Books.

McRae, Hamish.  (1994).  The World in 2020: Power, Culture, and Prosperity.  Boston: Harvard Business School Press.

Milkis, S. M.  (1999).  Political Parties and Constitutional Government: Remaking American Democracy.  Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins Univ Press. 

Mitchell, William J. (2000). E-topia. London: The MIT Press.

Moore, J. M. (1975).  Aristotle and Xenophon on Democracy and Oligarchy.  Los Angeles and London: University of California Press. 

Morgan, Gareth. (2003). E-voting trials ready for local elections, young people encouraged to vote via web, SMS and digital TV. Retrieved Oct. 24, 2003 from:  http://www.pcw.co.uk/News/1138249

Naisbitt, John.  (1997).  Megatrends Asia.  New York: Touchstone Books.

Naisbitt, J. & Aburdene, P.  (1996).  Megatrends 2000.  New York: Avon Books, Inc.
Nash, A. (2003). Civic Participation and Community Action Sourcebook: A Resource for Adult Educators. Retrieved October 1, 2003 from  http://hub1.worlded.org/docs/vera/index1.htm
Needham, Brian. (1993).  The Economist: A better way to vote: Why letting the people themselves take the decisions is the logical next step for the West.  Retrieved October 2, 2003 from  http://www.vote.org/economis.htm

Nietzsche, F. (1983). Schopenhauer as Educator. In F. Nietzsche, Untimely Meditations. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Patrick. (2003).  Recent Email from a Swiss Citizen.  Retrieved on Oct. 24, 2003 from http://www.vote.org/swiss.htm

Park, Peter. (1993) What Is Participatory Research? A Theoretical and Methodological Perspective in Voices of Change; Bergin Garvey. Retrieve October 1, 2003 from http://content.xanedu.com/CCP/xcp119/1_80950.pdf?ID=0.5709228515625?ID=0.497406005859375&IE=x.pdf&ID=0.346405029296875&IE=x.pdf

Plato. (1998). Republic. New York: Oxford University Press.

Ravitch, Diane and Viteritti, Joseph P.  (1997).  New Schools for a New Century.   London: Yale University Press.

Reason, Peter.  (1994).  Three Approaches to Participative Inquiry in the Handbook of Qualitative Research.  Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Ritzer, George. (2002). McDonaldization, the Reader. Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine Forge Press.

Rosen, Stanley. (2000). The Examined Life.  New York: Random House
Rosen, T. (2001).  E-democracy in Practice: Swedish Experiences of a New Political Tool. Retrieved November 2, 2003 from  http://www.svekom.se/skvad/E-democracy-en.pdf 

Rousseau, Jean-Jacques. (1999). The Social Contract. New York: Oxford University Press.

Salant, P. & Dillman, D.  (1994).  How to Conduct Your Own Survey.  New York:  John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Schlosberg, D. (2003). Virtual Environmental Citizenship: Web-Based Public Participation in Rulemaking in the U.S.  Retrieved November 25, 2003 from  http://66.218.71.225/search/cache?p=The+Internet,+Democracy+and+Community%3a+another.big.lie.,+Hern,+Matt%3b+Chauk,+Stu+&sub=Search&ei=UTF-8&url=-5JvmVbc3NsJ:www.ncl.ac.uk/geps/research/politics/Schlosberg%2520Paper.doc

Shamos, M.I.  (1993). Electronic Voting -- Evaluating the Threat.  Retrieved October 15, 2003 from  http://www.cpsr.org/conferences/cfp93/shamos.html
Smith, Russell. Electronic Voting: Benefits and Risks. (2002).  Retrieved October 24, 2003 from  http://www.aic.gov.au/publications/tandi/ti224.pdf Stirner, M. (1967). The False Principle of our Education, or, Humanism and Reform. Colorado Springs: Ralph Melees Publisher.

Stirner, M. (1967). The False Principle of our Education, or, Humanism and Reform. Colorado Springs: Ralph Melees Publisher.

Tocqueville, de Alexis.  (2000).  Democracy in America.   New York: HarperCollins Publishers, Inc.  

Toffler, Alvin.  (1984).  Future Shock.  New York: Bantam.

Toffler, Alvin.  (1984).  The Third Wave.  New York: Bantam.

Vago, Steven.  (1999).  Strategies of Change.  Chapter 9: Social Change.  Pearson Educational, Inc

Wallerstein, I. (1998). Utopistics, or, Historical Choices of the Twenty-first Century. New York: The New Press.

Weldon, W. ( 2002). Research seminar: qualitative research.  Retrieved October 5, 2003, from http://alfa.pedf.cuni.cz/~www_kppg/documents/qrs.rtf

Wells, G.  (1999).  Socio-cultural Theory and its Applications to Educational Practice and Research.  Retrieved October 8, 2003 from http://www.oise.utoronto.ca/~gwells/SocCult.html
Wilhelm, Anthony G. (2000).  Democracy in the Digital Age : Challenges to Political Life in Cyberspace.  New York and London: Routledge.http://alfa.pedf.cuni.cz/~www_kppg/documents/qrs.rtf

Whitworth, S. A., & Berson, M. J. (2003).  Computer technology in the social studies: An examination of the effectiveness literature (1996-2001).   Retrieved November 25, 2003 from http://www.citejournal.org/vol2/iss4/socialstudies/article1.cfm

some websites concerning direct democracy and e-government:
http://www.developmentgateway.org/node/130619/?page_id=3647   (worldwide egovernment)                                                         
http://thomas.loc.gov/    ( the proceedings of the U.S. Congress and egovernment development)
http://egov.mit.gov.in/   (egovernment in India)
http://www.abc.net.au/ola/citizen/interdemoc/republic.htm
http://www.veritasdigital.com/ad_online/participatory.html
http://www.cpsu.org.uk/downloads/Modernising%20Background.pdf
http://www.publicus.net/ebook/
http://www.mail-archive.com/do-wire@tc.umn.edu/msg00045.html
http://policy.womenspace.ca/activities/brainstorm/policy/
http://www.analysphere.com/21Oct00/democracy.htm
http://www.statskontoret.se/gol-democracy/links/Popular/
http://www.itac.ca/client/ITAC/ITAC_UW_MainEngine.nsf/object/Imperative/$file/Agnew.pdf
http://www.one2one.co.nz/edemocracy.html
http://www.politics.tcd.ie/courses/undergrad/bcc/portal/egovernance.html
http://www.internetnz.net.nz/members/lists/isocnz-council-tidbits/2000-August/000012.html
http://www.flaxroots.net.nz/2000/papers/2000-PaulHughes.html
http://www.context.co.nz:8080/newsItems/viewDepartment$Participatory+Democracy
http://langue.hyper.chubu.ac.jp/jalt/pub/tlt/00/dec/scott.html
http://www.diverdiver.com/2003_03_07_diverdiver_archive.html
http://www.democracy-online.org/
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A8287-2003Feb26
http://lists.essential.org/1995/info-policy-notes/msg00137.html
http://mondediplo.com/1998/12/03bensaid    (third way government)
http://www.jhu.edu/news_info/news/topic/politics.html    (online voting)
http://lone-eagles.com/democracy.htm  (list of related links and sources)
http://www.democracy-online.org/ (another list of related links and sources)
http://egov.mit.gov.in/  (egovernment development in India)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/greeks/greekdemocracy_01.shtml
http://www.bris.ac.uk/Depts/Philosophy/UG/ugunits0102/rousseau.html
http://www.wabash.edu/Rousseau/WorksonWeb.html
http://www.sosig.ac.uk/roads/subject-listing/World-cat/philpol.html
http://www.bu.edu/wcp/Papers/Poli/PoliFeld.htm
http://www.bu.edu/wcp/MainPoli.htm
http://www.bu.edu/wcp/Papers/Poli/PoliBuch.htm
http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/phl302/texts/locke/locke2/2nd-contents.html
http://www.sosig.ac.uk/roads/subject-listing/World-cat/demgovt.html
http://www.ancientworlds.net/aw/Post/32871
http://www.radford.edu/~wkovarik/class/300/300pix/300.ideas.html
http://teachers.ausd.net/antilla/philolinks.html
http://plato.stanford.edu
http://www.rep.routledge.com/index.html
http://www.bris.ac.uk/Depts/Philosophy/Dept/journals.html
http://www.bris.ac.uk/DeptsPhilosophy/Dept/Links.htm
http://www.bris.ac.uk/Depts/Philosophy/VL/index.html
http://web.mit.edu/polisci/www/research/goodness.html
http://etext.virginia.edu/jefferson/quotations/jeff0600.htm
http://www.anova.org/
http://www.developmentgateway.org/node/130619/?page_id=3647 
http://www.pdemokracie.ecn.cz/cs/doc/Statut-ang.doc
http://edemocracy.meetup.com/members/878
http://dmoz.org/Society/Politics/Democracy/Direct_Democracy/
http://www.dominion-web.com/directory/Top/Society/Politics/Democracy/Direct_Democracy
http://www.free-project.org/connect/links/
http://www.election.com/
http://www.votehere.net/
http://www.lib.ied.edu.hk/edarticle/civic.htm
http://edu.uwe.ac.uk/cred/bibliographic/papers.asp
http://www.egov.vic.gov.au/Research/ElectronicDemocracy/voting.htm
http://www.louiseferguson.com/resources/evoting.htm

ADD THESE!!:
http://web.mit.edu/voting/
http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/nr/2001/voting2.html
How has direct democracy been practiced in other countries and institutions and how effective has it been?
How can the educational system participate in the implementation of a direct democracy utilizing Internet and computer technology?
How can direct democracy be introduced and taught in Social Studies and Political Science courses?
How can a constitutional amendment be proposed?
How can the reliability of Internet voting be assessed?
How can the privacy and security of voters be assured?
How can the public be informed of issues to be voted on?
How can the voters register their votes via the Internet or computer?
How can the public be made aware of the safety and limitations of direct democracy?
How can the public be made aware of the roles and duties of citizens in a democracy?
How can the public be made aware of the philosophy and history of democracy?
Some other questions could be:
Do you think the United States is a democracy now?
Do you think Direct Democracy or people voting directly on legislative issues is a good idea?
Do you think adequate technology exists today for direct democracy?
Do you think adequate education, information, and training can be given to citizens for them to vote as legislators?
Do you think interest for direct democracy would be maintained by the public?
Do you think that eventually a new branch of Congress could be formed by the voting citizens?
Do you think the people's voting branch of Congress could be used first as an opinion collection device?.
----
U3 Activities:
Activity 3.1: 

Read Chapters 9, 10, 11, and 12 in the textbook.

Activity 3.2: 

Prepare a two- to three-page proposal for your action plan. Overall, the proposal is a development of the background, self-assessment, and rationale that allows helps your reader understand why this action plan is important and what you intend to accomplish. Your proposal should (a) introduce the project, (b) sufficiently develop the background (explain the setting, environment, conditions, etc.), (c) assess the circumstances and self-assess/self-reflect on your role in the change process, (d) explain the purpose and rationale of the project, and (e) relate your proposal to educational philosophy. For part (c) above, as you develop the background and as part of the planning process, you should do some self-assessment and self-reflection regarding an appraisal of the circumstances and of your own role in the process. Section (c) should answer the following questions:

 What is happening here that suggests a change is needed?

 What are the key elements?

 Why is this important?

 How do I fit?

 What changes are needed?

Activity 3.3:

Consider the hidden curriculum in your educational setting.
Activity 3.4: 

As you prepare a draft for Discussion 3.1, consider your personal and educational philosophy in light of the hidden curriculum in your educational setting. Record your thoughts in your journal.
--
U3D1
For your educational setting, describe one aspect of its formal curriculum and one aspect of its hidden curriculum. What ideological forces shaped the formal and hidden curriculum into their present states? Are both these aspects of the curricula undergoing present change or are they static? Why?
The private language school where I am teaching uses the Calvert School program.  The Calvert School was originally a private school in Maryland, then later also a program for home schooling, and now a curriculum used by many schools within the educational institutions, including the school where I am teaching, the American English School in San Chung City, Taipei Hsien, Taiwan.   The program is a comprehensive system which includes a lesson manual accompanied by many supplementary books, all in colorful format and design to hold the interest of the young students.  The program also includes in the educational package/kit sent to the home student or schools as one package for each students containing the many books (more than 20) and supplies including ruler, compass, Cousenaire rods, pens, pencils, art supplies, paint, crayons, erasers, glue, scissors, sharpeners, and even an inflatable Earth globe the size of a beach ball.  The students follow lessons, and if they spend one day on each lesson, each level lasts one school year.   The program's curriculum, which begins with pre-kindergarten and advances up through the eighth grade, offers the traditional subjects (reading, writing, mathematics, science, geography, history, phonics, vocabulary building, language acquisition) but has the additional purpose (the hidden curriculum) of teaching English as a second language to young students, in this particular case, from Taiwan.  It also has the effect (perhaps a hidden curriculum or ulterior motive) of presenting this information from the perspective of the United States so that the children learn history and literature based on cultural and historical experiences in the USA, such as the origins and practices of Thanksgiving holiday or  the discovery of America by Christopher, so that the students can communicate with people from North America and English speaking countries and can perhaps someday live, work, or study in North America or other English speaking countries.  The program covers not only grammar, spelling, and vocabulary but it also introduces these skills within the context of the above-mentioned subjects thus making the teaching, and hopefully the learning, of the information more enjoyable, fulfilling, useful, and effective which is the intention of the school.
I think the curriculum and the hidden curriculums mentioned each contain elements of nationalism (since they are presented from an American viewpoint), liberalism (emphasizing individuality, independence, and self-expression), and conservatism (transmitting an established curriculum and cultural information). Nationalism or "devotion to one's nation and its interests" (Gutek, 1997, p. 158) is found in every country is based on local culture, language, pride and self-defense.  I have found that the smallest countries, such as South Korea and the Czech Republic, are the most nationalistic perhaps as a form of defensiveness or self preservation.  Even Taiwan, which is not a country but is claimed by China to be a renegade province of China, has a type of nationalistic feeling.  Taiwan could be compared to Hawaii when Hawaii became a state, if it becomes part of China, or it could resemble island nations like Sri Lanka or Costa Rica if it ever becomes an independent country.  In China, the students there often referred to China as the "motherland"  an idea which conveys a type of nationalistic or patriotic hidden curriculum.  In the USA some people place the order of loyalty as, starting with the highest level, God, country, and then family, which implies the importance of nationalism or patriotism  Liberalism, as formulated by John Locke (1632-1704), states that "individuals are free, equal, and independent and no one can deprive them of property or subject them to another's political power without their consent" (Gutek, 1997, p. 173).  Conservatism, as explained by Edmund Burke (1729-1797), endeavors to "preserve established institutions and conditions" and was an institution to "transmit the cultural heritage to the young and preserve it through the generations." (Gutek, 1997,  p. 198). 
Reference:
Gutek, G.  (1997).  Philosophical and Ideological Perspectives on Education.  Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon

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U3D2
(a) Post your Proposal for Change. 

(b) Follow the "Feedback Guidelines" (in the MediaCenter), and provide constructive feedback to one other learner's draft action plan proposal.
The social studies and political science classes could introduce, early in the development of the curriculum -- during the elementary school years, the first concepts of democracy as government based on the will of and for the good of the people or society.  The curriculum would eventually include the history of democracy beginning with ancient Athens, Greece (or perhaps even before that) and its present forms of use today in various countries and institutions and studies of its various methods of execution.  Also included in the course curriculum would be computer skills courses since thorough knowledge of computer and Internet usage would be needed to implement and sustain the continuing use of a direct democracy.  Once the system is established and the procedures for its execution are in place and all of the necessary legislation is passed to secure its structure, procedural content, and continuing existence, the voters, or potential voters (who perhaps would require secured registration, training, and perhaps certification to qualify to vote), would learn how to research and read about issues to be voted on at the local, state, and national levels.  Computer tutorials could also be developed to teach the learners how this is done and even provide some practice voting sessions and hypothetical situations to which they can respond.
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U3D2 comment to Luis
Since your paper involves discipline in the classroom I thought you might be interested in the book, The First Days of School by Harry K. and Rosemary Wong , in which the authors mention that classroom management is the most important element in establishing a foundation for an effective class season since without discipline and classroom control nothing else can be accomplished.  They say that on the first days of school the rules should be established and any rewards and punishments made clear.

I also like that you are using visuals and charts to illustrate the ideas in your paper.

Reference:
Wong, Harry K and Rosemary.  (1998).  The First Days of School.  Mountain View, CA: Harry K. Wong Publications, Inc.
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U3D1 comment to Daniel ESL hidden curriculum
Foreign language courses can often contain a hidden curriculum in favor of the country or culture of origin of the language being taught. Usually this is a harmless enthusiasm for the culture being presented; however, one dubious practice that can be associated with nationalism or patriotism is propaganda.  In the totalitarian regimes, propaganda is a common method of dispensing information.  Very often the propaganda is buried in the texts as a form of a hidden curriculum. In China, the students there often referred to China as the "Motherland" an idea which implies a type of nationalistic or patriotic hidden curriculum. When I was teaching English (ESL) at a college in China, the reading texts, which all have to be officially approved by the government (which means the Communist Party), contained topics for the students to read about and discuss.  By the choice of the reading material and the phrasing of the discussion questions it was clear, though implied through a hidden curriculum, what side of the issues that the government was on and therefore what side, to be patriotic and nationalistic, the reader or student should be on (for euthanasia, for population control, for the Marxist system, for the one child policy, for the Motherland, etc.).
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U4D1:

What is a theory? Why is a theory of learning and teaching, counseling, or school administration necessary?
A theory is an assumption, a guess, an hypothesis, explanation, and rationale for the explanation, of the cause(s) of a particular event, condition or occurrence.  A theory is therefore a guiding philosophy and is necessary for teaching and learning, since there are many approaches to education, as it is necessary in all endeavors to have a guiding philosophy, even if that philosophy is tacit, unstated,.or unformulated since, in order for a plan to proceed methodically, rationally, and effectively, it is necessary to have a plan or an idea map.  This is true also with counseling, since there are a variety of counseling methods that counselors and schools should be versed in, and school administration procedures, since there are several approaches to management and the administration should have an established  -- though open to revision if necessary -- set of rules and conditions in order for the educational processes to run smoothly, as it is with all areas of life.  
From the text readings, theory is presented as the core of all curricula and educational philosophy.  Essentialism states that education involves dispensing the time-tested essential truths and skills that have endured throughout the course of human civilization, perennialism asserts that the important elements of education are reoccurring and unchanging,  and progressivism was a reaction to the formalism and authoritarianism of traditional education and suggested child-centered, free-form, open, creative, expressive, and progressive classroom environments to encourage a child's unfettered development.
Some definitions of "theory" by the Merriam-Webster dictionary (2003):  the analysis of a set of facts in their relation to one another  --- abstract thought : speculation --- a plausible or scientifically acceptable general principle or body of principles offered to explain phenomena. 
Reference:
Gutek, G.  (1997).  Philosophical and Ideological Perspectives on Education.  Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
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U4D2
Knowledge and Content:  As is stated in essentialism, knowledge and content are the essential elements of education though what that knowledge and content, or curricula,  should entail is not always agreed on.   Curriculum, or what should and should not be taught, varies with one's philosophical outlook.  The subjects contained within the curricula of the arts and sciences can be approached from the various philosophies and methodologies (idealism, realism, theistic realism, naturalism, pragmatism, existentialism, philosophical analysis, nationalism, liberalism, conservatism, utopianism, Marxism, totalitarianism, essentialism, perennialism, progressivism, social reconstructionism, and critical theory).  Regardless of the methodology of instruction, the essential core of information remains constant, or, that is, the eternal truths remain eternal,  although their interpretation, and the theoretical explanations for them, may vary.

Relationship Between Schools and Community: This is a synergistic and interdependent relationship where each benefits the other.  The schools really exist to prepare and equip the students thereby creating citizens -- not only of a local but -- of a world community in this increasingly globalized world that we all live in.  The democratic nature of the preparation of citizens is a concept espoused by John Dewey, among others, and is the basis of my action project to introduce, implement, and sustain, through the educational system's political science and social studies courses, the use of direct democracy in the United States of America.

Technology and Teaching and Learning:  In addition to social causes and change, nothing is changing the world faster than technology which is, itself, changing at an ever escalating and accelerating rate.  Technology is changing all aspects of life and the rapid changes in travel and communications technology is bringing the world together physically and ideologically, though more though the ideological process is moving more stubbornly and slowly.  Today, education, teaching, and learning can use technological tools that were previously nonexistent and this has radically altered the method, if not necessarily the content, of education.  Now there are televisions, radios, telephones, compact disks, computers, audio and video recordings, lasers, electron microscopes, cameras, radio telescopes, and the list goes on.  The new use of online courses is also radically changing educational methods.  Traditionally, the classroom consisted of a physical room with desks, chairs, and blackboards; now the classroom can also be virtual cyberspace where the learners are connected within a global course room composed of computer monitors, keyboards, and Internet connections.

Reference:

Gutek, G.  (1997).  Philosophical and Ideological Perspectives on Education.  Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

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U4D3
(a) Post a two- to five-page draft literature review paper (this is the philosophical and theoretical justification for action and conceptual framework for the action plan). Your paper should be in APA format and should make use of in-text citations with corresponding references. (3d) (8a) (8b) (10c).

(b) Follow the "Feedback Guidelines" (in the MediaCenter), and provide constructive feedback to one other learner's draft action plan proposal.
Literature Review
ED7701
Educational Philosophy and Change
Winter 2004

Richard Bloodworth
P.O. Box 78123
Atlanta, GA  30357
RBloodworth99@yahoo.com
Dr. Callie Welstead
Review of literature concerning direct democracy

	In Direct Democracy: The Politics of Initiative, Referendum & Recall (1999), Thomas E. Cronin explores the workings of democracy and the variations of democracy in use today and in the past. The author analyzes the history of the democracy and its possible continued evolution.  He states that in early America most people were ambivalent about the concept of democracy.  Most thought elections existed only to select leaders to rule them and not for the public to rule itself yet Thomas Jefferson supported the right of the people to rebel against unjust rulers and Alexander Hamilton thought the proceedings of government should be based on the consent of the people. Later on, the populists and progressives thought that more democracy was needed using the methods of initiative, referendum, and recall.  

	Today, there is discussion about using more direct democracy procedures and direct elections as well as electronic town meetings and teledemocracy. The public has become disenfranchised with the issues of taxes, regulation, inefficiency, the arms race, ecological problems, etc. since public policy is made in distant capitals by unknown agents.  Direct democracy in the United States dates back to Massachusetts in 1640 with its town meetings utilizing majority rule and embodying three main principles: consent of the governed, rule by law, and representation of the people.  During that period, the people were primary and governments were secondary and subservient to the people.  

	Citizen initiatives will promote government responsiveness and accountability. If officials ignore the voice of the people, the people will have an available means to make needed law.  Initiatives are freer from special interest domination than the legislative branches of most states, and so provide a desirable safeguard that can be called into use when legislators are corrupt, irresponsible, or dominated by privileged special interests.  The initiative and referendum will produce open, educational debate on critical issues that otherwise might be inadequately discussed.  Referendum, initiative, and recall are nonviolent means of political participation that fulfill a citizen’s right to petition the government for redress of grievances.  Direct democracy increases voter interest and election-day turnout.  Getting the citizens involved in the decision making process would make interested in politics and would thus alleviate apathy and alienation.

	Finally (although this hardly exhausts the claims), citizen initiatives are needed because legislators often evade the tough issues.  Fearing to be ahead of their time, they 	frequently adopt a zero-risk mentality.  Concern with staying in office often makes them timid and perhaps too wedded to the status quo.  One result is that controversial social issues frequently have to be resolved in the judicial branch.  But who elected the judges?   	(Cronin, 1999, 11)

	Bowler, S., Donovan, T. and Tolbert, C. (1998) in Citizens As Legislators: Direct Democracy in the United States contains factual information and statistics concerning direct democracy on the local, state, and national levels with listings of the results of numerous initiatives and referendums throughout the history of the United States.  “This book focuses primarily on one commonly used feature arising from the Progressive Era: the citizens’ initiative.” (Bowler and Donovan 1998)  “To its advocates, then, direct democracy would provide openness and end evasive partisan legislatures, mitigating the corrupting influences thought to operate within them, and would also improve the quality of public life.  Voter interest would be stimulated as citizens participated directly in drafting and approving legislation.  The new, open process would thus instill civic virtue by simultaneously educating and involving the mass public (Haynes 1907, Barnett 1915, Beard and Schultz 1912, and Key and Crouch 1939).” The citizens’ initiative seems to be a trend that is growing but the most of the referendums now are in the western half of the United States and in Florida:
	Since South Dakota adopted the initiative in 1898, hundreds of these ‘citizen’-drafted laws have appeared on ballots in American states.  David Magleby note that from 1898 to 1992, over 1700 initiatives were placed before U.S. voters.  Among states using initiatives, the most during this period, 274, appeared in Oregon, with 232 appearing in California, 160 in North Dakota, 150 in Colorado, 133 in Arizona, and 91 in Washington (Neal 1993).  Hundreds of additional referenda were placed before voters by legislatures.  Most initiatives were rejected by voters, yet 38% passed from 1898 to 1992 (Magleby 1994, 231).
	In Direct Democracy in Switzerland (2002), Gregory Fossedal explores the history of Switzerland as related to direct democracy and the development of the procedures of direct democracy in Switzerland. He mentions that:
	The Swiss polity, as an historical and on-going exhibit of the exercise of a deliberative direct democracy, is a persuasive rebuttal to the stand of elites from the Greeks of yesterday to the elites of today who hold that exclusionary representative democracy, in itself, is a better form of democracy than a direct democracy in partnership with representative democracy....In a word, an effective rebuttal to the stand; you can’t trust the people...Switzerland answers the potential question of the political scientist or citizen: What happens if we place so much faith in the people that we make them lawmakers? (Fossedal, 2002).
In Switzerland, many issues are settled through the use of public referendum where the majority vote determines the institutionalization of a law or social practice.  Matters such as constitutional revision, immigration, joining the League of Nations or the United Nations or the European Union, establishing Romanish as a national language, military service requirements, voting rights, nuclear energy and nuclear weapons,  rent control, legality of abortion, highway construction, social security benefits, state support for religion, among others are determined through public referendums. 
	Concerning educating the public about the issues and processes of direct democracy:
In the Swiss parliament, the influence of direct democracy can be seen by a whole sociology of popular orientation.  Each member of the assembly thinks of himself as a teacher, and a teacher of the whole nation of citizens.  No teacher who holds his pupils in contempt will succeed, or even stay long on the job; hence the pedagological impulse, healthy and strong to begin with, is reinforced.  As well, a teacher with any wisdom soon realizes he has much to learn from his pupils.  The instruction is no longer one way -- particularly when the classroom is an intelligent on like the Swiss people, and the teacher a humble, part-time instructor who thinks himself a citizen, not a sovereign.   (Fossedal, 2002, 85).
	In Part 1, the author explores the origin of the development the Swiss version of democracy and the reasons for writing this book.  Fossedal, in Part 2, describes this millennium of Swiss history and how its system of self protection developed.  In Part 3, the Swiss Constitution and institutions, including Swiss referendums, are examined.   In Parts 4 and 5 the author gives examples of why democracy actually works when the citizens are entrusted with the power to determine the functioning of the government that governs them. 
	In Democracy in the Digital Age : Challenges to Political Life in Cyberspace (2000), Anthony G. Wilhelm offers another exploration the emergence of public participation in the processes of government using the new communication technologies but he mentions that despite the superficial appearance of progress of technological advances, there is not necessarily progress in the lives in many people, especially in the undeveloped countries.  The author notes that the use of a direct democracy requires a focused policy and the cyber world of political control contains the features and advantages of access to resources, inclusion, potential for deliberation, and comprehensible design.  In the future, direct democracy will be formed by shaping virtual civic spaces which will include home-based cyber-democracy as well as public-access workstations all of which will result in community building.

	In Stealing the Initiative: How State Government Responds to Direct Democracy (2000).  E. R. Gerber and other authors explore eleven California initiatives and referendums to give readers with a better understanding the political world. Topics covered in the book include taxation, transportation, legislative spending, term limits, primaries, and multilingual education. This book also includes varied conclusions about how to reform the initiative process to improve direct democracy. For citizens who want to understand and/or increase their role in government.   The book also includes suggestions as to how to reform the initiative procedures to improve and positively evolve the practices of direct democracy.  Democracy, Citizenship and the Global City (2000)  edited by Engin Isin is a collection of essays from several authors concerning what the functions of politics and democracy are in the postmodern world of globalization. 

	In The New Challenge of Direct Democracy (1997), the author, Ian Budge, says that direct democracy involves citizens discussing and deciding how government is to govern instead of having these decisions made by legislators, bureaucrats, or parliamentarians. His book challenges the current notion that representative democracy is the correct and most feasible form of democracy and thus threatens the established existence of these current forms of governments, as any new system does when it is initially introduced.  He states that with the new communication inventions, tools, and developments that direct democracy is now technically possible and desirable in the body politic.  In the book, the author describes direct democracy currently in use, particularly in Switzerland, and addresses such issues as structural constraints, technological limitations, the dispensing of information to the voters, the concerns of minorities within a democratic system, and the political units (such as minorities and organizations) within a democratic system.

	In  A Constitution of Direct Democracy: Pure Democracy and the Governance of the Future ~ Locally and Globally (2000). the author, Michael Noah Mautner, a chemistry professor by profession, writes about democracy from a scientist’s perspective and actually provides a suggested constitution for the implementation and use of a direct democracy.  In the future people will need to decide on such issues involving governmental systems, space exploration, robotics, cloning, economics, taxation, population growth and control, abortion, crime and punishment, religious freedom, genetic engineering, biological immortality, among other issues.  The decisions they make will affect all of humanity.  People instinctively, or innately, desire to choose the best conditions for their present as well as their future.  The shared knowledge, common wisdom, and the innate desire in human nature to want what is the best for all, and the natural desire for survival, would result in decisions advantageous to the human condition.  This collective consciousness would form a constitution of direct democracy which would implement the communal decisions of the people.  In “The Constitution of Direct Democracy” he describes the structure, possible scenarios, and ethics of direct democratic systems in governments from the local, national, and world levels.
	In Direct Democracy or Representative Government? Dispelling the Populist Myth (2000) John Haskell compares and contrasts the positive and negative characteristics of populist direct democracy and representative government as described in the Federal Papers of James Madison of the founding period of the United States of America.  He says that the possible realization of direct democracy has exponentially increased in recent history, primarily because of telecommunications advances such as television, computers, and the Internet and publicly determined policies in states such as California.  He thinks that publicly ruled legislatures would be disorganized and incoherent since public majorities are unstable and impulsive collections of varied and contrasting philosophies (but some  people would say that so are legislatures of elected representatives) where as elected representatives tend to be more deliberative and inclined toward negotiation and discussion.  Again, the importance of the Internet is mentioned as a medium for communication and a method of publicizing information and political points of view. 
	Electronic Democracy ( 2002), by Graeme Browning, describes how the Internet has transformed  the political atmosphere in the United States and in the world.  Using Internet technology, people now have the tools to discuss issues and affect results concerning the American and world political arena.  She mentions the effectiveness of online petitions and online research.  Also included in the book in a history of online voting (mostly in California for the United States), online fund-raising, political polling online, and online voter registration.    This book is a source of names, addresses, websites, discussion groups,  and email campaigns, and facts concerning how to get involved with this particular movement.  There are also suggestions as to how to begin one’s own political or organizational campaigns and how to organize, raise funds, develop surveys, contact people, etc.  Also covered are ethical problems and abuses associated with online activism.  The book covers issues such as using the World Wide Web for upstart organizations and how to create effective email campaigns as well as how to write letters to Congress members that will be read and responded to and an exploration of the future of online polling and voting.

	In E-topia (2000), William J. Mitchell refers to the future online meeting places where friends, co-workers, colleagues, and students will meet:  

	“What sorts of meeting places, forums, and markets will emerge in the electronically mediated world?  What will be the twenty-first century equivalents of the gathering at the well, the water cooler, the Greek agora, the Roman forum, the village green, the town square, Main Street, and the mall?”   Many of the meeting places will be located in the virtual world of cyberspace and he adds that  “they will make growing use of electronic mail systems, mailing lists, newsgroups, chat rooms, Web pages, directories and search engines, audio conferencing, video conferencing, increasingly elaborate, avatar-populated, online virtual worlds, and software- mediated environments that we cannot even imagine yet.  Some of these virtual meeting places will be the private domains of well-defined special groups, some will be discreetly out of the public eye, and some will even be determinedly clandestine; others will be true public space open to all.” (Mitchell, 2000, 85).    

	“Traditionally, political power has been exerted, made visible, and architecturally celebrated through physical assemblies of kings and courtiers, senates, parliaments, cabinets, councils, and so on.  Conversely, if you wanted to overthrow established political power, you assembled ‘the people’ in an urban public place, set up barricades, authorities had the wit and the will, they would try to take the usual countermeasures - dispersion of crowds, prohibition of assemblies, and exile of agitators.” and “Tocqueville’s famous insistence on the importance of free political associations, and on the ‘power of meeting’ in forming and sustaining such associations, takes on new meaning.  Now, the necessary venues can be found not only in physical space but also in cyberspace, and this opens up fresh, highly effective avenues for political organization and action.”  (Mitchell, 2000, 96).  

	In the section, “Reinventing Public Space” he says that: 

	the twenty-first century will still need agoras - maybe more than ever.  But these will not always be physical places.  They will operate at an extraordinary range of scales, form the intimately local to the global.  And even where they look  familiar, they will no longer function in the same sorts of ways as the great public places of the past. Under these new conditions, though, the simple, ancient principles of public space remain crucial.  If public life is not to disintegrate, communities must still find ways to provide, pay for, and maintain places of assembly and interactions for their members - whether these places are virtual, physical, or some new and complex combination of the two.  And if these places are to serve their purposes effectively, they must allow both freedom of access and freedom of expression.  (p. 97).

	He includes a quote from the American philosopher  and  educational theorist John Dewey who observed that:
	
	“It seemed almost self-evident to Plato - as to Rousseau later - that a genuine state could hardly be larger than the number of persons capable of personal acquaintance with one another.  Our modern state-utility is due to the consequences of technology employed so as to facilitate the rapid and easy circulation of opinions and information, and so as to generate constant and intricate interactions far beyond the limits of face-to-face communities...The elimination of distance, at the base of which are physical agencies, has called into being the new form of political association. “ (p. 133).

	In Adult Education for Social Change: From Center Stage to the Wings and Back Again, Thomas Heaney views adult education as participatory and as a tool for social change, where educational progressivism is the contemporary approach to educating the public. “ ‘Adult education turns out to be the most reliable instrument for social actionists’ since it assures that any action undertaken would be authentically democratic” (Brookfield, 1984). Eduard Lindeman, as influenced by John Dewey, considers adult education to be intertwined with democracy, social action, and control by people over their daily lives. To Lindeman, adult education equals social change, a method to create good and productive citizens. Even if education is viewed as a “great selector” rather than a “great equalizer”, each person can, as a result of education, find their niche, based on their abilities and merits, within a democratic society. The concept of using the educational system to implement a direct democracy is closely connected with the ideas expressed by Heaney, Miles Horton, Paulo Freire, and Jack Mezirow since their approach is to empower the populace through education in order to create a democratic society. Since it is necessary to have an educated public in order to have democracy function efficiently, democracy is dependent on the educational system to survive and prosper.
	In “Developing e-Citizens and e-Consumers, an Irish e-Commerce Case Study” (2001), John MacNamara and David O’Donnell offer a comprehensive study of the effects the new cyber culture of the computer and the Internet and their effects on society, culture, and education. and the necessity for society and the educational system to produce “e-literate” citizens for the resulting new society. As they state it in their abstracted introduction: “We present a very simple argument: e-business needs e-consumers and e-literate workers; e-government needs e-citizens”. The authors give many examples from Ireland, where they are based, and other nations and institutions using online voting. The authors present an in-depth description and qualitative analysis of the trends toward e-government, e-commerce, e-education, and e-culture in general backed by knowledge, examples, and statistics. 
	One of the concerns many people have about online voting revolves around the security and privacy issues and these are well-explored by Dr. Russell Smith in “Electronic Voting: Benefits and Risks” (2002). Dr. Smith, who is deputy director of research at the Australian Institute of Criminology, thinks national electronic voting will be prevalent in the near future, but people are hesitant because of security and secrecy issues and some people now attach a certain ritual to voting and some would therefore want to resist online voting in order to hold on to past traditions. He even includes a history of the changing methods of voting procedures. He mentions that there would have to be sophisticated servers for many people voting at the same time but  the pluses of speed and accuracy, ease of use,  lower costs compared to paper ballots,  the fact that online voting is already successfully being used in many countries, etc., outweigh the minuses.  Dr. Smith mentions in an interview (2003) with Rachel Lebihan that, in his opinion, security is not an insurmountable problem, since the solutions that are used in financial transactions can be incorporated into methods for e-voting. His expertise and knowledge is evident in his writing and his use of examples and I think with many other technical experts on the project that the security and efficiency issues can  be solved.

	In the book “Democracy, Real and Ideal” (1999), a critique and analysis of the philosophy of the German philosopher Jurgen Habermas, the book’s author Ricardo Blaug examines Habermas’ philosophy in relation to the theory and practical aspects of democracy.  Habermas’ work includes a theory of democracy and his exploration of the realistic practicality of democracy and an in depth analysis of his normative theory of democracy and his theory of judgement. “Only where democracy is conceived as an everyday and real interactive process can we understand what it might mean to truly rule ourselves” ( Blaug, 1999, xv). In the study of Habermas’ discourse of ethics, references are made to Hobbes’s Leviathan and Locke’s concept of protective rights (Blaug, 1999, 12).  

	Democracy is discussed in relation to the rationalism of Plato and the empiricism of Aristotle. The essay mentions that Locke’s theory starts with the natural human rights, Hobbes’ begins with rational death avoidance (or survival instinct), and Kant begins his premise with the idea of pure practical reason Kant says: “ a person is subject to no law other than those he (either alone or at least jointly with others) gives to himself” (Blaug, 1999, 6), a thought which is greatly influenced by Jean Jacques Rousseau and Kant also refers to a social contract like Rousseau’s. Kant’s support of the moral law assumes that mankind is essentially good and moral by nature, a concept which figures heavily in democratic theory (but Hegel criticizes Kant’s philosophy as being overly abstracted and not applicable to reality). Also explored are Aristotle’s episteme (objective knowledge), techne (technical knowledge), and phronesis (practical reason) in relation to democratic theory (Blaug, 1999, 23,24).  

	The what, who, how and where of political theory including the location of the democratic process, as well as Rousseau’s concept of popular sovereignty, are discussed. “The normative theory requires that the maximum number of people be involved and that the procedure they use be as fair as possible” (p. 50). According to J.F.Bohman: “more democracy ... is possible ... so long as citizens find the public sphere a discursive space for criticism, learning, and new forms of associations” (p. 54). R. Bernstein says: “If we don’t strive to realize the conditions required for practical discourse then we will surely become less than fully human” (p. 54). And from K.  Baynes: we need a “robust and multifaceted model of the public sphere in which individuals can deliberate about the collective terms and conditions of the common lives” (p. 54). Blaug concludes his introduction with: “If we forget what he (Habermas) has taught us we will achieve nothing, for the world is full of theories of deliberative democracy that, lacking normative sophistication, amount to little more than heart-warming remonstrances, fantasies of positivistic control, or mere semantic incantation.” (p. 127).Concerning the actual functioning of the democratic fora, Blaug mentions that the application of democratic theory in reality “has always had a profound distrust of the people” (p. 133) as evidenced by the American Constitution. 

	Habermas states that:

	What we need is a hegemony of democratic values, and this requires a multiplication of democratic practices, institutionalizing them into ever more diverse social relations, so that a multiplicity of subject-positions can be formed through a democratic matrix. It is in this way - and not by trying to provide it with a rational foundation - that we will be able not only to defend democracy but also to deepen it ... a project of radical and plural democracy requires the existence of multiplicity, of plurality, and of conflict, and sees in them the raison d’etre of politics” (p. 134)  

	In “Democracy from the Participant’s Perspective” (Blaug, 1999, 136), a discussion ensues concerning a “breakout of democracy”, which has definitive characteristics and its own life cycle. When this breakout occurs, and as public interest increases, the people will, in Rousseau’s words “fly to the assemblies”. “With a breakout of democracy we have Sartre’s ‘group in fusion’, Pizzorno’s ‘mobilization’ type of political participation, Mansbridge’s ‘fragile bubbles’ of ‘unitary democracy’, Phillip’s ‘internal democracy’, Moscovici’s ‘consensual’ participation, Arendt’s ‘oasis in the desert’ or ‘elementary republics’, the Czech Republic’s Charter 77’s ‘parallel poleis’, and the opening of a Habermasian ‘public sphere’.” (p. 138).  

	Blaug mentions the democratic decision making process as having five elements: 1. problem recognition 2. deliberation 3. decision making 4. implementation 5. evaluation (p. 141). L. Goodwyn (1981, p. 146) mentions that democratic institutions build slowly so, in their development, patience is required. And Blaug says: “While mistrust of the political consciousness of the populace has served to ground the need for elitism in democracy, participation itself is just as frequently appealed to as the supreme educator. If practiced regularly, perhaps at first on tasks appropriate to the level of learning, participants can make significant gains in proficiency.” (p. 146). K. Elder refers to the three levels of society as micro, meso, and macro (p. 149).  

	Concerning the democratic participatory process, Blaug states (p. 151): 

When we begin to consider the a movement seriously challenging the power of the state, we reveal the extraordinary lack of knowledge we have accumulated over our history 	regarding what it actually means to rule ourselves. the flight into liberal democracy evinced by those countries who have recently joined the “democratic” club shows both the 	collective paucity of our understanding of such a process and also the dangers in imagining that one “revolutionary” push, one legitimating social contract, one constitutional 	founding, can relieve us of the need to preserve genuine democracy. Where we conceive of a social contract as an ongoing procedure requiring constant work and attention, so 	do we understand that deliberative capacities must be learned, practiced, preserved, and patiently extended.  (p. 151).

	Blaug also discusses the issue of emotions in the democratic process (p. 153) but mentions that, according to Rousseau, “once you have citizens, you have all you need” (p. 155). S. Behabib is quoted as saying: “the question is not whether discursive democracy can become the practice of complex societies but whether complex societies are still capable of democratic rule” (p. 156).

	The following quotations are some thoughts (translated by Christopher Betts) of the great French philosopher of democratic principles, Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-78)  -- whose political philosophy influenced Thomas Jefferson as well as the other American forefathers and formed the basis of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States of America -- from The Social Contract (1994):

	The first and most important maxim of a lawful or popular government, that is to say a government which has as its object the good of the people, is therefore to follow the general will in everything; but in order to be followed, it must be known, and above all it must be clearly distinguished from the particular will, beginning with that of the individual self.  (p. 9).

	Public education, following rules prescribed by government, and controlled by officers established by the sovereign, is therefore one of the fundamental principles of the popular or legitimate form of government. (p.23)	
	Each of us puts his person and all his power in common under the supreme directions of the general will; and we as a body receive each member as an indivisible part of the whole.  (p. 55).

	By the social pact we have given existence and life to the body politic; we must now, by legislation, give it the ability to will and move.  For the act by which this body is originally formed and unified does nothing to determine what it must do so as to preserve itself.  (p.73).

	Laws, properly speaking, are no more than a society’s conditions of association.  The people, being subject to the laws, must create them; it is the associates who have the right to determine the conditions of society.  But how are they to determine them?  By sudden inspiration bringing common agreement?  Has the body politic some organ by which to articulate its wishes?  Who will give it the foresight it needs to produce acts of will and publicize them in advance, or how, in time of need, will it make them known? (p. 75).

	What then is a government?  It is an intermediate body set up between subjects and sovereign to ensure their mutual correspondence, and is entrusted with the execution of 	laws and with the maintenance of liberty, both social and political.   (p. 92).

	The sovereign can entrust the responsibility of government to all the people or to the greater part of the people, so that more citizens will be members of the government than are simply individual citizens. The name given to this form of government is democracy.  (p. 99).

	By new forms of association let us, if we can, correct the faults in the general form of association.   (p. 175).
	Legislative power belongs to the people, and can belong to it alone.  (p. 91).
Bibliography:

Aronowitz, S., Martinsons, B., Menser, M., and Rich, J. (1996). Technoscience and Cyberculture.  New York and London: Routledge.

Becker, T. & Slaton, C.D.  (2000).  The Future of Teledemocracy.  Praeger Publishers.

Benhabib, S., and Dallmayr, F. (1990). The Communicative Ethics Controversy. London: The MIT Press.

Blaug, Ricardo (1999). Democracy: Real and Ideal, Discourse Ethics and Radical Politics. Albany, New York: State University of New York Press.

Bowler, S., Donovan, T. & Tolbert, C. (1998).  Citizens As Legislators: Direct Democracy in the United States.  Columbus, OH: Ohio State University Press.

Bowler, S, & Donovan, T. (2001).   Demanding Choices: Opinion, Voting, and Direct Democracy.  Ann Arbour, MI: University of Michigan Press.

Browning, G. & Powell, A.C. (2002).  Electronic Democracy: Using the Internet to Transform American Politics. Cyberage Books.

Budge, Ian. (1997).   The New Challenge of Direct Democracy.  Polity Press. 

Bushell, Sue. (2003).  Where to Now for E-Voting?  Retrieved January. 24, 2004 from:  http://www.cio.com.au/index.php?id=405941257&eid=-601

Caldwell, John Thornton. (2000). Electronic Media and Technoculture. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.

Castells. Information Technology, Globalization, and Social Development

Chomsky, N. (1994). Democracy and Education. Retrieved January 24, 2004 from  http://www.zmag.org/chomsky/talks/9410-education.html

Corrado, A. & Firestone, C.M.  (1997).  Elections in Cyberspace:  Toward a New Era in American Politics.   Aspen, CO: Aspen Institute Publications Office.

Cronin, Thomas E. (1999).  Direct Democracy: The Politics of Initiative, Referendum & Recall. Cambridge, MA and London: Harvard University Press.
Becker, T. & Slaton, C.D.  (2000).  The Future of Teledemocracy.  New York: Praeger Publishers.

Dewey, John.  (1997).  Democracy and Education: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Education.  New York: Free Press, Simon & Schuster.

Fossedal, Gregory A. (2002).  Direct Democracy in Switzerland. Transaction Publications.
  
Gerber, E. R., Lupia, A., McCubbins, M.D. & Kiewiet, D.R. (2000). Stealing the Initiative: How State Government Responds to Direct Democracy. Prentice Hall.

Haskell, John. (2000).  Direct Democracy or Representative Government?: Dispelling the Populist Myth.  Boulder, CO: Westview Press.

Heaney, Thomas. Adult Education for Social Change: From Center Stage to the Wings and Back Again.  (1996).  Retrieved on January 15, 2004 from  http://www.nl.edu/ace/Resources/Documents/ERIC1.html

Isin, Engin F. (2000).  Democracy, Citizenship and the Global City.  New York and London: Routledge.

Lebihan, Rachel. (2003). Arm twisting to hinder home electronic voting.  Retrieved on October 24, 2003 from http://www.zdnet.com.au/newstech/communications/story/0,2000048620,20265293,00.htm

MacNamara, O'Donnell.  Developing e-Citizens and e-Consumers, an Irish e-Commerce Case Study.   http://66.218.71.225/search/cache?p=The+E-citizen.+Instructional+Technology.,+Lee,+John+K.++&sub=Search&ei=UTF-8&url=fe_aPyZrSDAJ:www.efmd.be/learninggroups/chapter/eisb2001proceedings/pdfs/MacNamara%2520%2520O%27Donnell%2520.pdf 

Mautner, Michael Noah. (2000).  A Constitution of Direct Democracy : Pure Democracy and the Governance of the Future ~ Locally and Globally.  Legacy Books.

McRae, Hamish.  (1994).  The World in 2020: Power, Culture, and Prosperity.  Boston: Harvard Business School Press.

Mitchell, William J. (2000). E-topia. London: The MIT Press.
Patrick. (2003).  Recent Email from a Swiss Citizen.  Retrieved on January 17, 2004 from http://www.vote.org/swiss.htm

Plato. (1998). Republic. New York: Oxford University Press.

Rousseau, Jean-Jacques. (1999). The Social Contract. New York: Oxford University Press.

Salant, P. & Dillman, D.  (1994).  How to Conduct Your Own Survey.  New York:  John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Shamos, M.I.  (1993). Electronic Voting -- Evaluating the Threat.  Retrieved October 15, 2003 from  http://www.cpsr.org/conferences/cfp93/shamos.html
Smith, Russell. Electronic Voting: Benefits and Risks. (2002).  Retrieved October 24, 2003 from  http://www.aic.gov.au/publications/tandi/ti224.pdf Stirner, M. (1967). The False Principle of our Education, or, Humanism and Reform. Colorado Springs: Ralph Melees Publisher.
Wilhelm, Anthony G. (2000).  Democracy in the Digital Age : Challenges to Political Life in Cyberspace.  New York and London: Routledge.
--
U4D1 res
I am wondering at what point does a theory, which is an explanation of events or conditions, become a fact.  I am thinking in particular of the theory of evolution which practically all scientists say is a fact yet there are people who still want to term it a theory.

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U4D2 res
Diversity is what a democratic society is all about.  Also, in this age of specialization, it is necessary to have experts or skilled people in all fields from medical doctors, to mechanics, to biologists, to musicians, etc.  All of this requires diversity of skills, knowledge, and training.
--
U4D3 res
Since the economics or the pricing of health care in the United States is so out of bounds, I am wondering if you are going to include more of a discussion of the economics of the health care system in order for it to be affordable for everyone, since I believe good health is not a privilege but one of the human rights.
response to Barry
The reason that remembering faces is simple and remembering names is as difficult as it is, I think, is because a person has only one face (with the exception of surgically altered faces) whereas a person can have any name.  So the association of a face is definite but the assignment of a name is arbitrary.
One way of remembering is to use name tags.  Some schools and institutions use this for security purposes but the teacher learning the student's names could use them for the purpose of identifying the student and learning his name.   Another way is to have name plates or tags on the students desk.  For the adult classes, I would also have them fill out personal information forms with general information with their names about their hobbies, background (relevant to the course), and interests.
Name games can be played too.  One is to have name tags of imaginary or famous people placed on the participant's back with the person not knowing what name is on his/her back.  He has to guess who the person is by asking questions to the others in the class who are mingling about.  There is also the game Face/Off, based on the John Travolta/Nicholas Cage movie about exchanged identities.   In that game the participants mingle around the room.  The first meeting, each introduces him/herself, as him/herself, then to the next person the participant introduces him/herself as the person he/she had just previously met.  The each of the participants go around the room each time introducing him/herself as the person they last spoke with.  That is a way for everone to become introduced to everyone else.  It becomes really strange when the meeting goes full circle and you hear someone introducing themselves as you. 
And then there is the Name Song (Bally, bally bo bally; banana fannah foe fally; me  my moe mally --- Sal-ly).  However, there are some names with which that song should not be sung.
But I think after time (a few weeks)  the names are learned just by referring to the roll.  After I learn the students' names well, it's hard to imagine them with any other name (even though a rose by any other name would smell as sweet).
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U5D1
What has been your most significant learning experience in this course to date?
Learning the philosophies as presented in the well-written Gutek text has been particularly enlightening and each of the presented philosophies has something useful to offer in the explanation of world educational philosophy even though some philosophies are similar to each other (such as pragmatism and realism or essentialism and perennialism).  I think the most significant learning experience has been to follow the dialogue of the philosophical minds throughout history and then, with each of us reflecting and commenting on the ideas expressed in those philosophies, in a way, continuing and maintaining that dialogue by our participation through discussion of the ideas contained within the philosophies.
How would you evaluate your course experience overall?
I think the course text is very good and the general syllabus and the writing assignments are effective.  One qualm I have had with western education in general is that there seems to be a dichotomy of thinking that divides the Eastern hemisphere from the Western hemisphere.  Our text begins with Greek philosophy and goes through European and American philosophical systems up to the present.  Though  it is very thorough in what it covers, there is not much mention of Eastern or Oriental philosophies of education.  If the educational systems and students in Asian countries excel academically, particularly in mathematics and the physical sciences, then then we of the west should examine the philosophical systems that allow this to occur.  In my opinion, we are all part of one new world culture, united by new technology,  with influences from all sides of the globe and from all eras of history.  I would like for syllabi in the western world to include more Eastern philosophy including Confucianism, Buddhism, etc.   The syllabi of Asian countries include western culture so I think ours should include eastern culture.  After all, with 60% of the world's population, they are the majority, not us.
Overall, I have learned about the presented concepts, from idealism to progressivism, and I think that the reading the text and reading the thoughts of others involved in the course has made for a useful learning experience.
---
U5D2
How actively have you been engaged in the CourseRoom thus far?
I think I have been as active as my schedule allows by reading the texts, doing the assignments, and responding to the others involved in the course.
What plans do you have for the rest of the course to assure continued engagement with the course content and other learners?
I plan to continued the above-mentioned interactivity and hope that I can offer my (hopefully, useful) ideas as well as continue to learn from the insights and information presented in the course texts and from the others involved in the course.
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U5D3
What could the instructor do to help you be more successful in this course?
Perhaps we could have some more suggested Internet sources or websites that could give us more information related to the course.

What questions do you have at this point?  
For our personal philosophy, we were asked the question: What is the purpose of life?  Could, or did, anyone answer that question?
---
Letter to instructor Callie Welstead     wenze001@idyllwild.com <mailto:wenze001@idyllwild.com>

In these courses I am never quite sure how to address the instructors.  May I ask how would you like to be addressed:
Professor Callie, Professor Welstead, Callie, or, perhaps, Dr. Callie?  I will be glad to use any title that you prefer.
I mentioned in the CourseRoom that I could not open the attachment for the literature reviews excerpts and samples.  Could you possibly send that to me in another form?
Also, I would like to read your theses papers, and even your dissertation, with their literature reviews if you have those as an attachment if that is possible.  I think reading them helps me understand the thinking of the instructor and I think it might also be helpful in writing a literature review and course paper and that would be greatly appreciated.
By the way, do you have a midquarter evaluation for my performance in the course thus far that I may look at?
Thank you for your comments and insights,
Richard Bloodworth
--
to Barry U5D1
Barry, yes, I would like to read your response.  I think it is always interesting to read or listen to how that question is answered.
Here is my email address:    RBloodworth99@yahoo.com.
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U5D1 response to Judith
I am trying to find the "Comment on" button that you referred to.  You said "Then later, I discovered that you can click on the "Comment to:" and read what they were commenting on".  The only "comment to" I have seen is when someone types that in as the title of their response.  The "Comment" button is used when someone adds a comment to the CourseRoom.  I am wondering if you can tell me step by step where that button is, under what page, where on the page, etc. Thanks, Richard
U5D1 reply to Judith
Judith, I learn something new everyday.  (I was looking for a button rather than a heading and then an underlined entry).  Thanks, Richard
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U5D2
Panama, I am curious about the certification classes that you mentioned.  Are some certification procedures nationally recognized or does someone have to go through separate certification classes for each state in the United States?  Of course, some of that might depend upon the grade level and subject matter involved.  Thanks,  Richard
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U5D1 response to Bob and Luis
Applying a mathematical (quantitative) equation to a verbal (qualitative) problem is a good way of showing the practical necessity and use of mathematics.  Mathematical principles are the foundation of the sciences (physics, astronomy, chemistry, biology, etc.), economics, or any subject that can be quantified though a difficulty associated with mathematical word problems is the subjective and nebulous nature of verbal communication as compared to the objective and precise nature of mathematics.  Another reason mathematics is so important is that it is one of the universally understood languages (unlike verbal language -- it has been estimated that there are are over 6000 verbal languages in existence today though perhaps 30 major languages) in addition to music and visual language.
* that statistic I remembering reading in "Megatrends 2000" by John Naisbitt.
***
LITERATURE REVIEW INFO FROM CALLIE:
Richard - I will resend the Literature Review excerpts in the body of an e-mail. I unfortunately wrote my dissertation on the comp [computer of my ex-husband and he would not give it to me when I left so all I have is a hard copy. I will post the Abstract and Problem Statement which I have saved because I use them for another class I teach. I prefer to be called Callie. I can send an updated grade point chart from school - I am off until Tuesday.

Abstract
The purpose of this embedded case study was to investigate a California charter school that had been given a unique opportunity to incorporate a technology-based educational design into its 7th through 12th grades curriculum. The specific goals of the case study were to gain insights into (a) the new learning environment and its program; (b) the effects of the change in learning environment on participants; (c) student, parent and teacher satisfaction with the new program and their perceptions of academic achievement; and (d) the challenges encountered during the actual transition.
The case was investigated qualitatively through formal and informal interviews and open-ended questions, and quantitatively through the analysis of Likert-type responses, presentation grades, and the preference rankings of educational options.
The study revealed significant dissatisfaction with the transition process and a pronounced decrease in program satisfaction among parents and students as the term progressed. Areas of concern uncovered during the investigation included program disorganization, insufficient student counseling, miscommunication to stakeholders about program objectives, and an increase in student stress.
Teachers attributed the improvement n the quality of presentations to the increased availability of technological support. There was a strong correlation between the perceptions of all three response groups as to what educational environments best prepare students for the 21st century. However, considerable disagreement between the staff and other respondents was evident in other areas.
The researcher suggests that the efficacy of constructivist education and a technologically supportive learning environment are insufficient to insure program success. Research finding indicate that planning and teacher training are critical components of successful program implementation. The need for all stakeholders to understand and agree on program philosophy and purpose is also crucial to participant satisfaction.
The researcher concludes that there is a need for a longitudinal study to follow the continued evolution of the new learning environment.
Excerpts from a Literature Review by Callie Roth Welstead, Ph.D.
The Introduction to the Literature Review:
The purpose of this research was to gain insights into an innovative learning environment within a charter school; investigate the effects of change in learning environment on the roles of teacher, parent and student; evaluate stakeholder satisfaction and perceptions of achievement; and uncover the challenges encountered during the transition from an already progressive program to a new, technologically enriched Learning Plaza. A rigorous review of the literature found a deficit in the research on the ability of charter schools to promote change in educational communities and lead to improved student learning, and on how the assessment of that learning and charter school accountability might be approached.
This Literature review represents a rigorous and extensive study of those bodies of literature directly related to the charter school movement, the use of technology in education, and the constructivist theory of learning. The study incorporated an exhaustive search of how charter schools promote constructivist learning environments and are supported by the use of technology, how those learning environments affect student achievement, and how that achievement is assessed.
The Literature Review is then divided into three sections: Charter Schools, Technology in Education and Constructivism. The following is an excerpt from the third section of the Literature Review:
The literature on constructivism is either theoretical or revolves around the practical application of theory in the learning environment. Driver and Bell (1986) outline six key areas underlying the concept of constructed knowledge:
1. Learning outcomes depend not only on the learning environment, but on what the learner already knows. Students’ conceptions, purposes and motivations influence the way they interact with learning materials in various ways (1986, p.444).
2. Learning involves the construction of meanings. The meanings constructed by students from what they see or hear may not be those intended by the instructor (1986, p.453). Winn (1991, p. 38) concurs that the autonomy of learners in knowledge construction makes it difficult to predict how they will learn and challenging for teachers to plan instructional activities aimed at accomplishing specific learning goals. Additionally, Cole (1992, p. 29) states that many learners will “develop bugs in their knowledge-the mansions we envision become doghouses, jails, or chaotic piles of Legos.”
3. The construction of meaning is a continuous and active process (Driver and Bell, 1986, p. 448). Note that here I give the complete reference, not just date and page because I am no longer in a continuum from my introductory sentence and I need to specify Driver and Bell.
4. Beliefs are crucial in the evaluation and acceptance of meanings (Driver and Bell, 1986, p. 451).
5. Learners are responsible for their own learning (Driver and Bell, 1986, p.452).
6. There are patterns in the types of meanings students construct due to shared experiences with the physical world and through natural language (Driver and Bell, 1986, p.454).
Winn (1991, p. 39) expresses skepticism that knowledge can be constructed by students, suggests that the students must have some knowledge from which to start construction, and contends that this knowledge needs to be taught. Peterson and Knapp 
(1993, p. 144 ) also conclude that, although constructivist theory holds that learning involves students’ construction of their own knowledge, and in spite of the great deal of informal, intuitive knowledge that children possess when they enter school, these learners cannot be expected to construct centuries worth of information on their own. Bettencourt (1989 p. 7) disagrees, and concludes that the perspectives of these researchers imply that, without previous knowledge, no learning of anything is ever possible, beyond the level of elementary reflexes
And so on……
Problem Statement
Twenty-six states and the District of Columbia have passed charter school laws. The total number of charter schools has surpassed 500 (ECC, 1996, p.1). Yet, in spite of the rapid growth in the charter school movement, to date, insufficient research has been conducted regarding how charter schools transform educational communities.
Great Potential Academy (GPA), a California charter school, has been given a unique opportunity to drastically, and immediately, rework its entire academic program by incorporating a state-of-the-art, technology-based constructivist educational design, conceived by Cognitive Learning Styles (CLS), into its 7th through 12th grade curriculum. The manner in which the school incorporates and implements the Cognitive Learning Styles program with its existing curriculum promises to provide important information to all stakeholders in the educational community about the new educational paradigm, the decisions inherent in moving towards that paradigm, and the perceptions of those individuals participating in the process as the changes were made. A rigorous case study investigation of that transition has to be conducted in order to understand the challenges presented by the program implementation, from the perspectives of all stakeholders in the process, so that recommendations relating to emergent educational paradigms can be appropriately made, and other educational institutions can profit from the findings.
Callie Roth Welstead, Ph.D
---
U6
Activity 6.1:

Read Chapters 20 and 21 in the textbook.

Activity 6.2: 
Use the library or an Internet search to investigate one contemporary philosophical or theoretical perspective not covered by the textbook. This could include feminist theories, queer theory, poststructuralism, deconstructionism, semeiotics, or systems theory. Explore a perspective that fits within your educational philosophic view.
Postmodernism is a further development of the subjective and expressive philosophy of modernism which incorporated the utilization of new technologies and its international implications as part of its philosophy. Deconstructionism strives to deconstruct previous ideologies and examine them in a way similar to the methods of critical theory.  Like Marxism, it examines history as a progression of forms of domination, usually of oppressed minorities and includes the factors of gender, race, economy, politics, personality, and culture.  Like the realists and the pragmatists, it considers concrete experience preferable to abstraction, does not attempt to establish definite truths, accepts the varieties of human endeavors, and believes in a decentralized structure to education and society.
Critical Theory is a synthesis of the philosophies as developed by the Frankfort School (which began in 1923 as a reaction to Nazism) concerning the influences of domination of the populace through culture and ideology, Karl Marx who emphasized domination of the public relative to the economic structure of society , and Sigmund Freud's model of the human psyche and the attempts to liberate people from illusions of their own creation.

Critical Theory also entails the democratization of society  and one of the main proponents of critical theory was Jurgen Habermas, a German philosopher of democratic concepts.  He refers to the public sphere which is a type of public forum which can be used to construct policies based on the principles of critical theory and which is now facilitated by the use of the Internet.

"The Habermasian public sphere was originally used as an analytical tool to describe the environment that was created in bourgeois society between the private sphere and the state. It this environment, citizens reflected critically on themselves and the state. Consensual agreement was formed from rational arguments and judged solely on their merits not on the status of their creators."  (Plaisted, 1996).
References:
Blaug, Ricardo (1999). Democracy: Real and Ideal, Discourse Ethics and Radical Politics. Albany, New York: State University of New York Press.
Dewey, John.  (1997).  Democracy and Education: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Education.  New York: Free Press, Simon & Schuster
Gutek, G.  (1997).  Philosophical and Ideological Perspectives on Education.  Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
Klages, M. (2003). Postmodernism. Retrieved February 12, 2004 from http://www.colorado.edu/English/ENGL2012Klages/pomo.html
Plaisted, T.  (1996), Internet, Democracy and the Public Sphere in Australia. Retrieved February 10, 2004 from http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/1989/mc.html
Critical Theory
Frankfurt School, a body of social theory developed at the Institute for Social Research, which was founded in Frankfurt, Germany, in 1923. To escape Nazi tyranny, the Institute moved in 1935 from Frankfurt to New York City, remaining there until its return to the Federal Republic of Germany in 1949.
The Frankfurt School is best known for a style of analysis called critical theory. Critical theory is indebted to the ideas of German political philosopher Karl Marx in its emphasis on sources of domination and authority in society that impede the possibility of human freedom. It departs from Marxism, however, in locating the sources of domination in the realms of culture and ideology (system of beliefs), not solely in the economic structure of society. Critical theory takes the form of a critique of ideology by attempting to uncover distorting forms of consciousness, or ways of thinking. This technique draws heavily from the model of psychoanalysis proposed by the Austrian physician Sigmund Freud in its attempt to liberate people from illusions and constraints of their own making.
The earliest members of the Institute included German philosophers Max Horkheimer and Theodor Adorno. Their Dialektik der Aufklärung (1947; Dialectic of Enlightenment, 1972) was instrumental in defining the agenda of the Frankfurt School. In this book Adorno and Horkheimer assert that Western civilization has been distorted from its outset by a conception of rationality that aims at the conquest and control of nature. The symbol of Western civilization’s possessiveness and acquisitiveness, they claim, is the wily warrior of Greek legend, Odysseus. His journey from Troy to Ithaca became the prototype of the bourgeois, or middle-class, experience. The Odyssean ideal, they argue, reached its height with the triumph of scientific technology, the capitalist marketplace, and the modern administrative state. Contrary to more conventional analyses, Adorno and Horkheimer maintain that the emergence of fascism and totalitarianism in the 20th century is not the antithesis of the 18th-century Age of Enlightenment and the rationalism it advocated, but rather the perfection of its impulse toward domination.
A joint work by Adorno and other Frankfurt School theorists, The Authoritarian Personality (1950), is an investigation into the sources of obedience to authority and what makes certain people susceptible to fascistic propaganda. Studies by another member of the Frankfurt School, German American philosopher Herbert Marcuse, discuss how the economic exploitation of people under capitalism is made possible by Western society’s instinctual and psychic repression of the individual. Marcuse’s works include the studies Eros and Civilization (1955) and One-Dimensional Man (1964). The most notable critical theorist of the late 20th century is German philosopher Jürgen Habermas, although he changed the school’s agenda in an effort to recover the emancipatory side of Enlightenment rationalism. Other members of the school have included philosophers Walter Benjamin, Franz Neumann, and Otto Kirchheimer.
Over the years, critical theorists have increasingly turned their attention to music, entertainment, and what Adorno called the culture industry as forms of repression intended to pacify and ameliorate any radical social inclinations. The theories of the Frankfurt School gained a wide audience in both Europe and America during the protest movements of the 1960s. By that time many of the leading representatives of the school had abandoned the Marxist belief that the proletariat would be the agent of human emancipation and had begun to believe that disenfranchised groups, such as student radicals and blacks, held the key to social transformation.
No revolutionary changes have occurred as a result of the Frankfurt School’s theories, and its tradition lives on today largely within the areas of literary and cultural studies. Some philosophers find the school’s claim to discover forms of repression a source of insight, while others are critical of its dependence on Marxist and Freudian models of emancipation, as well as its denunciation of all forms of democratic capitalism.
Microsoft® Encarta® Encyclopedia 2002. © 1993-2001 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.   Steven Smith
Feminist Theory
Androgynist poetics, having relations and perhaps roots in mid-Victorian women's writing of imitation, contends that the creative mind is sexless, and the very foundation of describing a female tradition in writing was sexist. Critics of this vein found gender as imprisoning, nor believed that gender had a bearing in the content of writing, which, according to Joyce Carol Oates is actually culture-determined. Imagination is too broad to be hemmed in by gender.
However, from the 1970s on, most feminist critics reject the genderless mind, finding that the "imagination" cannot evade the conscious or unconscious structures of gender. Gender, it could be said, is part of that culture-determination which Oates says serves as inspiration. Such a position emphasizes "the impossibility of separating the imagination from a socially, sexually, and historically positioned self." This movement of thought allowed for a feminist critique as critics attacked the meaning of sexual difference in a patriarchal society/ideology. Images of male-wrought representations of women (stereotypes and exclusions) came under fire, as was the "'division, oppression, inequality, [and] interiorized inferiority for women.'"
The female experience, then, began to take on positive affirmations. The Female Aesthetic arose -- expressing a unique female consciousness and a feminine tradition in literature -- as it celebrated an intuitive female approach in the interpretation of women's texts. It "spoke of a vanished nation, a lost motherland; of female vernacular or Mother Tongue; and of a powerful but neglected women's culture." Writers like Virginia Woolf and Dorothy Richardson, emerging out of the Victorian period and influenced by its writings were perhaps the first women to recognize this. In "Professions for Women," Woolf discusses how a woman writer seeks within herself "the pools, the depths, the dark places where the largest fish slumber," inevitably colliding against her own sexuality to confront "something about the body, about the passions."
The French feminists of the day discussed this Mother Tongue, calling it l'écriture feminine. Accessible to men and women alike, but representing "female sexual morphology," l'écriture feminine sought a way of writing which literally embodied the female, thereby fighting the "subordinating, linear style of classification or distinction." Showalter finds that whether this
clitoral, vulval, vaginal, or uterine; whether centered on semiotic pulsions, childbearing, or jouissance, the feminist theorization of female sexuality/textuality, and its funky audacity in violating patriarchal taboos by unveiling the Medusa, is an exhilarating challenge to phallic discourse.
There are problems with the Female Aesthetic, which feminist critics recognized. Even its most fervent fans avoided defining exactly what constituted the style of l'écriture feminine, as any definition would then categorize it and safely subsume it as a genre under the linear patriarchal structure. Its very restlessness and ambiguity defied identification as part of its identity. Needless to say, some feminists and women writers could feel excluded by the surreality of the Female Aesthetic and its stress on the biological forms of female experience, which, as Showalter says, also bears close resemblance to sexist essentialism. Men may try their hand at writing woman's bodies, but according to the feminist critique and Aesthetic, only woman whose very biology gave her an edge, could read these texts successfully -- risking marginalization and ghettoization of both women's literature and theory. Lastly, the Female Aesthetic was charged with racism, as it rarely referred to racial or class differences between women and largely referred to a white woman's literary tradition.
Gynocritics, which developed shoulder-to-shoulder with the Female Aesthetic, attempted to resolve some of these problems, by agreeing that women's literature lay as the central concern for feminist criticism, but "rejected the concept of an essential female identity and style." One branch of gynocriticism sought to revise Freudian structures <../science/freud/Freud_OV.html> and take the edge off of an adversarial methodology of criticism. These critics emphasized a Pre-Oedipal phase <../science/freud/Psychosexual_Development.html> wherein the daughter's bond to her mother inscribes the key factor in gender identity. Matriarchal values desolve intergenerational conflicts and build upon a female tradition of literature rather than the struggle of Oedipus and Lais at the crossroads.
Poststructuralism eventually influenced the course of feminist theory with the idea of a motherless as well as fatherless text. The female experience, as it relates to texts, only occurs in the feminine subjectivity of the reading process. "Gynesis" or "gynetic disruptions" occur in texts when the reader explores "the textual consequences and representations of 'the feminine.'" These considerations or interruptions in the discourse indicate a consideration or interruption of the patriarchal system.
Lastly and most recently are developments of an over-arching gender theory, which considers gender, both male and female, as a social construction upon biological differences. Gender theory proposes to explore "ideological inscription and the literary effects of the sex/gender system," and as many advantages, opening up the literary theory stage and bringing in questions of masculinity into feminist theory. Also, taking gender as a fundamental analytic category brings feminist criticism from the margin to the center, though risks depoliticizing the study of women.
Queer theory:
Which brings me--finally--to queer theory. Queer theory emerges from gay/lesbian studies' attention to the social construction of categories of normative and deviant sexual behavior. But while gay/lesbian studies, as the name implies, focused largely on questions of homosexuality, queer theory expands its realm of investigation. Queer theory looks at, and studies, and has a political critique of, anything that falls into normative and deviant categories, particularly sexual activities and identities. The word "queer", as it appears in the dictionary, has a primary meaning of "odd," "peculiar," "out of the ordinary." Queer theory concerns itself with any and all forms of sexuality that are "queer" in this sense--and then, by extension, with the normative behaviors and identities which define what is "queer" (by being their binary opposites). Thus queer theory expands the scope of its analysis to all kinds of behaviors, including those which are gender-bending as well as those which involve "queer" non-normative forms of sexuality. Queer theory insists that all sexual behaviors, all concepts linking sexual behaviors to sexual identities, and all categories of normative and deviant sexualities, are social constructs, sets of signifiers which create certain types of social meaning. Queer theory follows feminist theory and gay/lesbian studies in rejecting the idea that sexuality is an essentialist category, something determined by biology or judged by eternal standards of morality and truth. For queer theorists, sexuality is a complex array of social codes and forces, forms of individual activity and institutional power, which interact to shape the ideas of what is normative and what is deviant at any particular moment, and which then operate under the rubric of what is "natural," "essential," "biological," or "god-given." 
This idea, that things (like gender or sexuality) which are socially constructed, which are mutable and shifting, can appear to be eternal, essential, and unshakably true, is explained by what we'll turn to next week: theories of ideology, of the social construction of belief systems, and of subject positions within those belief systems.
Post-Structuralism is a body of work that is a response to structuralism </wiki/Structuralism>; it rejects structuralism yet for various reasons still defines itself in relation to it. So the best way to understand post-structuralism is to understand structuralism. 
Structuralism, considered broadly, is any theory that follows Immanuel Kant </wiki/Immanuel_Kant>'s notion that the mind actively structures perceptions (Jean Piaget </wiki/Jean_Piaget> and Noam Chomsky </wiki/Noam_Chomsky> are structuralists in this sense), or any theory that follows Durkheim's attention to social structure (e.g. classifying societies as mechanical or organic). More narrowly, structuralism is inspired by the work of the linguists </wiki/Linguists> Roman Jakobson </wiki/Roman_Jakobson> and Ferdinand de Saussure </wiki/Ferdinand_de_Saussure>. Their main argument is that language </wiki/Language> is not just a set of words (abstract </wiki/Abstract>) that refer to things (concrete </wiki/Concrete>). In other words, the word "rock" does not have sense, or meaning </wiki/Meaning>, simply because we identify it with real rocks. Rather, language consists of a system of meaning; that is, the meaning of any one word is determined by its relationship with other words (thus, a dictionary doesn't juxtapose words with pictures of things; rather, it defines words in terms of other words). When looking solely at language or systems of meaning that function linguistically </wiki/Linguistically>, this approach is called semiotics </wiki/Semiotics>. When looking at other phenomena </wiki/Phenomena>, it is structuralism. In short, any approach that sees the meaning of something as subordinate to its place within a system is structuralism. The most important structuralists were French scholars who tried to adapt these principles to other fields of study: the psychoanalyst Lacan </wiki/Lacan>, the philosopher Louis Althusser </wiki/Louis_Althusser>, and the anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss </wiki/Claude_Levi-Strauss>. 
Note: structuralism is in many ways opposed to humanism </wiki/Humanism>, because it privileges structures and systems over the specific parts of these systems (e.g. actual humans). 
Note: structuralism requires some space between the system and the person studying the system -- in other words, structuralism is a way of studying structures objectively. 
Post-structuralists are quite simply all people who take structuralism very seriously and recognize its importance, yet on some level profoundly disagree with or even actively reject it. This ambivalence echoes a deeper ambivalence towards the whole Enlightenment </wiki/The_Enlightenment> project. Like Kant </wiki/Immanuel_Kant> and his contemporaries and successors, they believe in the importance of critical thinking (the philosopher Jürgen Habermas </wiki/J%FCrgen_Habermas> is probably the most important heir to Kant today -- not that he is strictly speaking a "Kantian", but in a more general sense that he believes that through reason we can understand the world and achieve enlightenment). Unlike Kant and his successors, they are highly skeptical of progress. You might say they take Kant's critical approach one step further by turning it against itself, and thus criticizing the Enlightenment assumptions that objectivity is possible and good, and that the positive accumulation of objective knowledge is possible and good. They are so true to this critical spirit that, unlike post-modernists, they do not whole-heartedly celebrate the demise of the Enlightenment project. (In this ambivalent turn they are something like contemporary heirs to Nietzsche </wiki/Friedrich_Nietzsche>, and many explicitly refer to Nietzsche for inspiration, even if they do not agree with everything he wrote.) 
Other than a disagreement with the tenets of structualism, many post-structuralists are sharply critical of one another. This is one reason why a group with such divergent views are called post-structuralists and not something else - once you get beyond their debt to structuralism and the fact that they nevertheless are not structuralists, there is nothing else to define them as a group. The most famous post-structuralists - although they express often fundamentally divergent views - are the philosopher Jacques Derrida </wiki/Jacques_Derrida>, the historian Michel Foucault </wiki/Michel_Foucault>, and the sociologists Pierre Bourdieu </wiki/Pierre_Bourdieu> and Bruno Latour </wiki/Bruno_Latour>.
A term tied very closely to postmodernism <../gengloss/postm-body.html>, deconstructionism is a challenge to the attempt to establish any ultimate or secure meaning in a text. Basing itself in language analysis, it seeks to "deconstruct" the ideological biases (gender, racial, economic, political, cultural) and traditional assumptions that infect all histories, as well as philosophical and religious "truths." Deconstructionism is based on the premise that much of human history, in trying to understand, and then define, reality has led to various forms of domination - of nature, of people of color, of the poor, of homosexuals, etc. Like postmodernism, deconstructionism finds concrete experience more valid than abstract ideas and, therefore, refutes any attempts to produce a history, or a truth. In other words, the multiplicities and contingencies of human experience necessarily bring knowledge down to the local and specific level, and challenge the tendency to centralize power through the claims of an ultimate truth which must be accepted or obeyed by all.
A technique of literary analysis that regards meaning as resulting from the differences between words themselves, rather than their reference to the things they stand for. It is a technique that entered theology in the earlier 1980’s as theologians who had been educated in Hegel, Nietzsche, Wittgenstein and Heidegger began to encounter the writings of French theorists, in particular, Jacques Derrida. They emphasised the inability of theological discourse to speak substantively about dogmatic, transcendental certainties. For them, after Hegel, God had been poured into Jesus Christ without remainder and so they believed theology should be expunged of any claims on metaphysics <../gengloss/metaph-body.html> and focus on the sensible realm. 
semiotics
Etymology: Greek sEmeiOtikos observant of signs, from sEmeiousthai to interpret signs, from sEmeion sign, from sEma sign
: a general philosophical theory of signs and symbols that deals especially with their function in both artificially constructed and natural languages and comprises syntactics, semantics, and pragmatics
"It seems to me that one of the first useful steps toward a science of semeiotic ({sémeiötiké}), or the cenoscopic science of signs, must be the accurate definition, or logical analysis, of the concepts of the science." (Partial draft of a letter to Lady Welby, CP 8.343, 1908)

""Significs" sounds to me narrower than Semeotic, since signification is only one of the two chief functions of signs; as the elegant and correct John of Salisbury notices, in referring to "quod fere in omnium ore celebre est, aliud scilicet esse quod appellatiua significant, et aliud esse quod nominant. Nominantur singularia, sed uniuersalia significantur." (Metalogicus II. xx. I copy from the ed. of 1620.) So significs appears to be limited to the study of the relations of Signs to their Interpretants; and I presume you do so limit it. On the other hand Logic is more interested in the Truth of Signs, i.e. in their relation to their Objects. But I am satisfied that in the present state of the subject, there is but one General science of the nature of Signs." (Partial draft of a letter to Lady Welby, CP 8.378, 1908)
"Logic, in its general sense, is, as I believe I have shown, only another name for semiotic ({sémeiötiké}), the quasi-necessary, or formal, doctrine of signs. By describing the doctrine as "quasi-necessary," or formal, I mean that we observe the characters of such signs as we know, and from such an observation, by a process which I will not object to naming Abstraction, we are led to statements, eminently fallible, and therefore in one sense by no means necessary, as to what must be the characters of all signs used by a "scientific" intelligence, that is to say, by an intelligence capable of learning by experience." (A Fragment, CP 2.227, c. 1897)        Retrieved on Feb 14, 2004 from  http://www.helsinki.fi/science/commens/terms/semeiotic.html     Pierce Dictionary 2004
Systems theory <SYSTHEOR.html> or systems science argues that however complex or diverse the world that we experience, we will always find different types of organization in it, and such organization can be described by concepts <SYSAPPR.html> and principles which are independent from the specific domain at which we are looking. Hence, if we would uncover those general laws, we would be able to analyse and solve problems in any domain, pertaining to any type of system. The systems approach <SYSAPPR.html> distinguishes itself from the more traditional analytic approach <ANALSYST.html> by emphasizing the interactions and connectedness of the different components of a system. Although the systems approach in principle considers all types of systems, it in practices focuses on the more complex, adaptive, self-regulating systems which we might call "cybernetic" <CYBSNAT.html>. 
Modernism
Let us now recapitulate, in order to add some details, while applying and adapting the models referred to. What I have termed the Mechanism of Modernism may be conceived as a particular application of what Husserl (1966: 331) has termed Time consciousness, in which, at each moment of time, some earlier moment is retained, while another is expected to occur, or as Husserl terms it, is protained. This model has been used, and revised, by Mukarovsky (1974) and Veltrusky (1977), in their studies of literature and drama; and by myself, when endeavouring to render the working of a perceptual hypothesis filling in the lacking details of everyday experience (Sonesson 1978a,b). I have lately used it even more generally, as a substitute for the much too limited notion of isotopy, to render the idea of an interpretational scheme, present in the work of Schktz, Piaget, Bartlett, and contemporary cognitive psychology
Post Modernism and Modernism  from http://www.colorado.edu/English/ENGL2012Klages/pomo.html  by Dr. Mary Klages, Associate Professor, English Department, University of Colorado, Boulder
Postmodernism is a complicated term, or set of ideas, one that has only emerged as an area of academic study since the mid-1980s. Postmodernism is hard to define, because it is a concept that appears in a wide variety of disciplines or areas of study, including art, architecture, music, film, literature, sociology, communications, fashion, and technology. It's hard to locate it temporally or historically, because it's not clear exactly when postmodernism begins. 
Perhaps the easiest way to start thinking about postmodernism is by thinking about modernism, the movement from which postmodernism seems to grow or emerge. Modernism has two facets, or two modes of definition, both of which are relevant to understanding postmodernism. 
The first facet or definition of modernism comes from the aesthetic movement broadly labeled "modernism." This movement is roughly coterminous with twentieth century Western ideas about art (though traces of it in emergent forms can be found in the nineteenth century as well). Modernism, as you probably know, is the movement in visual arts, music, literature, and drama which rejected the old Victorian standards of how art should be made, consumed, and what it should mean. In the period of "high modernism," from around 1910 to 1930, the major figures of modernism literature helped radically to redefine what poetry and fiction could be and do: figures like Woolf, Joyce, Eliot, Pound, Stevens, Proust, Mallarme, Kafka, and Rilke are considered the founders of twentieth-century modernism. 
From a literary perspective, the main characteristics of modernism include: 
1. an emphasis on impressionism and subjectivity in writing (and in visual arts as well); an emphasis on HOW seeing (or reading or perception itself) takes place, rather than on WHAT is perceived. An example of this would be stream-of-consciousness writing. 
2. a movement away from the apparent objectivity provided by omniscient third-person narrators, fixed narrative points of view, and clear-cut moral positions. Faulkner's multiply-narrated stories are an example of this aspect of modernism. 
3. a blurring of distinctions between genres, so that poetry seems more documentary (as in T.S. Eliot or ee cummings) and prose seems more poetic (as in Woolf or Joyce). 
4. an emphasis on fragmented forms, discontinuous narratives, and random-seeming collages of different materials. 
5. a tendency toward reflexivity, or self-consciousness, about the production of the work of art, so that each piece calls attention to its own status as a production, as something constructed and consumed in particular ways. 
6. a rejection of elaborate formal aesthetics in favor of minimalist designs (as in the poetry of William Carlos Williams) and a rejection, in large part, of formal aesthetic theories, in favor of spontaneity and discovery in creation. 
7. A rejection of the distinction between "high" and "low" or popular culture, both in choice of materials used to produce art and in methods of displaying, distributing, and consuming art. 
Postmodernism, like modernism, follows most of these same ideas, rejecting boundaries between high and low forms of art, rejecting rigid genre distinctions, emphasizing pastiche, parody, bricolage, irony, and playfulness. Postmodern art (and thought) favors reflexivity and self-consciousness, fragmentation and discontinuity (especially in narrative structures), ambiguity, simultaneity, and an emphasis on the destructured, decentered, dehumanized subject. 
But--while postmodernism seems very much like modernism in these ways, it differs from modernism in its attitude toward a lot of these trends. Modernism, for example, tends to present a fragmented view of human subjectivity and history (think of The Wasteland, for instance, or of Woolf's To the Lighthouse), but presents that fragmentation as something tragic, something to be lamented and mourned as a loss. Many modernist works try to uphold the idea that works of art can provide the unity, coherence, and meaning which has been lost in most of modern life; art will do what other human institutions fail to do. Postmodernism, in contrast, doesn't lament the idea of fragmentation, provisionality, or incoherence, but rather celebrates that. The world is meaningless? Let's not pretend that art can make meaning then, let's just play with nonsense.  (Klages, 2003).
Modernity is fundamentally about order: about rationality and rationalization, creating order out of chaos. The assumption is that creating more rationality is conducive to creating more order, and that the more ordered a society is, the better it will function (the more rationally it will function). Because modernity is about the pursuit of ever-increasing levels of order, modern societies constantly are on guard against anything and everything labeled as "disorder," which might disrupt order. Thus modern societies rely on continually establishing a binary opposition between "order" and "disorder," so that they can assert the superiority of "order." But to do this, they have to have things that represent "disorder"--modern societies thus continually have to create/construct "disorder." In western culture, this disorder becomes "the other"--defined in relation to other binary oppositions. Thus anything non-white, non-male, non-heterosexual, non-hygienic, non-rational, (etc.) becomes part of "disorder," and has to be eliminated from the ordered, rational modern society. 
The ways that modern societies go about creating categories labeled as "order" or "disorder" have to do with the effort to achieve stability. Francois Lyotard (the theorist whose works Sarup describes in his article on postmodernism) equates that stability with the idea of "totality," or a totalized system (think here of Derrida's idea of "totality" as the wholeness or completeness of a system). Totality, and stability, and order, Lyotard argues, are maintained in modern societies through the means of "grand narratives" or "master narratives," which are stories a culture tells itself about its practices and beliefs. A "grand narrative" in American culture might be the story that democracy is the most enlightened (rational) form of government, and that democracy can and will lead to universal human happiness. Every belief system or ideology has its grand narratives, according to Lyotard; for Marxism, for instance, the "grand narrative" is the idea that capitalism will collapse in on itself and a utopian socialist world will evolve. You might think of grand narratives as a kind of meta-theory, or meta-ideology, that is, an ideology that explains an ideology (as with Marxism); a story that is told to explain the belief systems that exist. 
Lyotard argues that all aspects of modern societies, including science as the primary form of knowledge, depend on these grand narratives. Postmodernism then is the critique of grand narratives, the awareness that such narratives serve to mask the contradictions and instabilities that are inherent in any social organization or practice. In other words, every attempt to create "order" always demands the creation of an equal amount of "disorder," but a "grand narrative" masks the constructedness of these categories by explaining that "disorder" REALLY IS chaotic and bad, and that "order" REALLY IS rational and good. Postmodernism, in rejecting grand narratives, favors "mini-narratives," stories that explain small practices, local events, rather than large-scale universal or global concepts. Postmodern "mini-narratives" are always situational, provisional, contingent, and temporary, making no claim to universality, truth, reason, or stability. 
Another aspect of Enlightenment thought--the final of my 9 points--is the idea that language is transparent, that words serve only as representations of thoughts or things, and don't have any function beyond that. Modern societies depend on the idea that signifiers always point to signifieds, and that reality resides in signifieds. In postmodernism, however, there are only signifiers. The idea of any stable or permanent reality disappears, and with it the idea of signifieds that signifiers point to. Rather, for postmodern societies, there are only surfaces, without depth; only signifiers, with no signifieds. 
Another way of saying this, according to Jean Baudrillard, is that in postmodern society there are no originals, only copies--or what he calls "simulacra." You might think, for example, about painting or sculpture, where there is an original work (by Van Gogh, for instance), and there might also be thousands of copies, but the original is the one with the highest value (particularly monetary value). Contrast that with cds or music recordings, where there is no "original," as in painting--no recording that is hung on a wall, or kept in a vault; rather, there are only copies, by the millions, that are all the same, and all sold for (approximately) the same amount of money. Another version of Baudrillard's "simulacrum" would be the concept of virtual reality, a reality created by simulation, for which there is no original. This is particularly evident in computer games/simulations--think of Sim City, Sim Ant, etc. 
Finally, postmodernism is concerned with questions of the organization of knowledge. In modern societies, knowledge was equated with science, and was contrasted to narrative; science was good knowledge, and narrative was bad, primitive, irrational (and thus associated with women, children, primitives, and insane people). Knowledge, however, was good for its own sake; one gained knowledge, via education, in order to be knowledgeable in general, to become an educated person. This is the ideal of the liberal arts education. In a postmodern society, however, knowledge becomes functional--you learn things, not to know them, but to use that knowledge. As Sarup points out (p. 138), educational policy today puts emphasis on skills and training, rather than on a vague humanist ideal of education in general. This is particularly acute for English majors. "What will you DO with your degree?" 
Not only is knowledge in postmodern societies characterized by its utility, but knowledge is also distributed, stored, and arranged differently in postmodern societies than in modern ones. Specifically, the advent of electronic computer technologies has revolutionized the modes of knowledge production, distribution, and consumption in our society (indeed, some might argue that postmodernism is best described by, and correlated with, the emergence of computer technology, starting in the 1960s, as the dominant force in all aspects of social life). In postmodern societies, anything which is not able to be translated into a form recognizable and storable by a computer--i.e. anything that's not digitizable--will cease to be knowledge. In this paradigm, the opposite of "knowledge" is not "ignorance," as it is the modern/humanist paradigm, but rather "noise." Anything that doesn't qualify as a kind of knowledge is "noise," is something that is not recognizable as anything within this system. 
Lyotard says (and this is what Sarup spends a lot of time explaining) that the important question for postmodern societies is who decides what knowledge is (and what "noise" is), and who knows what needs to be decided. Such decisions about knowledge don't involve the old modern/humanist qualifications: for example, to assess knowledge as truth (its technical quality), or as goodness or justice (its ethical quality) or as beauty (its aesthetic quality). Rather, Lyotard argues, knowledge follows the paradigm of a language game, as laid out by Wittgenstein. I won't go into the details of Wittgenstein's ideas of language games; Sarup gives a pretty good explanation of this concept in his article, for those who are interested. 
There are lots of questions to be asked about postmodernism, and one of the most important is about the politics involved--or, more simply, is this movement toward fragmentation, provisionality, performance, and instability something good or something bad? There are various answers to that; in our contemporary society, however, the desire to return to the pre-postmodern era (modern/humanist/Enlightenment thinking) tends to get associated with conservative political, religious, and philosophical groups. In fact, one of the consequences of postmodernism seems to be the rise of religious fundamentalism, as a form of resistance to the questioning of the "grand narratives" of religious truth. This is perhaps most obvious (to us in the US, anyway) in muslim fundamentalism in the Middle East, which ban postmodern books--like Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses --because they deconstruct such grand narratives. 
This association between the rejection of postmodernism and conservatism or fundamentalism may explain in part why the postmodern avowal of fragmentation and multiplicity tends to attract liberals and radicals. This is why, in part, feminist theorists have found postmodernism so attractive, as Sarup, Flax, and Butler all point out. 
On another level, however, postmodernism seems to offer some alternatives to joining the global culture of consumption, where commodities and forms of knowledge are offered by forces far beyond any individual's control. These alternatives focus on thinking of any and all action (or social struggle) as necessarily local, limited, and partial--but nonetheless effective. By discarding "grand narratives" (like the liberation of the entire working class) and focusing on specific local goals (such as improved day care centers for working mothers in your own community), postmodernist politics offers a way to theorize local situations as fluid and unpredictable, though influenced by global trends. Hence the motto for postmodern politics might well be "think globally, act locally"--and don't worry about any grand scheme or master plan.  (Klages, 2003).
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U6D1 response to Barry
It is amazing how incredibly complex the universe is and how everything is composed of systems.  From the subatomic particles to the atoms to molecules to the crystaline forms or biological cells which contain DNA that hold all of the genetic information of the organism.  The cell itself is a complicated chemical system with factory like functions with an amazing amount of tasks to perform.  But not only that, each adult is composed of over a trillion of those microscopic systems.  Then there are there systems of organs of the bodies of all living things including plants and animals.  There are chemical systems and mechanical systems.  Then there are the ecosystems, the geological systems, the planetary systems, the galaxies -- all of which are regulated by systematic functions.
U6D1
Briefly present, analyze, and defend the contemporary philosophical perspective found in your search that fits within your educational philosophic view. Compare this theory to Critical Theory.  Use the library or an Internet search to investigate one contemporary philosophical or theoretical perspective not covered by the textbook. This could include feminist theories, queer theory, poststructuralism, deconstructionism, semeiotics, or systems theory.
Postmodernism is a further development of the subjective and expressive philosophy of modernism which incorporated the utilization of new technologies and its international implications as part of its philosophy. Deconstructionism strives to deconstruct previous ideologies and examine them in a way similar to the methods of critical theory.  Like Marxism, it examines history as a progression of forms of domination, usually of oppressed minorities and includes the factors of gender, race, economy, politics, personality, and culture.  Like the realists and the pragmatists, it considers concrete experience preferable to abstraction, does not attempt to establish definite truths, accepts the varieties of human endeavors, and believes in a decentralized structure to education and society.
Critical Theory is a synthesis of the philosophies as developed by the Frankfort School (which began in 1923 as a reaction to nazism) concerning the influences of domination of the populace through culture and ideology, Karl Marx who emphasized domination of the public relative to the economic structure of society , and Sigmund Freud's model of the human psyche and the attempts to liberate people from illusions of their own creation.

Critical Theory also entails the democratization of society  and one of the main proponents of critical theory was Jurgen Habermas, a German philosopher of democratic concepts.  He refers to the public sphere which is a type of public forum which can be used to construct policies based on the principles of critical theory and which is now facilitated by the use of the Internet.

"The Habermasian public sphere was originally used as an analytical tool to describe the environment that was created in bourgeois society between the private sphere and the state. It this environment, citizens reflected critically on themselves and the state. Consensual agreement was formed from rational arguments and judged solely on their merits not on the status of their creators."  (Plaisted, 1996).
References:
Blaug, Ricardo (1999). Democracy: Real and Ideal, Discourse Ethics and Radical Politics. Albany, New York: State University of New York Press.
Dewey, John.  (1997).  Democracy and Education: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Education.  New York: Free Press, Simon & Schuster
Gutek, G.  (1997).  Philosophical and Ideological Perspectives on Education.  Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
Klages, M. (2003). Postmodernism. Retrieved February 12, 2004 from http://www.colorado.edu/English/ENGL2012Klages/pomo.html
Plaisted, T.  (1996), Internet, Democracy and the Public Sphere in Australia. Retrieved February 10, 2004 from http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/1989/mc.html
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U6D2
Should schools address human differences such as multiple intelligences, learning styles, gender, sexual orientation, exceptionalities, developmental stages, and cultural diversity? .
Rather than represented by one score, an intelligence score or map should resemble a three dimensional mountain range with peaks and valleys representing the areas of intellectual strengths and limitations.  Though some people might want to include additional categories, to describe the concept of multiple intelligences, Dr. Howard Gardner, education professor at Harvard University, in 1983 identified the categories of multiple intelligence as: linguistic, logical-mathematical, spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, musical, interpersonal (social) , intrapersonal (self), and naturalistic.
Learning styles should be presented (such as child-centered,student-centered, community-centered, problem-solving, self-awareness, self-directed, self-determined, self-discovery, discovery method, learning by doing, experimental inquiry, scientific inquiry, scientific method, open classroom, open learning, open-ended questions, Socratic dialogue, service-based learning, and creating and making) as well as their relationship to stages of development.  However, whichever learning style is actually used within a class or an institution should remain consistent through a particular course of study.
The new structure of the educational system is becoming a 'democratic-cybernetic' model. "The cybernetic dimension suggests self-regulating processes which make it possible to adjust an organization to changing conditions or to move towards a better level of quantitative and qualitative functioning. The democratic idea implies that participation of those involved will be maximized." (Zygon, 1985)
Concerning school administration and learning styles the trends move:
From compulsive leadership to familistic leadership
From quantity (more) to quality (better)
From independence to interdependence
From competition to cooperation
From organizational convenience to aspiration of self-development
From authoritarianism and coercion to participation and integration 
From uniformity to diversity  (Zygon, 1985).
Developmental stages should be addressed since part of growth is the passage through developmental stages from childhood through adulthood as is especially noted in the educational philosophies of naturalism and progressivism.  Differences in sexual orientation should be addressed since sexuality is an essential part of human behavior and a part of human development and also since the great contributors to society and culture have been from all areas of the sexual orientation spectrum.  Cultural diversity should be addressed since world culture is a collection of all people, philosophies, religions, and cultures which is now connected by new technology on a world wide scale with influences from all sides of the globe and all eras of history.  Exceptionalities should also be addressed because there is the need for specialized areas of education for learners with special disabilities, abilities, talents, and gifts.
References:
Armstrong, T. (2000). Multiple Intelligences. Retrieved February 12, 2004 from http://www.thomasarmstrong.com/multiple_intelligences.htm
Gutek, G.  (1997).  Philosophical and Ideological Perspectives on Education.  Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
Zygon, K. (1985). Zygon: Imaging the Future: New Visions and New Responsibilities, Vol. 20, No. 3., Sep. 85. 
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U6D2 response to allen
Besides advances in aeronautical and computer technology, knowledge of outer space, and a boost in national morale, the space program developed products that we now use in our kitchens including Tang and Teflon.
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U6D3 response to Allen
I also wondered about the lack of social interaction from home schooling but the nephews seem to be alright in that department it just seems that someone misses so many of the aspects (good and bad) of growing up with the home schooling idea.  Another objection I have to the idea is that it seems to shelter the child from the realities of life giving them a sort of Polyannaish view of the world (Is that one of the omitted educational philosophies of our text -- Polyannaism?). They, since their parents are well off, were taught by tutors -- and I think one on one instruction is great for many purposes but not many people can afford it --  but I think usually the parents do the home teaching especially for the young children.  I think your thought about schools not teaching them what they wanted their children to learn is accurate and most of that boils down to the issue of religion. All of there texts were Christian based and the word "God" was mentioned about as often as the word "the".  When I looked at the science book I first wanted to see how they dealt with the concept of evolution.  There was a two or three page section about the subject and it was classified as a theory that has not been proved and that the universe was creating by [a loving] God.  A student can't hear something like that in the public schools.  As someone mentioned, now they're not even suppose to say "one nation under God" in the pledge of alliegiance.
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U6D3
From the "Guidelines for Preparing a Position Paper" (in the MediaCenter), select three topics from the 33 topics listed, and discuss each of these three topics in light of your beliefs, your values, and your ideals. When applicable, relate your response to the philosophies from the textbook covered thus far by the course. If you can present other philosophical or theoretical support for your positions regarding the three topics, please do so.
[Next time:
9. Teachers' Roles       
10. Students’ Roles
14. Learning Styles] 
Cognitive/Learning Styles 
Cognitive styles refer to the preferred way an individual processes information. Unlike individual differences in abilities (e.g., Gardner <gardner.html>, Guilford <guilford.html>, Sternberg <stern.html>) which describe peak performance, styles describe a person's typical mode of thinking, remembering or problem solving. Furthermore, styles are usually considered to be bipolar dimensions whereas abilities are unipolar (ranging from zero to a maximum value). Having more of an ability is usually considered beneficial while having a particular cognitive style simply denotes a tendency to behave in a certain manner. Cognitive style is a usually described as a personality dimension which influences attitudes, values, and social interaction. 
A number of cognitive styles have been identified and studied over the years. Field independence versus field dependence is probably the most well known style. It refers to a tendency to approach the environment in an analytical, as opposed to global, fashion. At a perceptual level, field independent personalities are able to distinguish figures as discrete from their backgrounds compared to field dependent individuals who experience events in an undifferentiated way. In addition, field dependent individuals have a greater social orientation relative to field independent personalities. Studies have identified a number connections between this cognitive style and learning (see Messick, 1978). For example, field independent individuals are likely to learn more effectively under conditions of instrinstic motivation (e.g., self-study) and are influenced less by social reinforcement. 
Other cognitive styles that have been identified include: 
•		scanning - differences in the extent and intensity of attention resulting in variations in the vividness of experience and the span of awareness 

·		leveling versus sharpening - individual variations in remembering that pertain to the distinctiveness of memories and the tendency to merge similar events 
·	reflection versus impulsivity - individual consistencies in the speed and adequacy with which alternative hypotheses are formed and responses made 
·	conceptual differentiation - differences in the tendency to categorize perceived similarities among stimuli in terms of separate concepts or dimensions 
Learning styles specifically deal with characteristic styles of learning. Kolb (1984) proposes a theory of experiential learning that involves four principal stages: concrete experiences (CE), reflective observation (RO), abstract conceptualization (AC), and active experimentation (AE). The CE/AC and AE/RO dimensions are polar opposities as far as learning styles are concerned and Kolb postulates four types of learners (divergers, assimilators, convergers, and accommodators) depending upon their position on these two dimensions. For example, an accommodater prefers concrete experiences and active experimentation (AE, CE). 
Pask <pask.html> has described a learning style called serialist versus holist. Serialists prefer to learn in a sequential fashion, whereas holists prefer to learn in a hierarchial manner (i.e., top-down). 
Theoretically, cognitive and learning styles could be used to predict what kind of instructional strategies or methods would be most effective for a given individual and learning task. Research to date on this problem has not identified many robust relationships (see Cronbach & Snow <cronbach.html>). However, the 4MAT framework based on the work of Bernice McCarthy which suggests 4 learning modes (Analytic, Imaginative, Common Sense, and Dynamic) has been widely applied in education (see <http://www.aboutlearning.com>). And the learning styles framework developed by Dunn & Dunn (1999) seems to be useful in terms of creating teacher awareness of individual differences in learning (see <http://www.learningstyles.net>). 
For more about Learning Styles, see <http://snow.utoronto.ca/Learn2/mod3/index.html> or <http://www.oswego.edu/~shindler/lstyle.htm>. Application of learning styles to engineering is discussed at <http://www2.ncsu.edu/unity/lockers/users/f/felder/public/Learning_Styles.html> . Discussion about the relationship between learning styles and the Multiple Intelligences theory of Gardner can be found at <http://www.ldpride.net/learningstyles.MI.htm> and <http://falcon.jmu.edu/~ramseyil/learningstyles.htm> . 
References: 
Dunn, R. & Dunn, K. (1999). The Complete Guide to the Learning Strategies Inservice System. Boston: Allyn & Bacon. 
Kolb, D.A. (1984). Experiential Learning. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. 
Messick, S. (1976). Individuality in Learning. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. 
Sternberg, Robert (1997). Thinking Styles. Boston: Cambridge University Press.
Witkin, H.A. & Goodenough, D.R. (1981). Cognitive Styles: Essence and Origins. NY: International Universities Press.
U6D3
From the "Guidelines for Preparing a Position Paper" (in the MediaCenter), select three topics from the 33 topics listed, and discuss each of these three topics in light of your beliefs, your values, and your ideals. 

Curriculum Content, Approach, and Development.  

What is taught and how it is taught is the essence of education.  Curricula usually include the arts, sciences and physical education and each of these are subdivided: the arts (literature, languages, art, music, social sciences and history, etc.), the sciences (mathematics, physics, biology, astronomy, geology, geography, etc.), and physical education (sports, exercise, nutrition, sex education, etc.).  Recently schools are "pursuing a systematic approach to organizational restructuring.  In such schools, principals are much more likely to report a recent introduction of writing across the curriculum, literature based reading, and efforts to introduce hands-on math and science."  (Ravitch, 1997, 181).   Concerning approach and development, currently the movement has been toward "small classes, longer classes and a wider range of school resources." (Ravitch, 1997, 53).

Home Schooling

The school where I am teaching now uses the curriculum of the Calvert program to teach the academic subjects as well as English as a second language.  Calvert began as a private school in Baltimore, Maryland and then expanding its program to include a home schooling program.  There are levels beginning with pre-school which go through the eighth grade.  For a yearly fee and for a year of lessons, the students receive a package that includes school supplies, textbooks (over twenty of them), and a lesson manual.  The plan is for a parent, guardian, or tutor/teacher to assist the students with the lessons for each of the five school days of the week. For assessment, the lesson projects and tests are to sent in periodically to the Calvert home school administrators.

Two of my nephews were home schooled and they seem to have good communication and writing skills though I am not sure how their progress was assessed.  One of them has continued on to a university.  Concerning college admissions requirements for home schooled learners, "colleges that accept homeschoolers rely on various materials in place of high school grades, including, perhaps, portfolios of student work, the applicant's personal essay, SAT I  or ACT scores, grades from open admission community colleges, and personal recommendations. Challenging extracurricular activities are generally important for nontraditional applicants, and especially important for all applicants who hope to get scholarships. Admission criteria can vary quite widely.  [Some colleges state] that applicants without a high school diploma are required to take the GED exam. Some quite selective colleges will admit anyone with scores on the SAT or ACT above a certain level, and will consider other applicants based on portfolios of the applicants' academic work."  (Bunday, 2000).

Also, some could consider online and distance education as a variation and extension of home schooling processes.

Inclusion, Multicultural Education, and Diversity

"Society is one word but many things.  Men associate together in all kinds of ways and for all kinds of purposes.  One man is concerned in a multitude of diverse groups, in which his associates may be quite different.  It often seems as if they had nothing in common except that they are modes of associated life.  Within every larger social organization there are numerous minor groups: not only political subdivisions, but industrial, scientific, and religious associations.  There are political parties with differing aims, social sets, cliques, gangs, corporations, parterships, groups bound closely together by ties of blood, and so on, in endless variety.  In many modern states and in some ancient, there is a great diversity of populations, of varying languages, religions, moral codes, and traditions.  From this standpoint, many a minor political unit, one of our large cities, for example, is a congeries of loosely associated societies, rather than an inclusive and permeating community of action and thought."  (Dewey, 1997, 82).

"True individuality is a product of the relaxation of the grip of the authority of custom and traditions as standards of belief." (Dewey, 1997, 305).

World society is a collection of all people, philosophies, religions, and cultures which is now connected by new technology on a world wide scale with influences from all sides of the globe and all eras of history.  Contributing members of society have come from all social groups so it is essential to include all factions of society within the educational system in order to achieve the democratization of society.

References:

Bunday, Karl. (2000).  Colleges That Admit Homeschoolers. Retrieved February 12, 2004 from http://learninfreedom.org/colleges_4_hmsc.html

Dewey, John.  (1997).  Democracy and Education: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Education.  New York: Free Press, Simon & Schuster.

Ravitch, D. & Viteritti, J.  (1997).  New Schools for a New Century.  London: Yale University Press.

http://www.Calvertschool.org

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U7 Activities

Activity 7.1: 

Using the library or the Internet, search for learning or developmental theories that you believe align with your educational philosophy.
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U7D1

Are students intrinsically motivated to learn? ("Intrinsically" means that the motivation comes from within the person, not from external reward or punishment.) Select a theory of learning that aligns with your educational philosophy.
A baby or an infant responding to environmental stimuli is reacting according to survival drives, almost as a sort of instinctual response, and perhaps out of curiosity.  These reactions could be considered as intrinsically motivated behavior.  However, a baby is not a student in a physical or cyber/virtual classroom.  And even though some learning is done for personal satisfaction for reasons of self-efficacy and self-determination such as self-improvement or hobby related studies, once the student enters a classroom, then I think the motivations are extrinsic in nature.  From my experiences of teaching children as well as adults, the rewards for children are not intrinsic otherwise they would not need the constant disciplining and rewards and punishments that are required to control them.  As for adults, some may appear to be or say they are learning for intrinsic reasons, and some might be meeting personal goals or learning about personal hobbies and interests, but for the most part as students become adults they realize the importance of education in order to achieve external rewards such as respect, a higher salary, communication skills, new technical skills, success and material possessions.  This line of thought would align with B.F. Skinner's theories of operant conditioning.
Reference:
Gutek, G.  (1997).  Philosophical and Ideological Perspectives on Education.  Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
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U7D1 response to Barry
American psychologist Abraham Maslow developed a hierarchy of needs that motivates human behavior. The needs in order of importance from most to least are: (1) physiological such as the need for food (2) security and safety such as the need for income and protection (3) love and belonging (4) self-efficacy including competence, prestige, and self-esteem (5) self-satisfaction and self-fulfillment (6) curiosity, inquisitiveness, the desire to understand and self-actualization.  (Mazur, 2002).
I think when we as learners read or study, for our own enjoyment or edification, subjects on our own that we are not required to take then we are involved in more intrisically motivated behavior.  The contents of this course and other online courses through Capella, or other courses at universities, could conceivably be studied by the learners themselves at their own structure and pace and that type of motivation could perhaps be considered intrinsic depending upon the ultimate intent of the learners.  But the fact that we are all enrolled in courses for credit and usually working toward a degree, to me, implies that we are extrinsically motivated in taking these courses.  I think most students in school are extrinsically motivated toward achieving external rewards in addition to learning for internal satisfaction.
Richard
References:
Mazur, J.  (2002).   Encarta Encyclopedia. Seattle: Microsoft Corporation.
Gutek, G.  (1997).  Philosophical and Ideological Perspectives on Education.  Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
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U7D2

Select a theory of learning or development that aligns with your educational philosophy and best matches your image of yourself as a teacher, counselor, or an administrator. Be specific, support your position by referring to the literature, and give examples from your own experiences.
I align myself with some combination of essentialism, constructivism and existentialism
I align myself with the philosophy of essentialism since we all learn useful skills and cultural knowledge that have been transmitted throughout the centuries and certain principles remain essentially constant.  While learning today,  people have access to a more than 5000 year old body of knowledge (or that which has been salvaged and maintained over time).  Of course, in time there are changes in theoretical explanations and there are technological changes which occur constantly but the basic and structural essentials remain constant.  
Constructivism states that we build upon previous knowledge and all of my personal learning experiences have supported this concept.  That is perhaps one reason why learning a foreign language is as difficult as it is since all concepts, words, and definitions are based on vocabulary and concepts which are built on previously learned knowledge and vocabulary.  One of the developers of constructivism, J. Bruner (1966) says that instructional theory should include: (1) a desire to affect learning, (2) lucidity and comprehensibility of the presented knowledge (3) sequencial effectiveness in presenting material, and (4) reward and punishment.  
Existentialism involves the philosophical explorations of the freedom to choose, individual responsibility, subjectivity, free will, individual personality, and the recognition of emotions and their relation to human existence.  With my experiences in the visual arts and the teaching of English as a second language, many of my experiences have been existential in nature so I identify with that philosophy on a personal basis.   I believe that human culture is basically a conglomeration and accumulation of ideas, thoughts, inventions, and culture that have been created by individuals whose creations, over time, have been added to society's body of knowledge.
References:
Bruner, J. (1966). Toward a Theory of Instruction. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. 
Dreyfus, Hubert.  (2002). Encarta Encyclopedia. Existentialism. Seattle: Microsoft Corporation.
Gutek, G.  (1997).  Philosophical and Ideological Perspectives on Education.  Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
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U7D2 response to Barry
Andragogy is my new word for today.  I could not even find it in the dictionary.  How should that be pronounced: an-dra-GOJ-y or an-DRA-go-jy -- or an-dra-GOG-y or an-DRA-go-gy?  I think maybe the first or third pronunciation.
It seems to be somewhat similar to pragmatism with some influences of existentialism.
Richard
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U8D1 comment to Lindi
Lindi, I think your mentioning the Deming cyle (Deming, 2000) of "Plan, Do, Study, and Act" is useful since planning is so important in teaching.  But I am wondering if that is the correct order because it would seem to me that Study would be first and then Plan and then Do and Act.  Richard
U8 Activities
Activity 8.1: 

Using the library or an Internet search, locate and review models of instructional reform or practice-based inquiry. As you discover new ways of conceptualizing practice improvement, examine the underlying basic philosophical assumptions that actuate the change process. Consider the use of processes of practice change and improvement that might be appropriate for inclusion in your action plan.
Florida Department of Education. Curriculum Frameworks for Grades 6-8 Basic Programs: Social Studies. Tallahassee: Florida Department of Education, 1990. ED 339 656. 

This curriculum framework specifies intended outcomes and major concepts for social studies courses at grades 608. Courses include United States history, geography, civics, law studies, and world cultures. There are specifications for basic and advanced treatments of each course at each grade. 
Florida Department of Education. Curriculum Frameworks for Grades 9-12 Basic and Adult Secondary Programs: Social Studies. Tallahassee: Florida Department of Education, 1990. ED 295 184. 
Curriculum frameworks for grades 9-12 are descriptions of the courses offered at the high school grades. Intended outcomes and major concepts are specified for each course in the curriculum. Courses treated include American government, civics, law studies, world history, American history, economics, and philosophy.
Virginia State Department of Education. Social Studies Standards of Learning: Objectives for Virginia Public Schools. Richmond: Virginia State Department of Education, 1989. ED 316 466.
The standards in this document resulted from a statewide effort to identify a scope and sequence of content, concepts, skills, and attitudes in social studies for grades K-12. The goals embodied in the standards include (1) providing experiences that enable students to participate in society effectively and responsibly; (2) assisting students in understanding basic democratic ideals and values that affect decision making in public and private life; (3) offering a framework of knowledge and skills to assist students in understanding themselves and society and to serve as a basis for continuous learning in history and the social sciences; and (4) assisting students in acquiring concepts and problem-solving skills that foster rational solutions to problems encountered in everyday life.
from http://civnet.org/resources/teach/biblo/schlene2.htm

Activity 8.2: 

Examine your method or system of improving your practice within your educational setting. Examine the underlying basic philosophical assumptions that actuate the change or improvement process.

Activity 8.3: 

Work on the first drafts of your action plan and position paper. You will post your first drafts of both in Unit 10 for review by your instructor and classmates. You will submit the final papers in Unit 11.
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U8D1 from schedule
Discussion 8.1:

How do you improve your practice? Does your educational setting provide the theoretical or conceptual framework for improving your practice, or is improving your practice based on your personal commitment to improve? Describe the philosophical, ideological, and theoretical assumptions that are associated with your motivation to improve. Have your attempts to improve your practice succeeded?
U8D1
How do you improve your practice? Does your educational setting provide the theoretical or conceptual framework for improving your practice, or is improving your practice based on your personal commitment to improve? Describe the philosophical, ideological, and theoretical assumptions that are associated with your motivation to improve. Have your attempts to improve your practice succeeded?
One improves one's practice by practice ("practice makes perfect" as the saying goes or at least one gets nearer to the perfect ideal).  By doing, drilling, and experience, and sometimes with the help of a coach or teacher, someone can improve their performance and skills.  In addition to doing and practicing, reading, attending workshops and lectures,  and learning from others are ways of improving one's practice.   There are both external (extrinsic) and internal (intrinsic) motivations to improve in the educational settings where I have been involved.  Concerning the philosopical, ideological, and theoretical assumptions associated with my motivation to improve, I think this is part of growth and perhaps even of the survival drive as one is constantly equipping one's self with the skills and knowledge to survive and endure.  Also, as is expressed in the philosophy of existentialism, humans are mostly in control of their own development and experience concerning issues of individual existence, freedom, choice and are responsible for creating the conditions of their own existence.  Freedom of choice entails commitment and responsibility so the motivation to improve one's practice mostly originates within the individual.  I think in the areas where I attempt to improve my practice, some improvement generally occurs as it does with anyone who attempts to improve.
Reference:
Gutek, G.  (1997).  Philosophical and Ideological Perspectives on Education.  Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
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U8D2 comment to Bob
Bob, Your posting points out the fact that technology and instant communication is changing the world radically.  The advances in computer and Internet technology have changed the potential classroom from desks and blackboards to computer monitors and keyboards and the participants in the learning experience can be all in one traditional  classroom or they can, with online courses, be connected from anywhere in the world -- and can communicate at the speed of light.   Richard

Technology has made a major impact on the educational field.  Recent developments in display media have especially allowed for greater visual learning capacity.  Current teaching and learning techniques utilize both innovative software and hardware devices such as overhead projectors, LCD monitors (liquid display devices), and CD-ROM (Bates, 2000).  These new learning devices allow for greater student numbers to fill and accommodate larger classes, with the need for only one instructor.  Visual displays are similar to the typical movie screens in theaters. An apparatus like the CD-ROM enables each student to view subject matter on a personal computer.  Personal computer software programs have been improvised to assist students in learning difficult subject matter.  For example, Minitab is a nonproprietary computer learning program for statistics.  Most, if not all, educational institutions utilize some computer technology, which benefits the teaching, learning,  and administration demands for today’s high-speed industrial society.

Distance, online and alternative delivery methods of education have greatly changed today’s learning environment.  State-of-the-art computer software and hardware has enabled students residing in any academic area to comprise a class, whether they live across the country, or next door.  The historical face-to-face educational class has now given way to the distance, or online computer class. Personal computers and new learner software, such as WebCt  (Pallof & Pratt, 1999) have allowed for distance learning through the Internet.  Students and teachers now interact with each other through threaded online discussions.  Although the evidence has not confirmed that operational online learning costs are lower than face-to-face classes, certainly the convenience of distance learning is evident through the vast use of home personal computers.

The interaction between teachers and students is becoming more important as education technology progresses.  As the new technologies of online distance learning occurs more frequently; teachers must respond to individual learners one-to-one.  In online education each student learner must answer questions by posting written narratives to the (Virtual) Internet classroom  (Pallof & Pratt, 2003).  They obtain individual responses to their posts from not only the teacher, but also from other collaborating classroom students.  A certain amount of trust must develop between teachers and students in distance learning.  Students must be responsible to post their responses, and provide some discussion for classroom projects; whereas teachers must assess and grade students from ostensible written student responses.  This trust relationship hopefully accomplishes a successful learning and teaching experience to everyone involved.
U8D2 from schedule
Discussion 8.2:

From the "Guidelines for Preparing a Position Paper" (in the MediaCenter), select three topics from the 33 topics listed, and discuss each of these three topics in light of your beliefs, your values, and your ideals. When applicable, relate your response to the philosophies from the textbook covered thus far by the course. If you can present other philosophical or theoretical support for your positions regarding the three topics, please do so.
U8D2  Teachers' and Students' Roles, and Learning Styles

From the "Guidelines for Preparing a Position Paper" (in the MediaCenter), select three topics from the 33 topics listed, and discuss each of these three topics in light of your beliefs, your values, and your ideals. When applicable, relate your response to the philosophies from the textbook covered thus far by the course.

Teachers' Roles
 
The role of teacher is that of a moderator or facilitator between the over 5000 year old body of knowledge of civilization and the learner to expose the student to that information and to help bring out abilities within the student.  As there are many personality types, there are many types of teaching styles from the traditional lecturer in a authoritarian learning environment to the coordinator in a collaborative learning environment.  Some would extend the teacher's role beyond the course or classroom making them a sort of role model to the student, such as a mentor or example to follow, but generally the primary role is that of facilitator to offer the learner the knowledge and guidance within a particular academic discipline or subject.

Students’ Roles

The role of the student is to be an interactive participant in the educational process so that the other students (and perhaps even the teacher) learn from each other.  The role or duty of the learner is to read the assigned texts, do the assignments, and ask appropriate questions that help him and all of the other students in the process of understanding.

Learning Styles
Each of the educational philosophies (idealism, realism, theistic realism, naturalism, pragmatism, existentialism, philosophical analysis, nationalism, liberalism, conservatism, utopianism, Marxism, totalitarianism, essentialism, perennialism, progressivism, social reconstruction, and critical theory) described in the Gutek text require learning styles based on their particular principles. Realism and pragmatism require empirical experimentation of practical principles,  essentialism states that education is meant to dispense the time-tested essential truths and skills that have endured throughout the course of human civilization, perennialism asserts that the important elements of education are reoccurring and unchanging,  and progressivism was a reaction to the formalism and authoritarianism of traditional education and suggested child-centered, free-form, open, creative, expressive, and progressive classroom environments to encourage a child's unfettered development.
Learning styles (such as child-centered learning, student-centered learning, community-centered learning, problem-solving, self-awareness, self-directed learning, self-determined learning, self-discovery, discovery method, learning by doing, experimental inquiry, scientific inquiry, scientific method, open classrooms, open learning, open-ended questions, Socratic dialogue, service-based learning, traditional classrooms, online classrooms, and existential creativity) should be considered relative to the stages of development of the student.  However, whichever learning style is actually used within a class or an institution should remain consistent through a particular course of study even though there can be combinations of styles and philosophies that are utilized within a given course of study.
Reference:
Gutek, G.  (1997).  Philosophical and Ideological Perspectives on Education.  Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

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U8D3 comment to Stephanie
Stephanie,  Perhaps there could also be some incentives (other than the rewards and the satisfaction from the knowledge obtained while attending classes and the social enjoyment of being with one's peers) such as some sort of prizes or extra privileges for attending classes. The attendance could also be made into some sort of game or contest.    Richard
U8D3 from schedule
Discussion 8.3:

(a) Post a four- to eight-page draft paper of your Proposal for Change that includes the objectives, implementation plan, strategies, conclusion, and references. Your paper should be in APA format and should make use of in-text citations as appropriate with corresponding references. (10a) (10b) (10c) (11a).

(b) Follow the "Feedback Guidelines" (in the MediaCenter), and provide constructive feedback to one other learner's draft action plan proposal. 
from U2D3 :
U2D3:
Proposal for Change
Methods of and Curricula for Institutionally Implementing and Sustaining the Use of a Direct Democracy in the United States of America
ED7701
Educational Philosophy and Change
Richard Bloodworth
P.O.Box 78123
Atlanta, GA  30357
Dr. Callie Welstead

“Every nation has a right to govern itself internally under what forms it pleases, and to change these forms
at its own will.” -Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Pinckney, 1792.

PROPOSAL:

This proposal is an action plan for direct democracy to be introduced and taught in Social Studies and Political Science courses in educational, public, and online institutions. The initial introduction to the concept would begin in the early grades of elementary school then incrementally more information would be gradually added to the knowledge base going up through high school and also in post-secondary and adult learning environments to prepare the learners to be educated voters in a direct democracy.

RATIONALE:

One problem with the educational system, and society in general, involves political philosophy. If most societies are called democratic then many people hold the opinion that the people should be allowed to govern by voting directly and democratically (as is done in Switzerland) on issues rather than voting only for
representatives. When educating post-secondary or adult students (or even students beginning with the early years of kindergarten and then through high school, in preparation for their becoming adults), how can the concepts of democracy be conveyed and transferred to the learners and how can they become directly involved in the implementation of democratically determined plans?  The proposed project involves exploring what methods have been used previously to establish direct democracies (which are defined as the public voting directly on issues rather than through elected representatives who can, after being elected, vote any way they choose.) and to establish a curriculum to teach the principles and techniques of direct democracy in schools, primarily through social studies and political science classes. The process can involve obtaining ideas from social studies and political science teacher in developing a curriculum. One approach could be to send an emailed questionnaire to as many as possible of the Social Studies and Political Science teachers in public and private schools from the Kindergarten to
the Twelfth grade levels and then through post-secondary and adult education learning environments. The questionnaire could contain closed and open ended questions in addition to a blank suggestion space at the end of the questionnaire where the instructors can add any thoughts that they may have on the subject.

The social studies and political science classes could introduce, early in the development of the curriculum - such as during the elementary school years, the first concepts of democracy as government based on the will of and for the good of the people or society. The curriculum would eventually include the history of
democracy beginning with ancient Athens, Greece (and perhaps even before that) and its present forms of use today in various countries and institutions and studies of its various methods of execution. Also included in the course curriculum would be computer skills courses since thorough knowledge of computer and Internet usage would be needed to implement and sustain the continuing use of a direct democracy.

Once the system is established and the procedures for its execution are in place and all of the necessary legislation is passed to secure its governmental structure, procedural content, and continuing existence, the voters, or potential voters (who would require secured registration, training, and perhaps certification to
qualify to vote), would learn how to research and read about issues to be voted on at the local, state, and national levels. Computer tutorials could also be developed to teach the learners how this is done and even provide some practice voting sessions and hypothetical situations to which they can respond.

Review of Literature Concerning Direct Democracy

  	Today, there is discussion about using more direct democracy procedures and direct elections as well as electronic town meetings and teledemocracy. The public has become disillusioned with the issues of taxes, regulation, inefficiency, the arms race, ecological problems, etc. since public policy is made in distant capitals by unknown agents.  The first known direct democracy occurred in Athens, Greece around 500 B.C. where all of the citizens voted directly on legislative issues. Direct democracy in the United States dates back to Massachusetts in 1640 with its town meetings utilizing majority rule and embodying three main principles: consent of the governed, rule by law, and representation of the people.  During that period, the people were primary and governments were secondary and subservient to the people.
	The use of a direct democracy requires a focused policy and the cyber world of political control contains the features and advantages of access to resources, inclusion, potential for deliberation, and comprehensible design.  In the future, direct democracy will be formed by shaping virtual civic spaces which will include home-based cyberdemocracy as well as public-access workstations all of which will result in community building (Wilhelm, 2000).  Direct democracy involves citizens discussing and deciding how government is to govern instead of having these decisions made by legislators, bureaucrats, or parliamentarians.  Many people now feel that representative democracy is not the correct and most feasible form of democracy and this line of thinking threatens the established existence of these current forms of governments, as any new system does when it is initially introduced.  With the new communication inventions, tools, and developments that direct democracy is now technically possible and desirable in the body politic.  Direct democracy is currently in use, particularly in Switzerland. When discussing direct democracy issues such as structural constraints, technological limitations, the dispensing of information to the voters, the concerns of minorities within a democratic system, and the politcal units (such as minorities and organizations) within a democratic system should be addressed (Budge, 2000).

	In the future people will need to decide on such issues involving governmental systems, space exploration, robotics, cloning, economics, taxation, population growth and control, abortion, crime and punishment, religious freedom, genetic engineering, biological immortality, among other issues.  The decisions they make will affect all of humanity.  Most people think that the collective consciousness of the public instinctively, or innately, desires to choose the best conditions for all of society for the present as well as their future.  The shared knowledge, common wisdom, and the innate desire in human nature to want what is the best for all, and the natural desire for survival, would result in decisions advantageous to the human condition.  This collective consciousness would form a constitution of direct democracy which would implement the communal decisions of the people.  Needed to be debated are the, possible scenarios, and ethics of direct democratic systems in governments from the local, national, and world levels (Mautner, 2000).  The Internet has transformed  the political atmosphere in the United States and in the world.  Using Internet technology, people now have the tools to discuss issues and affect results concerning the American and world political arena.  Online petitions and online research have proven to be effective as well as online voting (mostly in California for the United States), online fundraising, political polling online, and online voter registration.  The Internet is being used for worldwide organizations and worldwide communication and a future of online polling and voting seems to be inevitable and has in fact already begun (Browning, 2002).

	In Direct Democracy in Switzerland (2002), Gregory Fossedal explores the history of Switzerland as related to direct democracy and the development of the procedures of direct democracy in Switzerland. He mentions that:
The Swiss polity, as an historical and on-going exhibit of the exercise of a deliberative direct democracy, is a persuasive rebuttal to the stand of elites from the Greeks of yesterday to the elites of today who hold that exclusionary representative democracy, in itself, is a better form of democracy than a direct democracy in partnership with representative democracy....In a word, an effective rebuttal to the stand; you can’t trust the people...Switzerland answers the potential question of the political scientist or citizen: What happens if we place so much faith in the people that we make them lawmakers? (Fossedal, 2002).  In Switzerland, many issues are settled through the use of public referendum where the majority vote determines the institutionalization of a law or social practice.  Matters such as constitutional revision, immigration, joining the League of Nations or the United Nations or the European Union, establishing Romanish as a national language, military service requirements, voting rights, nucear energy and nuclear weapons,  rent control, legality of abortion, highway construction, social security benefits, state support for religion, among others are determined through public referendums. 	
Concerning educating the public about the issues and processes of direct democracry:
"In the Swiss parliament, the influence of direct democracy can be seen by a whole sociology of popular orientation.  Each member of the assembly thinks of himself as a teacher, and a teacher of the whole nation of citizens.  No teacher who holds his pupils in contempt will succeed, or even stay long on the job; hence the pedagological impulse, healthy and strong to begin with, is reinforced.  As well, a teacher with any wisdom soon realizes he has much to learn from his pupils.  The instruction is no longer one way -- particularly when the classroom is an intelligent on like the Swiss people, and the teacher a humble, part-time instructor who thinks himself a citizen, not a sovereign".   (Fossedal, 2002, 85).

 	One of the concerns many people have about online voting revolves around the security and privacy issues and these are well-explored by Dr. Russell Smith in “Electronic Voting: Benefits and Risks” (2002). Dr. Smith, who is deputy director of research at the Australian Institute of Criminology, thinks national electronic voting will be prevalent in the near future, but people are hesitant because of security and secrecy issues and some people now attach a certain ritual to voting and some would therefore want to resist online voting in order to hold on to past traditions. He even includes a history of the changing methods of voting procedures. He mentions that there would have to be sophisticated servers for many people voting at the same time but  the pluses of speed and accuracy, ease of use,  lower costs compared to paper ballots,  the fact that online voting is already successfully being used in many countries, etc., outweigh the minuses.  Dr. Smith mentions in an interview (2003) with Rachel Lebihan that, in his opinion, security is not an insurmountable problem, since the solutions that are used in financial transactions can be incorporated into methods for e-voting. His expertise and knowledge is evident in his writing and his use of examples and with many other technical experts on the project that the security and efficiency issues can  be solved.
	Thomas Heaney, in Adult Education for Social Change: From Center Stage to the Wings and Back Again, views adult education as participatory and as a tool for social change, where educational progressivism is the contemporary approach to educating the public. “ ‘Adult education turns out to be the most reliable instrument for social actionists’ since it assures that any action undertaken would be authentically democratic” (Brookfield, 1984). Eduard Lindeman, as influenced by John Dewey, considers adult education to be intertwined with democracy, social action, and control by people over their daily lives. To Lindeman, adult education equals social change, a method to create good and productive citizens.  The concept of using the educational system to implement a direct democracy is closely connected with the ideas expressed by Heaney, Miles Horton, Paulo Freire, and Jack Mezirow since their approach is to empower the populace through education in order to create a democratic society. Since it is necessary to have an educated public in order to have democracy function efficiently, democracy is dependent on the educational system to survive and prosper.
A curriculum for the implementation of direct democracy:
The social studies and political science classes would introduce, early in the development of the curriculum -- during the elementary school years -- the first concepts of democracy as government based on the will of and for the good of the people or society.  The curriculum would eventually include the history of democracy beginning with ancient Athens, Greece (and before) and its present forms of use today in various countries and institutions and studies of its various methods of execution.  Also included in the course curriculum would be computer skills courses since thorough knowledge of computer and Internet usage would be needed to implement and sustain the continuing use of a direct democracy.  Once the system is establablished and the procedures for its execution are in place and all of the necessary legislation is passed to secure its structure, procedural content, and continuing existence, the voters, or potential voters (who perhaps would require secured registration, training, and perhaps certification to qualify to vote), would learn how to research and read about issues to be voted on at the local, state, and national levels.  Computer tutorials could also be developed to teach the learners how this is done and even provide some practice voting sessions and hypothetical situations to which they can respond.
After, and even before and during the discussion and implementation of a direct democracy system, the most important aspect of creating a system whereby the information and training necessary to maintain a direct democracy is to establish a curriculum, including the methods, institutions, and locations to dispense that information.  The information could be dispensed in schools, both public and private, in home schooling situations, on the Internet, in books and magazines, and through commercial, governmental, and community organizations.  The most wide-ranging method of disseminating this information would be through the public school system and colleges and universities.
The information could begin at home with the parents reading to their children with early learner books. The curriculum could begin with the pre-kindergarten students by having the students vote for what they like by placing balls into baskets and by showing flash cards showing the most basic ideas involved about the concept of democracy.  The curriculum could progress up through the school system through the school system: through kindergarten, elementary, junior high school, high school, then through colleges and universities as well as specialized schools, post-secondary institutions, and other forms of adult education.
Following is a possible curriculum that could be revised, amended, and expanded to accommodate changing instructional requirements and changing new technology as well as changing and evolving informational content:
Pre-kindergarten:   Flash cards with pictures depicting basic concepts and people and places associated with democracy.  Voting by raising hands, clapping, shouting, or placing balls in a basket to show what they like as shown from pictures of the objects (such as apples, cake, hamburgers, lemons, music, etc.) 
Kindergarten:     Vote by placing softball size balls in a container.  Flash cards with pictures and words of basic concepts of democracy.
First grade:     Vote by placing ping pong balls in a container. Vote by writing  letters.  Flash cards with words of leaders of history, places and events associated with democracy.  Elect students for class duties for each student such as erasing the board, closing the windows, turning off lights, sweeping, etc.  These duties can be rotated monthly.
Second grade:  Vote by writing letters, numbers, and then names.
Third grade:  Vote by writing names of the students and of objects voted on.  For instance, for the question What do you like? the students write what they like such as "ice cream", etc.  Eventually, sentences are used.
Fourth grade:  Vote for class officers and class duties. Students write sentences on what they want to vote for and why.  Read political news for children in Weekly Reader, Yahoo Kids' page, etc.  Draw pictures and write paragraphs about democracy in the U.S.
Fifth grade:  Vote for class officers and class duties.  Voting by printed forms or writing names of people or objects voted on.  Introduction of the early history of democracy, around 500B.C. in Athens, Greece. Draw pictures about fora in ancient Greece.  Read Political news in Weekly Reader, Yahoo Kids' news, some newspapers and read about the history and practices of democracy in the students' social studies text books.
Sixth grade:   Vote for class officers with ballots.  Introduction to computers, software, using the Internet for searching and researching information, introduction to Internet for voting.  Write essays and draw pictures about democracy, history related to democracy, and political topics in the U.S. and the world.
Seventh grade:  Vote for class officers and duties with computer and Internet technology.  Study issues to be voted on. Vote for issues of the past.  Vote for some current issues. Write essays on democracy, history, political topics, current invents, and new ideas of how society should be constructed.  Read the Declaration of Independence and a summarized version of the United States Constitution.  Memorize some quotations associated with democracy.
Eighth grade: Polical Science and History readings and discussions about direct democracy.  Magazine articles, newspaper articles, and Internet searches about direct democracy.  Find an international pen pal to discuss direct democracy with via the Internet.
Ninth grade:  High school clubs established: Democracy Club; Political Science Club; Political Philosophy; clubs for Democrats, Republicans, Green Party, Independents, etc. Develop Internet surveys to find public opinion on various topics.  Find books and articles about direct democracy and write reports on them.
Tenth grade:   Civics discussion of the responsibilities of the voting citizens.  U. S. History and Democracy. U.S. Constitution, Declaration of Independence. Terminology relevant to democracy explored, direct democracy explained, duties and responsibilities of the voters. Computer voting Tutorial I.
Eleventh grade:   Learn to vote via the computer and Internet. World History of Democracy. Discussion and essays about forms of government throughout history. Continue corresponding with your international pen pal and ask your pen pal to find an additional join your correspondence group to have three way discussions.   Find one additional penpal to correspond with via the Internet and discuss all current event topics including direct democracy.   Summarized readings of Plato's Republic and the Politics by Aristotle.  Read and write essays on Democracy and Education by John Dewey and the Social Contract by Jean Jacques Rousseau.   Computer voting Tutorial II.
Twelfth grade:  Vote via the Internet. Vote on current and historical national and international issues.  Direct democracy procedures examined, explained, discussed.  Political Philosophy and duties of and preparation for the voting public. Discussions comparing representative and direct democracy, totalitarianism, Marxism, capitalism, and socialism.  Read and write essays on:  Direct Democracy: The Politics of Initiative, Referendum, and Recall by Thomas Cronin;  Direct Democracy in Switzerland by Gregory Fossedal;  Elections in Cyberspace by Anthony Corrado and Charles Firestone and more essays on Democracy and Education by John Dewey.  Computer Voting Tutorial III.
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Online tutorials:
The history of democracy
The philosophy of democracy
Glossary of terminology related to democracy and government
Naigating the computer and Internet for online voting
Computer Voting Tutorial I, II, III
Voting on Referendums, Initiatives, Elections for representatives, and Recalls
Preparation for certificate for a voting member of the Public Assembly
Writing and submitting legislation
Links, resources, publications, and organizations concerning direct democracy
Technical skills for the use of the computer and the Internet related to direct democracy
Below are listed university, post-secondary, adult, online courses, some of which are required, in addition to taking the certificate exams, to become a voting member of the (newly created) public legislature or Public Assembly.  One certificate is for the local level, one for the state level, and one for the national level (laws and and an amendment would need to be enacted to create such a voting body).  The certificate would require at least a high school education or a recognized equivalent, for the person to be a registered voter,  All registered voters are able to vote in initiatives, referendums, elections, and recalls but the Public Legislature would require a licensed certificate, similar to obtaining a driver's license or a specialist's license, renewable periodically with minor exams, to become a non-elected member of the Third House of Congress, which will count for 1/3 of the votes of the United States Congress.
University, college, online, and adult courses (with majors in political science with an emphasis on direct democracy and related subjects, some required for a voting certificate):
The growth and development of direct democracy
Writing and submitting legislatives bills for a direct democracy
Topics covered in the voting certificate exams
Designing instructional material for direct democracy
The procedures for voting in a direct democracy
Political philosophy and direct democracy
The use of direct democracy in Switzerland
Procedures and precedents for amending the U.S.Constitution
The world history and use of direct democracy
The use of direct democracy in governments and organizations worldwide
Referendum, Intiative, Election, and Recall
Methods of informing the public on legislative and di d issues
Security issues of online voting
The governmental structure for direct democracy
Theories and use of democracy
University, advanced and adult learner reading list for courses in direct democracy:
Adult Education for Social Change: From Center Stage to the Wings and Back Again (1996) by Thomas Heaney.
The Americans: The Democratic Experience (1974) by Boorstin, Daniel J. Boorstin.
America's Crisis: The Direct Democracy and Direct Education Solution (2000) by D. B. Jeffs and V. Hugo.
Aristotle and Xenophon on Democracy and Oligarchy (1975) by J. M. Moore.
Caltech/MIT Voting Technology Project (2001) by the California Institute of Technology and The Massachusetts Institute of Technology Corporation.
Citizens As Legislators: Direct Democracy in the United States (1998) by Bowler, S., Donovan, T. & Tolbert, C.
Civic Participation and Community Action Sourcebook: A Resource for Adult Educators by A. Nash.
Collected Writings of Thomas Jefferson.
A Constitution of Direct Democracy : Pure Democracy and the Governance of the Future ~ Locally and Globally (2000) by Michael Noah Mautner.
The Cultural Creatives: How 50 Million People are Changing the World (2000) by S.R. Anderson & P. Ray.
The Communicative Ethics Controversy (1990) by S. Benhabib and F. Dallmayr.
Democracy: Real and Ideal, Discourse Ethics and Radical Politics (1999) by Ricardo Blaug.
Demanding Choices: Opinion, Voting, and Direct Democracy (2001) by Bowler, S, & Donovan, T.
Democracy and Education: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Education (1997) by John Dewey.
Democracy and Education and Prospects for Democracy (1994) by N. Chomsky.
Democracy, Citizenship and the Global City (2000) by E. F. Isin.
Democracy in America (2000) by Alexis de Tocqueville. 
Democracy in the Digital Age : Challenges to Political Life in Cyberspace (2000) by Anthony G. Wilhelm.
Developing e-Citizens and e-Consumers, an Irish e-Commerce Case Study (2001) by John MacNamara.
Direct Democracy: The Politics of Initiative, Referendum & Recall (1999) by Thomas E. Cronin. 
Direct Democracy in Switzerland (2002) by Gregory A. Fossedal.
Direct Democracy or Representative Government?: Dispelling the Populist Myth (2000) by John Haskell.
The Economist: A better way to vote: Why letting the people themselves take the decisions is the logical next step for the West (1993) by Brian Needham.
Electronic Democracy: Using the Internet to Transform American Politics (2002) by Browning, G. & Powell, A.C.
Electronic Media and Technoculture (2000) by John Thornton Caldwell.
E-Democracy, E-Governance, and Public Net-Work (2003) by Steven Clift.
Elections in Cyberspace:  Toward a New Era in American Politics (1997) A. Corrado & C.M. Firestone.
E-democracy in Practice: Swedish Experiences of a New Political Tool (2001) by T. Rosen.
Electronic Voting: Benefits and Risks (2002) by Russell Smith.
Electronic Voting -- Evaluating the Threat (1993) by M. I. Shamos.
Essay Concerning Human Understanding and Two Treatises of Government by John Locke.
E-topia (2000) by William J. Mitchell.
The Examined Life (2000) by Stanley Rosen.
The Future of Teledemocracy (2000) by T. Becker & C.D. Slaton.
The Handbook of Qualitative Research (2000) by J. Frow & M. Morris, M. (2000).  
Leviathan (1998) by Thomas Hobbes.
Megatrends 2000 (1996) by J. Naisbitt and Aburdene P.
The New Challenge of Direct Democracy (1997) by Ian Budge.
New Schools for a New Century (1997) by Diane Ravitch and Joseph P. Viteritti.
Political Parties and Constitutional Government: Remaking American Democracy (1999) by S. M. Milkis. 
The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli.
Republic (1998) by Plato.
Rethinking Democracy and Education: Towards an Education of Deliberative Citizens (2000) by T. Englund.
The Social Contract by Jean-Jacques Rousseau.
The Spirit of Laws by Montesquieu.
Stealing the Initiative: How State Government Responds to Direct Democracy (2000) by E. R. Gerber, A. Lupia, M. D. McCubbins & D. R. Kiewiet.
Technoscience and Cyberculture (1996) by S. Aronowitz, B. Martinsons, M. Menser, and J. Rich.
The Third Wave (1984) by Alvin Toffler.
United States Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, the Federalist Papers.
Virtual Environmental Citizenship: Web-Based Public Participation in Rulemaking in the U.S. (2003) by Schlosberg, D. 
The World in 2020: Power, Culture, and Prosperity (1994) by Hamish McRae.

Conclusion:

Democracy was discussed by Socrates and written about by Plato in Republic, Aristotle in Politics, Machiavelli in The Prince, Locke in Essay Concerning Human Understanding and Two Treatises of Government, Montesquieu in The Spirit of Laws, Hobbes in Leviathan, Rousseau in The Social Contract, and Thomas Jefferson in his writings. Democracy was first used in Athens, Greece before 500 B.C., where each citizen voted directly on all legislative issues, thereby being a true democracy. Direct participatory democracy was considered impractical before now, primarily because there was no technology to supply it. Now, with computer and Internet technology, there is.

Computer and Internet technology can supply the forum for the voting of citizens to occur and schools and community and governmental organizations can supply the knowledge, information, and training for the implementation and continuing use of a direct democracy.

Appendix:

A Proposal for Creating the Third House of Congress: the Public Assembly
for the Creation of a National Democracy in the United States of America
R. Bloodworth

Phase 1  (3 to 10 years):

Debate and Introduction to the Concept
Discussions and committees formed
Brain storming and think tank groups developed
Petitions and letters, email, talk shows, TV, radio campaigns
Public education of the concept
Readings and discussions in schools and universities about democracy
Concepts related to direct democracy discussed and read about in schools
Writers and Artists commissioned
Software conceptualizing
Books and magazine articles are printed on the subject
Funding and economic issues are discussed
Funds raised
A suggestion hotline is established
An official website is created

Phase 2  (2 years):

Organizing and structuring of the voting methods and procedures
Curriculum developed for public schools and universities
Development of the Government Structure
Legal Documents developed
Constitutional amendment first draft written
various committees appointed
Local referendums held

Phase 3  (3 years):

All of the above activities continue (website, etc.)
Trial period when the procedures are developed, refined and the first results used
as an opinion polling collection device.
Educating the public on the procedures involved
Curriculum about direct democracy initiated for public schools and universities
First trials are done locally, first city, then county, then state, then national levels
During this period suggestions and changes are made
Software is developed
Security issues addressed
Computer and software bugs are worked out
Initial voting centers are established, these can be adjacent to post offices
Paricipants (intial voters) are assigned temporary voter registration numbers and
passwords, etc. chosen
The voter registration numbers are assigned through the voting centers in a way
similar to registering to vote and passwords are chosen.
(Voters are given up to 3 days to “edit or change” their submissions)

Phase 4  (3 years):

Voting Centers are established nationwide
Voter registration numbers are established partly containing
a social security number.
Voting Centers have the bills and plans to be voted on in booklet form
and posted on the walls and these bills and plans are also
available online for perusal and study.
The voter registration numbers are assigned through the voting
centers in a way similar to registering to vote and
passwords are chosen.
(Voters are given up to 3 days to “edit or
change” their submissions)
The opinion poll collection system continues using the online
voting system
Strict felony laws against Internet abuse or direct voting fraud
with severe penalties and punishments are passed.

Phase 5  (Continuing):

Voters are able to connect to the voting system via the
Internet with their own computers, or continue to vote through
the Voting Centers, and become voting members of the
3rd House of Congress, the Public Assembly according
to U.S. federal law and also of state, county, and city
governments as laws of each state allow.
In the future, computers will be as standard as telephones and everyone
with a telephone will have a computer and the United States
government will become a truly participatory and
democratic government.
Bibliography:

Aronowitz, S., Martinsons, B., Menser, M., and Rich, J. (1996). Technoscience and Cyberculture.  New York and London: Routledge.

Becker, T. & Slaton, C.D.  (2000).  The Future of Teledemocracy.  Praeger Publishers.

Benhabib, S., and Dallmayr, F. (1990). The Communicative Ethics Controversy. London: The MIT Press.

Blaug, Ricardo (1999). Democracy: Real and Ideal, Discourse Ethics and Radical Politics. Albany, New York: State University of New York Press.

Bowler, S., Donovan, T. & Tolbert, C. (1998).  Citizens As Legislators: Direct Democracy in the United States.  Columbus, OH: Ohio State University Press.

Bowler, S, & Donovan, T. (2001).   Demanding Choices: Opinion, Voting, and Direct Democracy.  Ann Arbour, MI: University of Michigan Press.

Browning, G. & Powell, A.C. (2002).  Electronic Democracy: Using the Internet to Transform American Politics. Cyberage Books.

Budge, Ian. (1997).   The New Challenge of Direct Democracy.  Polity Press. 

Bushell, Sue. (2003).  Where to Now for E-Voting?  Retrieved January. 24, 2004 from:  http://www.cio.com.au/index.php?id=405941257&eid=-601

Caldwell, John Thornton. (2000). Electronic Media and Technoculture. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.

Castells. Information Technology, Globalization, and Social Development

Chomsky, N. (1994). Democracy and Education. Retrieved January 24, 2004 from  http://www.zmag.org/chomsky/talks/9410-education.html

Corrado, A. & Firestone, C.M.  (1997).  Elections in Cyberspace:  Toward a New Era in American Politics.   Aspen, CO: Aspen Institute Publications Office.

Cronin, Thomas E. (1999).  Direct Democracy: The Politics of Initiative, Referendum & Recall. Cambridge, MA and London: Harvard University Press.
Becker, T. & Slaton, C.D.  (2000).  The Future of Teledemocracy.  New York: Praeger Publishers.

Dewey, John.  (1997).  Democracy and Education: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Education.  New York: Free Press, Simon & Schuster.

Fossedal, Gregory A. (2002).  Direct Democracy in Switzerland. Transaction Publications.
  
Gerber, E. R., Lupia, A., McCubbins, M.D. & Kiewiet, D.R. (2000). Stealing the Initiative: How State Government Responds to Direct Democracy. Prentice Hall.

Haskell, John. (2000).  Direct Democracy or Representative Government?: Dispelling the Populist Myth.  Boulder, CO: Westview Press.

Heaney, Thomas. Adult Education for Social Change: From Center Stage to the Wings and Back Again.  (1996).  Retrieved on January 15, 2004 from  http://www.nl.edu/ace/Resources/Documents/ERIC1.html

Isin, Engin F. (2000).  Democracy, Citizenship and the Global City.  New York and London: Routledge.

Lebihan, Rachel. (2003). Arm twisting to hinder home electronic voting.  Retrieved on October 24, 2003 from http://www.zdnet.com.au/newstech/communications/story/0,2000048620,20265293,00.htm

MacNamara, O'Donnell.  Developing e-Citizens and e-Consumers, an Irish e-Commerce Case Study.   http://66.218.71.225/search/cache?p=The+E-citizen.+Instructional+Technology.,+Lee,+John+K.++&sub=Search&ei=UTF-8&url=fe_aPyZrSDAJ:www.efmd.be/learninggroups/chapter/eisb2001proceedings/pdfs/MacNamara%2520%2520O%27Donnell%2520.pdf 

Mautner, Michael Noah. (2000).  A Constitution of Direct Democracy : Pure Democracy and the Governance of the Future ~ Locally and Globally.  Legacy Books.

McRae, Hamish.  (1994).  The World in 2020: Power, Culture, and Prosperity.  Boston: Harvard Business School Press.

Mitchell, William J. (2000). E-topia. London: The MIT Press.
Patrick. (2003).  Recent Email from a Swiss Citizen.  Retrieved on January 17, 2004 from http://www.vote.org/swiss.htm

Plato. (1998). Republic. New York: Oxford University Press.

Rousseau, Jean-Jacques. (1999). The Social Contract. New York: Oxford University Press.

Salant, P. & Dillman, D.  (1994).  How to Conduct Your Own Survey.  New York:  John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Shamos, M.I.  (1993). Electronic Voting -- Evaluating the Threat.  Retrieved October 15, 2003 from  http://www.cpsr.org/conferences/cfp93/shamos.html
Smith, Russell. Electronic Voting: Benefits and Risks. (2002).  Retrieved October 24, 2003 from  http://www.aic.gov.au/publications/tandi/ti224.pdf Stirner, M. (1967). The False Principle of our Education, or, Humanism and Reform. Colorado Springs: Ralph Melees Publisher.
Wilhelm, Anthony G. (2000).  Democracy in the Digital Age : Challenges to Political Life in Cyberspace.  New York and London: Routledge.
U9 Activities
Activity 9.1: 

Think back about a master teacher you had or another education professional with whom you interacted. You can conduct an interview with someone you believe to be a master teacher (or "wise professional") or research the library or Internet for writings from a master teacher or educational professional that embody this master's craft knowledge and philosophical approach to his or her profession. Prepare two or three paragraphs of descriptive writing that will give your classmates a flavor of this master's craft knowledge and philosophy. 
DR. RICHARD P. FEYNMAN
(1918-1988)
Nobelist Physicist, teacher, storyteller, bongo player
Richard Feynman quotes:
"I can live with doubt and uncertainty and not knowing. I think it is much more interesting to live not knowing than to have answers that might be wrong."
"The first principle is that you must not fool yourself - and you are the easiest person to fool." 
"If we will only allow that, as we progress, we remain unsure, we will leave opportunities for alternatives. We will not become enthusiastic for the fact, the knowledge, the absolute truth of the day, but remain always uncertain... In order to make progress, one must leave the door to the unknown ajar."
You can know the name of a bird in all the languages of the world, but when you're finished, you'll know absolutely nothing whatever about the bird... So let's look at the bird and see what it's doing -- that's what counts. I learned very early the difference between knowing the name of something and knowing something. 
"Science is the belief in the ignorance of experts. " 
"We cannot define anything precisely! If we attempt to, we get into that paralysis of thought that comes to philosophers, who sit opposite each other, one saying to the other, 'You don't know what you are talking about!' The second one says 'What do you mean by know? What do you mean by talking? What do you mean by you?', and so on." 
"...far more marvelous is the truth than any artists of the past imagined it. Why do the poets of the present not speak of it? What men are poets who can speak of Jupiter if he were a man, but if he is an immense spinning sphere of methane and ammonia must be silent?" 
(On pseudoscience) "...there is one feature I notice that is generally missing in 'cargo cult science'... It's a kind of scientific integrity, a principle of scientific thought that corresponds to a kind of utter honesty -- a kind of leaning over backwards... For example, if you're doing an experiment, you should report everything that you think might make it invalid--not only what you think is right about it... Details that could throw doubt on your interpretation must be given, if you know them." 
"I'd hate to die twice. It's so boring." (last words)

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Aristotle from ED8111 U7 Education first started on a voluntary basis perhaps first in Egypt, from about 3000 BC to 500 BC, where temple priests taught religion and writing, science, mathematics, and architecture. In India, priests performed most of the formal education and in around 1200 BC Indian priests taught religion (Hinduism) and science, language, and philosophy. Education in China began around 2000 BC where the curriculum emphasized philosophy, poetry, and religion, mostly based on the teachings of Confucius.  The empires of Greece and Rome, and the Medieval , Renaissance, Protestant Reformation, and the Enlightenment eras, and 19th and 20th Centuries national systems of education in the United Kingdom., Russia, United States, and European and Asian systems of education all provided for societal or governmental funding and financing of education.
The forefathers of the United including Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson recognized the importance of education and the necessity of the government to participate in its implementation and funding. After the American Revolution (1775-1783), the founders of the United States argued that education was necessary for the growth and survival of the nation. Thomas Jefferson proposed that Americans pursue a “crusade against ignorance.” Jefferson suggested creating a system of free schools that would be publicly funded. He proposed a plan that would have supported free schooling for all children in Virginia for three years. The best of these students would continue tuition free throughout adolescence. The most advanced would later go on to publicly supported colleges.  Even though these particular plans never materialized, his plans for public education and for societally funded schools laid the foundation for the educational systems of the 19th century.
During the 20th century, most states began to assume a more active role in educational matters. States began merging school districts into larger districts with standardized procedures. In the United States in 1940 there were over 117,000 school districts but by 1990 there were only around 15,000. The states also became much more involved in the financing of education and the rapid growth of state postsecondary institutions after World War II.  Educational funding has been supplied through local, state, and federal governments.  For example, in 1940 local property taxes financed 68 percent of public schools and the states contributed 30 percent. In 1990 local districts and states each contributed 47 percent to public school revenues with the federal government providing most of the rest. The Smith-Hughes Act of 1917 helped make vocational programs in high schools.  The GI Bill of 1944 provided financial aid for military veterans attending college. Two other important actions by the Congress were the National Defense Education Act of 1958 and the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 which provided educational opportunity for poor children and improved instruction in important but often neglected subjects, such as science, mathematics, and foreign languages. These laws strengthened universities and provided research funds and created financial aid for public and private college students and as these funds came from federal sources it had the effect of centralizing the control of education in the United States.  Even though the federal government was very active in educational matters in the 1960s and 1970s it has become less so in the 1980s and 1990s.
Even though the trend seems to be toward a combination of  local and federal funding of education, it is still the case that education is funded, and should be, by society which is for the good of  society given the benefits that the results of education ultimately bestows upon that society.
Teaching, systematic presentation of facts, ideas, skills, and techniques to students. Although human beings have survived and evolved as a species partly because of a capacity to share knowledge, teaching as a profession did not emerge until relatively recently. The societies of the ancient world that made substantial advances in knowledge and government, however, were those in which specially designated people assumed responsibility for educating the young.
II  HISTORY OF TEACHING 
In ancient India, China, Egypt, and Judea, teaching was often performed by a priest or prophet, and the teacher enjoyed prestige and privilege. Among the Jews, many adults considered teachers the guides to salvation and urged children to honor their teachers even more than their parents.
The ancient Greeks, whose respect for learning is evident in their art, politics, and philosophy, saw the value in educating children (see Ancient Greece). Wealthy Greeks added teachers to their households, often slaves from conquered states. At the height of the Roman Empire, during the first five centuries ad, Roman citizens also followed the practice of having teacher-slaves, usually Greeks. The English word pedagogue, a synonym for teacher, comes directly from the Greek word for slave.
By the Middle Ages in Europe (5th century to 15th century), the Roman Catholic Church had taken over the responsibility for teaching, which was conducted in monasteries and specially designated learning centers. Many of these learning centers evolved gradually into major universities, such as the Universities of Paris in France, and the University of Bologna, in Italy. In the 17th and 18th centuries, interest in the education of children intensified among Europeans, and knowledge about teaching methods increased. French cleric and educator Saint John Baptist de la Salle, and later Swiss education reformer Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi, founded model schools for young people. They also made significant advances in education by training other teachers in their educational theories and methods (see Teacher Training).
In North America a commitment to education played an important part in colonial development of the continent. The colony of Massachusetts passed a law in 1647 requiring towns with 50 or more families to establish an elementary school and those with 100 or more families to establish Latin grammar schools for secondary-level education (see Grammar School: Latin Grammar School). Colonists in North America also valued the role of higher education. Harvard College (later renamed Harvard University) was founded in Massachusetts in 1636, and the College of William and Mary was established in Virginia in 1693. Some of the most prominent early Americans, particularly Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and Benjamin Franklin, argued strongly for a national education system. They considered education not only a means of harnessing talent in the nation, but also a means of teaching people the demands of democratic citizenship. Not until the 20th century, however, did teachers in the United States begin to enjoy professional status.
Aristotle (384-322 BC), Greek philosopher and scientist, who shares with Plato and Socrates the distinction of being the most famous of ancient philosophers.
Aristotle was born at Stagira, in Macedonia, the son of a physician to the royal court. At the age of 17, he went to Athens to study at Plato's Academy. He remained there for about 20 years, as a student and then as a teacher
When Plato died in 347 bc, Aristotle moved to Assos, a city in Asia Minor, where a friend of his, Hermias, was ruler. There he counseled Hermias and married his niece and adopted daughter, Pythias. After Hermias was captured and executed by the Persians in 345 BC, Aristotle went to Pella, the Macedonian capital, where he became the tutor of the king's young son Alexander, later known as Alexander the Great. In 335, when Alexander became king, Aristotle returned to Athens and established his own school, the Lyceum. Because much of the discussion in his school took place while teachers and students were walking about the Lyceum grounds, Aristotle's school came to be known as the Peripatetic (“walking” or “strolling”) school. Upon the death of Alexander in 323 BC, strong anti-Macedonian feeling developed in Athens, and Aristotle retired to a family estate in Euboea (Évvoia). He died there the following year.
Aristotle, like Plato, made regular use of the dialogue in his earliest years at the Academy, but lacking Plato's imaginative gifts, he probably never found the form congenial. Apart from a few fragments in the works of later writers, his dialogues have been wholly lost. Aristotle also wrote some short technical notes, such as a dictionary of philosophic terms and a summary of the doctrines of Pythagoras. Of these, only a few brief excerpts have survived. Still extant, however, are Aristotle's lecture notes for carefully outlined courses treating almost every branch of knowledge and art. The texts on which Aristotle's reputation rests are largely based on these lecture notes, which were collected and arranged by later editors.
Among the texts are treatises on logic, called Organon (“instrument”), because they provide the means by which positive knowledge is to be attained. His works on natural science include Physics, which gives a vast amount of information on astronomy, meteorology, plants, and animals. His writings on the nature, scope, and properties of being, which Aristotle called First Philosophy (Prote philosophia), were given the title Metaphysics in the first published edition of his works (60?BC), because in that edition they followed Physics. His treatment of the Prime Mover, or first cause, as pure intellect, perfect in unity, immutable, and, as he said, “the thought of thought,” is given in the Metaphysics. To his son Nicomachus he dedicated his work on ethics, called the Nicomachean Ethics. Other essential works include his Rhetoric, his Poetics (which survives in incomplete form), and his Politics (also incomplete).
Perhaps because of the influence of his father's medical profession, Aristotle's philosophy laid its principal stress on biology, in contrast to Plato's emphasis on mathematics. Aristotle regarded the world as made up of individuals (substances) occurring in fixed natural kinds (species). Each individual has its built-in specific pattern of development and grows toward proper self-realization as a specimen of its type. Growth, purpose, and direction are thus built into nature. Although science studies general kinds, according to Aristotle, these kinds find their existence in particular individuals. Science and philosophy must therefore balance, not simply choose between, the claims of empiricism (observation and sense experience) and formalism (rational deduction).
One of the most distinctive of Aristotle's philosophic contributions was a new notion of causality. Each thing or event, he thought, has more than one “reason” that helps to explain what, why, and where it is. Earlier Greek thinkers had tended to assume that only one sort of cause can be really explanatory; Aristotle proposed four. (The word Aristotle uses, aition,”a responsible, explanatory factor” is not synonymous with the word cause in its modern sense.)
These four causes are the material cause, the matter out of which a thing is made; the efficient cause, the source of motion, generation, or change; the formal cause, which is the species, kind, or type; and the final cause, the goal, or full development, of an individual, or the intended function of a construction or invention. Thus, a young lion is made up of tissues and organs, its material cause; the efficient cause is its parents, who generated it; the formal cause is its species, lion; and its final cause is its built-in drive toward becoming a mature specimen. In different contexts, while the causes are the same four, they apply analogically. Thus, the material cause of a statue is the marble from which it was carved; the efficient cause is the sculptor; the formal cause is the shape the sculptor realized-Hermes, perhaps, or Aphrodite; and the final cause is its function, to be a work of fine art.
In each context, Aristotle insists that something can be better understood when its causes can be stated in specific terms rather than in general terms. Thus, it is more informative to know that a sculptor made the statue than to know that an artist made it; and even more informative to know that Polycleitus chiseled it rather than simply that a sculptor did so.
Aristotle thought his causal pattern was the ideal key for organizing knowledge. His lecture notes present impressive evidence of the power of this scheme.
IV  DOCTRINES 
Some of the principal aspects of Aristotle's thought can be seen in the following summary of his doctrines, or theories.
A  Physics, or Natural Philosophy 
In astronomy, Aristotle proposed a finite, spherical universe, with the earth at its center. The central region is made up of four elements: earth, air, fire, and water. In Aristotle's physics, each of these four elements has a proper place, determined by its relative heaviness, its “specific gravity.” Each moves naturally in a straight line-earth down, fire up-toward its proper place, where it will be at rest. Thus, terrestrial motion is always linear and always comes to a halt. The heavens, however, move naturally and endlessly in a complex circular motion. The heavens, therefore, must be made of a fifth, and different element, which he called aither. A superior element, aither is incapable of any change other than change of place in a circular movement. Aristotle's theory that linear motion always takes place through a resisting medium is in fact valid for all observable terrestrial motions. He also held that heavier bodies of a given material fall faster than lighter ones when their shapes are the same, a mistaken view that was accepted as fact until the Italian physicist and astronomer Galileo conducted his experiment with weights dropped from the Leaning Tower of Pisa.
B  Biology 
In zoology, Aristotle proposed a fixed set of natural kinds (“species”), each reproducing true to type. An exception occurs, Aristotle thought, when some “very low” worms and flies come from rotting fruit or manure by “spontaneous generation.” The typical life cycles are epicycles: The same pattern repeats, but through a linear succession of individuals. These processes are therefore intermediate between the changeless circles of the heavens and the simple linear movements of the terrestrial elements. The species form a scale from simple (worms and flies at the bottom) to complex (human beings at the top), but evolution is not possible.
C  Aristotelian Psychology 
For Aristotle, psychology was a study of the soul. Insisting that form (the essence, or unchanging characteristic element in an object) and matter (the common undifferentiated substratum of things) always exist together, Aristotle defined a soul as a “kind of functioning of a body organized so that it can support vital functions.” In considering the soul as essentially associated with the body, he challenged the Pythagorean doctrine that the soul is a spiritual entity imprisoned in the body. Aristotle's doctrine is a synthesis of the earlier notion that the soul does not exist apart from the body and of the Platonic notion of a soul as a separate, nonphysical entity. Whether any part of the human soul is immortal, and, if so, whether its immortality is personal, are not entirely clear in his treatise On the Soul.
Through the functioning of the soul, the moral and intellectual aspects of humanity are developed. Aristotle argued that human insight in its highest form (nous poetikos,”active mind”) is not reducible to a mechanical physical process. Such insight, however, presupposes an individual “passive mind” that does not appear to transcend physical nature. Aristotle clearly stated the relationship between human insight and the senses in what has become a slogan of empiricism-the view that knowledge is grounded in sense experience. “There is nothing in the intellect,” he wrote, “that was not first in the senses.”
D  Ethics 
From the Nicomachean Ethics 
The Nicomachean Ethics, by ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle, examines the nature of eudaimonia, or happiness. The philosopher identifies happiness with goodness, but the problem of defining goodness then arises. This excerpt from Book I of the Ethics, consisting of chapters 5, 6, and 7, discusses the nature of happiness and asserts that human happiness derives from “self-sufficiency,” by which Aristotle means the application of reason to fulfill one’s innate abilities. 
It seemed to Aristotle that the individual's freedom of choice made an absolutely accurate analysis of human affairs impossible. “Practical science,” then, such as politics or ethics, was called science only by courtesy and analogy. The inherent limitations on practical science are made clear in Aristotle's concepts of human nature and self-realization. Human nature certainly involves, for everyone, a capacity for forming habits; but the habits that a particular individual forms depend on that individual's culture and repeated personal choices. All human beings want “happiness,” an active, engaged realization of their innate capacities, but this goal can be achieved in a multiplicity of ways.
Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics is an analysis of character and intelligence as they relate to happiness. Aristotle distinguished two kinds of “virtue,” or human excellence: moral and intellectual. Moral virtue is an expression of character, formed by habits reflecting repeated choices. A moral virtue is always a mean between two less desirable extremes. Courage, for example, is a mean between cowardice and thoughtless rashness; generosity, between extravagance and parsimony. Intellectual virtues are not subject to this doctrine of the mean. Aristotle argued for an elitist ethics: Full excellence can be realized only by the mature male adult of the upper class, not by women, or children, or barbarians (non-Greeks), or salaried “mechanics” (manual workers) for whom, indeed, Aristotle did not want to allow voting rights.
In politics, many forms of human association can obviously be found; which one is suitable depends on circumstances, such as the natural resources, cultural traditions, industry, and literacy of each community. Aristotle did not regard politics as a study of ideal states in some abstract form, but rather as an examination of the way in which ideals, laws, customs, and property interrelate in actual cases. He thus approved the contemporary institution of slavery but tempered his acceptance by insisting that masters should not abuse their authority, since the interests of master and slave are the same. The Lyceum library contained a collection of 158 constitutions of the Greek and other states. Aristotle himself wrote the Constitution of Athens as part of the collection, and after being lost, this description was rediscovered in a papyrus copy in 1890. Historians have found the work of great value in reconstructing many phases of the history of Athens.
E  Logic 
In logic, Aristotle developed rules for chains of reasoning that would, if followed, never lead from true premises to false conclusions (validity rules). In reasoning, the basic links are syllogisms: pairs of propositions that, taken together, give a new conclusion. For example, “All humans are mortal” and “All Greeks are humans” yield the valid conclusion “All Greeks are mortal.” Science results from constructing more complex systems of reasoning. In his logic, Aristotle distinguished between dialectic and analytic. Dialectic, he held, only tests opinions for their logical consistency; analytic works deductively from principles resting on experience and precise observation. This is clearly an intended break with Plato's Academy, where dialectic was supposed to be the only proper method for science and philosophy alike.
F  Metaphysics 
In his metaphysics, Aristotle argued for the existence of a divine being, described as the Prime Mover, who is responsible for the unity and purposefulness of nature. God is perfect and therefore the aspiration of all things in the world, because all things desire to share perfection. Other movers exist as well-the intelligent movers of the planets and stars (Aristotle suggested that the number of these is “either 55 or 47”). The Prime Mover, or God, described by Aristotle is not very suitable for religious purposes, as many later philosophers and theologians have observed. Aristotle limited his “theology,” however, to what he believed science requires and can establish.
V  INFLUENCE 
Aristotle's works were lost in the West after the decline of Rome. During the 9th century ad, Arab scholars introduced Aristotle, in Arabic translation, to the Islamic world (see Islam). The 12th-century Spanish-Arab philosopher Averroës is the best known of the Arabic scholars who studied and commented on Aristotle. In the 13th century, the Latin West renewed its interest in Aristotle's work, and Saint Thomas Aquinas found in it a philosophical foundation for Christian thought. Church officials at first questioned Aquinas's use of Aristotle; in the early stages of its rediscovery, Aristotle's philosophy was regarded with some suspicion, largely because his teachings were thought to lead to a materialistic view of the world. Nevertheless, the work of Aquinas was accepted, and the later philosophy of scholasticism continued the philosophical tradition based on Aquinas's adaptation of Aristotelian thought.
The influence of Aristotle's philosophy has been pervasive; it has even helped to shape modern language and common sense. His doctrine of the Prime Mover as final cause played an important role in theology. Until the 20th century, logic meant Aristotle's logic. Until the Renaissance, and even later, astronomers and poets alike admired his concept of the universe. Zoology rested on Aristotle's work until British scientist Charles Darwin modified the doctrine of the changelessness of species in the 19th century. In the 20th century a new appreciation has developed of Aristotle's method and its relevance to education, literary criticism, the analysis of human action, and political analysis.
Not only the discipline of zoology, but also the world of learning as a whole, seems to amply justify Darwin's remark that the intellectual heroes of his own time “were mere schoolboys compared to old Aristotle.”
Microsoft® Encarta® Encyclopedia 2002. © 1993-2001 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Activity 9.2: 

Continue to work on the first drafts of your action plan and position paper. You will post them in Unit 10 for review by your instructor and classmates. Submit the final papers in Unit 11
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Feynman, Richard Phillips (1918-1988), American physicist and Nobel laureate. Feynman shared the 1965 Nobel Prize in physics for his role in the development of the theory of quantum electrodynamics, the study of the interaction of light with atoms and their electrons. He also made important contributions to the theory of quarks (particles that make up elementary particles such as protons and electrons) and superfluidity (a state of matter in which a substance flows with no resistance). He created a method of mapping out interactions between elementary particles that became a standard way of representing particle interactions and is now known as Feynman diagrams. Feynman was a noted teacher, a notorious practical joker, and one of the most colorful characters in physics.
Feynman was born in New York City. As a child he was fascinated by mathematics and electronics and became known in his neighborhood as “the boy who fixes radios by thinking.” He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1939 and obtained a Ph.D. degree in physics from Princeton University in 1942. His advisor was John Wheeler, and his thesis, “A Principle of Least Action in Quantum Mechanics,” was typical of his use of basic principles to solve fundamental problems.
During World War II (1939-1945) Feynman worked at what would become Los Alamos National Laboratory in central New Mexico, where the first nuclear weapons were being designed and tested. Feynman was in charge of a group responsible for problems involving large-scale computations (carried out by hand or with rudimentary calculators) to predict the behavior of neutrons in atomic explosions.
After the war Feynman moved to Cornell University, where German-born American physicist Hans Bethe was building an impressive school of theoretical physicists. Feynman continued developing his own approach to quantum electrodynamics (QED) at Cornell and then at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), where he moved in 1950.
Feynman shared the 1965 Nobel Prize in physics with American physicist Julian Schwinger and Japanese physicist Tomonaga Shin’ichiro for his work on QED. Each of the three had independently developed methods for calculating the interaction between electrons, positrons (particles with the same mass as electrons but opposite in charge) and photons (packets of light energy). The three approaches were fundamentally the same, and QED remains the most accurate physical theory known. In Feynman's space-time approach, he represented physical processes with collections of diagrams showing how particles moved from one point in space and time to another. Feynman had rules for calculating the probability associated with each diagram, and he added the probabilities of all the diagrams to give the probability of the physical process itself.
Feynman wrote only 37 research papers in his career (a remarkably small number for such a prolific researcher), but many consider the two discoveries he made at Caltech, superfluidity and the prediction of quarks, were also worthy of the Nobel Prize. Feynman developed the theory of superfluidity (the flow of a liquid without resistance) in liquid helium in the early 1950s. Feynman worked on the weak interaction, the strong force, and the composition of neutrons and protons later in the 1950s. The weak interaction is the force that causes slow nuclear reactions such as beta decay (the emission of electrons or positrons by radioactive substances). Feynman studied the weak interaction with American physicist Murray Gell-Mann. The strong force is the short-range force that holds the nucleus of an atom together. Feynman’s studies of the weak interaction and the strong force led him to believe that the proton and neutron were composed of even smaller particles. Both particles are now known to be composed of quarks.
The written version of a series of undergraduate lectures given by Feynman at Caltech, The Feynman Lectures on Physics (three volumes with Robert Leighton and Matthew Sands, 1963), quickly became a standard reference in physics. At the front of the lectures Feynman is shown indulging in one of his favorite pastimes, playing the bongo drum. Painting was another hobby. In 1986 Feynman was appointed to the Rogers Commission, which investigated the Challenger disaster-the explosion aboard the space shuttle Challenger that killed seven astronauts in 1986. In front of television cameras, he demonstrated how the failure of a rubber O-ring seal, caused by the cold, was responsible for the disaster. Feynman wrote several popular collections of anecdotes about his life, including “Surely You’re Joking Mr. Feynman” (with Ralph Leighton and Edward Hutchings, 1984) and What do YOU Care What Other People Think? (with Ralph Leighton, 1988).
Microsoft® Encarta® Encyclopedia 2002. © 1993-2001 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
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U9D1

Post the material that you wrote for Activity 9.1.

Throughout history several individuals were known as great teachers. One was Socrates who questioned, or supplied questions to, the students so that he as a teacher would not necessary give them answers but would guide the students to a solution so Socrates could be considered a facilitator or a collaborative teacher of democratic principles who created a student/teacher interaction and who influenced Plato's philosophy of idealism. Another was Jesus who was able to get people to leave what they were doing to follow him and join his cause and this process requires charisma and persuasive abilities which are a factors in effective teaching. Aristotle was a great teacher (his most famous student was Alexander the Great), writer, and philosopher who based much of his philosophy of realism on principles of biology because he was probably influenced by the medical profession of his father who was a physician. The notion of causality, principles of biology, and logic were some of his most important contributions to knowledge. He wrote over 400 books on many branches of knowledge including logic, ethics, politics, metaphysics, biology, physics, psychology, poetry, and rhetoric. After the fall of the Roman empire, most of his works were lost but but about 100 books, which had been translated into Arabic, were saved. Most of these books were not meant as books for the public but were notes to his students which demonstrates the importance he placed on preparation for teaching and communication with students.

One person in contemporary times who embodied these qualities was another scientist also known for being a great teacher, Dr. Richard P. Feyman (1918-1988). Also a Nobel Prize recipient, he considered his role as a teacher as important as his role a physicist since knowledge should not just stay within the mind of the thinkers but should be passed on, used, and understood by others. He also thought that a good teacher should make his subject as interesting to others as it is to himself. Born in New York City, he received his bachelor's degree in physics at MIT and his PhD at Princeton. 

Beginning in 1950 he moved to the Calfornia Institute of Technology where he was known a gifted teacher, practical joker, and an overall colorful character in the field of physics. In order to keep his lectures lively, he was known to sometimes play bongo drums during the lecture and he was also a painter. In 1965 he received the Nobel Prize in physics for the theory of quantum electrodynamics. He explored concepts related to quarks and superfluidity and is known for mapping elementary particles with Feynman diagrams and, at Los Alamos where the nuclear weapons were developed, was in charge of computations involving the behavior of neutrons in nuclear explosions. He also worked on the weak interaction, the strong force, and the characteristics of neutrons and protons. He wrote a series of undergraduate lectures he gave at Caltech which became a standard reference for physics. He wrote 37 in-depth research papers and some books for the layman including Surely You're Joking Mr. Feynman (1984), Six Easy Pieces (1963), and What do YOU Care What Other People Think? (1988). There have been numerous books written about him.

Following are some quotes attributed to Dr. Feynman:

"I can live with doubt and uncertainty and not knowing. I think it is much more interesting to live not knowing than to have answers that might be wrong."

"If we will only allow that, as we progress, we remain unsure, we will leave opportunities for alternatives. We will not become enthusiastic for the fact, the knowledge, the absolute truth of the day, but remain always uncertain... In order to make progress, one must leave the door to the unknown ajar."

"You can know the name of a bird in all the languages of the world, but when you're finished, you'll know absolutely nothing whatever about the bird... So let's look at the bird and see what it's doing -- that's what counts. I learned very early the difference between knowing the name of something and knowing something."

"Science is the belief in the ignorance of experts. " 

"We cannot define anything precisely! If we attempt to, we get into that paralysis of thought that comes to philosophers, who sit opposite each other, one saying to the other, 'You don't know what you are talking about!' The second one says 'What do you mean by know? What do you mean by talking? What do you mean by you?', and so on." 

"If you're teaching a class, you can think about the elementary things that you know very well. These things are kind of fun and delightful. It doesn't do any harm to think them over again. Is there a better way to present them? The elementary things are easy to think about; if you can't think of a new thought, no harm done; what you thought about it before is good enough for the class. If you do think of something new, you're rather pleased that you have a new way of looking at it."

"So I find that teaching and the students keep life going, and I would never accept any position in which somebody has invented a happy situation for me where I don't have to teach. Never."

And his last words were: "I'd hate to die twice. It's so boring." During his life he wanted to be sure that he would not bore himself, his audience, or his students. 
Why is this approach important to you?

The teachers at my school that I asked about what is important in effective teaching told me that one of the most important factors in a good class is to keep the students interested by not boring them with information that is too easy or too difficult. Another important aspect of a good class is classroom management and discipline but they said that if the material is at the right level and presented in an interesting manner then effective classroom management naturally follows.

How might you incorporate the wisdom or advice of this teacher or professional in your practice? 

One Chinese teacher I spoke to at my school said that in teaching for the very young children it is important to be supportive and appropriately affectionate like a parent whereas the older students require more discipline, structure, and guidance and the adult students will have varying instructional needs. But in all cases, as exemplified by Dr. Feynman and the other great teachers of the past, the most important factor of teaching is to not bore the students but hold their interest and stimulate their thought processes.

References:

Beaty, Bill. (2004). Dr. Richard P. Feynman. Retrieved on March 4, 2004 from <http://amasci.com/feynman.html>

Brumbaugh, Robert S. (2002). Aristotle. Encarta Encyclopedia 2002. Seattle: Microsoft Corporation.

Druzdzel, Marek. (2003). Richard Feynman on Teaching. Retrieved on March 4, 2004 from <http://www.pitt.edu/~druzdzel/feynman.html>

Gutek, G. (1997). Philosophical and Ideological Perspectives on Education. Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
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U9D1 comment to Barry
Besides needing to be knowledgeable, sometimes the best teachers are good entertainers too. Also, I think hand outs can be effective as they give supplements to the supplied texts and they can sometimes provide activities for the class to work on together or in pairs.    Richard
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Good posting about teachers (Aristotle, etc.) and great posting about R. Feynman. Have you always admired him or did you find the information just for this posting? I liked how he put teaching as his first priority and his great love. Great intelligence is not always something that can be shared. He obviously had the skills and the intelligence. I had one teacher that was a great researcher and national authority in a particular area but he mumbled as a teacher and it was very difficult to follow him. Thankfully, that is not always the case. Thanks for sharing.
U9D1 response to Judith,
Judith, 
I had heard of him through a book called Genius: The Life and Science of Richard Feyman (1992) by James Gleick published by Pantheon Books which was on the best seller list for a long time.  I have not read that book but I am familiar with his life and had heard that he was not only a great scientist but also considered a great teacher.
Richard
U9D2

Is your philosophy of education practical? (That is, does it work for you in practice)?
I think my educational philosophy is practical since it combines elements of realism, pragmatism, essentialism, and existentialism.  Pragmatism with its utilitarian purposes is practical by definition of the term.  Realism is also practical as it is based on empiricism and the scientific method of hypothesis, experimentation, observation, and analysis.  Essentialism also works because it is based on ideas that have been time-tested and established (but it needs to be able to add new information to the knowledge base as the information develops) to be the most effective subjects and methods to be taught.  Existentialism is practical, even though it concerns individual freedom and expression and is a system where the learners can structure their own workable systems, but only in a free and democratic society as it would be squelched in a totalitarian system.

Does your educational philosophy fit your personality and style of teaching, counseling, or administration? 
I think so since I have chosen the philosophies not only to fit my personality and style of teaching but also because they can be adapted to a variety of learner types and personality types.

How does your educational philosophy help you address the instructional needs of students? Does it effectively address the learning and teaching process? Does it focus on student learning?
As the needs of human nature have remained essentially constant over time, the needs of the students, despite rapid changes in technology, also have remained constant over time so the educational philosophies I have mentioned continue to address the instructional needs of the students as well as the learning and teaching processes.  All of them focus on human learning but pragmatism and essentialism also place greater importance on the educational system's benefits to society so the combination of these system balances the needs of society and the individual learners.
Richard
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U9D2 comment to Allen
As you mentioned, learning by experience can have its limits especially when there are dangerous situations involved including situations such as the military, medicine, chemistry, etc.
Richard
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U9D2 comment to Christy
Some thoughts about collaborative behavior and survival:
Japan is a country known for its politeness and courtesy with everyone bowing and apologizing all the time.  When I was teaching there a few years ago, I asked the Japanese teacher with whom I team taught something to the effect of : "Why is everyone here so polite to each other?".  She responded: "We have to be that way because it is necessary for our survival".  So to them courtesy is not just superficial niceness but a means of survival.  On a crowded island, what sort of behavior would be most efficient and therefore conducive to survival:  competitive, hostile and cutthroat or cooperative, friendly, and collaborative?  Most people would agree that the second is the preferred method.
Richard
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Arguments for the Existence of God
Arguments for the existence of God have taken various forms as have been discussed in the ontological, cosmological, teleological, and moral arguments. The ontological argument concerns the meaning of the term God and the nature of being or existence. The cosmological argument concerns origin, structure, and space-time relationships of the universe. The teleological argument concerns the existence of design, purpose, and order in nature and the resulting necessity of a designer. The moral argument argues that God is the source of moral awareness. All are various approaches for attempting to prove the existence of an omniscient God or creator.
The images and concepts of what God is and represents have varied from culture to culture throughout history though most concern mankind's need for spiritual and religious understanding. The more primitive concepts concern the struggle for human and ecological survival rather than pure intellectual enlightenment. The concept of God can contain all (the universe) or nothing for some nonbelievers or something in between for agnostics and those adhering to more moderate philosophies. God can take the form of Plato's Form of all forms making him the Ultimate Good, the highest in the hierarchy or the Supreme Being and greatest reality like Anslem's definition of God as being greater than anything the human mind can conceive(that "being than which nothing greater can be conceived"1). Anslem proved God's existence (to himself at least) based on the idea that the existence of God is contained within the definition so that God exists solely on the idea of God itself. 
The concept of God has been described in a multitude of ways from being all wise, omniscient, all powerful, and all good. God has also been described mathematically by mathematicians such as Descartes, poetically by poets such as Dante and Milton, and anthropomorphically by the general population as a loving, feared, or,at times, even vengeful father. Logicians use the principle of sufficient reason to prove his existence and metaphysicists support evidence of God's existence based on faith because of God's unknowability and the fact that an incredibly complex world exists and must therefore have a designer or creator despite its at times apparent chaos.
Human beings have a tendency to explain phenomenon in humanly understandable terms. Our experiences make us believe that every living or non-living object has a beginning and end. It is difficult for human beings to imagine something eternal or infinite although if there is a God he must be a self-created creator, therefore, based on the principle of sufficient reason, a being with no beginning and no end; a circular (perhaps recyclable and self-replicating) form made of humanly incomprehensible essences. So it may be argued by some that it is futile to attempt to understand a not-understandable concept based on human reason, so one must accept the premise that something like God exists but will never be understood or directly perceived.
Human beings also have a tendency to anthropomorphise their conceptions of God or to call God a person rather than a thing. If there is a God then that being must be beyond human characteristics, human beings being only pale imitations or slight approximations of his perfection. As human beings are only able to see visible light, a fraction of the light and electromagnetic wave spectrum, perhaps humans can only perceive a fraction of the observable results in the universe of the efforts of a creator which, to the untrained eye, appears to be mostly random chance although it is probably chance interacting and colliding with design.
Even if pure chance caused the world to be created like a pinball falling into the nearest and best-fitting hole, the random creation itself, based on human reason, had to have a beginning. The beginning-and-end oriented scientific minds of physicists and astronomers have conjured up the Big Bang theory based on Hubble's evidence of an expanding universe. Even if the universe with its billions of galaxies each containing billions of stars and solar systems (some besides ours possibly supporting life) began with an explosion of a microscopic particle containing all of the potential matter of the universe, the question naturally arises: where did that particle come from? To satisfy astronomers God can be called the first cause prior to the Big Bang and to the scientifically religious he only initiated the process and left the universe unattended. According to the religious, God intervenes whenever miracles or designing are necessary to maintain his creation. Even Darwin's theory of evolution can support the argument of a cosmic designer and scientific biblical supporters can claim the biblical account of creation can be considered as metaphorical.
Like Einstein's attempt to unify all the physical laws of the universe and his own theory of relativity into one all-encompassing unified field theory , societal religion has moved from polytheism to monotheism. The Aztecs, Japanese, Greeks and Romans all had many gods. In fact, Montaigne estimated that the Greeks and Romans had as many as 36,0002 gods. All of those now are incorporated into the capital G God. Like the difference between psychology and sociology, the polytheistic gods could represent the working towards individual goals such as materialistic accumulation, sensual pleasure, the attainment of knowledge, power, and intellectual and spiritual enlightenment among others while the monotheistic God could represent societal goals of truth, beauty, and perfection towards Thomas More's Utopia. 
Of course, there is also Huxley's agnosticism based on not being able to know whether or not a God exists and atheism or denial of God's existence. There is also pantheism which states that God is nature or God is life and with that definition everyone would agree that God exists since nature and life exist. Those who define God as love and goodness would have more difficulty convincing others of God's existence since evil and suffering exist in the world.
To some like Sigmund Freud the concept of God is a human invention and therefore exists only in the mind or the collective unconscious of human society representing what human beings are not yet able to explain scientifically. Like Hegel`s Absolute Idea and ultimate truth towards which all nature and activity gravitates , the attainment of which all human activity would cease, God could be considered a cosmic magnet of perfection, the final rather the first cause towards which all things move. If God is a human invention then perhaps, as the child protagonist in Steven Spielberg's motion picture Empire of the Sun poetically asserts with childlike sincerity to his mother, God is our dream and we are his.
To Spinoza God is "the infinite and eternal substance of all finite existences". Maimonides thought God could only be described via negativa by saying what he is not. Plotinus thought of God as the power of the One or the Primal Source. Aristotle argues in his Physics based on his concept motion and change for the existence of an unmoved mover or first cause which he calls God:
At the same time it is impossible that the first cause, being eternal, should be destroyed; for since the process of becoming is not infinite in the upward direction, that which is the first thing by whose destruction something came to be must be non-eternal.3 
Nothing infinite can exist; and if it could the notion of infinity is not infinite.4
Actuality is prior to potency and to every principle of change.5 Movement is continuous in the sense in which time is; for time is either the same thing as movement or an attribute of movement. Nothing is moved at random, there must always be something present to move it.6 The unmovable first mover is one both in definition and in number.
Locke believed "there is an eternal, most powerful, and most 
knowing being"7 . Augustine said in his confessions that "the heavens were not created by themselves therefore there must be a God"8 :
The knowledge of God is naturally implanted in all, therefore the existence of God is self-evident. As soon as the word "God" is understood it is at once seen that God exists. For by this word is signified that thing than which nothing greater can be conceived. But that which exists actually and in the intellect is greater than that which exists only in the intellect. Therefore as soon as the word "God" is understood it exists in the intellect, it also follows that it exists actually. Therefore, the proposition "God exists" is self-evident.
Further, the existence of truth is self-evident. God is truth itself, therefore "God exists" is self-evident.9
Descartes considers God as an absolutely perfect being and human beings as imperfect approximations:
That substance which we understand to be supremely perfect and in which we conceive absolutely nothing involving defect or limitation of its perfection is called God. 
The knowledge of the existence of God proceeds from the mere consideration of his nature.
The existence of God is proved by the fact that we possess this idea, ourselves exist10.
Berkeley believed that because there is a universe there is a mind of some Eternal Spirit that exists but is not necessarily capable of being perceived "being perfectly unintelligible and involving all the absurdity of abstraction"11:
To be convinced of which, the reader need only reflect, and try to separate in his own thoughts the being of a sensible thing from its being perceived.
We may even assert that the existence of God is far more evidently perceived than the existence of men; because the effects of nature are infinitely more numerous and considerable than those ascribed to human agents.12
Newton used the mechanistic argument and A posterior proof by using the teleological argument with some spiritualism describing God as the designer or architect of the universe:
This most beautiful system of the sun, planets, and comets, could only proceed from the counsel and dominion of an intelligent and powerful Being. This Being governs all things, not as the soul of the world, but as Lord over all.
God is the same God, always and everywhere. He is omnipresent. In him are all things contained and moved; yet neither affects the other: God suffers nothing from the motion of bodies; bodies find no resistance from the omnipresencece of God. It is allowed by all that the Supreme God exists necessarily; and by the same necessity he exists always and everywhere.13 
He is a uniform Being, void of organs, members or parts, and they are his creatures subordinate to him, and subservient to His will. The organs of sense are not for enabling the soul to perceive the species of things in its sensorium, but only for conveying them thither; and God has no need of such organs, He being everywhere present to the things themselves. And since space is divisible in infinitum, and matter is not necessarily in all places, it may also be allowed that God is able to create particles of matter of several sizes and figures, and in several proportions to space, and perhaps of different densities and forces, and thereby to vary the laws of Nature, and make worlds of several sorts in several parts of the Universe.14
Immanuel Kant thought God was "the postulate of pure practical reason as the necessary condition of the possibility of the summum bonum" 15 or ultimate happiness and used subjective and objective criteria to prove his moral argument:
A Supreme Being is, therefore, for the speculative reason, a mere ideal, though a faultless one-- a conception which perfects and crowns the system of human cognition, but the objective reality of which can neither be proved nor disproved by pure reason.16 
There exists either in, or in connection with the world-- either as a part of it, or as the cause of it-- an absolutely necessary being.17
Consequently we must assume a moral world-cause, that is, an Author of the world, if we are to set before ourselves a final end in conformity with the requirements of the moral law. And as far as it is necessary to set such an end before us, so far, that is in the same degree and upon the same ground, it is necessary to assume an Author of the world, or, in other words, that there is a God.18
One interesting psychoanalytical alternative to the concept of God is offered by Sigmund Freud. Freud says mankind's need to create a God or gods in his own image is his need for finding a surrogate father. "In western religion God is openly called Father. Psychoanalysis concludes that he really is the father clothed in the grandeur in which he once appeared to the small child. Though the adult realizes that his father is a being with strictly limited powers and abilities, he nevertheless looks back to the admired father of his childhood and exalts him into a deity or divinity and brings it into the present and into reality."19
Explanations for the existence of God range from the astronomical to the psychological. Perhaps the best argument for the existence of God is that the concept, based on various definitions, satisfies a basic human need and finds its expression in a multitude of forms.
----
U10D1 from schedule
Discussion 10.1:

(a) Post your first drafts of your position paper and Proposal for Change in the CourseRoom. 

(b) Respond to at least one other learner's two project papers with feedback that follows the guidelines from the MediaCenter.
Guidelines for Preparing a POSITION PAPER for your Philosophy of Education
Course Project
Guidelines for Position Paper:
McMurray (Clabaugh & Rozycki, 1990, p. 597) stated, “Philosophy of education is an attempt to
find the most rationally defensible reasons for doing education one way rather than some other."
A personal philosophy of education emerges from thoughtful responses to questions such as
the ones listed below and professional experience. As you work toward clarifying, reviewing,
and refining your philosophy and theoretical view of education, respond to the questions in a
way that helps you understand your innermost beliefs about schooling, teaching, and learning.
DIRECTIONS:
  Your position paper should be 10 to 15 pages including all parts.
  Use complete sentences and follow APA formatting and conventions.
  The philosophy position paper is evaluated on content, clarity, organization, ability to
compare or contrast, grammar, spelling, punctuation, etc. (See the Position Paper Rubric in
the MediaCenter for a precise list of criteria by which your paper will be evaluated).
  The position paper must include a title page, an abstract, an introduction, a main body, a
conclusion, and references. Use the course paper template in the Writing Center, which
contains the appropriate title page and is already formatted and paginated.
  You may find it easier to prepare the abstract and introduction after you have completed
writing the main body and conclusion.
  Do not repeat the questions below in your paper; however, you must answer all the
questions below that apply to your educational setting in your paper. Divide your main body
into sections that logically and sequentially present your position. You may use the main
categories below (personal philosophy, philosophy of education, theories, and conclusion)
as main sections that you may further divide into subcategories as appropriate.
  Throughout your paper, compare or contrast the literature to illustrate and support your
positions. A position paper by its name indicates that you are taking a position, or in the
case of this paper, you are taking several positions that you will describe, identify, and
analyze both the strengths and weaknesses in the reasoning for each of the opposing
positions, concepts, theories, models, or paradigms.

QUESTIONS:
A. Personal Philosophy
  What do you see as the essential nature of human beings? Why?
  What is the basic meaning or purpose of life?
  Who or what determines morality? Do you believe there are universal moral
values? Why or why not? If yes, what are these values? What values should
schools teach?
  What do you believe about the constancy of life? Unchanging or always
changing? Why?

B. Philosophy of Education
  What is your perception of an educational philosophy? Why do you need a
philosophy? What has been the basis or source of your educational philosophy?
How has your philosophy changed or evolved over time?
  Identify the philosophy or philosophies or philosophical orientation you think best
fit you. Why? (e.g., Idealism, Realism, Thomism, Neo-Thomism, Naturalism,
Humanism, Transpersonal Humanism, Pragmatism, Existentialism,
Perennialism, Reconstructionism, Behaviorism, Constructivism)
  What is the purpose of education, teaching, and schooling?
  Are students intrinsically motivated to learn?
  Should schools address human differences such as multiple intelligences,
learning styles, gender, exceptionalities, developmental stages, and cultural
diversity? Why or why not?
  Select 12 of the topics below that you will develop to delineate and express your
philosophy of education. Regarding each of your selected 12 topics, what do
you believe? What do you value? What are your ideals?

1. Teaching and Learning?
2. Knowledge and Content?
3. Knowledge Worth Knowing?
4. Curriculum Content, Approach, and Development?
5. Instructional Methods?
6. Character Education?
7. Ethics Education?
8. Educational Standards?
9. Teachers' Roles?
10. Students’ Roles?
11. Administrators' Roles?
12. Counselors' Roles?
13. Board of Education’s or Other Governing Body’s Roles?
14. Learning Styles?
15. Communicating Your Beliefs on Controversial Topics to Students?
16. Teacher and Administrator Leadership Styles?
17. Interactions (Including Relational Trust) Between the Teacher and
Students?
18. Interactions (Including Relational Trust) Between Teachers?
19. Interactions (Including Relational Trust) Between Teachers and
Administrators?
20. Relationship Between Schools and Community?
21. Counseling Program?
22. Classroom Management?
23. Teacher Preparation Programs?
24. Technology and Teaching and Learning?
25. Distance, Online, or Other Alternative Delivery Methods of Education?
26. Bilingual Education?
27. Home Schooling?
28. Inclusion, Multicultural Education, and Diversity?
29. Global Education?
30. For-Profit Schools?
31. Student Assessment?
32. Measuring and Reporting Student Progress?
33. Accountability?

Do you have a philosophy or conceptual framework for improving your practice?
If so, describe it. Has it worked?
C. Theories
  What is a theory? Why are theories of learning and teaching, counseling, or
school administration necessary?
  Which theories of development, learning, counseling, administration, leadership,
motivation, psychology, etc. align with your educational philosophy and best
match your image of yourself as a teacher, counselor, or an administrator? Be
specific, support with literature, and give examples from your own experiences.
D. Conclusion
  Is your philosophy of education practical (does it work)?
  Does your educational philosophy fit your personality and style of teaching,
counseling, or administration?
  How does your educational philosophy help you address the instructional needs
of students? Does it effectively address the learning and teaching process?
Does it focus on student learning?
  How does you philosophy fit within the hidden curriculum of your current
educational setting?
TIMELINE:
Part A. Personal Philosophy - Upon completion of Unit 1.
Part B. Philosophy of Education - Upon completion of Units 2, 6, 7, and 8, you will select and
write about 12 of the 33 topics.
Part C. Theories - Complete during Units 4 and 7.
Part D. Conclusion - Compete the hidden curriculum portion in Unit 3. The remainder must be
written for Unit 9.
Reference:
Clabaugh, G. K., & Rozycki, E. G. (1990). Understanding schools: The foundations of
education. New York: Harper & Row.
******************
******************
TITLE PAGE
ABSTRACT
CONTENTS
PERSONAL PHILOSOPHY
PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION
Knowledge and Content 
Curriculum Content, Approach, and Development  
Teachers' Roles
Students’ Roles
Learning Styles
Instructional Methods
Home Schooling
Technology and Teaching and Learning  
Distance, Online, or Other Alternative Delivery Methods of Education
Global Education
Inclusion, Multicultural Education, and Diversity
Relationship Between Schools and Community
Discussion

THEORIES
CONCLUSION
BIBLIOGRAPHY
--------------------
Title Page
Abstract
Introduction
A. Personal Philosophy
  What do you see as the essential nature of human beings? Why?
  What is the basic meaning or purpose of life?
  Who or what determines morality? Do you believe there are universal moral
values? Why or why not? If yes, what are these values? What values should
schools teach?
  What do you believe about the constancy of life? Unchanging or always
changing? Why?
B. Philosophy of Education
  What is your perception of an educational philosophy? Why do you need a
philosophy? What has been the basis or source of your educational philosophy?
How has your philosophy changed or evolved over time?
  Identify the philosophy or philosophies or philosophical orientation you think best
fit you. Why? (e.g., Idealism, Realism, Thomism, Neo-Thomism, Naturalism,
Humanism, Transpersonal Humanism, Pragmatism, Existentialism,
Perennialism, Reconstructionism, Behaviorism, Constructivism)
  What is the purpose of education, teaching, and schooling?
  Are students intrinsically motivated to learn?
  Should schools address human differences such as multiple intelligences,
learning styles, gender, exceptionalities, developmental stages, and cultural
diversity? Why or why not?
  Select 12 of the topics below that you will develop to delineate and express your
philosophy of education. Regarding each of your selected 12 topics, what do
you believe? What do you value? What are your ideals?
Do you have a philosophy or conceptual framework for improving your practice?
If so, describe it. Has it worked?
C. Theories
  What is a theory? Why are theories of learning and teaching, counseling, or
school administration necessary?
  Which theories of development, learning, counseling, administration, leadership,
motivation, psychology, etc. align with your educational philosophy and best
match your image of yourself as a teacher, counselor, or an administrator? Be
specific, support with literature, and give examples from your own experiences.
D. Conclusion
  Is your philosophy of education practical (does it work)?
  Does your educational philosophy fit your personality and style of teaching,
counseling, or administration?
  How does your educational philosophy help you address the instructional needs
of students? Does it effectively address the learning and teaching process?
Does it focus on student learning?
  How does you philosophy fit within the hidden curriculum of your current
educational setting?
wenze001@idyllwild.com
******************
**************
Position Paper
ED 7701
Educational Philosophy and Change

Richard Bloodworth
P.O. Box 78123
Atlanta, GA  30357
RBloodworth99@yahoo.com
Dr. Callie Welstead

CONTENTS
ABSTRACT
PERSONAL PHILOSOPHY
PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION
Knowledge and Content 
Curriculum Content, Approach, and Development  
Teachers' Roles
Students’ Roles
Learning Styles
Instructional Methods
Home Schooling
Technology and Teaching and Learning  
Distance, Online, or Other Alternative Delivery Methods of Education
Global Education
Inclusion, Multicultural Education, and Diversity
Relationship Between Schools and Community
Discussion

THEORIES
CONCLUSION
BIBLIOGRAPHY
ABSTRACT
This paper is a discussion of the relationship of the author's personal philosophy with the philosophy of education. Topics discussed include: knowledge and content; curriculum content, approach, and development; teachers' roles; students’ roles; learning styles; instructional methods; home schooling; technology and teaching and learning; distance, online, or other alternative delivery methods of education; global education; inclusion, multicultural education, and diversity; and the relationship between schools and community  Also discussed are various theories of educational philosophy and change that have been developed throughout history.
PERSONAL PHILOSOPHY
What is the essential nature of human beings?
	The essential nature of humans is benevolent, social, cooperative, and collaborative; however, their strongest drive, survival, can cause them to resort to uncharacteristically hostile behavior if they are, or feel that they are, threatened or forced to do so.

What is the basic meaning or purpose of life?
	This question has never been answered to everyone's, or perhaps to anyone's, satisfaction throughout the course of human civilization (and is in fact, I think, beyond the range of human comprehension as is understanding infinity) so I will only discuss it.  
	To examine the purpose of something, it first must have a beginning or origin and then a direction or goal.  One could also ask why there is something (the universe) instead of nothing (infinite nothingness).  Exponents of the (1) Big Bang theory say that, since the universe seems now to be expanding, based on Edwin Hubble's observations.   The universe began with a point of infinite density, smaller than an atom and that contained all of the present matter of the universe and that particle existed in the infinite ocean of nothingness.  Around fifteen billion years ago that particle exploded and the resulting matter eventually formed the universe in which we all now reside.  This is a difficult theory to believe as are the ideas that (2) this is a infinite universe of infinite matter that has always existed or that ( 3) the current universe was created by a Supreme Being or God.  There may be other explanations that will be offered in the future but these are the main three views now currently considered as explanations for the origin of the universe.
	There have been several thinkers in the past that have ascribed to a God-created universe. Arguments for the existence of God have taken various forms including those using ontological, cosmological, teleological, and moral arguments. The ontological argument concerns the meaning of the term God and the nature of being or existence. The cosmological argument concerns the origin, structure, and space-time relationships of the universe. The teleological argument concerns the existence of a design, purpose, and order in nature and the resulting necessity of a designer. The moral argument argues that God is the source of moral awareness. 
	God can take the form of Plato's ultimate form of all forms making him the ultimate good, the highest in the hierarchy of forms or the Supreme Being and greatest reality similar to Anslem's definition of God as being greater than anything the human mind can conceive(that "being than which nothing greater can be conceived"). Anslem proved God's existence (to himself) based on the idea that the existence of God is contained within the definition so that God exists solely on the idea of God itself.   Human beings also have a tendency to anthropomorphize their conceptions of God even though if there is a God then that being must be beyond human characteristics.  Like Hegel`s Absolute Idea and ultimate truth towards which all nature and activity gravitates , the attainment of which all human activity would cease, God could be considered a cosmic magnet of perfection, the final, rather the first, cause towards which all things move.  To Spinoza, God is "the infinite and eternal substance of all finite existences". Maimonides thought God could only be described via negativa by saying what he is not. Plotinus thought of God as the power of the One or the Primal Source (Stewart, 1988).   Aristotle argues in his Physics, based on his concept motion and change, for the existence of an unmoved mover or first cause which he calls God (Aristotle, 1952, p.512).
	Locke believed "there is an eternal, most powerful, and most knowing being" (Locke, 1952, p.552).   Augustine said in his confessions that "the heavens were not created by themselves therefore there must be a God" (Augustine, 1952, p.268-269).  Descartes considers God as an absolutely perfect being and human beings as imperfect approximations (Descartes, 1952).  Berkeley believed that because there is a universe there is a mind of some Eternal Spirit that exists but is not necessarily capable of being perceived "being perfectly unintelligible and involving all the absurdity of abstraction" (Berkeley, 1952, p.414).  Newton used the mechanistic argument and A posterior proof by using the teleological argument with some spiritualism describing God as the designer or architect of the universe:
"This most beautiful system of the sun, planets, and comets, could only proceed from the counsel and dominion of an intelligent and powerful Being.  This Being governs all things, not as the soul of the world, but as Lord over all. God is the same God, always and everywhere.  He is omnipresent. In him are all things contained and moved; yet neither affects the other: God suffers nothing from the motion of bodies; bodies find no resistance from the omnipresencece of God.  It is allowed by all  that the Supreme God exists  necessarily; and by the same necessity he exists always and everywhere. 
He is a uniform Being, void of organs, members or parts, and they are his creatures subordinate to him, and subservient to His will.  The organs of sense are not for enabling the soul to perceive the species of things in its sensorium, but only for conveying them thither; and God has no need of such organs, He being everywhere present to the things themselves.  And since space is divisible in infinitum, and matter is not necessarily in all places, it may also be allowed that God is able to create particles of matter of several sizes and figures, and in several proportions to space, and perhaps of different densities and forces, and thereby to vary the laws of Nature, and make worlds of several sorts in several parts of the Universe". (Newton, 1952, 369-371).
	Immanuel Kant thought God was "the postulate of pure practical reason as the necessary condition of the possibility of the summum bonum" or ultimate happiness and used subjective and objective criteria to prove his moral argument (Kant, 1952, p.595).  One interesting psychoanalytical alternative to the concept of God is offered by Sigmund Freud. To some, like Freud, the concept of God is a human invention and therefore exists only in the mind or the collective unconscious of human society representing what human beings are not yet able to explain scientifically. Freud says mankind's need to create a God or gods in his own image is his need for finding a surrogate father. "In western religion God is openly called Father. Psychoanalysis concludes that he really is the father clothed in the grandeur in which he once appeared to the small child. Though the adult realizes that his father is a being with strictly limited powers and abilities, he nevertheless looks back to the admired father of his childhood and exalts him into a deity or divinity and brings it into the present and into reality." (Freud, 1952, p.876).
	If pure chance caused the world to be created, the random creation itself, based on principles of human reason, had to have a beginning. The beginning-and-end oriented scientific minds of physicists and astronomers have developed the Big Bang theory based on Hubble's evidence of an expanding universe. Even if the universe with its billions of galaxies each containing billions of stars and solar systems (some besides ours possibly supporting life) began with an explosion of a microscopic particle containing all of the potential matter of the universe, the question naturally arises: where did that particle come from? To satisfy astronomers, God can be called the first cause prior to the Big Bang and to the scientifically religious he only initiated the process and left the universe unattended. According to religious minds, God intervenes whenever miracles or designing are necessary to maintain his creation. Even Darwin's theory of evolution can support the argument of a cosmic designer and scientific biblical supporters can claim the biblical account of creation should be considered as metaphorical.  
	Thomas Huxley's concept of agnosticism is based on not being able to know whether or not a God exists and atheism is the denial of God's existence. There is also pantheism which states that God is nature or God is life and with that definition everyone would agree that God exists since nature and life exist. Those who define God as love and goodness would have more difficulty convincing others of God's existence because of what is known as the problem of evil since evil and suffering exist in the world.  
	Explanations for the existence of God range from the astronomical to the psychological. Perhaps the best argument for the existence of God is that the concept, based on various definitions, satisfies a basic human need and finds its expression in a multitude of forms.
	However the universe or life began, the answer of which would contain the answer of the meaning of life, and then evolved, the purpose or goal of life for the organisms that are all presently involved in living it is, stated simply, to survive.  Astrophysically, survival involves the continuation of celestial bodies (galaxies, stars such as the sun, etc. -- all of which will eventually extinguish) and the planetary survival of our own solar system.  Survival on Earth involves survival of the planet (supply of natural resources, avoidance of asteroidal impact, atmospheric retention, species survival, etc.).  Survival of the human species (though this species may evolve into other, new species in the future) mostly involve the requirements above mentioned for planetary survival and also avoidance of incurable epidemics, avoidance of nuclear war, and population supply -- though in the future (and now in China and India where the population of each country is over one billion people) population excess will be a detriment to survival.
	Individual survival of living organisms requires that their biological needs be met.  Personal survival of human beings requires also that their biological needs be met (food to eat, air to breath, water to drink, moderate climate and temperature, shelter, etc.).  Humans also need psychological and emotional support and they are the only species that needs intellectual enlightenment, not only for their enjoyment, but also for their species and personal survival and this is accomplished mostly through the procedures of educational processes.
	Morality, which according to Emmanuel Kant proves the existence of God, is determined (some say by God or religious principles or mandates, but I would say) by general consensus of what human beings consider behavior that is conducive to fair, just, productive, and efficient human interaction which, after all is said, is behavior that is ultimately beneficial to human survival.  All societies and cultures seem to have developed separate and unique but similar moralistic systems which would lead one to believe that there are indeed universal moral values.  Examples are philosophical or religious principles such as the Golden Rule and religious, governmental, and societal laws such as laws to protect human rights such as property rights, freedom of speech, etc.
	Many basic principles seem to remain constant such as the need to satisfy biological needs, laws of the universe or laws of physics (even though there theoretical explanations may change over time) and moral values, though with the changes in society, moral tolerance and acceptance of cultural differences seem to change over time.  The fact that technology (such as travel and communications technology) is changing at such a rapid pace is a factor that is causing change in all areas of society and life.  But life is change.  As a Buddhist saying succinctly states: you can never put your foot in the same river twice.
	Concerning human learning, how we learn is done through sensory perception and cognitive retention; why we learn, or the motive of all living organisms stripped to the barest essentials, is (the drive for) survival.  Prehistoric humans began to gradually realize, that in order for all to survive, it became essential to pass along skills and information, or, in other words, to educate the members of a society in order to transmit information from one generation to another.
PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION
	An educational philosophy is a theory, thought, or belief as to what methods should be used in the educational process as well as to what is the purpose and goal of education.  A philosophy is necessary for the same reason that someone needs a plan to proceed in life or a map to find one's destination.  The source of my educational philosophy is a combination of read and studied thoughts of others (rationalism or idealism) and personal experiences and read experiences of others (direct and indirect empiricism or realism and existentialism).  Over time, the changes that have occurred are mostly in the area of technology and not in the essential core of my educational philosophy.  Computer and Internet technology have made these online courses possible but much of the content remains the same over time.
Below are discussions of some topics related to the philosophy and methods of education:
Knowledge and Content: 
	As is stated in essentialism, knowledge and content are the essential elements of education though what that knowledge and content, or curricula,  should entail is not always agreed on.   Curriculum, or what should and should not be taught, varies with one's philosophical outlook.  The subjects contained within the curricula of the arts and sciences can be approached from the various philosophies and methodologies (idealism, realism, theistic realism, naturalism, pragmatism, existentialism, philosophical analysis, nationalism, liberalism, conservatism, utopianism, Marxism, totalitarianism, essentialism, perennialism, progressivism, social reconstructionism, and critical theory).  Regardless of the methodology of instruction, the essential core of information remains constant, or, that is, the eternal truths remain eternal,  although their interpretation, and the theoretical explanations for them, may vary.  It is essential to engage the students in the dialogue of the philosphical minds throughout history and then, with each of them reflecting and commenting on the ideas expressed in those philosophies, in a way, helping to continue and maintain that dialogue by their participation, through discussion, of the ideas contained within the philosophies.
Curriculum Content, Approach, and Development:  

	What is taught and how it is taught is the essence of education.  Curricula usually include the arts, sciences and physical education and each of these are subdivided: the arts (literature, languages, art, music, social sciences and history, etc.), the sciences (mathematics, physics, biology, astronomy, geology, geography, etc.), and physical education (sports, exercise, nutrition, sex education, etc.).  Recently schools are "pursuing a systematic approach to organizational restructuring.  In such schools, principals are much more likely to report a recent introduction of writing across the curriculum, literature based reading, and efforts to introduce hands-on math and science."  (Ravitch, 1997, 181).   Concerning approach and development, currently the movement has been toward "small classes, longer classes and a wider range of school resources." (Ravitch, 1997, 53).

	One qualm some people have had with western education in general is that there seems to be a dichotomy of thinking that divides the Eastern hemisphere from the Western hemisphere.  Mosts text begins with Greek philosophy and go through European and American philosophical systems up to the present.  Though they may be thorough in what they cover, there is usually not much mention of Eastern or Oriental philosophies of education.  If the educational systems and students in Asian countries excel academically, particularly in mathematics and the physical sciences, then then we of the west should examine the philosophical systems that allow this to occur.  We are all part of one new world culture, united by new technology,  with influences from all sides of the globe and from all eras of history; therefore, syllabi in the western world to include more Eastern philosophy including Confucianism, Buddhism, etc.   The syllabi of Asian countries include western culture so the western cultures should include eastern culture in theirs.  After all, with 60% of the world's population, Asian cultures are the world's majority.

Teachers' Roles:
 
	The role of teacher is that of a moderator or facilitator between the over 5000 year old body of knowledge of civilization and the learner to expose the student to that information and to help bring out abilities within the student.  As there are many personality types, there are many types of teaching styles from the traditional lecturer in a authoritarian learning environment to the coordinator in a collaborative learning environment.  Some would extend the teacher's role beyond the course or classroom making them a sort of role model to the student, such as a mentor or example to follow, but generally the primary role is that of facilitator to offer the learner the knowledge and guidance within a particular academic discipline or subject.

Students’ Roles:

	The role of the student is to be an interactive participant in the educational process so that the other students (and perhaps even the teacher) learn from each other.  The role or duty of the learner is to read the assigned texts, do the assignments, and ask appropriate questions that help him and all of the other students in the process of understanding.

Learning Styles:
	Each of the educational philosophies (idealism, realism, theistic realism, naturalism, pragmatism, existentialism, philosophical analysis, nationalism, liberalism, conservatism, utopianism, Marxism, totalitarianism, essentialism, perennialism, progressivism, social reconstruction, and critical theory) described in the Gutek text require learning styles based on their particular principles. Realism and pragmatism require empirical experimentation of practical principles,  essentialism states that education is meant to dispense the time-tested essential truths and skills that have endured throughout the course of human civilization, perennialism asserts that the important elements of education are reoccurring and unchanging,  and progressivism was a reaction to the formalism and authoritarianism of traditional education and suggested child-centered, free-form, open, creative, expressive, and progressive classroom environments to encourage a child's unfettered development.
	Learning styles (such as child-centered learning, student-centered learning, community-centered learning, problem-solving, self-awareness, self-directed learning, self-determined learning, self-discovery, discovery method, learning by doing, experimental inquiry, scientific inquiry, scientific method, open classrooms, open learning, open-ended questions, Socratic dialogue, service-based learning, traditional classrooms, online classrooms, and existential creativity) should be considered relative to the stages of development of the student.  However, whichever learning style is actually used within a class or an institution should remain consistent through a particular course of study even though there can be combinations of styles and philosophies that are utilized within a given course of study.
	The new structure of the educational system is becoming a 'democratic-cybernetic' model. "The cybernetic dimension suggests self-regulating processes which make it possible to adjust an organization to changing conditions or to move towards a better level of quantitative and qualitative functioning. The democratic idea implies that participation of those involved will be maximized." (Zygon, 1985)
Concerning school administration and learning styles the trends now seem to move:
From independence to interdependence
From competition to cooperation
From compulsive leadership to familistic leadership
From quantity (more) to quality (better)
From organizational convenience to aspiration of self-development
From authoritarianism and coercion to participation and integration 
From uniformity to diversity  (Zygon, 1985).
Instructional Methods:
	Some instructional methods include principles contained within idealism (theory of forms, Socratic dialogue, and open-ended questions), realism (experimental and using the scientific method),Thomism or theistic realism (uniting idealism and realism with a creative deity, discovery method, community-centered), naturalism (learning by doing, self-awareness, stages of development, child-centered), pragmatism (problem-solving, learning by doing, scientific method, service-based learning),  and existentialism (open learning and classrooms, student-centered, self-directed and determined, learning by doing, making one's own workable system).

Home Schooling:

	The school where I am teaching now uses the curriculum of the Calvert program to teach the academic subjects as well as English as a second language.  Calvert began as a private school in Baltimore, Maryland and then expanding its program to include a home schooling program.  There are levels beginning with pre-school which go through the eighth grade.  Each year the students receive a package that includes school supplies, textbooks (over twenty of them), and a lesson manual.  The plan is for a parent, guardian, or tutor/teacher to assist the students with the lessons for each of the five school days of the week. For assessment, the lesson projects and tests are to sent in periodically to the Calvert home school administrators.

	Two of my nephews were home schooled and they seem to have good communication and writing skills though I am not sure how their progress was assessed.  One of them has continued on to a university.  Concerning college admissions requirements for home schooled learners, "colleges that accept homeschoolers rely on various materials in place of high school grades, including, perhaps, portfolios of student work, the applicant's personal essay, SAT or ACT  scores, grades from open admission community colleges, and personal recommendations. Extracurricular activities are generally important for nontraditional applicants, and are especially important for all applicants who hope to get scholarships. Admission criteria can vary quite widely.  [Some colleges state] that applicants without a high school diploma are required to take a high school equivalency exam. "Some selective colleges will admit anyone with scores on the SAT or ACT above a certain level, and will consider other applicants based on portfolios of the applicants' academic work."  (Bunday, 2000).

	Also, some people could consider online and distance education as a variation and extension of home schooling processes.

Technology and Teaching and Learning:  

	In addition to social causes and change, nothing is changing the world faster than technology which is, itself, changing at an ever escalating and accelerating rate.  Technology is changing all aspects of life and the rapid changes in travel and communications technology is bringing the world together physically and ideologically, though the ideological changes are occurring at a slower pace.  Today, education, teaching, and learning can use technological tools that were previously nonexistent and this has radically altered the method, if not the content, of education.  Now there are televisions, radios, telephones, compact disks, computers, audio and video recordings, lasers, electron microscopes, cameras, radio telescopes, and the list goes on.  The new use of online courses is also radically changing educational methods.  Traditionally, the classroom consisted of a physical room with desks, chairs, and blackboards; now the classroom can also be virtual cyberspace where the learners are connected within a global course room composed of computer monitors, keyboards, and Internet connections. 

	In E-topia (2000), William J. Mitchell refers to the future online meeting places where friends, co-workers, colleagues, and students will meet:  

	“What sorts of meeting places, forums, and markets will emerge in the electronically mediated world?  What will be the twenty-first century equivalents of the gathering at the well, the water cooler, the Greek agora, the Roman forum, the village green, the town square, Main Street, and the mall?”   Many of the meeting places will be located in the virtual world of cyberspace and he adds that  “they will make growing use of electronic mail systems, mailing lists, newsgroups, chat rooms, Web pages, directories and search engines, audio conferencing, video conferencing, increasingly elaborate, avatar-populated, online virtual worlds, and software- mediated environments that we cannot even imagine yet.  Some of these virtual meeting places will be the private domains of well-defined special groups, some will be discreetly out of the public eye; others will be true public space open to all.” (Mitchell, 2000, p. 85). 

Distance, Online, or Other Alternative Delivery Methods of Education:
	In today's world, technology is changing at a rapid pace and as a result society is changing at a rapid pace.  The traditional classroom will probably always be around with its face to face interaction but the traditional classroom now has a new partner supplying the same information but which offers instead interface interaction.  Cisco Systems president and CEO, John Chambers has reportedly said that “the next big killer application for the Internet is going to be education. Education over the Internet is going to be so big it is going to make e-mail look like a rounding error.”  (MacNamara, 2001).

Global Education:
	The term global education, which is becoming a growing development as a result of rapid technological progress and international communication, can have several meanings or connotations such as:
		1. Schools that are distributed or franchised worldwide giving the same informative and instructive technique
		2. Globalization or the tendency to create one world culture through cultural exchange and global education
		3. The capability to be able to receive an education from anywhere in the world through books, television or, more currently, online distance education.

Inclusion, Multicultural Education, and Diversity:

	"Society is one word but many things.  Men associate together in all kinds of ways and for all kinds of purposes.  One man is concerned in a multitude of diverse groups, in which his associates may be quite different.  It often seems as if they had nothing in common except that they are modes of associated life.  Within every larger social organization there are numerous minor groups: not only political subdivisions, but industrial, scientific, and religious associations.  There are political parties with differing aims, social sets, cliques, gangs, corporations, parterships, groups bound closely together by ties of blood, and so on, in endless variety.  In many modern states and in some ancient, there is a great diversity of populations, of varying languages, religions, moral codes, and traditions.  From this standpoint, many a minor political unit, one of our large cities, for example, is a congeries of loosely associated societies, rather than an inclusive and permeating community of action and thought."  (Dewey, 1997, 82). "True individuality is a product of the relaxation of the grip of the authority of custom and traditions as standards of belief." (Dewey, 1997, 305).

	World society is a collection of all people, philosophies, religions, and cultures which is now connected by new technology on a world wide scale with influences from all sides of the globe and all eras of history.  Contributing members of society have come from all social groups so it is essential to include all factions of society within the educational system in order to achieve the democratization of society.

Relationship Between Schools and Community: 

	This is a synergistic and interdependent relationship where each benefits the other.  The schools really exist to prepare and equip the students for society thereby creating citizens -- not only of a local but -- of a world community in this increasingly globalized world that we all live in.  The democratic nature of the preparation of citizens is a concept espoused by John Dewey, among others, and is the basis of my action project to introduce, implement, and sustain, through the educational system's political science and social studies courses, the use of direct democracy in the United States of America.
	Thomas Heaney views adult education as participatory and as a tool for social change, where educational progressivism is the contemporary approach to educating the public. “ ‘Adult education turns out to be the most reliable instrument for social actionists’ since it assures that any action undertaken would be authentically democratic” (Brookfield, 1984). Eduard Lindeman, as influenced by John Dewey, considers adult education to be intertwined with democracy, social action, and control by people over their daily lives. To Lindeman, adult education equals social change, a method to create good and productive citizens. Even if education is viewed as a “great selector” rather than a “great equalizer”, each person can, as a result of education, find their niche, based on their abilities and merits, within a democratic society. The concept of using the educational system to implement a direct democracy is closely connected with the ideas expressed by Heaney, Miles Horton, Paulo Freire, and Jack Mezirow since their approach is to empower the populace through education in order to create a democratic society. Since it is necessary to have an educated public in order to have democracy function efficiently, democracy is dependent on the educational system to survive and prosper.
	John MacNamara and David O’Donnell, in “Developing e-Citizens and e-Consumers, an Irish e-Commerce Case Study” (2001), offer a comprehensive study of the effects the new cyber culture of the computer and the Internet and their effects on society, culture, and education. and the necessity for society and the educational system to produce “e-literate” citizens for the resulting new society. As they state it in their abstracted introduction: “We present a very simple argument: e-business needs e-consumers and e-literate workers; e-government needs e-citizens”. 
	In my action plan I suggest a plan for introducing direct democracy into the curriculum of schools. The social studies and political science classes could introduce, early in the development of the curriculum -- during the elementary school years, the first concepts of democracy as government based on the will of and for the good of the people or society.  The curriculum would eventually include the history of democracy beginning with ancient Athens, Greece (or perhaps even before that) and its present forms of use today in various countries and institutions and studies of its various methods of execution.  Also included in the course curriculum would be computer skills courses since thorough knowledge of computer and Internet usage would be needed to implement and sustain the continuing use of a direct democracy.  Once the system is establablished and the procedures for its execution are in place and all of the necessary legislation is passed to secure its structure, procedural content, and continuing existence, the voters, or potential voters (who perhaps would require secured registration, training, and perhaps certification to qualify to vote), would learn how to research and read about issues to be voted on at the local, state, and national levels.  Computer tutorials could also be developed to teach the learners how this is done and even provide some practice voting sessions and hypothetical situations to which they can respond.
	Schools should address human differences such as multiple intelligences, learning styles, gender, sexual orientation, exceptionalities, developmental stages, and cultural diversity.
	Rather than represented by one score, an intelligence score or map should resemble a three dimensional mountain range with peaks and valleys representing the areas of intellectual strengths and limitations.  Though some people might want to include additional categories, to describe the concept of multiple intelligences, Dr. Howard Gardner, education professor at Harvard University, in 1983 identified the categories of multiple intelligence as: linguistic, logical-mathematical, spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, musical, interpersonal (social) , intrapersonal (self), and naturalistic.
	Developmental stages should be addressed since part of growth is the passage through developmental stages from childhood through adulthood as is especially noted in the educational philosophies of naturalism and progressivism.  Differences in sexual orientation should be addressed since sexuality is an essential part of human behavior and a part of human development and also since the great contributors to society and culture have been from all areas of the sexual orientation spectrum.  Cultural diversity should be addressed since world culture is a collection of all people, philosophies, religions, and cultures which is now connected by new technology on a world wide scale with influences from all sides of the globe and all eras of history.  Exceptionalities should also be addressed because there is the need for specialized areas of education for learners with special disabilities, abilities, talents, and gifts.
	Concerning the question: are students intrinsically motivated to learn?  A baby or an infant responding to environmental stimuli is reacting according to survival drives, almost as a sort of instinctual response, and perhaps out of curiosity.  These reactions could be considered as intrinsically motivated behavior.  However, a baby is not a student in a physical or cyber/virtual classroom.  And even though some learning is done for personal satisfaction for reasons of self-efficacy and self-determination such as self-improvement or hobby related studies, once the student enters a classroom, then the motivations become extrinsic in nature.  From my experiences of teaching children as well as adults, the rewards for children are not intrinsic otherwise they would not need the constant disciplining and rewards and punishments that are required to control them.  As for adults, some may appear to be or say they are learning for intrinsic reasons, and some might be meeting personal goals or learning about personal hobbies and interests, but for the most part as students become adults they realize the importance of education in order to achieve external rewards such as respect, a higher salary, communication skills, new technical skills, success and material possessions.  This line of thought would align with B.F. Skinner's theories of operant conditioning. American psychologist Abraham Maslow developed a hierarchy of needs that motivates human behavior. The needs in order of importance from most to least are: (1) physiological such as the need for food (2) security and safety such as the need for income and protection (3) love and belonging (4) self-efficacy including competence, prestige, and self-esteem (5) self-satisfaction and self-fulfillment (6) curiosity, inquisitiveness, the desire to understand and self-actualization.  (Mazur, 2002).  I think when we as learners read or study, for our own enjoyment or edification, subjects on our own that we are not required to take then we are involved in more intrisically motivated behavior.  The contents of courses offered by universities could conceivably be studied by the learners themselves at their own structure and pace and that type of motivation could perhaps be considered intrinsic depending upon the ultimate intent of the learners.  But the fact that courses are taken for credit and usually for a degree implies that the course participants are extrinsically motivated in taking these courses.  Most students in school are extrinsically motivated toward achieving external rewards in addition to learning for internal satisfaction
	Concerning improving one's practice: one improves one's practice by practicing ("practice makes perfect" as the saying goes or at least one gets nearer to the perfect ideal).  By doing, drilling, and experience, and sometimes with the help of a coach or teacher, someone can improve their performance and skills.  In addition to doing and practicing, reading, attending workshops and lectures,  and learning from others are ways of improving one's practice.   There are both external (extrinsic) and internal (intrinsic) motivations to improve in educational settings.  Concerning the philosophical, ideological, and theoretical assumptions associated with motivations to improve, this desire is a part of growth and of the survival drive since one is constantly equipping one's self with the skills and knowledge to survive and endure.  Also, as is expressed in the philosophy of existentialism, humans are mostly in control of their own development and experience concerning issues of individual existence, freedom, choice and are responsible for creating the conditions of their own existence.  Freedom of choice entails commitment and responsibility so the motivation to improve one's practice mostly originates within the individual.  
	Throughout history several individuals were known as great teachers. One was Socrates who questioned, or supplied questions to, the students so that he as a teacher would not necessary give them answers but would guide the students to a solution so Socrates could be considered a facilitator or a collaborative teacher of democratic principles who created a student/teacher interaction and who influenced Plato's philosophy of idealism. Another was Jesus who was able to get people to leave what they were doing to follow him and join his cause and this process requires charisma and persuasive abilities which are a factors in effective teaching. Aristotle was a great teacher (his most famous student was Alexander the Great), writer, and philosopher who based much of his philosophy of realism on principles of biology because he was probably influenced by the medical profession of his father who was a physician. The notion of causality, principles of biology, and logic were some of his most important contributions to knowledge. He wrote over 400 books on many branches of knowledge including logic, ethics, politics, metaphysics, biology, physics, psychology, poetry, and rhetoric. After the fall of the Roman empire, most of his works were lost but about 100 books, which had been translated into Arabic, were saved. Most of these books were not meant as books for the public but were notes to his students which demonstrates the importance he placed on preparation for teaching and communication with students.

	One person in contemporary times who embodied these qualities was another scientist also known for being a great teacher, Dr. Richard P. Feyman (1918-1988). Also a Nobel Prize recipient, he considered his role as a teacher as important as his role a physicist since knowledge should not just stay within the mind of the thinkers but should be passed on, used, and understood by others. He also thought that a good teacher should make his subject as interesting to others as it is to himself. Born in New York City, he received his bachelor's degree in physics at MIT and his PhD at Princeton. Beginning in 1950 he moved to the California Institute of Technology where he was known a gifted teacher, practical joker, and an overall colorful character in the field of physics. In order to keep his lectures lively, he was known to sometimes play bongo drums during the lecture and he was also a painter. In 1965 he received the Nobel Prize in physics for the theory of quantum electrodynamics. He explored concepts related to quarks and superfluidity and is known for mapping elementary particles with Feynman diagrams and, at Los Alamos where the nuclear weapons were developed, was in charge of computations involving the behavior of neutrons in nuclear explosions. He also worked on the weak interaction, the strong force, and the characteristics of neutrons and protons. He wrote a series of undergraduate lectures he gave at Caltech which became a standard reference for physics. He wrote 37 in-depth research papers and books for the layman.  There have been numerous books written about him.
One important factor in effective teaching is to keep the students interested by not boring them with information that is too easy or too difficult. Another important aspect of a good class is classroom management and discipline but if the material is at the right level and presented in an interesting manner then effective classroom management naturally follows.  In teaching very young children it is important to be supportive and appropriately affectionate like a parent whereas the older students require more discipline, structure, and guidance and the adult students will have varying instructional needs. But in all cases, as exemplified by Dr. Feynman and the other great teachers of the past, the most important factor of teaching is to not bore the students but hold their interest and stimulate their thought processes.

THEORIES

	Some definitions of "theory" by the Merriam-Webster dictionary (2003):  the analysis of a set of facts in their relation to one another  --- abstract thought : speculation --- a plausible or scientifically acceptable general principle or body of principles offered to explain phenomena.
	A theory is an assumption, a guess, an hypothesis, explanation, and rationale for the explanation, of the cause(s) of a particular event, condition or occurrence.  A theory is therefore a guiding philosophy and is necessary for teaching and learning, since there are many approaches to education, as it is necessary in all endeavors to have a guiding philosophy, even if that philosophy is tacit, unstated,.or unformulated since, in order for a plan to proceed methodically, rationally, and effectively, it is necessary to have a plan or an idea map.  This is true also with counseling, since there are a variety of counseling methods that counselors and schools should be versed in, and school administration procedures, since there are several approaches to management and the administration should have an established  -- though open to revision if necessary -- set of rules and conditions in order for the educational processes to run smoothly, as it is with all areas of life.  
	All educational experiences today contain both rational/abstract (idealism or Plato's rationalism) and experiential/concrete (realism or Aristotle's empiricism) so would therefore be utilizing Thomist principles.  Although we might not remember the exact first moment, we learn early on in life that if one touches fire or a hot stove one is likely to get burned (learning through experience or realism and empiricism).  Later, we begin to also learn sounds and words by listening and repeating from others and then begin to learn other words and more complex concepts and abstract ideas ( idealism and rationalism and Thomism).
	Children seem to learn best by doing (realism), which are the principles espoused by Herbert Spencer, John Dewey, and Jean Piaget, among others.  In the school where I have been teaching, where the Calvert system is the method used for educating the children from pre-kindergarten to eighth grade,  the term TPR (Total Physical Response) is used to express the belief that knowledge that is actively and physically experienced is more readily retained than knowledge that is more passively received (idealism).  I think I too have learned more through physical, sensorial experiences than through only abstract contemplation.  For instance, traveling (realism and empiricism) and experiencing a foreign culture can offer experiences that can enable one to learn about the culture, language, geography, history, etc. of a society to complement what can be read (idealism and rationalism) about it in books.   The combination of the two approaches could be considered a type of Thomism.
	Naturalism states that people should study nature and cause-and-effect relationships, use the scientific method of observation, use the senses to learn (empiricism), interact with the natural environment and learn at a natural and unhurried pace. Naturalism, akin to humanism and romanticism, is most identified with Jean-Jacque Rousseau (1712-1778), the author of Confessions, Emile, and the Social Contract.  Rousseau suggested learning at a natural and steady rate using "activity, exploration, and learning by doing", that humans should go through their natural phases and that childhood is "a necessary evil to be gotten through as quickly as possible."  (Gutek, 1997).  Pestalozzi referred to "Anschauug" or clear concepts from sense perception.  Another naturalist was Herbert Spencer (1820-1903) who, though he had the metaphor of comparing human education and learning to human evolution correct, seemed to use the concept of social Darwinism or social Spencerism to justify, among other injustices, racism and oppression.  With its utilitarian leanings, naturalism paved the way for pragmatism.
	Pragmatism (with similarities to realism, empiricism, materialism, and positivism and the opposite of idealism) says that ideas and theories should be examined by experimentation (the scientific method) and that there are no absolute truths and values and stresses adaptability to changing conditions.  It is, as the name implies, utilitarian, pragmatic, practical, and utilitarian and utilizes a minimum of abstraction.  Education must be a problem solving activity with the purpose of creating a better society and a more informed public in order to create and maintain a democratic society.  All areas of philosophy should be adapted to create useful and practical philosophical doctrines.  Though useful for humans, pragmatism seems to be human-centered, but humans are just a fraction -- though of course a very important fraction -- of life on Earth (or perhaps in the universe).  The most influential pragmatists are American philosophers Charles S. Peirce (formal principles, scientific method and mathematics), William James (relativism, systems of morality, religion, and faith, and the will to believe) and John Dewey (experience, intelligence, and communities as always changing and progressing, knowledge is tentative and not absolute).  Pragmatism has many advantages in that it can adapt to a constantly changing world, use methods of social experimentation make society better, discard useless beliefs, and function in a pluralistic society though some might think of its philosophy as somewhat vague and  undefined.  Pragmatism basically states that truth is relative to the historical context in which a society exists and that changes need to be made when new discoveries are made and that all knowledge should have practical use.

	Existentialism involves the philosophical explorations of Freedom to choose, responsibility, commitment, subjectivity, free will, individual personality, and the recognition of emotions (contentment, fulfillment, dread, anxiety, nausea, anguish, etc.) and their relation to human existence.  Whereas Plato and most philosophers since him up until the point of existentialism believed that there are universal truths and that what is moral truth that is true for one person or society is true for all but the highly subjective existential philosophy suggests that truth can be relative to each individual who can construct their own philosophical system.  The 19th-century Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard, the first to call himself an existentialist, said  “I must find a truth that is true for me . . . the idea for which I can live or die.” (Dreyfus, 2002).  Kierkegaard, who considered the founder of existentialism, reacted against the rational system of Hegel and recognized the absurdity of the human condition and advocated the "leap of faith" into Christianity. Pascal recognized human paradoxes and set the stage for existentialism.  Nietzsche, who influenced existential philosophy and who, since he was an atheist, was on the other side of the religious coin from Kierkegaard claimed that "God is dead" and opposed  Judeo-Christian doctrines in favor of heroic individualism and the nurturing of individual genius. Martin Heidegger thought that humans must learn to live in an incomprehensible, meaningless, and absurd world and yet must choose a goal and strive for it and accept the certainty of death and the meaninglessness of human existence which is a stance very similar to that held by the philosopher most identified with existentialism,  Jean-Paul Sartre ("existence precedes essence") who said that human life is “futile passion.”  This sentiment is represented in the existentialist themes of writers such as Karl Jaspers, Martin Buber, Paul Tillich, Edmund Husserl, John Holt, Franz Kafka, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, and Albert Camus.
	Concerning the concept of a hidden curriculum:   The private language school where I am teaching uses the Calvert School program.  The Calvert School was originally a private school in Maryland, then later also a program for home schooling, and now a curriculum used by many schools within the educational institutions, including the school where I am teaching, in San Chung City, Taipei Hsien, Taiwan.   The program is a comprehensive system which includes a lesson manual accompanied by many supplementary books, all in colorful format and design to hold the interest of the young students.  The program also includes in the educational package/kit sent to the home student or schools as one package for each students containing the many books (more than 20) and supplies..  The students follow lessons, and if they spend one day on each lesson, each level lasts one school year.   The program's curriculum, which begins with pre-kindergarten and advances up through the eighth grade, offers the traditional subjects (reading, writing, mathematics, science, geography, history, phonics, vocabulary building, language acquisition) but has the additional purpose (the hidden curriculum) of teaching English as a second language to young students, in this particular case, from Taiwan.  It also has the effect (perhaps a hidden curriculum) of presenting this information from the perspective of the United States so that the children learn history and literature based on cultural and historical experiences in the USA, such as the origins and practices of Thanksgiving holiday or  the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus, so that the students can communicate with people from North America and English speaking countries and can perhaps someday live, work, or study in North America or other English speaking countries.  The program covers not only grammar, spelling, and vocabulary but it also introduces these skills within the context of the above-mentioned subjects thus making the teaching, and hopefully the learning, of the information more enjoyable, fulfilling, useful, and effective.
	I think the curriculum and the hidden curriculums mentioned each contain elements of nationalism (since they are presented from an American viewpoint), liberalism (emphasizing individuality, independence, and self-expression), and conservatism (transmitting an established curriculum and cultural information). Nationalism or "devotion to one's nation and its interests" (Gutek, 1997, p. 158) is found in every country is based on local culture, language, pride and self-defense.  I have found that the smallest countries, such as South Korea and the Czech Republic, are the most nationalistic perhaps as a form of defensiveness or self preservation.  Even Taiwan, which is not a country but is claimed by China to be a renegade province of China, has a type of nationalistic feeling.  Taiwan could be compared to Hawaii when Hawaii became a state, if it becomes part of China, or it could resemble island nations like Sri Lanka or Costa Rica if it ever becomes an independent country.  In China, the students there often referred to China as the "motherland"  an idea which conveys a type of nationalistic or patriotic hidden curriculum.  In the USA some people place the order of loyalty as, starting with the highest level, God, country, and then family, which implies the importance of nationalism or patriotism  Liberalism, as formulated by John Locke (1632-1704), states that "individuals are free, equal, and independent and no one can deprive them of property or subject them to another's political power without their consent" (Gutek, 1997, p. 173).  Conservatism, as explained by Edmund Burke (1729-1797), endeavors to "preserve established institutions and conditions" and was an institution to "transmit the cultural heritage to the young and preserve it through the generations." (Gutek, 1997,  p. 198). 
	Postmodernism is a further development of the subjective and expressive philosophy of modernism which incorporated the utilization of new technologies and its international implications as part of its philosophy. Deconstructionism strives to deconstruct previous ideologies and examine them in a way similar to the methods of critical theory.  Like Marxism, it examines history as a progression of forms of domination, usually of oppressed minorities and includes the factors of gender, race, economy, politics, personality, and culture.  Like the realists and the pragmatists, it considers concrete experience preferable to abstraction, does not attempt to establish definite truths, accepts the varieties of human endeavors, and believes in a decentralized structure to education and society.
	Critical Theory is a synthesis of the philosophies as developed by the Frankfort School (which began in 1923 as a reaction to Nazism) concerning the influences of domination of the populace through culture and ideology, Karl Marx who emphasized domination of the public relative to the economic structure of society , and Sigmund Freud's model of the human psyche and the attempts to liberate people from illusions of their own creation.  Critical Theory also involves the democratization of society  and one of the main proponents of critical theory was Jurgen Habermas, a German philosopher of democratic concepts.  He refers to the public sphere which is a type of public forum which can be used to construct policies based on the principles of critical theory and which is now facilitated by the use of the Internet.  "The Habermasian public sphere was originally used as an analytical tool to describe the environment that was created in bourgeois society between the private sphere and the state. It this environment, citizens reflected critically on themselves and the state. Consensual agreement was formed from rational arguments and judged solely on their merits not on the status of their creators."  (Plaisted, 1996).
	I align myself with some combination of essentialism, constructivism and existentialism.
	Since the present is the accumulation of the past and all new philosophies are influenced by previous philosophies even if they are reactions in opposition to them, I could coin a new term for my philosophy and call it eclecticism or unionism, which is selecting parts of each of the previously mentioned philosophies (idealism, realism, Thomism, naturalism, pragmatism, and existentialism) and uniting them into one workable philosophy.  I think of the ones studied, I liked the rationality of idealism, the practicality and scientific nature of empiricism or realism and naturalism, the democratic nature of pragmatism and the creative force of existentialism commbined with the time-tested principles of essentialism.   I align myself with the philosophy of essentialism since we all learn useful skills and cultural knowledge that have been transmitted throughout the centuries and certain principles remain essentially constant.  While learning today,  people have access to a more than 5000 year old body of knowledge (or that which has been salvaged and maintained over time).  Of course, in time there are changes in theoretical explanations and there are technological changes which occur constantly but the basic and structural essentials remain constant.  
	Constructivism states that we build upon previous knowledge and all of my personal learning experiences have supported this concept.  That is perhaps one reason why learning a foreign language is as difficult as it is since all concepts, words, and definitions are based on vocabulary and concepts which are built on previously learned knowledge and vocabulary.  One of the developers of constructivism, J. Bruner (1966) says that instructional theory should include: (1) a desire to affect learning, (2) lucidity and comprehensibility of the presented knowledge (3) sequential effectiveness in presenting material, and (4) reward and punishment.  
	Existentialism involves the philosophical explorations of the freedom to choose, individual responsibility, subjectivity, free will, individual personality, and the recognition of emotions and their relation to human existence.  With my experiences in the visual arts and the teaching of English as a second language, many of my experiences have been existential in nature so I identify with that philosophy on a personal basis.   I believe that human culture is basically a conglomeration and accumulation of ideas, thoughts, inventions, and culture that have been created by individuals whose creations, over time, have been added to society's body of knowledge.
CONCLUSION
	My educational philosophy is practical, I believe, since it combines elements of realism, pragmatism, essentialism, and existentialism.  Pragmatism with its utilitarian purposes is practical by definition of the term.  Realism is also practical as it is based on empiricism and the scientific method of hypothesis, experimentation, observation, and analysis.  Essentialism also works because it is based on ideas that have been time-tested and established (but it needs to be able to add new information to the knowledge base as the information develops) to be the most effective subjects and methods to be taught.  Existentialism is practical, even though it concerns individual freedom and expression and is a system where the learners can structure their own workable systems, but only in a free and democratic society as it would be squelched in a totalitarian system.Theory is the core of all curricula and educational philosophy.  Essentialism states that education involves dispensing the time-tested essential truths and skills that have endured throughout the course of human civilization, perennialism asserts that the important elements of education are reoccurring and unchanging,  and progressivism was a reaction to the formalism and authoritarianism of traditional education and suggested child-centered, free-form, open, creative, expressive, and progressive classroom environments to encourage a child's unfettered development.

	The philosophies were chosen not only to fit my personality and style of teaching but also because they can be adapted to a variety of learner types and personality types.  As the needs of human nature have remained essentially constant over time, the needs of the students, despite rapid changes in technology, also have remained constant so the educational philosophies mentioned continue to address the instructional needs of the students as well as the learning and teaching processes.  All of the philosophies focus on human learning: existentialism places the emphasis on the needs of the students but pragmatism and essentialism also place great importance on the educational system's benefits to society so the combination of these systems balances the needs of society and the individual learners.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Adler, Mortimer J., ed., (1952). The Great Ideas, A Syntopicon. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press: Britannica, Inc.
Aristotle. (1952). The Works of Aristotle:Metaphysics , Chicago: The University of Chicago Press: Britannica, Inc.
Armstrong, T. (2000). Multiple Intelligences. Retrieved February 12, 2004 from http://www.thomasarmstrong.com/multiple_intelligences.htm
Augustine, St. (1952).City of God, Book VIII, Ch. 6. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press: Britannica, Inc.

Beaty, Bill. (2004). Dr. Richard P. Feynman. Retrieved on March 4, 2004 from <http://amasci.com/feynman.html>
Berkeley, George. (1952). Human Knowledge. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press: Britannica, Inc.
Blaug, Ricardo (1999). Democracy: Real and Ideal, Discourse Ethics and Radical Politics. Albany, New York: State University of New York Press.

Brumbaugh, Robert S. (2002). Aristotle. Encarta Encyclopedia 2002. Seattle: Microsoft Corporation.
Bruner, J. (1966). Toward a Theory of Instruction. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Bunday, Karl. (2000).  Colleges That Admit Homeschoolers. Retrieved February 12, 2004 from http://learninfreedom.org/colleges_4_hmsc.html
http://www.Calvertschool.org
Descartes. Meditations. (1952). Chicago: The University of Chicago Press: Britannica, Inc.
Dewey, John.  (1997).  Democracy and Education: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Education.  New York: Free Press, Simon & Schuster.
Dreyfus, H. & Hollinger, R (2002) Encarta Encyclopedia. Seattle, WA:  Microsoft Corporation.

Druzdzel, Marek. (2003). Richard Feynman on Teaching. Retrieved on March 4, 2004 from <http://www.pitt.edu/~druzdzel/feynman.html>
Dunn, R. & Dunn, K. (1999). The Complete Guide to the Learning Strategies Inservice System. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
Ferreira, J.M.,(2003). Columbia Encyclopedia.  New York: Columbia University Press.
Freud, Sigmund. (1952). New Introductory Lectures on Psycho-Analysis. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press: Britannica, Inc.

Gutek, G. (1997). Philosophical and Ideological Perspectives on Education. Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
Kant, Immanuel. (1952). The Critique of Pure Reason. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press: Britannica, Inc.
Kant, Immanuel. (1952).  The Critique of Teleological Judgement. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press: Britannica, Inc.
Klages, M. (2003). Postmodernism. Retrieved February 12, 2004 from http://www.colorado.edu/English/ENGL2012Klages/pomo.html
Kolb, D.A. (1984). Experiential Learning. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Locke, John. (1952).The Great Ideas, A Syntopicon (1952). Chicago: University of Chicago Press: Britannica, Inc.
MacNamara, O'Donnell. (2001).  Developing e-Citizens and e-Consumers, an Irish e-Commerce Case Study.   http://66.218.71.225/search/cache?p=The+E-citizen.+Instructional+Technology.,+Lee,+John+K.++&sub=Search&ei=UTF-8&url=fe_aPyZrSDAJ:www.efmd.be/learninggroups/chapter/eisb2001proceedings/pdfs/MacNamara%2520%2520O%27Donnell%2520.pdf
Mazur, J.  (2002).   Encarta Encyclopedia. Seattle: Microsoft Corporation.
Messick, S. (1976). Individuality in Learning. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Newton, Isaac. (1952).  Mathematical Principles.  Chicago: The University of Chicago Press: Britannica, Inc.
Newton, Isaac. (1952).Optics. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press: Britannica, Inc.
Plaisted, T.  (1996), Internet, Democracy and the Public Sphere in Australia. Retrieved February 10, 2004 from http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/1989/mc.html
Ravitch, D. & Viteritti, J.  (1997).  New Schools for a New Century.  London: Yale University Press.
Sternberg, Robert (1997). Thinking Styles. Boston: Cambridge University Press.
Stewart, David.  (1988). Exploring the Philosophy of Religion. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall.
Witkin, H.A. & Goodenough, D.R. (1981). Cognitive Styles: Essence and Origins. NY: International Universities Press.
Zygon, K. (1985). Zygon: Imaging the Future: New Visions and New Responsibilities, Vol. 20, No. 3., Sep. 85. 
***************
Bob's comments to Daniel, here are my comments:

(1) Abstract: too long and verbose. Try to make less than 120 words (APA). 

(2) Introduction: heading missin

(3) Methodology: difficult to read without subheadings.

(4) Conclusion: heading missing.

(5) References should be on own page (APA).

Your paper topic was interesting to read, but so far seems run-together. I would suggest more subheadings
--Bob's comments to Allen, here are my comments on your paper:

(1) Abstract: this seems ok; it is a difficult description for this paper.

(2) Introduction: A little vague for the paper. Why single out Naturalism?

(3) I believe third level headings are to be at the leftmost of the margin. 

(4) Personal philosophy: do you want to be more explanatory of historic philosophies, such as Good/Evil? 

(5) Philosophy of Education: are the 12 topics synthesized here?

(6) Theories: this only seems to be your view of one theory-others>
(7) Conclusion seems ok
--Allen's response to Bob 1) Abstract: this seems ok; it is a difficult description for this paper.
I WILL WORK ON IT

(2) Introduction: A little vague for the paper. Why single out Naturalism?

IT COULD HAVE BEEN ANY OF THE PHILOSOPHIES, TO BE USED ONLY AS AN EXAMPLE

(3) I believe third level headings are to be at the leftmost of the margin. 

I WILL FIX THEM 

(4) Personal philosophy: do you want to be more explanatory of historic philosophies, such as Good/Evil? 

UNCLEAR

(5) Philosophy of Education: are the 12 topics synthesized here?

IN ORDER NOT TO ASK QUESTIONS AND TO MEET THE GUIDLINES OF A POSITION PAPER I DID SYNTHESIZE THE 12 TOPICS 

(6) Theories: this only seems to be your view of one theory-others>

I WAS UNDER THE IMPRESSION THIS WAS TO BE OUR POSITION ON EDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHY. WITHOUT BEING IN FIRST PERSON.

(7) Conclusion seems ok

THANKS BOB FOR THE COMMENTS, I WILL INCORPORATE THE CHANGES
***************
response to Callie's U9D2 comment
<Richard - I enjoyed reading about your experience in Japan. When I was a freshman in college (MANY years ago), I took a course on Japanese Society. I found it facinating that the walls in Japanese homes (at that time anyway) were made of paper-like material that allowed for little physical privacy. The pretense of personal privacy in the face of no actual physical privacy is also an aspect of Japanese society. One does not mention anything that might be overheard in such circumstances. One simply DOES NOT HEAR IT. 

I don't think this is unique to Japan. I have lived in New York City and people there do not interact as they go about their days. They are so packed together that they maintain space by not interacting. I have also lived in very small towns where one can't go anywhere without seeing someone they know and interacting with them. So I think proximity breeds formality and even isolation here as well as there. What do you think?>
U9D2 reply to Callie
Callie, I think in a crowded situation in Japan, as in Tokyo, the people , ideally, treat each other courteously when interacting but all of the other times people tend to ignore each other primarily for the reason that there are just too many people to response to, in fact, it would of course be impossible to interact with everyone.  One difference in cultures is, as you mentioned, the idea of privacy.  People there can create their own space of privacy even in a crowded situation by ignoring the presense of others as I mentioned previously.   One example of the difference of cultures in the area of privacy:  I don't think  any would find a capsule hotel in New York, or perhaps anywhere, except in Japan.  These are hotels where each customer sleeps in a capsule (about 3' x 3' x 6' ) which is just enough room to lie down and sleep.  The customer slides into a capsule room and then can pull down the roll-up screen at the capsules entrance for "privacy".  The capsules are stacked in two columns on each floor of the hotel and there are rows and rows of them, like being in a maze.   Inside each capsule there is a telephone and a cable TV that is positioned at an angle so that it can be viewed while the person inside is lying on his back.  Crawling into one feels like sliding into a coffin -- an experience definitely not for claustophobics.  The customer puts his luggage, etc. in lockers and, of course, leaves his (most or all of these hotels are for males only) shoes at the front door and walks through the hotel in hotel-provided slippers and robes.  Some of these hotels also have restaurants, shower and saunas with masseuses, bars, movie rooms, game rooms, pachinko parlors (gambling casinos), and barber shops to cater to the other needs of the customers.  I stayed in several of them while traveling in Japan partly because, other than the reason that they are interesting places, they are  relatively inexpensive places to stay (the other services, other than the saunas, are additional charges).
---
U10 Comment to Allen
Allen, I think that it is appropriate that you include the Peace Corps in your discussion of the funding of education and for people who have served their country since I think that as the world progresses, and if the ultimate objective of military missions are accomplished, then there will be more peaceful situations in which people of various nations can help each other through the exchange of services provided by the Peace Corps, such as teaching, practical, and engineering skills.
When in undergraduate school, I was aware of the Pell grants, and qualified for some in addition to some scholarship awards.  I am wondering if funds are available for graduate courses as most of the financial assistance seems to be for undergraduate courses though you mentioned a tuition reduction for learners pursuing a Master's degree.  Also, you mention a student working for his education and I think general this is thought to be done after intensively educational study since higher educational endeavors usually require a full time commitment of study.
Richard
---
Letter to Callie
Callie,
So that you can read them from your own email box I am sending the attachments for the course projects to you.
Thank you for guiding us through the interesting information in the course.
Richard
U11D1 from schedule
Discussion 11.1:
How much did this course help you to examine and clarify your personal philosophy or educational philosophy?
U11D2 from schedule
Discussion 11.2:

Based on the course material, interactions with other learners, and your thinking and writing for the course, has your personal philosophy or educational philosophy changed in any way? If so, how?
U11D3 from schedule
Discussion 11.3:
a) What were the three most significant areas of learning for you in this course?
b) Share at least one question generated by the course that you would like to investigate further.
U11D4 from schedule
Discussion 11.4:
How has your view of the course topic changed based on the course readings and the interaction with your peers and the instructor?
U11D5 from schedule
Discussion 11.5:
In what ways have you translated the concepts and skills learned in this course to practical, everyday, useful ideas?
U11D6 from schedule
Discussion 11.6:
a) What about this course was the most frustrating?
b) What changes would you recommend?

Below are some notes used in ED7701:

Naturalism (philosophy), in philosophy, a movement affirming that nature is the whole of reality and can be understood only through scientific investigation. Denying the existence of the supernatural and deemphasizing metaphysics, or the study of the ultimate nature of reality, naturalism affirms that cause-and-effect relationships, as in physics and chemistry, are sufficient to account for all phenomena. Teleological conceptions, which suggest design and metaphysical necessity in nature, while not necessarily invalid, are excluded from consideration. The ethical implication, since the naturalist denies any transcendent or supernatural end for humankind, is that values must be found within the social context. It is impossible to determine what is best in an ultimate context, because the ultimate is beyond discovery. Values, therefore, are relative, and ethics is based on custom, inclination, or some form of utilitarianism, the doctrine that what is useful is good.

Naturalism is rooted in British empiricism, the doctrine that all knowledge is derived from experience, and in European positivism, the doctrine that denies any validity to metaphysical speculation. It came to full flower in the late 19th- and 20th-century works of the American philosophers George Santayana, John Dewey, and their followers.
in philosophy, a position that attempts to explain all phenomena and account for all values by means of strictly natural (as opposed to supernatural) categories. The particular meaning of naturalism varies with what is opposed to it. It is usually considered the opposite of idealism </html/i1/idealism.asp> , is sometimes equated with empiricism </html/e1/empirici.asp> or materialism </html/m1/materialsm.asp> , and is not easily distinguished from positivism </html/p1/positivi.asp> . Naturalism limits itself to a search for causes and takes little account of reasons. Naturalism in the broad sense has been maintained in diverse forms by Aristotle, the Cynics, the Stoics, Giordano Bruno, Spinoza, Thomas Hobbes, Auguste Comte, Friedrich Nietzsche, Karl Marx, William James, John Dewey, and Alfred North Whitehead, philosophers who differ widely on specific questions. Some, like Comte and Nietzsche, were professed atheists, while others accepted a god in pantheistic terms. Aristotle, James, and Dewey all attempted to explain phenomena in terms of biological processes of perception; Spinoza and the idealists tended to emphasize metaphysics; later thinkers of all schools have placed emphasis on unifying the scientific viewpoint with an all-encompassing reality. This amalgamation of science and an overall explanation of the universe in naturalistic terms is the source of much of contemporary philosophic thought.
from Encyclopedia.com  Ferreira, J.M. (2003). Columbia Encyclopedia.  New York: Columbia University Press.

PRAGMATISM
Pragmatism, philosophical movement that has had a major impact on American culture from the late 19th century to the present. Pragmatism calls for ideas and theories to be tested in practice, by assessing whether acting upon the idea or theory produces desirable or undesirable results. According to pragmatists, all claims about truth, knowledge, morality, and politics must be tested in this way. Pragmatism has been critical of traditional Western philosophy, especially the notion that there are absolute truths and absolute values. Although pragmatism was popular for a time in France, England, and Italy, most observers believe that it encapsulates an American faith in know-how and practicality and an equally American distrust of abstract theories and ideologies.

II  CHARACTERISTICS OF PRAGMATISM 
Pragmatists regard all theories and institutions as tentative hypotheses and solutions. For this reason they believed that efforts to improve society, through such means as education or politics, must be geared toward problem solving and must be ongoing. Through their emphasis on connecting theory to practice, pragmatist thinkers attempted to transform all areas of philosophy, from metaphysics to ethics and political philosophy.

Pragmatism sought a middle ground between traditional ideas about the nature of reality and radical theories of nihilism and irrationalism, which had become popular in Europe in the late 19th century. Traditional metaphysics assumed that the world has a fixed, intelligible structure and that human beings can know absolute or objective truths about the world and about what constitutes moral behavior. Nihilism and irrationalism, on the other hand, denied those very assumptions and their certitude. Pragmatists today still try to steer a middle course between contemporary offshoots of these two extremes.

The ideas of the pragmatists were considered revolutionary when they first appeared. To some critics, pragmatism’s refusal to affirm any absolutes carried negative implications for society. For example, pragmatists do not believe that a single absolute idea of goodness or justice exists, but rather that these concepts are changeable and depend on the context in which they are being discussed. The absence of these absolutes, critics feared, could result in a decline in moral standards. The pragmatists’ denial of absolutes, moreover, challenged the foundations of religion, government, and schools of thought. As a result, pragmatism influenced developments in psychology, sociology, education, semiotics (the study of signs and symbols), and scientific method, as well as philosophy, cultural criticism, and social reform movements. Various political groups have also drawn on the assumptions of pragmatism, from the progressive movements of the early 20th century to later experiments in social reform.

III  HISTORY 
Pragmatism is best understood in its historical and cultural context. It arose during the late 19th century, a period of rapid scientific advancement typified by the theories of British biologist Charles Darwin, whose theories suggested to many thinkers that humanity and society are in a perpetual state of progress. During this same period a decline in traditional religious beliefs and values accompanied the industrialization and material progress of the time. In consequence it became necessary to rethink fundamental ideas about values, religion, science, community, and individuality.

The three most important pragmatists are American philosophers Charles Sanders Peirce, William James, and John Dewey. Peirce was primarily interested in scientific method and mathematics; his objective was to infuse scientific thinking into philosophy and society, and he believed that human comprehension of reality was becoming ever greater and that human communities were becoming increasingly progressive. Peirce developed pragmatism as a theory of meaning-in particular, the meaning of concepts used in science. The meaning of the concept “brittle,” for example, is given by the observed consequences or properties that objects called “brittle” exhibit. For Peirce, the only rational way to increase knowledge was to form mental habits that would test ideas through observation, experimentation, or what he called inquiry. Many philosophers known as logical positivists, a group of philosophers who have been influenced by Peirce, believed that our evolving species was fated to get ever closer to Truth. Logical positivists emphasize the importance of scientific verification, rejecting the assertion of positivism that personal experience is the basis of true knowledge.

James moved pragmatism in directions that Peirce strongly disliked. He generalized Peirce’s doctrines to encompass all concepts, beliefs, and actions; he also applied pragmatist ideas to truth as well as to meaning. James was primarily interested in showing how systems of morality, religion, and faith could be defended in a scientific civilization. He argued that sentiment, as well as logic, is crucial to rationality and that the great issues of life-morality and religious belief, for example-are leaps of faith. As such, they depend upon what he called “the will to believe” and not merely on scientific evidence, which can never tell us what to do or what is worthwhile. Critics charged James with relativism (the belief that values depend on specific situations) and with crass expediency for proposing that if an idea or action works the way one intends, it must be right. But James can more accurately be described as a pluralist-someone who believes the world to be far too complex for any one philosophy to explain everything.

Dewey’s philosophy can be described as a version of philosophical naturalism, which regards human experience, intelligence, and communities as ever-evolving mechanisms. Using their experience and intelligence, Dewey believed, human beings can solve problems, including social problems, through inquiry. For Dewey, naturalism led to the idea of a democratic society that allows all members to acquire social intelligence and progress both as individuals and as communities. Dewey held that traditional ideas about knowledge, truth, and values, in which absolutes are assumed, are incompatible with a broadly Darwinian worldview in which individuals and society are progressing. In consequence, he felt that these traditional ideas must be discarded or revised. Indeed, for pragmatists, everything people know and do depends on a historical context and is thus tentative rather than absolute.

Many followers and critics of Dewey believe he advocated elitism and social engineering in his philosophical stance. Others think of him as a kind of romantic humanist. Both tendencies are evident in Dewey’s writings, although he aspired to synthesize the two realms.

The pragmatist tradition was revitalized in the 1980s by American philosopher Richard Rorty, who has faced similar charges of elitism for his belief in the relativism of values and his emphasis on the role of the individual in attaining knowledge. Interest has renewed in the classic pragmatists-Pierce, James, and Dewey-as an alternative to Rorty’s interpretation of the tradition.

In an ever changing world, pragmatism has many benefits. It defends social experimentation as a means of improving society, accepts pluralism, and rejects dead dogmas. But a philosophy that offers no final answers or absolutes and that appears vague as a result of trying to harmonize opposites may also be unsatisfactory to some.
Robert Hollinger Microsoft® Encarta® Encyclopedia 2002. © 1993-2001 Microsoft Corporation

Pragmatism , method of philosophy in which the truth of a proposition is measured by its correspondence with experimental results and by its practical outcome. Thought is considered as simply an instrument for supporting the life aims of the human organism and has no real metaphysical significance. Pragmatism stands opposed to doctrines that hold that truth can be reached through deductive reasoning from a priori grounds and insists on the need for inductive investigation and constant empirical verification of hypotheses. There is constant protest against speculation concerning questions that have no application and no verifiable answers. Pragmatism holds that truth is modified as discoveries are made and is relative to the time and place and purpose of inquiry. In its ethical aspect pragmatism holds that knowledge that contributes to human values is real and that values play as essential a role in the choice of means employed in order to attain an end as they do in the choice of the end itself

The philosophy was given its name by C. S. Peirce (c.1872), who developed the principles of pragmatic theory as formal doctrine. He was followed by William James, who held that in vital matters of faith the criterion for acceptance was the will to believe, and who was the key figure in promoting the widespread influence of pragmatism during the 1890s and early 1900s. John Dewey in his works developed the instrumentalist aspects of the doctrine. In Europe, F. C. S. Schiller (1864-1937) and others took up the theory. The succeeding generation of pragmatists included C. I. Lewis (1883-1964), whose conceptual pragmatism involves the application of Kantian principles to the investigation of empirical reality. W. V. O. Quinehas upheld the validity of some a priori knowledge, pointing out that mathematics greatly facilitates scientific research. Richard Rorty has argued that theories are ultimately justified by their instrumentality, or the extent to which they enable people to attain their aims. Pragmatism dominated American philosophy from the 1890s to the 1930s and has reemerged as a significant element in contemporary thought.         from 2001 Columbia Encyclopedia.

Existentialism, philosophical movement or tendency, emphasizing individual existence, freedom, and choice, that influenced many diverse writers in the 19th and 20th centuries.

II  MAJOR THEMES 

Because of the diversity of positions associated with existentialism, the term is impossible to define precisely. Certain themes common to virtually all existentialist writers can, however, be identified. The term itself suggests one major theme: the stress on concrete individual existence and, consequently, on subjectivity, individual freedom, and choice.

A  Moral Individualism 

Most philosophers since Plato have held that the highest ethical good is the same for everyone; insofar as one approaches moral perfection, one resembles other morally perfect individuals. The 19th-century Danish philosopher Srren Kierkegaard, who was the first writer to call himself existential, reacted against this tradition by insisting that the highest good for the individual is to find his or her own unique vocation. As he wrote in his journal, “I must find a truth that is true for me . . . the idea for which I can live or die.” Other existentialist writers have echoed Kierkegaard's belief that one must choose one's own way without the aid of universal, objective standards. Against the traditional view that moral choice involves an objective judgment of right and wrong, existentialists have argued that no objective, rational basis can be found for moral decisions. The 19th-century German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche further contended that the individual must decide which situations are to count as moral situations.

B  Subjectivity 

All existentialists have followed Kierkegaard in stressing the importance of passionate individual action in deciding questions of both morality and truth. They have insisted, accordingly, that personal experience and acting on one's own convictions are essential in arriving at the truth. Thus, the understanding of a situation by someone involved in that situation is superior to that of a detached, objective observer. This emphasis on the perspective of the individual agent has also made existentialists suspicious of systematic reasoning. Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, and other existentialist writers have been deliberately unsystematic in the exposition of their philosophies, preferring to express themselves in aphorisms, dialogues, parables, and other literary forms. Despite their antirationalist position, however, most existentialists cannot be said to be irrationalists in the sense of denying all validity to rational thought. They have held that rational clarity is desirable wherever possible, but that the most important questions in life are not accessible to reason or science. Furthermore, they have argued that even science is not as rational as is commonly supposed. Nietzsche, for instance, asserted that the scientific assumption of an orderly universe is for the most part a useful fiction.

C  Choice and Commitment 

Perhaps the most prominent theme in existentialist writing is that of choice. Humanity's primary distinction, in the view of most existentialists, is the freedom to choose. Existentialists have held that human beings do not have a fixed nature, or essence, as other animals and plants do; each human being makes choices that create his or her own nature. In the formulation of the 20th-century French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre, existence precedes essence. Choice is therefore central to human existence, and it is inescapable; even the refusal to choose is a choice. Freedom of choice entails commitment and responsibility. Because individuals are free to choose their own path, existentialists have argued, they must accept the risk and responsibility of following their commitment wherever it leads.

D  Dread and Anxiety 

Kierkegaard held that it is spiritually crucial to recognize that one experiences not only a fear of specific objects but also a feeling of general apprehension, which he called dread. He interpreted it as God's way of calling each individual to make a commitment to a personally valid way of life. The word anxiety (German Angst) has a similarly crucial role in the work of the 20th-century German philosopher Martin Heidegger; anxiety leads to the individual's confrontation with nothingness and with the impossibility of finding ultimate justification for the choices he or she must make. In the philosophy of Sartre, the word nausea is used for the individual's recognition of the pure contingency of the universe, and the word anguish is used for the recognition of the total freedom of choice that confronts the individual at every moment.

III  HISTORY 

Existentialism as a distinct philosophical and literary movement belongs to the 19th and 20th centuries, but elements of existentialism can be found in the thought (and life) of Socrates, in the Bible, and in the work of many premodern philosophers and writers.

A  Pascal 

The first to anticipate the major concerns of modern existentialism was the 17th-century French philosopher Blaise Pascal. Pascal rejected the rigorous rationalism of his contemporary René Descartes, asserting, in his Pensées (1670), that a systematic philosophy that presumes to explain God and humanity is a form of pride. Like later existentialist writers, he saw human life in terms of paradoxes: The human self, which combines mind and body, is itself a paradox and contradiction.

Kierkegaard, generally regarded as the founder of modern existentialism, reacted against the systematic absolute idealism of the 19th-century German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, who claimed to have worked out a total rational understanding of humanity and history. Kierkegaard, on the contrary, stressed the ambiguity and absurdity of the human situation. The individual's response to this situation must be to live a totally committed life, and this commitment can only be understood by the individual who has made it. The individual therefore must always be prepared to defy the norms of society for the sake of the higher authority of a personally valid way of life. Kierkegaard ultimately advocated a “leap of faith” into a Christian way of life, which, although incomprehensible and full of risk, was the only commitment he believed could save the individual from despair.

Nietzsche, who was not acquainted with the work of Kierkegaard, influenced subsequent existentialist thought through his criticism of traditional metaphysical and moral assumptions and through his espousal of tragic pessimism and the life-affirming individual will that opposes itself to the moral conformity of the majority. In contrast to Kierkegaard, whose attack on conventional morality led him to advocate a radically individualistic Christianity, Nietzsche proclaimed the “death of God” and went on to reject the entire Judeo-Christian moral tradition in favor of a heroic pagan ideal.

Heidegger, like Pascal and Kierkegaard, reacted against an attempt to put philosophy on a conclusive rationalistic basis-in this case the phenomenology of the 20th-century German philosopher Edmund Husserl. Heidegger argued that humanity finds itself in an incomprehensible, indifferent world. Human beings can never hope to understand why they are here; instead, each individual must choose a goal and follow it with passionate conviction, aware of the certainty of death and the ultimate meaninglessness of one's life. Heidegger contributed to existentialist thought an original emphasis on being and ontology (see Metaphysics) as well as on language.
Sartre first gave the term existentialism general currency by using it for his own philosophy and by becoming the leading figure of a distinct movement in France that became internationally influential after World War II. Sartre's philosophy is explicitly atheistic and pessimistic; he declared that human beings require a rational basis for their lives but are unable to achieve one, and thus human life is a “futile passion.” Sartre nevertheless insisted that his existentialism is a form of humanism, and he strongly emphasized human freedom, choice, and responsibility. He eventually tried to reconcile these existentialist concepts with a Marxist analysis of society and history.

Existentialism and Theology:
Although existentialist thought encompasses the uncompromising atheism of Nietzsche and Sartre and the agnosticism of Heidegger, its origin in the intensely religious philosophies of Pascal and Kierkegaard foreshadowed its profound influence on 20th-century theology. The 20th-century German philosopher Karl Jaspers, although he rejected explicit religious doctrines, influenced contemporary theology through his preoccupation with transcendence and the limits of human experience. The German Protestant theologians Paul Tillich and Rudolf Bultmann, the French Roman Catholic theologian Gabriel Marcel, the Russian Orthodox philosopher Nikolay Berdyayev, and the German Jewish philosopher Martin Buber inherited many of Kierkegaard's concerns, especially that a personal sense of authenticity and commitment is essential to religious faith.

Existentialism and Literature:
A number of existentialist philosophers used literary forms to convey their thought, and existentialism has been as vital and as extensive a movement in literature as in philosophy. The 19th-century Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoyevsky is probably the greatest existentialist literary figure. In Notes from the Underground (1864), the alienated antihero rages against the optimistic assumptions of rationalist humanism. The view of human nature that emerges in this and other novels of Dostoyevsky is that it is unpredictable and perversely self-destructive; only Christian love can save humanity from itself, but such love cannot be understood philosophically. As the character Alyosha says in The Brothers Karamazov (1879-80), “We must love life more than the meaning of it.”

In the 20th century, the novels of the Austrian Jewish writer Franz Kafka, such as The Trial (1925; trans. 1937) and The Castle (1926; trans. 1930), present isolated men confronting vast, elusive, menacing bureaucracies; Kafka's themes of anxiety, guilt, and solitude reflect the influence of Kierkegaard, Dostoyevsky, and Nietzsche. The influence of Nietzsche is also discernible in the novels of the French writers André Malraux and in the plays of Sartre. The work of the French writer Albert Camus is usually associated with existentialism because of the prominence in it of such themes as the apparent absurdity and futility of life, the indifference of the universe, and the necessity of engagement in a just cause. Existentialist themes are also reflected in the theater of the absurd, notably in the plays of Samuel Beckett and EugPne Ionesco. In the United States, the influence of existentialism on literature has been more indirect and diffuse, but traces of Kierkegaard's thought can be found in the novels of Walker Percy and John Updike, and various existentialist themes are apparent in the work of such diverse writers as Norman Mailer, John Barth, and Arthur Miller.
	by Hubert L. Dreyfus Microsoft® Encarta® Encyclopedia 2002. © 1993-2001 Microsoft Corporation.
any of several philosophic systems, all centered on the individual and his relationship to the universe or to God. Important existentialists of varying and conflicting thought are Srren Kierkegaard, Karl Jaspers, Martin Heidegger, Gabriel Marcel, and Jean-Paul Sartre. All revolt against the traditional metaphysical approaches to man and his place in the universe. Thinkers such as St. Thomas Aquinas, Blaise Pascal, and Friedrich Nietzsche have been called existentialists, but it is more accurate to place the beginnings of the movement with Kierkegaard. In his concern with the problem of the individual’s relationship to God, Kierkegaard bitterly attacked the abstract metaphysics of the Hegelians and the worldly complacency of the Danish church. Kierkegaard’s fundamental insight was the recognition of the concrete ethical and religious demands confronting the individual. He saw that these demands could not be met by a merely intellectual decision but required the subjective commitment of the individual. The necessity and seriousness of these ethical decisions facing man was for Kierkegaard the source of his dread and despair. Kierkegaard’s analysis of the human situation provides the central theme of contemporary existentialism. Following him, Heidegger and Sartre were the major thinkers connected with this movement. Both were influenced by the work of Edmund Husserl and developed a phenomenological method that they used in developing their own existential analyses. Heidegger rejected the label of “existentialist” and described his own philosophy as an investigation of the nature of being in which the analysis of human existence is only the first step. Sartre was the only self-declared existentialist among the major thinkers. For him the central idea of all existential thought is that existence precedes essence. For Sartre there is no God and therefore no fixed human nature that forces one to act. Man is totally free and entirely responsible for what he makes of himself. It is this freedom and responsibility that, as for Kierkegaard, is the source of man’s dread. Sartre’s thought, as expressed in his novels and plays as well as in his more formal philosophical writings, strongly influenced a current in French literature, best represented by Albert Camus and Simone de Beauvoir. In France the most prominent exponent of a Christian existentialism was Gabriel Marcel, who developed his philosophy within the framework of the Roman Catholic Church. Aside from Heidegger, the leading German existentialist was Karl Jaspers, who developed the central Kierkegaardian insight along less theological lines. Various other theologians and religious thinkers such as Karl Barth, Martin Buber, Paul Tillich, and Reinhold Niebuhr are often included within the orbit of existentialism.        < from 2001 Columbia encyclopedia online.>
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