ED 8111 – The History of Education and Societal Change -- Discussions

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At the beginning of your posting, state which criteria and standards (e.g., Proficient, Distinguished) you intend to meet with your answer. You may select the criteria from any table that you believe is applicable. If your instructor selects the criteria, you may use those and state what standards you intend to meet. However, you are still free to select your own criteria and standards.
Describe your choice of education level for this course. Discuss your background and your interest and invite others with similar interests to share their views with you. Begin to share with your colleagues the issues and/or problems for which you will explore history and socio-cultural foundations at your education level. Build upon what you discovered in Action Activities 1.2 and 1.3.
Remember to compose your posting first in your POJ and then edit it for inclusion in the CourseRoom

U1/D1 a) the socio-cultural perspective, b) factors in socio-cultural analysis, and c) pitfalls in socio-cultural analysis

This is the goal of my writing throughout the course that I hope I will be able to achieve:

1. Integration/synthesis of concepts and principles: Proficient to Distinquished
2. Applications, personal/professional examples: Proficient to Distinquished
3. Appropriate citations:Proficient to Distinquished
4. Writing standards: Proficient to Distinquished
5. Timeliness: Proficient

At the school where I am now I am involved in the K-12 levels, and, even though I enjoy their energy and enthusiam as well as the interaction with them and watching them fill their tabula rasae, I am interested in getting involved again in the post-secondary side of education as I was in Xi'an, Istanbul, Tokyo, and Seoul primarily because I can communicate with the students on a more adult level. Also, idealistically speaking, I believe that educated and communicating adults will help make a more understanding and peaceful world where rationality of the mind, rather than bombs, are used to solve problems.

I have listed below the areas of interest to me to study both the socio-cultural and the historical factors of education in the K-12 and the post-secondary levels (though the post-secondary level is probably what I will do the Course Project on).

K-12:

1. child development

2. language development

3. visual language

4. "edutainment" and use of multimedia

5. discipline, concentration, interest

6. understanding of abstract concepts

Post-secondary:

1. language skills

2. cultural differences

3. economics

4. arts and sciences

5. politics and democracy

6. practical or applied knowledge

As I have discussed more in depth in Discussion 2 of this unit, the socio-cultural aspects as well as the historical analyses of education are culturally relative and involve the arts and sciences as well as the values, emotions, and traditions of a society and also the basics of food, clothing, and shelter all of which are interrelated --with the economy and the social, educational, and political systems of a society.

Harris, Marvin. (1979). Cultural Materialism: The Struggle for a Science of culture. New York: Random House

Boorstin, D. (1974). The Americans: The democratic experience. New York: Vintage Books, Random House.

Egan, K. (2002). Getting it wrong from the beginning: Our progressivist inheritance from Herbert Spencer, John Dewey, and Jean Piaget. Hartford, CT: Yale University Press.

Ravitch, D., & Viteritte, J. (Eds.). (1999). New Schools for a New Century: The Redesign of Urban Education. Hartford, CT: Yale University Press.

Soo, Kyung Lim. Cultural Materialism. Retrieved October 8, 2003 from http://www.indiana.edu/~wanthro/mater.htm#bib

Vernon Lee Sheeley, Historical Research Methods. Retrieved October 8, 2003 from http://ericcass.uncg.edu/research/sheeley.htmll

To promote online voting in schools:

democracy clubs elementary, high school, university, and community

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Standardized Testing response to U1/D1 Brian Campbell

I think standardized tests are essential and necessary in assessing the skills of large numbers of people. The only way to determine certain levels of abilities or skills of large groups of people is to give everyone the same tests. Of course, there are problems associated with the tests. One is the cultural relativism of the tests which gives certain groups initial and perhaps unfair advantages. Another is that some test takers take courses to develop skills only for taking those sorts of tests so that people who are not privy to such courses are at a disadvantage. The other is that the tests usually occur during a short period of time yet assess a lifetime of acheivement in a snapshot fashion (perhaps they could be given sequentially in approximately yearly time spans). Another is that they don't assess creativity though I have heard that the SAT has added an essay section to assess writing ability. Also, maybe other sections could be added to the the verbal, mathematical, and analytical evaluations since I think that a test score or an intellegence test should resemble a three dimensional mountain range with peaks and valleys in various skill areas.

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The factors of socio-cultural analysis integrate and incorporate the environment, culture, and society to determine how best to facilitate plans for a better society through education. The physical and sociological reality of society is represented by cultural materialism which consists of three levels: superstructure, structure, infrastructure.

In cultural materialism, the infrastructure consists of modes of production (i.e. food production) and modes of reproduction (population control). The structure level involves domestic economy (i.e. micro economics) and political economy (i.e. macro economics). The superstructure level involves behavior (i.e. art, music, dance, literature, advertising, rituals, sports, games, hobbies,and science) and mentality (i.e. values, emotions, traditions) (Harris, 1979).

Other descriptions the socio-cultural foundations include Steward's cultural ecology, Marx's socialism or historical materialism, Skinner's behavioral psychology and reductionism, Hegel's dialectic materialism, Darwin's theory of evolution, Freud's theory of human psychology, Smith's capitalism, Schopenhauer's will and idea, Plato's rationalism, Aristotle's empiricism, White's cultural evolution, and Sartre's existentialism, to name a few.

Concerning the historical analysis of education, the methods that knowledge (in "Education Research" of 2003, the four areas of knowledge are listed as description, prediction, improvement, and explanation) is discovered or created can include accidental discoveries (Madame Curie and Radium, photography, etc.) as well as the use of the scientific method (hypothesis, experimentation, exploration, documentation, analysis, evaluation), reading, research and development, experimentation, experience, spiritualism, planned searches, introspection and inspiration, and intuition and creativity.
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U1/D2 a) the socio-cultural perspective, b) factors in socio-cultural analysis, and c) pitfalls in socio-cultural analysis

The factors of socio-cultural analysis integrate and incorporate the environment, culture, and society to determine how best to facilitate plans for a better society through education. The physical and sociological model of society is represented by cultural materialism which consists of three levels: superstructure, structure, infrastructure (Harris, 1968).

In cultural materialism, the infrastructure consists of modes of production (i.e. food production) and modes of reproduction (population control). The structure level involves domestic economy (i.e. micro economics) and political economy (i.e. macro economics). The superstructure level involves behavior (i.e. art, music, dance, literature, advertising, rituals, sports, games, hobbies,and science) and mentality (i.e. values, emotions, traditions) (Harris, 1979).

Other descriptions of the socio-cultural foundations include Steward's cultural ecology, Marx's socialism or historical materialism, Skinner's behavioral psychology and reductionism, Hegel's dialectic materialism, Darwin's theory of evolution, Freud's theory of human psychology, Smith's capitalism, Schopenhauer's will and idea, Plato's rationalism, Aristotle's empiricism, White's cultural evolution, and Sartre's existentialism, to name a few.

Concerning the historical analysis of education, the methods that knowledge (in "Education Research" of 2003, the four areas of knowledge are listed as description, prediction, improvement, and explanation) is discovered or created can include accidental discoveries (Madame Curie and Radium, photography, etc.) as well as the use of the scientific method (hypothesis, experimentation, exploration, documentation, analysis, evaluation), reading, research and development, experimentation, experience, exploration, spiritualism, planned searches, introspection and inspiration, and intuition and creativity.

The problem with any study of history is that history is generally written by the victors so getting a well-rounded description of what really occurred can be difficult. Using quantitative and qualitative techniques to determine what occurred, and when, is based on recorded information that the researcher assumes is true. Historical research involves examining past events and, not only the facts, dates, and descriptions of those events, but also the interpretation of what occurred. According to Berg (1998) the reasons to pursue historical analysis is to uncover the unknown, answer questions, determine the relationship of the present to the past, record accomplishments of individuals and groups, to better understand our own culture as well as others' cultures, and by making life better for everyone today by understanding the past and not repeating the mistakes of the past.

Also, another difficulty with both historical and socio-cultural studies are the subjective/objective issues. Since all human perceptions are based on cultural relativism, finding unbiased interpretations of historical occurances and socio-cultural factors is not possible even if all of the research data and statistics are accurate.

Here is the beginning of a developing reference bibliography that can be used during the course of ED 8111:

Educational Historical Research:

Vernon Lee Sheeley, Historical Research Methods. Retrieved October 8, 2003 from http://ericcass.uncg.edu/research/sheeley.html

Digital History. Retrieved October 8, 2003 from http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/index.cfm?

Arhs.net search engine and directory. Retrieved October 8, 2003 from http://www.arhs.net/related/historical+research

Other data bases for historical research. Retrieved October 8, 2003 from http://www.rhd.uit.no/nhdc/bases.html,

Historical Research and Resources in the Digital Age: Libraries and Institutional Cooperation. Retrieved October 8, 2003 from http://www.h-
net.msu.edu/aha/1999/papers/CronkandSmith.html

What is Historical Research? Retrieved October 8, 2003 from http://www.southalabama.edu/coe/bset/johnson/lectures/ch12.PDF

Courtland State University of New York. Retrieved October 8, 2003 from http://www.cortland.edu/history/research.html

Hansot, E. & Tyack, D. (1982). A usable past: Using history in educational policy, in A. Liberman & M. McLaughlin (Eds.), Policy making in education: Eighty-first yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education, (pp. 1-22). Chicago: The National Society for the Study of Education.

Finkelstein, B. (1992). Education historians as mythmakers, in G. Grant (ed.). Review of research in education, 18 (pp. 255-297). Washington, DC: American Educational Research Association.

Warren, D. (1990). The federal interest: On the history of educational reform in the United States, in J. Murphy (ed.). The Educational Reform Movement of the 1980s: Perspectives and Cases. Berkeley: McCutchan.

Socio-cultural analysis:

Guidelines for Socio-cultural Analysis. Retrieved October 8, 2003 from http://www.iadb.org/sds/doc/IND-JRenshawE.PDF

Socio-Cultural Analysis. Retrieved October 8, 2003 from http://filebox.vt.edu/business/marketing/bao/MKTG4704/im7-11.PDF

Scholar register. Retrieved October 8, 2003 from http://www.adm.u-
tokyo.ac.jp/IRS/ScholarList/ByFunction/func6953_e.html, Scholar register

Socio-cultural Theory and its Applications to Educational Practice and Research. Retrieved October 8, 2003 from http://www.oise.utoronto.ca/~gwells/SocCult.html

Soo, Kyung Lim. Cultural Materialism. Retrieved October 8, 2003 from http://www.indiana.edu/~wanthro/mater.htm

Cultural Materialism: The Struggle for a Science of Culture. (1979). New York: Random House.

Encyclopedia of Cultural Anthropology. (1996). New York: H. Holt and Company

Cultural Anthropology. (1995). 4th ed. New York: Harper Collins College Publishers

Murphy, Martin F. and Maxine L. Margolis, Eds.(1995). Science, Materialism, and the Study of Culture. Gainesville: Univ. Press of Florida.

Harris, Marvin. (1968). The Rise of Anthropological Theory. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell.

Harris, Marvin. (1979). Cultural Materialism: The Struggle for a Science of culture. New York: Random House.

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Response to David Parham U1/D2

In response to your statement: "The main pitfall in historical research is not collecting enough information on the event in order to view events with an unbiased eye. We must base our final conclusions on a solid collection of facts obtained mainly from reliable primary sources. Secondary sources can at times exhibit writer bias depending on the writer's purpose for writing."

Objectivity, I think, is largely a myth when human interpretation and analysis is involved. Anytime there is an assessment made, or an opinion developed, about anything, it is done from a subjective, biased view based on past experiences, values, traditions, education, semantics, rational and emotional considerations, quantitative and qualitative aspects, societal and political considerations, etc. Even the terms "good" and "bad" have relative meanings depending on who is subjectively doing the perceiving (i.e. beauty is in the eye of the beholder). All words have agreed upon meanings based on qualitative and quantitative considerations. So for these reasons, determining and assessing historical or socio-cultural accuracies are, at best, just approximations.

Response to Dr. Sabet U1/D2

As I consider your question about the scientific method concerning the relationship between subjectivity and objectivity, I think the degree of scientific accuracy depends on quantitative and qualitative factors: the more quantitative factors that are involved then the more objective and less subjective a conclusion will be and the more qualitative factors are involved then the less objective and more subjective a conclusion will be. To illustrate the effectiveness of the use of objective and subjective factors for sociological evaluation in the social sciences and humanities, we can use a sports analogy: in a sprint race the factors of time and the first participant to cross the finish line determine the winner of the race so the results involve more quantitative criteria and objectivity, whereas in judged competitions, such as a gymnastics or dance events, the results involve more qualitative criteria and subjectivity.

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for discussion U2/D1 D2: taken from ED 5006

from Michelle:

The great debate:
Positivist vs. postpositivist.
Qualitative vs. quantitative.
Existential vs. reality therapy.
Behavioral learning vs. constructivist learning.

"Of all of the above mentioned methods of discovering and acquiring knowledge, I think the most unusual or hardest to understand is knowledge derived from intuition and creativity."
That falls perfectly in line with information I found online about how knowledge is created by people. There are five ways (Weldon, 2002):
1. Experiential
2. Traditional (advice, rules, etc)
3. Authoritarian (experts in the field)
4. Experimental (scientific approach)
5. Revelational

Retrieved on October 15, 2003 from www.ucsb.edu/IC/Resources/Collab-L/xxx.html <http://id-
www.ucsb.edu/IC/Resources/Collab-L/xxx.html> :

Cooperative Learning is a specific type of small group learning which has the following five essential elements:

1. Positive Interdependence 2. face-to-face Interaction 3. Individual Accountability (Personal Responsibility) 4. Structured Activitiy 5. Teamwork Skills and Group Processing

In Adult Education for Social Change: From Center Stage to the Wings and Back Again, Thomas Heaney views adult education as Participatory Action Research and as a tool for social change where educational progressivism is a project for modern times. " '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 decisions. 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" (p. 4), each person can, as a result of education, find their niche, based on their abilities and merits, within a democratic society.

Jack Mezirow, at the Commission of Professors of Adult Education and the American Association of Adult and Continuing Education, wanted to "reclaim the once vital role of the adult education movement during the 30's, 40's, and 50's in fostering democratic social action". He was a believer in "transformative change" which I think is another way of expressing the goals and methods of participatory action research.

Miles Horton makes the realistic observation that "we have repeatedly found that education alone cannot counteract the influence of the establishment on individuals." So all of the influences of upbringing, society, tradition, etc. cannot be altered only by educational classroom instruction though, over time, the educational influence can have its effects (i.e. creationism vs. evolution). Horton believed that action speaks louder than words and as a result of that philosophy founded the Highlander Folk School in 1932, a school that had among its participants many of the facilitators of the civil rights movement. His primary goals in creating the school were to make possible democratic control over people's lives and to encourage the participants to help society to move progressively forward.

Paulo Freire found that adults learned to read much more quickly if there was political significance to what they were learning or in other words practical applications of their new skill. So education would actually succeed more effectively in oppressive situations if the reward for the newfound knowledge was non-oppression. His "pedagogy of the oppressed" was adopted by the "grass roots" adult teachers who applied the principles to help create a more democratic society facilitated by the adult learners. The article mentions that funding can be a problem with the Freire type projects since the funding would usually come from institutions outside of the society that the educational system is trying to help change.

I think my Action Plan is closely connected with the ideas expressed by Heaney, Horton, Freire, and Mezirow since their approach is to empower the populace through education in order to create a democratic society. In my Action Plan the idea and implementation of a direct democracy in the United States on the national, state, and local levels is discussed. It is necessary to have an educated public in order to have a direct democracy work efficiently so democracy is dependent the educational system to survive and prosper.

U2/D1

This is the goal of my writing throughout the course:

1. Integration/synthesis of concepts and principles: Proficient to Distinquished
2. Applications, personal/professional examples: Proficient to Distinquished
3. Appropriate citations:Proficient to Distinquished
4. Writing standards: Proficient to Distinquished
5. Timeliness: Proficient

One problem within the educational system involves political philosophy: if most societies are called democratic then why don't the people govern the country by voting directly and democratically on issues rather than voting only for representatives who can then vote any way they choose after they are elected? 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 introduced to them and how can they become directly involved in the execution of democratically determined plans?

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 the modern 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 decisions. 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" (p. 4), 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. It is necessary to have an educated public in order to have a direct democracy work efficiently so democracy is dependent the educational system to survive and prosper.

This is an important issue because how people live and how they are governed is what government, and indeed life, is all about and since all people want to live under democratic systems then they should be allowed, utilizing computer and Internet technology, to determine their laws and rule themselves.

The historical analysis of educational issues as related to democracy can involve discussions of the concept and history of democracy and democratic methods that have been used throughout history. Discussions can involve forms of education throughout history as well as how democracy has been implemented throughout history and its relationship to current educational issues. The discussions can involve forms of education throughout history as related to current educational issues and problems as influenced by the educational philosophies of Herbert Spencer, John Dewey, and Jean Piaget. The socio-cultural analysis can compare various societies and traditional cultures and how they have adapted to the principles of democracy as well as current socio-cultural and economic concerns. Historical and socio-cultural analyses of the educational system and its relationship to democracy can involve issues such as funding, curriculum, testing, traditional cultures, McDonaldization, globalization, standardization, capitalization, commercialization, and transience.

The changes in societies brought on by social movements and technologies, which are blurring the boundaries between nations and ideologies, and the use of planned social change using the components of agents, targets, and methods as well as the empirical-rational, normative-
reeducative, and power-coercive change stategies used in affecting societal change can be explored in relation to the historical and socio-cultural analysis of issue of the democratization of society and the educational system.

References:

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

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

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

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U2D1 response to Jennifer Maynardu

In The First Days of School by Harry K. and Rosemary Wong , classroom management is listed as the most important foundation to an effective class season since without discipline and classroom control nothing else can be accomplished. On the first days the rules should be established and any rewards and punishments are made clear.

Wong, Harry K and Rosemary. (1998). The First Days of School. Mountain View, CA: Harry K. Wong Publications, Inc.

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U2D2 Educational Philosophies

Causes of cultural socialization in learning environments can include peer, parental, and societal pressures as well as intelligence and personality types and the socio-cultural and socio-economic backgrounds of the students, teachers, and educational institutions. Indicators can include tests, knowledge, academic performance, and the student's integration into society and the students's overall satisfaction and performance.

As they pertain to education, socio-cultural factors can include cultural ecology, genetics, biology, physics, socialism, capitalism, economics, historical materialism, behavioralism, reductionism, dialectic materialism, evolution, psychology, behavioralism, determinism, rationalism, empiricism, cultural evolution, and existentialism.

Learning theory involves the cognitive faculties of the mind which involve the physical functioning of the brain, the introduction of the objective external stimuli as subjectively perceived through the senses, and the environmental factors which are conducive to learning. The various educational philosophies can include the following:

Positivist vs. postpositivist education
Qualitative vs. quantitative analyses
Creativity vs. memorization methods
Behaviorist learning vs. constructivist learning

Postmodern vs. establishment education

Subjective vs. objective knowledge

Empirical vs. rational knowledge

Free form vs. highly structured and disciplined curriculae

Exploratory learning vs. curriculum based

Student centered vs. teacher centered education

Nature based vs. high technology based education

Nontraditional vs. traditional education

Manual vs. computer based education

Home study vs. institutional education

Online vs. classroom education

References:

Boorstin, Daniel J. (1974). The Americans: The Democratic Experience. New York: Vintage Books, Random House.

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

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

Socio-Cultural Analysis. Retrieved October 8, 2003 from http://filebox.vt.edu/business/marketing/bao/MKTG4704/im7-11.PDF.

Socio-cultural Theory and its Applications to Educational Practice and Research. Retrieved October 8, 2003 from http://www.oise.utoronto.ca/~gwells/SocCult.html. c

---POJ Action and Study Activities

AA1.1 Choose an education level from the three (K-12; post-secondary or higher education; or adult or continuing education) listed in the Introduction. This education level is the one from which your perspective in the course will be drawn and toward which all of your historical and socio-cultural analyses will be directed. Write in your POJ the reasons for your choice. Describe what background you have in that level of education and write in your POJ what it is about that level that makes you want to study its history and socio-cultural development.
List five issues and/or problems of that level of education that you think are worthy of your study during this course and that have a history or socio-cultural foundation that you believe is important

AA 1.2 Carry out an Internet search for materials relating to the nature of historical research and how it is carried out. Select three sources.
Note that excellent sources for your Internet searches include Google and Dogpile. In addition, you can search the Capella University Library eBook Collection.
Try inserting the search term "historical research" in the "full text" box.
In your POJ, write two paragraphs based on your reading about a) the historical perspective, b) sources of historical information, and c) pitfalls in historical research.

AA 1.3 Carry out an Internet search for materials relating to socio-cultural analysis and how it is carried out. Select three sources.
In your POJ, write two paragraphs based on your reading about a) the socio-cultural perspective, b) factors in socio-cultural analysis, and c) pitfalls in socio-cultural analysis.
Prepare an entry in your POJ based on your search and analysis. The information will be used in the discussion questionsAA 2.1 Interview a senior colleague at your organization or institution. Ask for his or her their views about the most important educational issues and problems of TODAY. Focus with him or her on current issues that need resolution or on current problems that need solving, today or in the future.
Select ONE issue or problem that you agree will be worthy of your focused study for the rest of the class. Remember ? this course is about thinking historically and socio-culturally about CURRENT educational issues and problems with a view to asking, "How did they get this way?"
Issues or problems such as academic freedom, vouchers, teacher training, grading, unionization of teachers, racism in the schools, urban education, and distance education are among the many candidates for your choice. Add to this list any that you believe could also be addressed.
Remember that you are to choose only ONE on which to focus your attention for the remainder of the course.
Write up the results of your interview and your own choice of issue in your POJ.

AA 3.1 At your own institution, find a source (e. g., manuals, handbooks, laws and regulations, Intranet descriptions) that describes the management structure and that defines the roles of faculty, students, and administrators. Examine that source for information about how the management structure of your institution developed and about the social values that its structure supports. Try to find connections in the material that will cast light on the issue that you have chosen to analyze

AA 3.2 Carry out an Internet search for materials relating to the organizational structure and management dimensions of the educational issue that you have chosen. Select three sources that provide relevant information on this issue.
In your POJ, write two paragraphs based on your reading of the materials about a) one important historical instance that illustrates the management dimension of your issue, b) the quality of the sources of historical information you found regarding your issue, and c) one important socio-
cultural influence that affected the development of faculty, student, and administrative roles in relation to your issue.
You will use your search and analysis to prepare a posting to the CourseRoom

AA 4.1 Find ONE other learner in the course whose issue and/or education level is close enough to yours so that you both can work together as a dyad (a 2-person team). Use your analysis of previous postings and your review of the Profiles to make your choice. Communicate by telephone or by email to establish your working relationship, then carry out Activity 4.2 together.

AA 5.1 Consider the institution or institutional level that you have chosen for this course and the issue that has become the focus of your inquiry. Place yourself as an educator (administrator, faculty, or even student) in ONE of the disruptive eras in American history. In your POJ, describe how you probably reacted to situations related to your issue that arose during the era you have chosen, and suggest what aspects of that era were disruptive to education.

AA 5.2 Carry out an Internet search for materials relating to one example of societal disruption that directly affected education at the level you have chosen.
Select from your search three sources that provide relevant information on your issue that can be incorporated into your research on the subject.
In your POJ, write two paragraphs based on your reading of those materials about a) the way the disruption in society influenced or affected education, b) the quality of the sources of historical information you found regarding the societal disruption, and c) one important socio-cultural influence that the disruption involved and that affected education at your level.
Prepare a posting to the CourseRoom based on your search and analysis

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U2D2 response to David Parham

This would probably be controversial, but if there are standardized tests should their be standardized text books and standardized teaching plans? That way all of the test takers would be to the same information prior to taking the standardized tests.

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U3D1

Throughout the course my goal is to meet the criteria for writing from proficient to distinguished.

Last year when I taught in China the curriculum and textbooks, as one might expect, originated from the centralized Chinese government. The organizational structure there is bureaucratic, centralized, and organized with orders originating from the upper echelon to be dispersed to all of the connecting institutions below in the structural hierarchy (from top to bottom or a vertical structure). The teachers are meant to dispense the government approved information and the student is meant to memorize the information whether they understand the information or not.

In what is called western culture, the organizational structure and its management has evolved along other lines. The philosophical influences on education of Herbert Spencer, John Dewey, and Jean Piaget and others as well as the historical and socio-cultural influences of socialism, capitalism, economics, behaviorism, reductionism, behaviorism, determinism, rationalism, empiricism, cultural evolution, and existentialism have produced a more decentralized educational system in the western world with a more horizontal, rather than vertical, management style and a more student-centered approach to education.

To borrow a quote from Dr. Sabet to illustrate the difference between the Chinese and the "western" approach to education and management structure, in the western cultures "the primary objective of educational leadership at all levels is to release the creative power of the individuals and encourage universal participation in consultation and decision-making. Effective leadership maintains a balance between centralization and decentralization. Centralization is necessary for direction and coordination. Decentralization is necessary for innovation and development. Excessive centralization results in unwarranted bureaucracy while excessive decentralization results in anarchy." (Sabet, 2003). In the western world there is a premium attached to self-
fulfillment and creativity, reasoning, and understanding whereas in the authoritarian methods there is more importance placed on obedience, loyalty, and sacrifice to the group's requirements.

Now that I am teaching in Taiwan, I still experience the sometimes frustratingly bureaucratic approach to education but I am teaching in a private language school which was begun by some Americans in Taiwan (the first school where I taught was licensed by an American company but after the school became a very large the local owners broke away from the parent institution to become an independently owned school) and teaches using a school produced curriculum for the young students and for the older students, beginning at about the third grade, the curriculum is based on the Calvert system from Baltimore and Hunt Valley, Maryland, which began as a system to be used by parents for home schooling and which covers all subject areas. The system in Taiwan is more westernized than in China so the management structure of the schools is here somewhere between centralized and decentralized.

I mentioned the private as opposed to the public educational institutions because the management and organizational style of the former is more autocratic, decentralized, independent, and student centered whereas the style of the latter is more democratic, centralized, dependent, and institution centered. Within the educational field there seems to now be a shift from the centralized management system toward the decentralized local school-based management system.

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response to Maria Sorry for the late response but I have traveled there but I have not taught in Europe. I would guess that in Eastern Europe and in Germany the school systems would be stricter and more disciplined as well as centrally controlled whereas in Western Europe or the European Union the system would be more decentralized and geared toward the student. France and England were where the philosophies for the American Revolution came from with importance placed on individual freedoms and expression as described by authors such as Locke, Rousseau, Montesquieu, etc.

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response to Ashley

I have never thought that much about unions having never been in one but after some of the difficulties I have had in private institutions in foreign countries I can see the need for them when an employee is not being dealt with ethically, etc. because one person against a giant business or corporation is usually helpless unless they are involved in a larger organization such as a union ("in unity there is strength" from "The Bundle of Sticks" in Aesop's Fables).

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U3D2

a. Demonstrate knowledge of historical trends in the roles of teachers, students, and administrators in various levels of education. (1a)
b. Demonstrate ability to describe the roles and responsibilities of two selected educational constituencies in a specific historical period. (1c)
c. Demonstrate ability to communicate knowledge of historical trends and socio-cultural influences to peer learners. (2b)
d. Describe a variety of techniques for assessing student learning, and defend the need for a multiple technique approach to student learning assessment. (12b)
Using the material you drafted in your POJ regarding the subject matter of this unit, post your analyses to the CourseRoom, and explain how they show evidence of your having demonstrated the unit competencies. This posting will be used as you see fit in the construction of your Course Project

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a. Demonstrate knowledge of historical trends in the roles of teachers, students, and administrators in various levels of education.

In the historical development of educational procedures, very early education involved transferring information verbally to family or tribal members. As civilization and writing developed, the transmission of information began to become systematized, first in small villages and communities, then through larger groups and institutions. As learning became more standardized, education was first administered locally and was community based and then in larger settings the administration of education became more centralized and curricula and institution based and as a result became more and more authoritarian. Now the shift is back again, from beginning with school based management in the early development of educational procedures to authoritarian/centralized procedures, to school based management in primary, secondary, and higher education. The roles of teachers, students, and administrators as well as parents and community members have mostly shifted from institution and teacher based to student based perspectives in the various levels of education.
b. Demonstrate ability to describe the roles and responsibilities of two selected educational constituencies in a specific historical period.

In today's educational system the roles of the educational constituencies (teachers, authors, conceptualizers, students, and administrators as well as parents and community members) have, as mentioned above, changed from centralized/institution/teacher based to decentralized/curricula/student based priorities which places more of the responsibilities on the parents and students.

c. Demonstrate ability to communicate knowledge of historical trends and socio-cultural influences to peer learners.

The shift from centralized to the more decentralized and from authoritarian to the student-
centered approach of today is a result of the influences of several people and philosophers of education including Herbert Spencer, John Dewey, and Jean Piaget. Spencer was a proponent of social darwinism maintaining that the individual progressed in stages comparable to species evolution and learned in similarly progressive evolutionary stages. Dewey thought that instruction should be non-authoritarian since the purpose of education is to prepare the student to function and participate within a democratic society. His learning methods were activity based rather than curricula based and his ideas were and inspiration for the progressivists' philosophy of education. He thought that truth is empirically provable in practical experience and that thinking is merely a way of action planning. Piaget, a Swiss psychologist, charted child development in four stages: 1. the sensorimotor stage from birth to age two when motor skills are developed 2. the preoperational stage from ages 2 to 7 for verbal skills 3. the concrete operational stage from ages 7 to 12 for abstract concepts such as mathematics 4. the formal operational stage from ages 12 to 15 when the child starts to reason logically.

When one adds these influences to the previously mentioned historical and socio-cultural factors, such as cultural ecology, genetics, biology, physics, socialism, capitalism, economics, historical materialism, behaviorism, reductionism, dialectic materialism, evolution, psychology, behaviorism, determinism, rationalism, empiricism, cultural evolution, and existentialism, the resulting combination produces today's educational philosophies.

d. Describe a variety of techniques for assessing student learning, and defend the need for a multiple technique approach to student learning assessment.

There are numerous ways to assess the extent of student learning including standardized tests, teacher created tests, community created tests, peer review, and teacher and staff review. There are many types of tests including spelling and vocabulary tests, tests for concept understanding, memorization, creativity, interest and ability, multiple choice, fill-in-the-blank, essays, term papers, planned for and surprise quizzes, all subject areas tests, and verbal/mathematical/analytical tests.

I think there is a need for a multiple technique approach to student learning assessment since, as I have mentioned before, I think intelligence, skills, or knowledge can be conveyed by, rather than a single score, a collection of scores to represent intelligence with the result resembling a mountain range with peaks and valleys in the various skills areas.

References:

Boorstin, Daniel J. (1974). The Americans: The Democratic Experience. New York: Vintage Books, Random House.

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

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

---

response to Jennifer:

Here is a helpful book concerning classroom management:

Wong, Harry K., and Rosemary T. (1998). The First Days of School. Mountain View, CA: Harry K. Wong Publications, Inc.

One of the quotes in the book:

"You manage a classroom; you don't discipline a classroom."

---

U3 Dyad project

My project idea involves direct democracy, online voting, and the use of the educational system to prepare citizens for this idea

---

Pati,

Maybe I should have acted sooner but after reading again through the descriptions of Unit 2 Discussion 1, it seems that your area of interest was the most similar to mine, though I see you have the interests that are nearest to mine (establishing the means for a direct democracy utilizing e-voting via the Internet). This would involve educating the, mostly, adult students in the idea so that they can participate more directly in the democratic processes. Educationally, this would involve discussions of the philosophy and history of democracy and also instruction as to how to use the computer for that purpose.

I know that you are teamed up with Mavis but perhaps there could be a triad if that is not too confusing.

----

Mavis,

After looking up your bio and your U2D1 discussion I thought what you are doing would fit with what I was thinking of doing research on (I know that you are in a dyad conversation with Pati -- I looked up her bio and U2D1 discussion also and thought her interests would also be compatible with my research idea). My research idea involves creating an environment for a direct democracy by utilizing e-voting via the Internet. This would involve educating the, mostly, adult students in the idea so that they can participate more directly in the democratic processes. Educationally, this would involve discussions of the philosophy and history of democracy and also instruction as to how to use the computer for that purpose.

I think it would be alright with Dr. Sabet if we had a triad if you agree to that. I don't think it would be a "three's a crowd" or a "menage a trois" situation but instead there could be some useful information exchanged.

I'll send you some attachments for you to read concerning the idea.

Please let me know what you think,

Richard Bloodworth

---

to Dr Sabet concerning triad

Hello Dr. Sabet,

Since their interests most closely match mine and since there is an odd number of students, would it be alright if I joined a triad with Pati and Mavis? I have already contacted both of them and the both of them agreed to the idea.

Also, one question I have for you is: what do the numbers and letters within parentheses that are at the end of the unit discussion sentences refer to?

For example:

a. Document the importance of family and parent involvement in education. (At the adult and higher education level, this refers to community involvement). (1e)

What does the "(1e)" refer to?

Thank you for your help.

Sincerely,

Richard Bloodworth

---

Historical and socio-cultural analyses of major educational trends and issues. for U4D1

from Pati:

"collaborative learning values the role of conversation in learning, maintaining that mastery of a knowledge community's normal discourse is the basic qualification for acceptance into that community, and that the only way students can begin to gain access to that community is not through their own teachers interpretation, but through experimentation with the discourse among their peers" (Knoll).

Moreover, collaborative learning encourages critical thinking. According to R. T. and D. W. Johnson the collaborative experience not only enhances interest among students but also promotes critical thinking. Johnson suggests that "there is persuasive evidence that cooperative teams achieve higher levels of thought and retain information longer than students who work quietly as individuals" (Johnson, 1986).

Shared knowledge among teachers and students

Shared authority among teachers and students.

Teachers as mediators

Heterogeneous groupings of students.

Mavis: My topic of interest has been programs that are available to adults to further their education. The public is not well informed of these programs and many people could benefit from this information. Communication of this information is my topic. I believe the theory or history of these adult programs were intentionally made difficult to obtain so students would remain in school. Time has revealed that this is not keeping students in the classroom.

AND: Another group that is not well informed, is adults with high school diplomas or GEDs. Many of these adults are not aware of the programs that would allow them to go to college and improve their lives.
My sources of information have been many internet sites, newspapers, interviews and our class books. I have been out of town for a few days and it will take some time for me to sort all of these sites out, but due to time left on this assignment, I felt I should get some input in.

AND: The socio-cultural article that was of interest to me, was a comparison between pell grant recipients and students who were not in need of financial assistance. The Pell grant recipients made a good showing in this study and were able to compete with the students who were not in need of financial assistance, even though, it was noted, many of the Pell grant recipients had children, were married, or a single parent and had other things that consume time and took away from study time. Not only was grades earned studied, but percentage of who graduated from college with a degree.
This points out that these low income students are sincere in their desire for a college degree and deserve consideration for such programs. Perhaps this type of a program would also help students who drop out of high school.

AND: Heres some suggestions for Discussion 2, hope we can use something to come up with one answer.
From Egans book I would attempt to use chapters 2-3-4-5. I must admit I did not care much for Egans ideas.
In Chapter 2 Egan implied that education programs need to change with time. I agree with him on this. I believe that a collaborative classroom, voting on programs to be offered, and internet classes that change with the times would have better results. I am aware that these are not the type of changes that Egan was referring to.
In Chapter 3 Egan felt that if students really learn about things they live with and are interested in, they should like and do well in social studies. Egan points out that this is not the case. I suggest a collaborative, voting informing the public survey would reveal he was incorrect in his assumption that social studies as taught today, relates to the majority of the students in a correct and meaningful way.
In chapter 4 to quote Egan "The trick is to work out how to make "inert" knowledge live-not give up and declare knowledge to be "irrelevant" to students' experience". Is Egan suggesting that adding more classes, will improve performance on present classes? Will this help education today? I do feel that children learn certain things at particular times (stages) in their lives with more ease, which Egan disagrees with and perhaps a collaborative, voting, informing the public survey could shed more light on these questions?
In chapter 5 Egan suggests our way of determining knowledge is flawed. I would agree to this and again, a collaborative, voting, informing the public survey may come up with a more reliable way of determining knowledge.

from Dr. Sabet in the Unit 3 discussion of educational management

Shifting Values in Leadership
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

from U4D1:

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 systems whereby the public votes directly on issues rather than through elected representatives who can, after elected, vote any way they choose.
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, considers education to be inexorably 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 is basically the public voting directly on issues rather than through elected representatives who can, after elected, vote any way they choose.

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 contemporay 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.

The study would involve both qualitative and quantitative aspects. The qualitative and more subjective side of the research would involve a brief history of democracy, a brief discussion of the definitions of and philosophy of democracy, the use of the educational system to prepare learners for the use of direct democracy, and the contemporary uses of direct democracy in countries such as Switzerland and Sweden. The quantitative and more objective side of the study would involve statistics and the numbers of people, governments, and institutions presently using these concepts, how they were implemented, and the reliability and effectiveness of those procedures.

Research question:

How has direct democracy, utilizing computer and Internet technology, been implemented and used in various countries and institutions and what has been and could be the role of educational systems in the implementation and continuing use of direct democracy?

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.

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". Russell, 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 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 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. I think 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.

The third attachment has several short pieces and letters about e-democracy and e-voting in other countries

MacNamara, J. O'Donnell, D. (2001). Developing e-Citizens and e-Consumers, an Irish e-
Commerce Case Study. Retrieved October 24, 2003 from 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/MacNa
mara%2520%2520O%27Donnell%2520.pdf

Smith, Russel. Electronic Voting: Benefits and Risks. (2002). Retrieved October 24, 2003 from http://www.aic.gov.au/publications/tandi/ti224.pdf

E-Democracy articles by countries. Retrieved October 24, 2003 from http://dmoz.org/Society/Politics/Democracy/Direct_Democracy/

Lebihan, Rachel. 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

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

Amongst other problems, The CalTech/MIT Voting Technology Project estimated some four to six million votes were lost in 2000 due to ballot, equipment, registration or polling-place problems. In response, Americans clamored for new voting technology to replace the ageing machines peppering US polling booths across the nation. (Bushell, 2003).

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U4D1 Pati

In our triad, Pati is discussing collaborative learning, Mavis is concerned with communicating information concerning programs beneficial to students' development, and I have chosen to explore the possibilities of direct democracy using computer and Internet technology and the use of the educational system to facilitate this process. All of these concepts are interconnected and could be introduced to the young learners (K-12) but would mostly be activated by the adult learners.

Pati expresses the importance of collaborative and participatory aspects of education and this ties in which the democratization of the education system as well as of society in general. She quotes Wade Knoll who says:

"collaborative learning values the role of conversation in learning, maintaining that

mastery of a knowledge community's normal discourse is the basic qualification for

acceptance into that community, and that the only way students can begin to gain access to that community is not through their own teachers interpretation, but through experimentation with the discourse among their peers" (Knoll, 2003).

She states that collaborative learning promotes critical thinking (and I would add that it also creates democratic dialogue) and that R.T. and D.W. Johnson say that "there is persuasive evidence that cooperative teams achieve higher levels of thought and retain information longer than students who work quietly as individuals" (Johnson, 1986).

Collaborative education entails democratic dialogue amongst peers and knowledgable teachers and involves the following democratic characteristics:

Shared knowledge among teachers and students

Shared authority among teachers and students.

Teachers as mediators

Heterogeneous groupings of students.

Mavis is interested in communicating the information and programs that are available to the public but that many of those who would benefit from these programs are not aware of. She believes that awareness of this information would cause the students further their education and remain in school. I think part of this information concerns awareness of and participation in the political system (and indeed the system that develops the programs that these students are to be made aware of) thereby creating an educated public for the perpetuation and development of democracy. With the introduction of computer and Internet technology there is now the possibility for the public to participate directly in democracy and the development of governmental policy.

In Chapters 2 and 3 of Getting It Wrong from the Beginning: Our Progressivist Inheritance from Herbert Spencer, John Dewey, and Jean Piaget by Kieran Egan, Mavis mentioned that Egan stated that education programs change with time and that if students really learn about their surroundings they would be interested in and do well in social studies (and, I might add, if they become actively involved in the political decisions affecting them they would become interested in political science and the government that determines how they are governed) . Mavis stated that she believes "that a collaborative classroom, voting on programs to be offered, and internet classes that change with the times would have better results."

In Adult Education for Social Change: From Center Stage to the Wings and Back Again, Thomas Heaney considers 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, who was philosophically influenced by John Dewey, considers adult education to be intimately 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.

Direct democracy is basically the public voting directly on issues rather than through elected representatives who can, after elected, vote any way they choose. Concerning the historical and soci-cultural implications of the concept, the question can be asked: how has direct democracy, utilizing computer and Internet technology, been implemented and used in various countries and institutions and what has been and could be the role of educational systems in the implementation and continuing use of direct democracy?

Once developed, these concepts could be included in the schools' curricula and there could also be school and community clubs and extracurricular activities based on these ideas.

References:

Boorstin, Daniel J. (1974). The Americans: The Democratic Experience. New York: Vintage Books, Random House.

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

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

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

------

U4D2

Concerning the importance of family, parental, and community involvement in education as a collaborative enterprise: in the classes I have been teaching I have found that, by far, the students that perform the best are the ones that study their homework with their parents or some other study partner. Studying is usually considered a solitary endeavor but, since humans are social beings, perhaps homework or study activities could include partner activities where the partner calls out to the learner the words or concepts to be learned. The homework or study partner could be (either as a constant one or revolving amongst several study partners) a parent, a sibling, a fellow student, a friend, etc. By using this method, the partner is sharing in the educational experience and learning too.

In this discussion I am sending some attachments concerning the topic of direct democracy utilizing e-voting facilitated by the educational system as part of the information for the triad with Pati, Mavis, and myself. which concerns collaborative learning, communication, and democracy.

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.

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". Russell, 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 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 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. I think 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.

The third attachment has several short pieces and letters about e-democracy and e-voting in other countries including one (Where to Now for E-Voting?) that mentions that "amongst other problems, The CalTech/MIT Voting Technology Project estimated some four to six million votes were lost in 2000 due to ballot, equipment, registration or polling-place problems." (Bushell, 2003).

References:

MacNamara, J. O'Donnell, D. (2001). Developing e-Citizens and e-Consumers, an Irish e-
Commerce Case Study. Retrieved October 24, 2003 from 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/MacNa
mara%2520%2520O%27Donnell%2520.pdf

Smith, Russel. Electronic Voting: Benefits and Risks. (2002). Retrieved October 24, 2003 from http://www.aic.gov.au/publications/tandi/ti224.pdf

E-Democracy articles by countries. Retrieved October 24, 2003 from http://dmoz.org/Society/Politics/Democracy/Direct_Democracy/

Lebihan, Rachel. 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

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

---

to Mavis for Triad activity response to 11-02-2003 comment in U4 Dyad section

I think it is important for students, or for everyone for that matter, to develop communication skills in order to express and articulate their desires, needs, opinions, knowledge, experience, etc. On the basic level (as is done with elementary, ESL, or adult illiterate students learning to read) these skills are developed in the areas of reading, writing, speaking, and listening and within each of these disciplines there is the necessity for the knowledge of grammar and vocabulary in addition to facts and concepts. Language skills also involve phonics, pronunciation, hermeneutics, semiotics, semantics, etc. (Gall, 2003).

I have thought of a few types of communication:

self communication (reflection, introspection, thinking, etc.)

interpersonal (reading, writing, speaking, listening, socializing, classrooms, etc.)

societal communication (schools, telephone, Internet, etc.)

world communication (telephone, Internet, letter writing, etc.)

One important aspect of communication is the mode of communication that is used to convey information which I will call communication media. This could include spoken word (effective but usually not reliable), written word, printed publications (books, magazines, journals, etc.), telephone, radio, television, CDs, CD ROM, movies, the Internet, etc. Communication is essential for information to be dispensed and for a collaborative, democratic dialogue to occur.

Collaborative learning is learning democratically where each participant offers solutions, opinions, knowledge, experience and any resolution can be voted on with the results determined by the majority consensus within the group. Collaborative learning is a participatory approach where a group or committee can determine curricula and content based on the participants' input through democratic discussions with majority approval and includes the participation of family and community members.

Direct democracy utilizing online voting utilizes the principles of democratic dialogue and collaborative learning where information is communicated to the citizens who then through discussion, debate, and resolution determine governmental policies. This process can be implemented in the community through the communication media and in the schools through subjects such as social studies and political science. For discussions involving e-voting and e-
democracy please look at my U4D1 and U4D2 entries for more clarification.

Reference:

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

---

response to Mavis in U4 Dyad section

Mavis, I am glad that you were thinking along those lines. Please add any more thoughts you have along the way on these topics. I think the information that you mentioned (concerning the GED, continuing on to college, etc.) could be conveyed through the various communication media that I referred to. There could be public service announcements on television and radio and Internet websites as well as school bulletins, etc. I hope Patti (and everyone else there) is safely away from those terrible fires. Congratulations on your new granddaughter!

---

Pati, Thank you for your information in the 11-02-03 email. I combined that information into the U4D1 discussion and sent more information in the U4D2 discussion and added some other combined thoughts in "Communication Media" under the U4 Dyad section. Perhaps I can combine all of those into one posting with everybody's (yours, Mavis, and mine) attachments but I'm not sure where to post a final version. Maybe in Unit 4 in the Dyad section or in Unit 5 under "Deadline for dyad activity".

I hope you are safely away from those California fires, Richard

P.S. I read that you are from Joshua Tree, CA. Sometime I want to get that U2 album.

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U4D3

This exercise may be done before, during, or after the break. As a way of improving this course while is being offered, you are invited to submit your ideas about a) what is going well in the course (PLUS), and b) what should be changed in order to make the course better (DELTA).

PLUS

1. Good choice of course reading texts

2. Interesting learner dialogue

3. Sharing dyad activity ideas

DELTA

1. Perhaps there could be a week or a section of an actual brief history of education throughout civilization.

2. There could be a section of writings on education by philosophers throughout history such as Aristotle, Plato, Spencer, Dewey, Piaget, Rousseau, Nietzsche, etc.

3. I think the dyad or group activity could involve more time with the first week used for finding team mates and exchanging ideas and the second week for combining them into one statement for the group.

****

Pati Ranieri, Mavis McLin, and Richard Bloodworth are partners for this triad. In our triad, Pati discusses collaborative learning, Mavis is concerned with communicating information concerning programs beneficial to students' development, and Richard has chosen to explore the possibilities of direct democracy using computer and Internet technology and the use of the educational system to facilitate this process. All of these concepts are interconnected and could be introduced to the young learners (K-12) but would mostly be activated by the adult learners.
We think it is important for students, or for everyone for that matter, to develop communication skills in order to express and articulate their desires, needs, opinions, knowledge, experience, etc. On the basic level (as is done with elementary, ESL, or adult illiterate students learning to read) these skills are developed in the areas of reading, writing, speaking, and listening and within each of these disciplines there is the necessity for the knowledge of grammar and vocabulary in addition to facts and concepts. Language skills also involve phonics, pronunciation, hermeneutics, semiotics, semantics, etc. (Gall, 2003).
Below are some types of communication:
self communication (reflection, introspection, thinking, etc.)
interpersonal communication (reading, writing, speaking, listening, socializing, classrooms, etc.)
societal communication (schools, telephone, Internet, etc.)
world communication (telephone, Internet, publications, letter writing, etc.)
One important aspect of communication are the modes of communication that is used to convey information and those modes we have chosen to call communication media. These can include spoken word (effective but usually not reliable), written word, printed publications (books, magazines, journals, etc.), telephone, radio, television, CDs, CD ROM, movies, the Internet, etc. Communication is essential in order for information to be dispensed and for a collaborative, democratic dialogue to occur.
Collaborative learning is learning through democratically derived processes where each participant offers solutions, opinions, knowledge, experience and any resolution can be voted on with the results determined by the majority consensus within the group. Collaborative learning is a participatory approach where a group or committee can determine curricula and content based on the participants' input through democratic discussions with majority approval and includes the participation of family and community members.
In Unit 3 of the ED8111 course Dr. Sabet mentions in the discussion of educational management the following trends:
Shifting Values in Leadership
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 (Sabet, 2003)
These trends clearly indicate a shift from the authoritarian to the collaborative approach and toward the democratization of education.
Pati expresses the importance of collaborative and participatory aspects of education and this ties in which the democratization of the education system as well as of society in general. She quotes Wade Knoll who says:
"Collaborative learning values the role of conversation in learning, maintaining that mastery of a knowledge community's normal discourse is the basic qualification for acceptance into that community, and that the only way students can begin to gain access to that community is not through their own teachers interpretation, but through experimentation with the discourse among their peers" (Knoll, 2003).
She states that collaborative learning promotes critical thinking (and we could add that it also creates democratic dialogue) and that R.T. and D.W. Johnson say that "there is persuasive evidence that cooperative teams achieve higher levels of thought and retain information longer than students who work quietly as individuals" (Johnson, 1986). Concerning the importance of family, parental, and community involvement in education as a collaborative enterprise: in the classes we have been teaching we have found that, by far, the students that perform the best are the ones that study their homework with their parents or some other study partner. Studying is usually considered a solitary endeavor but, since humans are social beings, perhaps homework or study activities could include partner activities where the partner calls out to the learner the words or concepts to be learned. The homework or study partner could be (either as a constant one or revolving amongst several study partners) a parent, a sibling, a fellow student, a friend, etc. By using this method, the partner is sharing in the educational experience and learning too.
Collaborative education entails democratic dialogue amongst peers and knowledgeable teachers and involves the following democratic characteristics:
Shared knowledge among teachers and students
Shared authority among teachers and students.
Teachers as mediators
Heterogeneous groupings of students.
Mavis is interested in communicating the information and programs that are available to the public but that many of those who would benefit from these programs are not aware of. She believes that awareness of this information would cause the students further their education and remain in school. Some of this information (concerning the GED, continuing on to college, etc.) could be conveyed through the various communication media. Public service announcements on television and radio and Internet websites could convey the information as could school bulletins, etc. We think part of this information concerns awareness of and participation in the political system (and indeed the system that develops the programs that these students are to be made aware of) thereby creating an educated public for the perpetuation and development of democracy and with the introduction of computer and Internet technology there is now the possibility for the public to participate directly in democracy and the development of governmental policy.
In Chapters 2 and 3 of Getting It Wrong from the Beginning: Our Progressivist Inheritance from Herbert Spencer, John Dewey, and Jean Piaget by Kieran Egan, Mavis mentioned that Egan stated that education programs change with time and that if students really learn about their surroundings they would be interested in and do well in social studies (and, we might add, if they become actively involved in the political decisions affecting them they would become interested in political science and the government that determines how they are governed) . Mavis stated that she believes "that a collaborative classroom, voting on programs to be offered, and internet classes that change with the times would have better results."
Direct democracy utilizing online voting utilizes the principles of democratic dialogue and collaborative learning where information is communicated to the citizens who then through discussion, debate, and resolution determine governmental policies. This process can be implemented in the community through the communication media and in the schools through subjects such as social studies and political science.
In Adult Education for Social Change: From Center Stage to the Wings and Back Again, Thomas Heaney considers 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, who was philosophically influenced by John Dewey, considers adult education to be intimately 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.
Direct democracy is basically the public voting directly on issues rather than through elected representatives who can, after elected, vote any way they choose. Concerning the historical and socio-cultural implications of the concept, the question can be asked: how has direct democracy, utililizing computer and Internet technology, been implemented and used in various countries and institutions and what has been and could be the role of educational systems in the implementation and continuing use of direct democracy in the United States? Once developed, these concepts could be included in the schools' curricula and there could also be school and community clubs and extracurricular activities based on these ideas.
Included in this posting are some attachments from Pati concerning collaborative learning, Mavis concerning educational communication, and Richard concerning online voting and e-democracy, e-voting security issues, and another which has several short articles and letters about e-
democracy and e-voting in other countries.
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. 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". Russelll, 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 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 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 the security and efficiency issues can be solved.
In the final attachment, which contains articles and letters by country, one (Where to Now for E-
Voting?) mentions that "amongst other problems, The CalTech/MIT Voting Technology Project estimated some four to six million votes were lost in 2000 due to ballot, equipment, registration or polling-place problems." (Bushell, 2003).
We believe that through the development of communication skills and communicating to the public the opportunities that are there for them to benefit from, creating a democratized educational system through collaborative learning, and implementing the procedures of direct online voting (which can be discussed and training provided in the schools in the social studies and political science classes and in the communities) that society and individuals will prosper and develop as a result.
References:
Boorstin, Daniel J. (1974). The Americans: The Democratic Experience. New York: Vintage Books, Random House.
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>
E-Democracy articles by countries. Retrieved October 24, 2003 from <http://dmoz.org/Society/Politics/Democracy/Direct_Democracy/>
Egan, Kieran. (2002). Getting It Wrong from the Beginning: Our Progressivist Inheritance from Herbert Spencer, John Dewey, and Jean Piaget. London: Yale University Press.
Gall, M.D., Borg, W., & Gall, J.P. (2003). Educational Research: An Introduction. 7th Ed. Boston: Pearson Education, Inc
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>>
Lebihan, Rachel. 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, J. O'Donnell, D. (2001). Developing e-Citizens and e-Consumers, an Irish e-
Commerce Case Study. Retrieved October 24, 2003 from <<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/MacNa
mara%2520%2520O%27Donnell%2520.pdf>>
Ravitch, Diane and Viteritti, Joseph P. (1997). New Schools for a New Century. London: Yale University Press.
Smith, Russell. Electronic Voting: Benefits and Risks. (2002). Retrieved October 24, 2003 from <http://www.aic.gov.au/publications/tandi/ti224.pdf>
Vago, Steven. (1999). Strategies of Change. Chapter 9: Social Change. Pearson Educational, Inc.

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To Pati and Mavis email letter:

I have sent in (under Unit 5 "Deadline for dyad activity" which is a "clean and new" section) a composite of all of our writings and I included five attachments, some from each of us. I hope it's not too hodge podgy and that it conveys the ideas we are trying to convey.

I don't think it's necessary since each of us has written about their subjects but if you want to add something, it might be a good idea to add it under the Unit 5 posting "Communication, Collaboration, and Democracy". And if you want to change that (your) entry you can alter it by using the "edit" option button when composing a post and that way we can keep that Unit 5 section from getting cluttered. Also, to correspond, we can send comments to each other by email or under the Unit 4 dyad section.

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letter I sent to Pati and Mavis on Nov. 5, 2003: What's going on? As I mentioned in the previous email, I sent in a compilation of the thoughts of the 3 of us for our triad project which was due Tuesday the 4th but no one else in the course has sent anything in. As I mentioned I posted the paper in the Unit 5 section under Deadline for dyad activity which seemed like the logical place for it.

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U5D1 At the beginning of your posting, state which criteria and standards (e.g., Proficient, Distinguished) you intend to meet with your answer. You may select the criteria from any table that you believe is applicable. If your instructor selects the criteria, you may use those and state what standards you intend to meet. However, you are still free to select your own criteria and standards.

Post from your POJ the results of your activities in 5.1 and 5.2. What is the most important lesson you learned from the search and analysis you carried out?

my goal throughout the course: proficient to distinguished
The most disruptive eras that come to mind are during wartime. The most recent example of a war affecting American citizens, and others, is occurring now and that is the Iraq war. Prior to that there were others including the Vietnam War. With the possible exception of World War II (perhaps others), I would generally support the objectors' viewpoint (and their right to freedom of speech to oppose those wars especially since I think wars usually don't solve problems, they just create more, and they are in fact an archaic, irrational, and uncivilized reaction) though I would try to arrange for peaceful demonstrations of opposition.
Below are some extracts form articles concerning disruptions during the Vietnam and Iraq Wars:
From Anti-War Movement Builds:
"With huge demonstrations reminiscent of Vietnam-era protests, the movement against war on Iraq is starting to make its mark. In late October, over 100,000 people marched in Washington, D. C. in an action larger than any that occurred during the 1991 military assault on Iraq. Then, in early November, half a million protesters lined the streets of Florence, Italy in one of the largest demonstrations that country has ever seen. On the weekend of November 16-17, anti-war protests also took place in at least 26 cities and towns in Canada, the largest of them a march of 10,000 in Vancouver.
A Democratic, Participatory Movement
None of this is sustainable, however, unless the movement creates open and democratic coalitions that allow activists to actually shape the movement of which they are a part. The global justice movement has shown this with its creation of spoke councils which, whatever their shortcomings, have provided participants with spaces in which to discuss, debate, strategize and direct their movement. The anti-war movement too needs forums for democratic discussion and collective planning." (McNally and Klassen, 2003).
From Vietnam: A Retrospective:
"For me, Vietnam was entirely different (from WWII). It was the final loss of innocence and illusion about automatic trust in the wisdom of the nation's leaders. It never made sense to me that it was possible to quash an idea (in this case, communism) by violence. Vietnam was such an egregious example of the futility of that approach that I was dumbfounded. What in God's name were our leaders thinking of, to engage in such a war? And what went on in the minds of so many Americans who supported the war? .
Recently, PBS ran a series on the Vietnam war that was incredibly well done, and absolutely riveting ... I saw on film the North Vietnamese as they planned our defeat, knowing that they would eventually win because they fought for the survival of their country and their people. I watched as small, wiry men and women, old and young, walked hundreds of miles carrying heavy weapons and ammunition, setting up their guns and mortars to surround our advanced bases, and shelling our troops methodically and mercilessly. I watched them plan the Tet Offensive, and carry it out.
On our side, I marveled throughout at the courage and sacrifice of our own soldiers, and at the effort and logistics it took to bring to that far off place all that was required to fight a complex war. And I sat there transfixed as one general after another, one politician after another, one president after another -- knowing the truth -- lied to the American public." (Lawrence, 2000).
Reaction to the initial plans to attack Iraq, from "Berkeley
Joins Nationwide Anti-War Walkout":
Berkeley Stop the War Coalition organized the campus protest that drew the support from about 300 UC Berkeley students and 200 Albany High schoolers. The mob of protesters paraded through campus, occupying buildings, screaming in hallways and disrupting classes despite a deliberate effort by the organizers to control the passionate crowd.
"I liked the rally, the speak-out and the solidarity," said Lara Lebherz, a member of the Berkeley Stop the War Coalition. "But I personally take offense to the issue of disrupting classes. I see the necessity and how it educates people, but it's incredibly aggressive." Protesters crowded into Wheeler Hall, forcing lecturer David Robinson to dismiss his business administration class early. Robinson filed a complaint with the police department against the protesters, he said. "I don't believe in any student's right to disrupt the educational purposes of the school," an irate Robinson said. "These people robbed my students of half a lecture."
The rally began as demonstrators marched from Dwinelle Plaza to California Hall in an attempt to reach the chancellor, but they were blocked by a barricade of police officers. Instead, using a small megaphone, students and faculty spoke out against U.S. military action in Iraq. John Holmes, a history department teaching assistant, related the Bush administration's policies to previous acts of Western aggression. "We're talking about two Hiroshimas and Nagasakis," Holmes said. "We're talking about Dresden, genocide and imperialism."
About 300 students, one third of Albany High's student body, walked out of school at 9 a.m. The students walked more than three miles, passing Berkeley High School before getting to Sproul Plaza. "This is our lives; it's our generation that will be going to war pretty much," Vorkoeper said. No extra security was called in, although campus security guards and administrators monitored students for the entire event. "They took advantage of the opportunity to go and say what they wanted to say, but then realized their education was important as well and returned to class," said Berkeley Unified School District spokesperson Mark Coplan. "Inciting kids to walk out not only takes money away from schools but also hurts education," said junior Henry Buckman. "It does more harm than good." .
"Bush is the real terrorist," said Martin Luther King Middle School sixth-grader Gulliver Boland. ."
About 25 Berkeley High students skipped class fourth period and staged their own walkout, marching down Shattuck Avenue waving signs and a banner that read, "Resist War." Students traveled to Oakland to join a similar protest.
In Oakland, more than 100 students marched up Broadway, past the Civic Center to Jack London Square. Police officers arrested three protesters. The rally in Oakland was one of many held across the country.
Downtown San Francisco was taken over by student protesters who marched down Market Street and blocked the entrance to City Hall.
Even Stanford University outdid UC Berkeley in terms of the sheer number of protesters.
Five hundred students participated in Stanford University's first student strike since the Vietnam War and the largest rally in four years lasted the entire day. Twenty-six professors canceled classes while others held teach-ins, according to the Stanford Daily.
Across the country, 1,500 students in Philadelphia took over the streets around City Hall.
In Wisconsin, more than 5,000 students from the University of Wisconsin at Madison and other community high schools marched to the state Capitol. (Adollah and Osmundson, 2003).
Despite the disturbances and disruptions, I have learned that life goes on, as do the educational processes.
References:
Abdollah, T. and Osmundson, K. (2003). Berkeley Joins Nationwide Anti-War Walkout. Retrieved Nov. 5, 2003 from <http://www.dailycal.org/article.asp?id=11175>
Lawrence, Mac. (2000). Vietnam: A Retrospective, Reflections of the War in Vietnam. The Daily Californian. Mar. 6, 2003. Retrieved on Nov. 5, 2003 from
<http://www.swans.com/library/art6/vnam05.html>
McNally, D. and Klassen, J. (2003) Anti-War Movement Builds. Retrieved Nov. 5, 2003 from <http://www.canadiandimension.mb.ca/extra/d0124mk>

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U5D2 The unit competencies of this unit are:
Demonstrate the ability to examine issues and problems in education as examples of and as manifestations of historical and/or social change. (3d)
Deal sensitively and tactfully with others. (4a)
Demonstrate an understanding of the influence and impact of technology on education. (7b)
Using the material you drafted in your POJ regarding the subject matter of this unit, post to the CourseRoom an explanation of how it shows evidence of your having demonstrated the unit competencies. This posting will be used as you see fit in the construction of your Course Project.
Comment on the way ONE other learner has indicated his or her competency demonstration. Try to help your colleague focus on providing EVIDENCE of competency demonstration rather than simply a description of learning activities

One of the main changes in relatively recent history is the opening of educational opportunities to all people regardless of race, creed, gender, or national origin. There is still a ways to go but we are far from the days of segration (based on the previously mentioned criteria) which officially ended by judicial decrees only as recently as the 1950s and 1960s and this has had an effect on all segments of society.

In the area of technology, much has changed since technology is a rapidly accelerating phenomenon. Now almost everyone is connected by transportation and communication technology and people and schools are connected by computer and Internet technology so that all of civilization's collected knowledge is accessible at the touch of a button and at the speed of light.

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to Mavis

Your posting demonstrates how far and how rapidly society and technology have developed.

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U5D2 response to Tammera: Through the rapid spread of technology in society, what kind of affect will it have on the issue that you are addressing for this
course?

New technology has made the issue that I am addressing for this course, the idea of direct democracy, possible in today's world. Direct democracy originated around 500BC in Athens, Greece where all of the citizens voted directly on legislative issues. In recent history, direct democracy has not been possible until the current advent of computer and Internet technology.

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U6D1

My goal for my writing throughout the course: proficient to distinguished.

Below are characteristics of the ideal environment to enhance learning for the widest range of multi-culturally diverse students:

Collaborative environment

Well-disciplined, interested students

Intelligent, studious students

Respect for others' opinions and beliefs

Non-authoritarian approach to education

Students from various socio-cultural backgrounds

A well-scheduled curriculum

Interested instructors

Quality information available

Access to research and library materials

Access to technology (computers, Internet, videos, recorders, compact disk players, etc.)

Comfortable surroundings (furnished, heat, air conditioning, electricity, ventilation, etc.)

Safe and secure surroundings

A comfortable, non-threatening social environment

These characteristics would be conducive to a democratic dialogue and would therefore address the lessons of history pertaining to the issue I have chosen to explore in this course, that being the education of the principles of democracy and the introduction and implementation of direct democracy utilizing computer and Internet technology through Social Studies and Political Science courses in educational institutions.

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U6D2

Identify indicators of cultural socialization in learning environments.

Concerning cultural acquisition and cultural transmission, the acquisition or avoidance of the ideas, values, skills, and behaviors of the common culture can be indicated by observing, testing, and conversing with the learners within an institution. Some indications of cultural socialization in learning environments are: the existence of privileged or oppressed groups, majorities or minorities, hegemony (or the domination of subordinate groups by the privileged groups), oppression or freedom, leniency or strictness, the language(s) and cultural traditions used, the relationship between the signifier (i.e. a textbook author) and the signified (the textbook), thought processes mediated by power relations, and the perpetuation of the systems of class, race, gender, or oppression.

Exhibit appreciation of diversity and multicultural differences.

My teaching English as a Second Language in South Korea, Japan, Czech Republic, Turkey, China, and Taiwan, I think shows, through actions, my appreciation of diversity and multi-
cultural differences.

Demonstrate an understanding of the need to accommodate differences in cognition and achievement in instruction and assessment.

It is necessary to accommodate different levels of students for some of the following reasons:

Different socio-cultural levels

Different socio-economic levels

Different age, growth, and developmental levels

Different educational levels

Different intelligence levels

Different ability and skills levels

Different interests

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U6D1 response to Jennifer: As I have mentioned before, if there is no discipline and structure to a classroom no learning can be accomplished. Of the few classes that I have had that were discipline problems, where chaos prevailed, educational productivity in the classroom was futile but when the discipline problems were solved then the learning began.

U6D2 I think celebrating various holidays is a great way of showing cultural diversity. In the ESL classes I have been teaching abroad the children (and adults) enjoy the holidays, especially Christmas, when there are Christmas gifts, decorations, and events, and Halloween where some schools have parties and costume contests even for some of the schools with adult classes.

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U7D1

The goal for my writing throughout the course: proficient to distinguished in all areas
As your elected representative, I have be assigned to oversee the implementation within the K-12 curricula, and later the post-secondary curricula, the introduction and procedural instruction involving the system of direct democracy utilizing computer and Internet technology. In the K-12 levels this would necessitate the inclusion of these concepts within the Social Studies and Political Science courses at public and private educational institutions. In order for all students and citizens to be educated in these ideas, it will be necessary to have mandatory course and tests on only the subject and techniques involved in direct democracy in the United States of America in order to be admitted as a qualified and registered voting member of the Public Assembly. All registered citizens can vote in general elections but to be a voting member of the Third House, or Public Assembly, it will be necessary for the voting citizens to be trained in the procedures of online voting as well as in the history of democracy and the development and implementation of the online direct democracy system.
The curricula will include K-12 classes with the elementary grades only hearing the basic terms involved, later having them elaborated on, and then, as the levels progress, discussing some results and activities concerning direct democracy. As the students reach over 18 years of age, the voting age, the courses will include specifics of the history and philosophy of democracy and the technology involved in online voting.
After taking courses specific to the issue, the students or citizens must take a test to qualify as voting members of the Public Assembly and, after passing the test, can apply for a registered member with an accompanying identification card (containing their registration number which includes their social security number and their own chosen PIN code) which has a magnetic strip similar to those found on ATM cards to be used at the Voting Centers. Once the system has been initiated, the voting can also occur using personal computers via a secured Internet connection using passwords and other security techniques.

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U7D1 :

The goal for my writing throughout the course: proficient to distinguished in all areas

Attorney for a teachers union
State legislator who oversees education.
Institution chief executive (superintendent or college president).
Journalist who covers education for a local newspaper.
You have been asked to take part in a public debate on the topic "Resolved: Financing Education is NOT the responsibility of the society." You have a choice of whether to be on the PRO side or on the CON side, and your job is to write (in your POJ) a 300-500 word position statement that:
a) Provides the historical and socio-cultural background to the debate.
b) Presents the major arguments in support of the position PRO or CON position that you have take n.
c) Presents answers to the challenges you expect from the opposing position

As your elected representative involved in the committee responsible for the funding of public education let me address the issue of the current debate concerning the topic "Resolved: Financing Education is NOT the responsibility of the society."

This debate boils down to the question: "Is education a right or privilege?". I believe most people would say that general education is a right though some forms of specialized education might be considered privileged.

According to the Meriam-Webster dictionary (2003) society is "a : an enduring and cooperating group whose members have developed organized patterns of relationships through interaction with one another, and b : a community, nation, or broad grouping of people having common traditions, institutions, and collective activities and interests." Based on this definition, the responsibility of society and its government is to insure the security and well-being of its members and to secure the rights belonging to all of the citizens of that society and since we have previously stated that education is a right therefore, it stands to reason, that education and the financing of that education is the responsibility of society.

To examine this issue more in depth let us first take a quick look at the history of education and its funding throughout history.

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.

References:

Powell, Arthur G. Encarta. (2002) Public Education in the United States.

.Boorstin, Daniel J. (1974). The Americans: The Democratic Experience. New York: Vintage Books, Random House.

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

Gutek, Gerald L. Encarta (2002). The History of Education

Powell, Arthur G. Encarta. (2002) Public Education in the United States

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

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

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Microsoft® Encarta® Encyclopedia 2002. © 1993-2001 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Arthur G. Powell

The national system of formal education in the United States developed in the 19th century. It differed from education systems of other Western societies in three fundamental respects. First, Americans were more inclined to regard education as a solution to various social problems. Second, because they had this confidence in the power of education, Americans provided more years of schooling for a larger percentage of the population than other countries. Third, educational institutions were primarily governed by local authorities rather than by federal ones.

After the American Revolution (1775-1783), the founders of the United States argued that education was essential for the prosperity and survival of the new nation. Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence, proposed that Americans give a high priority to a "crusade against ignorance." Jefferson was the first American leader to suggest creating a system of free schools for all persons that would be publicly supported through taxes. In 1779 he proposed an education plan that would have supported free schooling for all children in the state of Virginia for three years. The best students from this group would continue in school at public expense through adolescence. The most advanced of these students would go on to publicly funded colleges. Jefferson's proposal was never enacted and his idea of selecting the best and brightest students for special advantage failed to gain widespread support. However, Jefferson's plans for universal education and for publicly funded schools formed the basis of education systems developed in the 19th century.

As the 20th century progressed most states assumed a more active regulatory role than in the past. States consolidated school districts into larger units with common procedures. In 1940 there were over 117,000 school districts in the United States, but by 1990 the number had decreased to just over 15,000. The states also became much more responsible for financing education. They helped fund the rapid expansion of state postsecondary institutions after World War II. They sometimes supported efforts to equalize local school district expenditures by using state funds and state laws to ensure more equitable per pupil expenditures regardless of the wealth or poverty of individual districts. In 1940 local property taxes financed 68 percent of public school expenses, while the states contributed 30 percent. In 1990 local districts and states each contributed 47 percent to public school revenues. The federal government provided most of the remaining funds.

Although educational authority resides ultimately with the states, the federal government has long encouraged and assisted specific educational activities that it considers to be in the national interest. The federal government's activities in the field of education have further centralized American schooling. The Smith-Hughes Act of 1917, for example, helped create vocational programs in high schools, and the GI Bill of 1944 was the first important federal effort to provide financial aid for military veterans to attend college. In addition, federal civil rights laws require all schools and colleges to conform to national standards of educational equality.

The federal commitment to improve and finance public schools expanded enormously when Congress passed the National Defense Education Act of 1958 and the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965. In these two landmark statutes, Congress addressed for the first time such broad problems as expanding educational opportunity for poor children and improving instruction in pivotal but usually neglected subjects, such as science, mathematics, and foreign languages. In addition, these laws strengthened many large universities by providing federal funds for research. They also supported students attending private colleges by providing federal support for financial aid. Because this assistance came from federal sources rather than from state or local governments, it increased centralized control of American education.

Federal involvement in schools since the 1980s has been expressed less by legislation providing money for new programs than by government reports and proclamations that schools were performing insufficiently. A Nation at Risk and many subsequent federal reports and studies on the condition of schooling sparked a vigorous school reform effort at local and state levels. But aside from espousing ambitious national education goals, the federal government has been far less active in shaping education legislation during the 1980s and 1990s than it had been in the 1960s and 1970s.

Some members of the school reform movement believe that too little power exists at the local level. They claim that teachers and schools can increase their effectiveness only by having greater authority over such fundamental matters as curriculum content, teaching methods, and hiring of staff. Supporters of local control over education often support the creation of charter schools, which receive public funds but are free from most restrictions on curriculum, teaching methods, and staff. Other reformers contend that not all local communities have the resources to provide quality education. They argue that to meet goals of equity and excellence, all local districts should meet high educational standards and provide ample school budgets.

I. INTRODUCTION

II. EDUCATION IN PRELITERATE SOCIETIES

III. EDUCATION IN ANCIENT AFRICA AND ASIA

IV. EDUCATION IN ANCIENT GREECE

V. EDUCATION IN ANCIENT ROME

VI. ANCIENT JEWISH EDUCATION

VII. MEDIEVAL EDUCATION

VIII. EDUCATION DURING THE RENAISSANCE

IX. EDUCATION DURING THE PROTESTANT REFORMATION

X. EDUCATIONAL THEORY IN THE 17TH CENTURY

XI. EDUCATION DURING THE ENLIGHTENMENT

XII. EDUCATION IN THE 19TH CENTURY

A. Kindergarten

B. Social Darwinism

XIII. NATIONAL SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION

A. In the United Kingdom

B. In Russia

C. In the United States

XIV. EDUCATION IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY

A. Montessori

B. Dewey

C. Piaget

XV. POLITICAL INFLUENCES

A. In the United States

B. In the Soviet Union

C. In Germany

D. In France

E. In Developing Nations

In ancient Egypt, which flourished from about 3000 BC to about 500 BC, priests in temple schools taught not only religion but also the principles of writing, the sciences, mathematics, and architecture. Similarly in India, priests conducted most of the formal education. Beginning in about 1200 BC Indian priests taught the principles of the Veda, the sacred texts of Hinduism, as well as science, grammar, and philosophy. Formal education in China dates to about 2000 BC, though it thrived particularly during the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, from 770 to 256 bc (see China: The Eastern Zhou). The curriculum stressed philosophy, poetry, and religion, in accord with the teachings of Confucius, Laozi (Lao-tzu), and other philosophers.

The Church of England and other churches often operated primary schools in the United Kingdom, where students paid a small fee to study the Bible, catechism, reading, writing, and arithmetic. In 1833 the British Parliament passed a law that gave some government funds to these schools. In 1862 the United Kingdom established a school grant system, called payment by results, in which schools received funds based on their students' performance on reading, writing, and arithmetic tests. The Education Act of 1870, called the Forster Act, authorized local government boards to establish public board schools. The United Kingdom then had two schools systems: board schools operated by the government and voluntary schools conducted by the churches and other private organizations.

Russian tsar Alexander II initiated education reforms leading to the Education Statute of 1864. This law created zemstvos, local government units, which operated primary schools. In addition to zemstvos schools, the Russian Orthodox Church conducted parish schools. While the number of children attending school slowly increased, most of Russia's population remained illiterate. Peasants often refused to send their children to school so that they could work on the farms. More boys attended school than girls since many peasant parents considered female education unnecessary. Fearing that too much education would make people discontented with their lives, the tsar's government provided only limited schooling to instill political loyalty and religious piety.

Before the 19th century elementary and secondary education in the United States was organized on a local or regional level. Nearly all schools operated on private funds exclusively. However, beginning in the 1830s and 1840s, American educators such as Henry Barnard and Horace Mann argued for the creation of a school system operated by individual states that would provide an equal education for all American children. In 1852 Massachusetts passed the first laws calling for free public education, and by 1918 all U.S. states had passed compulsory school attendance laws. See Public Education in the United States.

Political leadership has affected the education systems of many countries in the 20th century. In the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) under Communism and in Germany under the leadership of National Socialism, totalitarian systems of government imposed strict guidelines on the organization of national education systems. Many other countries during the 20th century-
including the United States-have sought to balance control of their education systems between the federal government and local governments or private organizations. Most countries in the 20th century have also taken steps to increase access to education.

Local and state governments have retained most of the responsibility for operating public education in the United States during the 20th century. Because individual communities often have different educational priorities and different abilities to finance public education systems, school systems vary from one region to another. State governments-and occasionally the federal government-attempt to reduce disparity between regions by establishing various requirements for school financing, academic standards, and curriculum. See Education in the United States: Tension Between Localism and Centralization.

In the early 20th century access to education in the United States was largely divided along racial lines. State laws segregated most schools in the American South by race. No such laws existed in northern states, but school districts there often established district boundaries to ensure separate facilities for black and white students. In both northern and southern states, school facilities for African American students were usually inadequate, public transportation to such schools was insufficient or nonexistent, and public expenditures per student fell well below that provided per student in white schools. In 1954 the Supreme Court of the United States decided in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka that separate facilities for black and white students resulted in unequal educational opportunities, and that such segregation was unconstitutional. Since then, public school systems throughout the United States have attempted to desegregate schools and to provide equal educational opportunity for all students. Integration efforts and affirmative action programs in American schools have helped enable African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and other minorities to increase high school and college attendance rates and to make impressive gains on standardized test scores. See Education in the United States: Education and Equality.

After the Russian Revolution in 1917 the Communist Party's Central Committee made the important educational decisions in the Soviet Union. In the 1920s Communist leader Joseph Stalin established a rigid curriculum for Soviet education that stressed science, mathematics, and Communist ideology. Soviet schools attracted large numbers of foreign visitors, especially individuals from developing countries. In 1957 the Soviet Union launched Sputnik, the first artificial satellite sent into space. To many educators around the world, this achievement indicated the advanced state of Soviet technological learning. Soviet educator Anton Semyonovich Makarenko also brought international recognition to the Soviet education system for his work on the rehabilitation of juvenile delinquents.

Many observers criticized the rigidity and authoritarianism of the Soviet education system. In 1989 and 1990 Mikhail Gorbachev, then the general secretary of the Communist Party and the leader of the USSR, tried to reform the country's education system by allowing schools more local control. However, the nation was suffering from political upheaval and a weak economy, which hampered efforts aimed at educational reform.

With the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 the former Soviet republics, such as Russia, Ukraine, and Georgia, became independent nations that controlled their own political and education systems. Education in Russia and the other new countries faces especially daunting obstacles because the struggling economies of these nations often provide insufficient funds for education. Other problems in educational administration and schooling stem from tensions between the many different ethnic and language groups in most of these nations. While Russia has a predominantly Russian population, over 100 other ethnic groups also comprise its population.

The fall of Communism has also affected education in Germany. The disintegration of the Soviet Union from 1989 to 1991, and the tearing down of the Berlin Wall in 1989 helped lead to the collapse of the Communist government in East Germany. East Germany reunified with West Germany in 1990 and the West German school system was extended throughout the reunited nation. The Federal Republic of Germany follows a joint federal-state system of education. The Grundgesetz (Basic Law) gives individual German states the major responsibility for primary and secondary education. In higher education, the federal government works in conjunction with the states.

The kindergarten, developed by Froebel in the 19th century, remains popular in Germany. Children begin compulsory education at age six in the Grundschule, the basic primary school, and continue there until they are nine years old. When they finish primary school, German students go to separate secondary schools, such as the Hauptschule, Realschule, Gymnasium, and Gesamtschule. The Hauptschule offers a general education, the Realschule prepares students for middle-level careers as managers and supervisors, the Gymnasium is a university preparatory school, and the Gesamtschulen is a comprehensive secondary school. German education also includes extensive vocational, technical, and apprenticeship arrangements.

The central government controls most education in France. A federal department, the Ministry of Education, sets the curriculum so that all students study the same subjects at the same ages throughout the country. French schools emphasize careful thinking and correct use of the French language. The lycee, the traditional academic secondary school, prepares students to attend universities. The grandes écoles, the great schools, are universities that train future leaders for government service, business administration, and engineering. Aside from providing free elementary and secondary education, the French central government provides financial aid to Catholic schools. In 1960 the government also began providing financial subsidies to private schools that meet state standards.

The 20th century has also been marked by the emergence of national school systems among developing nations, particularly in Asia and Africa. Compulsory elementary education has become nearly universal, but evidence indicates that large numbers of children-perhaps as many as 50 percent of those age 6 to 18 throughout the world-do not attend school. To improve education on the elementary and adult levels, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) conducts literacy campaigns and other educational projects. UNESCO attempts to put every child in the world into school and to eliminate illiteracy. Some progress has been noted, but it has become obvious that considerable time and effort are needed to produce universal literacy.

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Response to U7D1 Asley Mitchell

luxury: 3 a : something adding to pleasure or comfort but not absolutely necessary b : an indulgence in something that provides pleasure, satisfaction, or ease

responsibility: b (1) : liable to be called to account as the primary cause, motive, or agent <a committee responsible for the job> (2) : being the cause or explanation

right : something to which one has a just claim: as a : the power or privilege to which one is justly entitled

privilege : a right or immunity granted as a peculiar benefit, advantage, or favor

I believe that education is a privilege. When people consider education as a right, they often place little importance on it, taking little pride in their educational work and achievement. By making education a privilege, people will be forced to take ownership in their education and place greater importance on their achievement. It will no longer be a 'have to' but an 'I can'. The malaise that is present in today's schools would be greatly lifted if those seeking the education were responsible for its funding.
While education does benefit all, when students are simply going through the motions, not putting effort into their work, and essentially wasting time and effort of all involved, it is a waste of public funding. However, if students and their families had more responsibility in paying for education, students would be forced to take education more seriously.
While the plan of societaly funded schools may have been laid out by our countries founding fathers, times have changes, and the educational institutions must also adapt. The trend toward more local and private funding of schools is the future of a stronger educational system.

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By saying that I think that I think that education is a right I did not mean that it should be taken for granted and considered a luxury or that no effort should be extended on the part of the learners or that funds should be squandered inappropriately.

According to the Meriam-Webster dictionary (2003):

A right is "something to which one has a just claim: as a : the power or privilege to which one is justly entitled".

Privilege is "a right or immunity granted as a peculiar benefit, advantage, or favor".

Responsibility is (1) : the condition of being "liable to be called to account as the primary cause, motive, or agent" and (2): the condition of " being the cause or explanation" of an event or condition.

Luxury is "a : something adding to pleasure or comfort but not absolutely necessary or b : an indulgence in something that provides pleasure, satisfaction, or ease".

Just as an infant is dependent on its parents or guardians for survival, a developing child is dependent upon the society in which that child lives and the education of that child must be provided by the society in which the child lives. So, considering these definitions and the definition and state of society, I stand by my position that, for the general good of the world and society, that education (and therefore the implementation and funding of that education) is the responsibility of society.

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U7D2

a. Demonstrate an understanding of the need to accommodate differences in cognition and achievement in instruction and assessment.

Even though students should have equal opportunities it is clear that different students have different abilities and each should be able to explore, develop, and express their own unique abilities. After core courses are mastered, some students can take different courses than the others and those that excel in particular areas can be assigned or involved in specialized and individualized projects.

b. Evaluate the appropriateness of various sources of information and research in education, including print, Web-based, and others.

I think all preliminary, secondary, and primary sources of information are valid though one must be cognizant of the various levels of quality and reliability from available sources which include printed publications, mass media networks, and the Internet.

c. Use a variety of media communication tools to enrich learning opportunities

It is important to use what technology has to offer in all fields including the educational field. Media communication tools include printed publications, recorded books and music, CDs, Video tapes, VCDs, DVDs, radio, television, computers, and the Internet to name a few.

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I think cultural diversity is good but I think levels of achievement of students should be similar. If the levels are too dissimilar then I think no communication can occur. For example, in a language class, to put students just learning the alphabet with advanced students would not be fair to either the beginning or the advanced learners.

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U8D1

The goal for my writing throughout the course: proficient to distinguised in all areas

A conversation with Kieran Egan:

In referring to your book "Debunking Spencer", or rather, "Getting It Wrong from the Beginning: Our Progressivist Inheritance from Herbert Spencer, John Dewey, and Jean Piaget", we should mention that Herbert Spencer did have some good thoughts and ideas concerning education though perhaps he took the concept of evolutionary learning too far.

It seems that you (Egan) want the pendulum of process to swing back again to where it was before Spencer came along. In primitive times a child would learn only by observation in the way animals or pets do now, though later in the development of history there might have been some training, such as in the way animals or pets are trained now. But the very first learning would have been child-centered. Then as humans and the world developed, new methods were employed to teach children. As time progressed, different cultures would fluctuate between child-centered and societally centered educational procedures.

I will need to read "The Educated Mind: How Cognitive Tools Shape Our Understanding" (1997) to see if these ideas are better than those offered by starting-off-on-the-wrong-foot Spencer. But concerning progressivism, though the word sounds good and progressive, the concept seems to have a lot of oppressive features though I don't think the whole movement should be discarded although the irrelevant and unproductive aspects of it can be trimmed off. Progressivism claims that "to educate children effectively it is vital to attend to children's nature, and particularly to their modes of learning and stages of development, and to accommodate educational practice to what we can discover about these." (Egan, 2002). Rather than the metaphor of the "Curate's egg" (p.22), where the bad part of the egg would affect the quality of the whole egg, I think perhaps a more appropriate metaphor would be of an oak tree with with dead limbs and where those dead branches would be trimmed and the tree pruned for the overall health of the tree.

Spencer, I think, hit the nail on the head when he used the metaphor of species evolution as compared with the individual and evolutionary development of a child's mind (Spencer's "First Principals") though some of the concepts and conclusions that branched off from that idea might have been erroneous. Though Darwin's theory is in good stead today, Spencer's philosophy is now considered Nietzschean and Lamarckian, even "outdated, eccentric, ignorant" (and I would add "arrogant" to the list of adjectives) and his "scientific and social ideas are now considered museum pieces" (Egan, 2002). "Social evolution led him to believe that the only chance the weak, poor, and unintelligent had of progressing was by living in the face of oppressive odds and passing on to their children, by some Lamarckian evolutionary mechanism the coping skills they learned. Alternatively, he thought they should be discouraged from breeding. Education and other social welfare programs undermined both processes and so, in his view, only fostered incompetents and so slowed down the beneficent progress nature has in store for us." (p.23).

Even despite the objections, I think some aspects of his philosophy can be incorporated into today's educational curricula. "Social Darwinism", or "social Spencerism" as some have suggested it should be termed and where the term "survival of the fittest" originated, seems to be relegated mostly to the physical and not to the educational world. Using the concept of survival of the fittest brings to mind physically disabled people who, in the state of wild nature, would not have much chance of survival but in the educational field could do very well. Spencer was also against the principles of socialism or shared wealth and thought that wealth should be controlled by the strong. In curriculum development, Spencer thought of the total life of the child who should learn practical concepts and a science, not arts, based curriculum.

There is not disagreement that Spencer was indeed influential -- even the word "evolution" was coined by him (Darwin at first used "descent with modification" or "natural selection", which are definitions of the terms, before there was a generally accepted word for it). To him the scientific principles of physics and biology should be applied to educational processes.

He believed in the concept of recapitulation which mimicked the evolution from single cell to complex organisms and then the accumulative development of civilization. So too should the child's learning "follow the process whereby the different forms of knowledge have been built up during cultural history" and " Each child's mind [goes] through a process like that which the mind of humanity at large has gone through". His concept of recapitulation contain "casual and brutal racism" (Egan, 2002) as he thought of other races as inferior savages allowing the "superior" people the right to govern the "inferior" people. (Since now these attitudes have been debunked it is time to adopt a system of direct democracy to determine governmental policies).

Spencer's view of education contained many self-centered aspects such as self preservation and securing the necessities of life and those "miscellaneous activities which fill up the leisure part of life, devoted to the gratification of the tastes and feeling" (Egan, 2002) as well as those benefitting society such as bringing up children well and producing good citizens all of which, for him, calls for a science-based educational system using a natural system of learning using developmentally appropriate methods such as those espoused by Piaget and Rousseau and moving from simple to complex ideas.

Spencer was for the "hard" subjects like mathematics and science and not for the "soft" subjects such as music and literature. He thought of the arts and literature as frivolous extravagances but I think satisfying only survivalist goals would create a culturally primitive and unrefined culture. After everyone survives and lives well then what do with their time? That's where the arts come in. Some educators have said that Spencer's system has the effect of cutting off modern generations from the great conversations of the Western tradition, but how about the Eastern tradition? Especially after living in Asia, one of my pet peeves is, in the West, the division between Eastern and Western cultures, as if the Eastern tradition does not exist or should be dismissed. In my view the term that should be used is "World tradition".

Egan opposes the following Spencerian concepts:

1. Learning from the concrete to the abstract

2. Students should begin with what they know

3. Preferring active to passive forms of learning (though even "passive" learning requires an active mind)

4. Opposition to rote learning or memorizing without understanding

The whole book seems to be a criticism of the philosophy of Spencer with scant positive suggestions though one idea that is suggested is to use narrative story forms containing information such as scientific facts and historical data. This would entice the child by getting his attention while educating him at the same time. I have heard this process referred to as "edutainment".

You (Egan) seem to be against unnecessary educational research (aren't we all?) or research with obviously known results such as "bright people can learn things less bright people can not learn". "No experiment is required to tell us what is evident" (Egan, 2002, p.178).

He mentions education needs five categories somatic, mythic, romantic, philosophic, and ironic but these are not elaborated on, demonstrated, or developed in this book so I am not sure what these categories refer to. I think some more examples of how education can be achieved through the use of cognitive tools -- which is the way you say children should be educated -- could be included in the book's discussions. But perhaps these wll be mentioned in your next book.

I was surprised to read in the final paragraph in the book that "this book is no canonical document. And by the time it is printed and in your hands, I willed be curled in a corner moaning and groaning about all the things I now regret having written and don't quite believe in the way I have stated them and, worse, all the things I wish I had written" (Egan, 2002) which showed a lack of conviction in your beliefs and reading that made me feel I might have wasted my time having read the book (though I do not think that it was a waste of time). Also, even though I will look up the website, I thought the website address should have been mentioned in a footnote or appendix rather than in the last line of the conclusion of the essay which came across as a sort of personal publicity . I almost felt the way I felt at the ending of the movie "Evolution", when it seemed that it was revealed in the last moment of that movie that the movie was really a 101 minute long advertisement for Head and Shoulders Shampoo.

In conclusion, comparing the two philosophies, where Spencer is on the science end of the spectrum, you (Egan) seem to be on the arts end of the spectrum. I say let's include the entire spectrum.

Reference:

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

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U8D2

Compare and contrast the influence of various educational philosophies' influence on learning theory.
Comment on the way ONE other learner has indicated his or her competency demonstration.

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U8D2

The various educational philosophies can include the following:
Positivist vs. postpositivist education
Qualitative vs. quantitative analyses
Creativity vs. memorization methods
Behaviorist learning vs. constructivist learning
Postmodern vs. establishment education
Subjective vs. objective knowledge
Empirical vs. rational knowledge
Free form vs. highly structured and disciplined curriculae
Exploratory learning vs. curriculum based learning
Student centered vs. teacher centered education
Nature based vs. high technology based education
Nontraditional vs. traditional education
Manual vs. computer based education
Home study vs. institutional education
Online vs. classroom education
References:
Boorstin, Daniel J. (1974). The Americans: The Democratic Experience. New York: Vintage Books, Random House.
Ravitch, Diane and Viteritti, Joseph P. (1997). New Schools for a New Century. London: Yale University Press.
Egan, Kieran. (2002). Getting It Wrong from the Beginning: Our Progressivist Inheritance from Herbert Spencer, John Dewey, and Jean Piaget. London: Yale University Press.
Socio-Cultural Analysis. Retrieved October 8, 2003 from <http://filebox.vt.edu/business/marketing/bao/MKTG4704/im7-11.PDF>.
Socio-cultural Theory and its Applications to Educational Practice and Research. Retrieved October 8, 2003 from <http://www.oise.utoronto.ca/~gwells/SocCult.html>.

The shift from centralized to the more decentralized and from authoritarian to the student-
centered approach of today is a result of the influences of several people and philosophers of education including Herbert Spencer, John Dewey, and Jean Piaget. Spencer was a proponent of social Darwinism maintaining that the individual progressed in stages comparable to species evolution and learned in similarly progressive evolutionary stages. Dewey thought that instruction should be non-authoritarian since the purpose of education is to prepare the student to function and participate within a democratic society. His learning methods were activity based rather than curricula based and his ideas were and inspiration for the progressivists' philosophy of education. He thought that truth is empirically provable in practical experience and that thinking is merely a way of action planning. Piaget, a Swiss psychologist, charted child development in four stages: 1. the sensorimotor stage from birth to age two when motor skills are developed 2. the preoperational stage from ages 2 to 7 for verbal skills 3. the concrete operational stage from ages 7 to 12 for abstract concepts such as mathematics 4. the formal operational stage from ages 12 to 15 when the child starts to reason logically.

Encarta Encylopedia article on Herbert Spencer:

Spencer, Herbert (1820-1903), British social philosopher, often regarded as one of the first sociologists. Born in Derby, England, Spencer was mainly self-educated. His early influences included the utilitarian philosophy of Jeremy Bentham and an early theory of evolution developed by the French naturalist Jean-Baptiste Lamarck. See also Thematic Essay: British Political and Social Thought.

In 1850 Spencer published Social Statics, a work in which he stressed the importance of individual freedom and the inevitability of human progress. In Principles of Psychology (1855) Spencer wrote that all organic matter originates in a unified state and that individual characteristics gradually develop through evolution. The evolutionary progression from simple to more complex and diverse states was an important theme in most of Spencer's later works. In A System of Synthetic Philosophy (1860) Spencer outlined a plan for a comprehensive system of philosophy, based on evolution, that would embrace and integrate all existing fields of knowledge. The initial installment in this project, First Principles, appeared in 1862. Later works in the series include Principles of Biology (2 volumes, 1864-1867), Principles of Sociology (3 volumes, 1876-1896), and Principles of Ethics (2 volumes, 1892-1893).

After Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species in 1859, Spencer embraced Darwin's theory of natural selection. Spencer was an influential proponent of social Darwinism, an application of Darwin's theory to human societies. The theory of natural selection holds that only the most well-adapted individuals in a population will survive and reproduce. Because these successful individuals pass on their adaptive advantage to their offspring, the cumulative effect of this process over many generations is the adaptation of the entire population to its environment. Spencer coined the phrase "survival of the fittest" to describe the competition among human individuals and groups. He argued that human progress resulted from the triumph of more advanced individuals and cultures over their inferior competitors. Wealth and power were seen as signs of inherent "fitness," while poverty was taken as evidence of natural inferiority. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, social Darwinism was used to argue for unrestrained economic competition and against aid to the "unfit" poor. The theory was also used to justify racist and imperialist policies in Europe and the United States.

When social Darwinist ideas fell from favor in the early 20th century, Spencer's reputation as a philosopher and social theorist declined. Nonetheless, his ambitious attempt to systematize all knowledge within the framework of modern science, and especially in terms of evolution, earned him a place among the notable thinkers of the late 19th century. Other works by Spencer include The Man Versus the State (1884) and Essays: Scientific, Political, and Speculative (3 volumes, 1891).Microsoft® Encarta® Encyclopedia 2002. © 1993-2001 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

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from: http://www.newton.mec.edu/Brown/TE/portfolio/my_philosophy.pdf paper of Michael R. Sylvia

Methods

• variety of teaching methods (existentialism), research on effectiveness of teaching

methods (analytic), clarify the aims so each activity has a clear relationship to those

aims (analytic), cross-disciplinary, action oriented, activity oriented, hands on, project

oriented (pragmatism), experimental, flexible, open-ended (pragmatism),

discussion/questioning/thinking (idealism), lecture, scientific method, dependable

knowledge, order - bells, departmentalization, standardized testing (realism)

• reinforce behavior through immediate rewards (behaviorism)

• age appropriate materials (pragmatism)

• use of mechanical electronic devices - systematic learning created by experts which

give immediate rewards (behaviorism)

• include student in planning (existentialism)

• portfolio assessment (existentialism)

Curriculum

• meanings and purposes of curriculum should be clarified (analytic)

• outcomes should be observable and measurable behavior (behaviorism)

• "Great Books" to express thinking and ideas over sense data (idealism)

• curriculum that empowers people and transforms society (postmodernism)

• curriculum that relates to students identities, experiences (postmodernism based on

Dewey's make the learners experience the basic starting point)

• include the study of the oppressed, multicultural education(postmodernism)

• get out as much as possible - field trips (reconstructionism)

Teachers' Role

• understanding of the language used in the classroom, analyze language and point out

improper usage (newspaper, TV) (analytic), be aware that language usage shapes

students thought and concept formation (postmodernism)

• condition students with grades, reinforce behavior using conditioning (behaviorism)

• be a director, guide, facilitator (idealism), scholar, practitioner, communicator, colearner

(postmodernism), resource (pragmatism), and a social activist with courage to

do something (reconstructionism)

• emphasize appropriate social practices - "recycling" (postmodernism)

• help them see that knowledge can make them into critical and responsible members

of a democracy (postmodernism)

• establish a proper learning environment (pragmatism)

• teach so that material relates to students' lives (pragmatism)

• encourage future oriented students (reconstructionism)

The role of education and funding of that education, I believe, falls on the shoulders

of the community. As the Idealist Plato suggested, "the state must take an active role in

educational matters". (H. Ozman & S. Craver (1992). Philosophical Foundations of

Education (6th Edition). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Merrill. I feel that the best source of

that income comes primarily from the state because they are the ones setting the

standards and the rules. I also believe that individual communities have the right and

responsibility to tax themselves to provide an even better education for their students.

Aims of Education

I believe that the main aim of education is in developing the mind and character of the

individual as professed by the Idealists. The importance of the individual, as stated by

the Existentialists, is of primary importance. Producing a virtuous person (Aristotle) who

is a contributor to a democratic society becomes paramount. An individual's ethics, as

prescribed by Postmodernists, creates a person capable of contributing to a society that

we would all like to be part of.

I believe as the Existentialists do, that we should aim for having students participate

in education because they want to. If we take advantage of "their" interests and

motivations, as the Pragmatists would have us do, I feel they would learn more eagerly

with less chance of distraction. According to pragmatists, students are capable of

directing their own affairs, and I believe they have more of a willingness take part in

something that is of true interest to them.

I agree with the Pragmatists in the belief that we should take advantage of their

natural curiosity, and experimentation and inquiry seem to be the best way. I believe we

should be fostering habits of thought, taking advantage of the scientific method with a

hand-on approach. As the Analytics say, "knowing how" and "knowing that". Students

need to learn the facts (knowing that), but they also need to know how to use those facts

(knowing how). The scientific method, professed first by the Realists, is the perfect

vehicle for putting those facts into practical use in solving the problems we face each day.

I also believe, as the Pragmatists do, that we need to get the students out of the

classroom and gain "outside experiences". Field trips, community service, anything that

gives students a wider range of worldly experiences.

from paper of Boyce Brown Ret Dec 10, 03 from http://democracyunbound.com/Thesis3.pdf

from Schopenhauer:

All truth goes through three stages. First it is

ridiculed. Then it is violently opposed. Finally, it is

accepted as self-evident. (http://wwwusers.

cs.york.ac.uk/~susan/cyc/l/law3.htm)

Apparently Schopenhauer

never said it. He did, however, say something roughly along

those lines, in the preface to the first edition of his 1818

book, Die Welt als Wille und Vorstellung. In E. F. J. Payne's

English translation his remark reads: "To truth only a brief

celebration of victory is allowed between the two long

periods during which it is condemned as paradoxical, or

disparaged as trivial." (http://wwwusers.

cs.york.ac.uk/~susan/cyc/l/law3.htm)

One of the philosophers of education to make the most

explicit link between thought and will was the mid-19th

century German anarchist and schoolteacher, Max Stirner.

Although his masterpiece is "The Ego and Its Own," a

pioneering work in political science, anarchism, philosophy

and psychology, he outlined much of his educational ideas in

a brief pamphlet entitled "The False Principle of our

Education." In a representative passage he wrote that the

"calling of man" which he was tracking down on a

thousand paths and byways of research bursts as soon as

it has been recognized into the flame of ethical will

and inflames the breast of the person who is notie

distracted any longer with seeking but has again become

fresh and natural. (Stirner, 1967, 20)

Nietzsche's contribution to educational philosophy revolves

primarily around his self-proclaimed master piece, Thus Spake

Zarathustra, a series of lectures published as The Future of

Our Educational Institutions and two long essays, The

Advantages and Disadvantages of History and Schopenhauer as

Educator. For Nietzsche in this latter essay, the single

legitimate function of culture is to facilitate the creation

of people of genius who will advance that culture and make it

more inclusive. Unfortunately, this profoundly humane goal

is so at odds with the instrumental-materialistic ethos of

modernity embraced so readily by the herd, that people are

terrified by the prospect of it and instead prefer to go with

the flow, as pathological as it is. A vital, living culture

is reduced instead to a kind of menagerie of desiccated

received opinions that actively hinders the progress of

culture.

Where we discover talent devoid of that longing, in the

world of scholars or that of the so-called cultivated,

we are repelled and disgusted by it; for we sense that,

with all their intellect, such people do not promote an

evolving culture and the procreation of genius - which

is the goal of all culture - but hinder it. (Nietzsche,

1983, 142)

As Edward Dowling has said, "The two greatest obstacles

to democracy in the United States are, first the widespread

delusion among the poor that we have it, and second, the

chronic terror among the rich, lest we get it."

Bourne, R. (1917). Education and Living. New York: The

Century Co.

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

Press Audio.

Douglas, W.O. (September 10, 1976). Address to the Young

Lawyers Section of the Washington State Bar Association,

September 10, 1976n, http://www.aclumass.

org/general/StateofUnion.html

Greider, William. (September 23, 2002). The End of Empire.

The Nation.

http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20020923&s=greider

Jefferson, T. (September 28, 1820). Correspondence with

Wiliam C. Jarvis.

www.monticello.org/reports/quotes/education.html

Lama, H.H.D. (1999). Education and the Human Heart. In S.

Glazer, The Heart of Learning, Spirituality in

Education. New York: Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam.

Nietzsche, F. (1983). Schopenhauer as Educator. In F.

Nietzsche, Untimely Meditations. Cambridge, UK:

Cambridge University Press.

Postman, N. (1985). Amusing Ourselves to Death. New York:

Viking.

Smith, W. (Ed). (1973). Theories of Education in Early

America. Indianapolis: Bobs-Merlin Company Inc.

Stirner, M. (1967). The False Principle of our Education, or,

Humanism and Reform. Colorado Springs: Ralph Melees

Publisher.

Tucker, R.C. (1978). The Marx-Engels Reader, Second Edition.

New York: W.W. Norton & Company.

Wallerstein, I. (1998). Utopistics, or, Historical Choices of

the Twenty-first Century. New York: The New Press.

U8D2

Compare and contrast the influence of various educational philosophies' influence on learning theory

Plato with his "theory of forms" thought that knowledge should be gained through rational processes and the contemplation of pure forms and Socrates thought an examining, questioning approach is the road to knowledge since "the unexamined life is not worth living.". Aristotle thought knowledge is obtained through the senses so that experience or empirical methods should be the way to acquire knowledge.

In the book Getting It Wrong from the Beginning: Our Progressivist Inheritance from Herbert Spencer, John Dewey, and Jean Piaget, Kieran Egan explores the influences of the educational philosophies of those three thinkers. Herbert Spencer was a proponent of social Darwinism maintaining that the individual progressed in stages comparable to species evolution and learned in similarly progressive evolutionary stages. John Dewey thought that instruction should be non-
authoritarian since the purpose of education is to prepare the student to function and participate within a democratic society. His learning methods were activity based rather than curricula based and his ideas were and inspiration for the progressivists' philosophy of education. He thought that truth is empirically provable in practical experience and that thinking is merely a way of action planning. Jean Piaget, a Swiss psychologist, charted child development in four stages: 1. the sensorimotor stage from birth to age two when motor skills are developed 2. the preoperational stage from ages 2 to 7 for verbal skills 3. the concrete operational stage from ages 7 to 12 for abstract concepts such as mathematics 4. the formal operational stage from ages 12 to 15 when the child starts to reason logically.

Frederic Nietzsche in Schopenhauer as Educator says that "the single legitimate function of culture (and education) is to facilitate the creation of people of genius who will advance that culture and make it more inclusive." (Nietzsche, 1983)

Some of the philosophies and methods that have affected the course of education are listed below:

Positivist (quantitative) vs. postpositivist (qualitative) education
Creativity (Spencer) vs. memorization (Egan) methods

Student-centered (Spencer) vs. society-centered (Egan) education
Behaviorist learning vs. constructivist learning
Subjective (Aristotle's empiricism) vs. objective (Plato's rationalism) knowledge
Free form vs. highly structured (pragmatism) and disciplined (analytic) curricula
Exploratory learning (Spencer) vs. curriculum based (Egan) learning
Nontraditional (collaborative, existentialism, idealism) vs. traditional (behaviorism, realism) education
Home study (non-traditional) vs. institutional (traditional) education
Online (non-traditional) vs. classroom (traditional) education

References:

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.

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

Press Audio.

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

Nietzsche, F. (1983). Schopenhauer as Educator. In F.

Nietzsche, Untimely Meditations. Cambridge, UK:

Cambridge University Press.

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

Stirner, M. (1967). The False Principle of our Education, or,

Humanism and Reform. Colorado Springs: Ralph Melees

Publisher.

Sylvia, M. (2003). Philosophy of Education. Retrieved Dec.10, 2003 from http://www.newton.mec.edu/Brown/TE/portfolio/my_philosophy.pdf

Tucker, R.C. (1978). The Marx-Engels Reader, Second Edition.

New York: W.W. Norton & Company.

---

To Marie,

So much has changed in society and education with the development of the sciences of psychology and psychiatry. The influences of Freud, Jung, and the behaviorism of Skinner all felt in all levels of society.

Pati,

You might be interested in reading sometime the novel Hard Times by Charles Dickens as it explores some of the issues that you have mentioned.

----

U9 Rough Draft

Below are ideas from which the final will be developed:

Historical and socio-cultural analyses of major educational trends and issues.

Socio-cultural trends and issues: socio-cultural: cultural materialism, Steward: cultural ecology, Marx: socialism or historical materialism, Skinner: behavioral psychology, reductionism. Hegel: dialectic materialism. Darwin: evolution. Freud: psychology. Smith: capitalism. Schopenhauer: will and idea. Plato: rationalism. Aristotle: empiricism. White: cultural evolution. Sartre: existentialism.

As related to the environment, culture, and society, the three levels of cultural materialism are the superstructure, the structure, and the infrastructure.

The infrastructure consists of modes of production (i.e. food production) and modes of reproduction (population control). The structure level involves domestic economy (i.e. micro economics) and political economy (i.e. macro economics). The superstructure level involves behavior (i.e. art, music, dance, literature, advertising, rituals, sports, games, hobbies,and science) and mentality (i.e. values, emotions, traditions) Harris (1979)..

The factors of socio-cultural analysis integrate and incorporate the environment, culture, and society to determine how best to facilitate plans for a better society through education. The physical and sociological model of society is represented by cultural materialism which consists of three levels: superstructure, structure, infrastructure (Harris, 1968).

In cultural materialism, the infrastructure consists of modes of production (i.e. food production) and modes of reproduction (population control). The structure level involves domestic economy (i.e. micro economics) and political economy (i.e. macro economics). The superstructure level involves behavior (i.e. art, music, dance, literature, advertising, rituals, sports, games, hobbies,and science) and mentality (i.e. values, emotions, traditions) (Harris, 1979).

Other descriptions of the socio-cultural foundations include Steward's cultural ecology, Marx's socialism or historical materialism, Skinner's behavioral psychology and reductionism, Hegel's dialectic materialism, Darwin's theory of evolution, Freud's theory of human psychology, Smith's capitalism, Schopenhauer's will and idea, Plato's rationalism, Aristotle's empiricism, White's cultural evolution, and Sartre's existentialism, to name a few.
Concerning the historical analysis of education, the methods that knowledge (in "Education Research" of 2003, the four areas of knowledge are listed as description, prediction, improvement, and explanation) is discovered or created can include accidental discoveries (Madame Curie and Radium, photography, etc.) as well as the use of the scientific method (hypothesis, experimentation, exploration, documentation, analysis, evaluation), reading, research and development, experimentation, experience, exploration, spiritualism, planned searches, introspection and inspiration, and intuition and creativity.

The problem with any study of history is that history is generally written by the victors so getting a well-rounded description of what really occurred can be difficult. Using quantitative and qualitative techniques to determine what occurred, and when, is based on recorded information that the researcher assumes is true. Historical research involves examining past events and, not only the facts, dates, and descriptions of those events, but also the interpretation of what occurred. According to Berg (1998) the reasons to pursue historical analysis is to uncover the unknown, answer questions, determine the relationship of the present to the past, record accomplishments of individuals and groups, to better understand our own culture as well as others' cultures, and by making life better for everyone today by understanding the past and not repeating the mistakes of the past.

Also, another difficulty with both historical and socio-cultural studies are the subjective/objective issues. Since all human perceptions are based on cultural relativism, finding unbiased interpretations of historical occurrence and socio-cultural factors is not possible even if all of the research data and statistics are accurate.

A personal statement of one's educational philosophy that demonstrates a relationship to your knowledge of historical and socio-cultural events and analyses.

One problem within the educational system involves political philosophy: if most societies are called democratic then why don't the people govern the country by voting directly and democratically on issues rather than voting only for representatives who can then vote any way they choose after they are elected? 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 introduced to them and how can they become directly involved in the execution of democratically determined plans?

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 the modern 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 decisions. 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" (p. 4), 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. It is necessary to have an educated public in order to have a direct democracy work efficiently so democracy is dependent the educational system to survive and prosper.

This is an important issue because how people live and how they are governed is what government, and indeed life, is all about and since all people want to live under democratic systems then they should be allowed, utilizing computer and Internet technology, to determine their laws and rule themselves.

The historical analysis of educational issues as related to democracy can involve discussions of the concept and history of democracy and democratic methods that have been used throughout history. Discussions can involve forms of education throughout history as well as how democracy has been implemented throughout history and its relationship to current educational issues. The discussions can involve forms of education throughout history as related to current educational issues and problems as influenced by the educational philosophies of Herbert Spencer, John Dewey, and Jean Piaget. The socio-cultural analysis can compare various societies and traditional cultures and how they have adapted to the principles of democracy as well as current socio-
cultural and economic concerns. Historical and socio-cultural analyses of the educational system and its relationship to democracy can involve issues such as funding, curriculum, testing, traditional cultures, McDonaldization, globalization, standardization, capitalization, commercialization, and transience.

The changes in societies brought on by social movements and technologies, which are blurring the boundaries between nations and ideologies, and the use of planned social change using the components of agents, targets, and methods as well as the empirical-rational, normative-
reeducative, and power-coercive change stategies used in affecting societal change can be explored in relation to the historical and socio-cultural analysis of issue of the democratization of society and the educational system.
A case study of an educational event or issue that reflects an historical and socio-cultural analysis.

Last year when I taught in China the curriculum and textbooks, as one might expect, originated from the centralized Chinese government. The organizational structure there is bureaucratic, centralized, and organized with orders originating from the upper echelon to be dispersed to all of the connecting institutions below in the structural hierarchy (from top to bottom or a vertical structure). The teachers are meant to dispense the government approved information and the student is meant to memorize the information whether they understand the information or not.

In what is called western culture, the organizational structure and its management has evolved along other lines. The philosophical influences on education of Herbert Spencer, John Dewey, and Jean Piaget and others as well as the historical and socio-cultural influences of socialism, capitalism, economics, behaviorism, reductionism, behaviorism, determinism, rationalism, empiricism, cultural evolution, and existentialism have produced a more decentralized educational system in the western world with a more horizontal, rather than vertical, management style and a more student-centered approach to education.

To borrow a quote from Dr. Sabet to illustrate the difference between the Chinese and the "western" approach to education and management structure, in the western cultures "the primary objective of educational leadership at all levels is to release the creative power of the individuals and encourage universal participation in consultation and decision-making. Effective leadership maintains a balance between centralization and decentralization. Centralization is necessary for direction and coordination. Decentralization is necessary for innovation and development. Excessive centralization results in unwarranted bureaucracy while excessive decentralization results in anarchy." (Sabet, 2003). In the western world there is a premium attached to self-
fulfillment and creativity, reasoning, and understanding whereas in the authoritarian methods there is more importance placed on obedience, loyalty, and sacrifice to the group's requirements.

Now that I am teaching in Taiwan, I still experience the sometimes frustratingly bureaucratic approach to education but I am teaching in a private language school which was begun by some Americans in Taiwan (the first school where I taught was licensed by an American company but after the school became a very large the local owners broke away from the parent institution to become an independently owned school) and teaches using a school produced curriculum for the young students and for the older students, beginning at about the third grade, the curriculum is based on the Calvert system from Baltimore and Hunt Valley, Maryland, which began as a system to be used by parents for home schooling and which covers all subject areas. The system in Taiwan is more westernized than in China so the management structure of the schools is here somewhere between centralized and decentralized.
Selection and critique of professional literature dealing with history of education and with its socio-cultural dynamics.

This section will deal mostly with Part Eight of The Americans: the Democratic Experience by Daniel J. Boorstein concerning education and arts and culture in the United States of America.

References:

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.

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

Press Audio.

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

Nietzsche, F. (1983). Schopenhauer as Educator. In F.

Nietzsche, Untimely Meditations. Cambridge, UK:

Cambridge University Press.

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

Stirner, M. (1967). The False Principle of our Education, or,

Humanism and Reform. Colorado Springs: Ralph Melees

Publisher.

Sylvia, M. (2003). Philosophy of Education. Retrieved Dec.10, 2003 from http://www.newton.mec.edu/Brown/TE/portfolio/my_philosophy.pdf

Tucker, R.C. (1978). The Marx-Engels Reader, Second Edition.

New York: W.W. Norton & Company.

Educational Historical Research:

Vernon Lee Sheeley, Historical Research Methods. Retrieved October 8, 2003 from http://ericcass.uncg.edu/research/sheeley.html

Digital History. Retrieved October 8, 2003 from http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/index.cfm?

Arhs.net search engine and directory. Retrieved October 8, 2003 from http://www.arhs.net/related/historical+research

Other data bases for historical research. Retrieved October 8, 2003 from http://www.rhd.uit.no/nhdc/bases.html,

Historical Research and Resources in the Digital Age: Libraries and Institutional Cooperation. Retrieved October 8, 2003 from http://www.h-net.msu.edu/aha/1999/papers/CronkandSmith.html

What is Historical Research? Retrieved October 8, 2003 from http://www.southalabama.edu/coe/bset/johnson/lectures/ch12.PDF

Courtland State University of New York. Retrieved October 8, 2003 from http://www.cortland.edu/history/research.html

Hansot, E. & Tyack, D. (1982). A usable past: Using history in educational policy, in A. Liberman & M. McLaughlin (Eds.), Policy making in education: Eighty-first yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education, (pp. 1-22). Chicago: The National Society for the Study of Education.

Finkelstein, B. (1992). Education historians as mythmakers, in G. Grant (ed.). Review of research in education, 18 (pp. 255-297). Washington, DC: American Educational Research Association.

Warren, D. (1990). The federal interest: On the history of educational reform in the United States, in J. Murphy (ed.). The Educational Reform Movement of the 1980s: Perspectives and Cases. Berkeley: McCutchan.

Socio-cultural analysis:

Guidelines for Socio-cultural Analysis. Retrieved October 8, 2003 from http://www.iadb.org/sds/doc/IND-JRenshawE.PDF

Socio-Cultural Analysis. Retrieved October 8, 2003 from http://filebox.vt.edu/business/marketing/bao/MKTG4704/im7-11.PDF

Scholar register. Retrieved October 8, 2003 from http://www.adm.u-
tokyo.ac.jp/IRS/ScholarList/ByFunction/func6953_e.html, Scholar register

Socio-cultural Theory and its Applications to Educational Practice and Research. Retrieved October 8, 2003 from http://www.oise.utoronto.ca/~gwells/SocCult.html

Soo, Kyung Lim. Cultural Materialism. Retrieved October 8, 2003 from http://www.indiana.edu/~wanthro/mater.htm

Cultural Materialism: The Struggle for a Science of Culture. (1979). New York: Random House.

Encyclopedia of Cultural Anthropology. (1996). New York: H. Holt and Company

Cultural Anthropology. (1995). 4th ed. New York: Harper Collins College Publishers

Murphy, Martin F. and Maxine L. Margolis, Eds.(1995). Science, Materialism, and the Study of Culture. Gainesville: Univ. Press of Florida.

Harris, Marvin. (1968). The Rise of Anthropological Theory. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell.

Harris, Marvin. (1979). Cultural Materialism: The Struggle for a Science of culture. New York: Random House.

----

U10Q1:

1) What were the most interesting insights you gained from this course? The insights from the texts (The Americans: the Democratic Experience by Daniel Boorstin, New Schools for a New Century edited by Diane Ravitch and Joseph Viteritti, and Getting It Wrong From the Beginning: Our Progressivist Inheritance from Herbert Spencer, John Dewey, and Jean Piaget), the Internet sources, the other learners, and Dr. Sabet. I particularly found interesting the insights in the Boorstin and Egan books concerning the development and changes of educational philosophy and techniques.

2) What were the most frustrating moments in this course? I think communicating in the dyad or triad projects can be sometimes frustrating but the efforts are worthwhile.

3) In what action activity did you seem to learn the most? I think in the dyad and triad activities in addition to the Internet searches.

U10Q2:

1) Think about your assumptions regarding the history of education. Have your assumptions been challenged during the course? Have your assumptions changed?

Sometimes we assume education is the way it is without realizing how it got that way. In following the history of education and the different influences of educational philosophers, in particular Herbert Spencer and John Dewey, I can better understand how the educational techniques that are used today developed or evolved in the way that they have.
2) What did you learn in the course that you feel most committed to incorporate into your own practice? I think trying to incorporate both the evolutionary and natural learning processes of the child in addition to the memorization techniques suggested by Kieran Egan would be an effective combination.
3) What three questions has the course raised for you about the history of education?

Why have women and minorities been historically excluded from the educational process?

How can we best use current technological advances for educational purposes?

How much freedom and how much discipline should be used while instructing learners (both children and adults)?

U10Q3:

PLUS

1. Good choice of course reading texts

2. Interesting and productive learner dialogue

3. Sharing dyad and triad activity ideas

DELTA

1. Perhaps there could be a week or a section of an actual brief history of education throughout civilization.

2. There could be a section of selected excerpts of writings on education by philosophers throughout history such as Aristotle, Plato, Spencer, Dewey, Piaget, Rousseau, Nietzsche, etc.

3. I think the dyad or group activity could involve more time with the first week used for finding team mates and exchanging ideas and the second week for combining them into one statement for the group since there is time involved in communicating amongst the dyad or triad members.

---

Historical and socio-cultural analyses of major educational trends and issues.

Listed here are some of the most influential socio-cultural trends and issues and their main proponents: socio-cultural: cultural materialism, Steward: cultural ecology, Marx: socialism or historical materialism, Skinner: behavioral psychology, reductionism. Hegel: dialectic materialism. Darwin: evolution. Freud: psychology. Smith: capitalism. Schopenhauer: will and idea. Plato: rationalism. Aristotle: empiricism. White: cultural evolution. Sartre: existentialism.

As related to the environment, culture, and society, the three levels of cultural materialism are the superstructure, the structure, and the infrastructure.

The infrastructure consists of modes of production (i.e. food production) and modes of reproduction (population control). The structure level involves domestic economy (i.e. micro economics) and political economy (i.e. macro economics). The superstructure level involves behavior (i.e. art, music, dance, literature, advertising, rituals, sports, games, hobbies, and science) and mentality (i.e. values, emotions, traditions) Harris (1979)..

The factors of socio-cultural analysis integrate and incorporate the environment, culture, and society to determine how best to facilitate plans for a better society through education. The physical and sociological model of society is represented by cultural materialism which consists of three levels: superstructure, structure, infrastructure (Harris, 1968).

In cultural materialism, the infrastructure consists of modes of production (i.e. food production) and modes of reproduction (population control). The structure level involves domestic economy (i.e. micro economics) and political economy (i.e. macro economics). The superstructure level involves behavior (i.e. art, music, dance, literature, advertising, rituals, sports, games, hobbies,and science) and mentality (i.e. values, emotions, traditions) (Harris, 1979).

Other descriptions of the socio-cultural foundations include Steward's cultural ecology, Marx's socialism or historical materialism, Skinner's behavioral psychology and reductionism, Hegel's dialectic materialism, Darwin's theory of evolution, Freud's theory of human psychology, Smith's capitalism, Schopenhauer's will and idea, Plato's rationalism, Aristotle's empiricism, White's cultural evolution, and Sartre's existentialism, to name a few.

Concerning the historical analysis of education, the methods that knowledge (in "Education Research" of 2003, the four areas of knowledge are listed as description, prediction, improvement, and explanation) is discovered or created can include accidental discoveries (Madame Curie and Radium, photography, etc.) as well as the use of the scientific method (hypothesis, experimentation, exploration, documentation, analysis, evaluation), reading, research and development, experimentation, experience, exploration, spiritualism, planned searches, introspection and inspiration, and intuition and creativity.

The problem with any study of history is that history is generally written by the victors so getting a well-rounded description of what really occurred can be difficult. Using quantitative and qualitative techniques to determine what occurred, and when, is based on recorded information that the researcher assumes is true. Historical research involves examining past events and, not only the facts, dates, and descriptions of those events, but also the interpretation of what occurred. According to Berg (1998) the reasons to pursue historical analysis is to uncover the unknown, answer questions, determine the relationship of the present to the past, record accomplishments of individuals and groups, to better understand our own culture as well as others' cultures, and by making life better for everyone today by understanding the past and not repeating the mistakes of the past.

Also, another difficulty with both historical and socio-cultural studies are the subjective/objective issues. Since all human perceptions are based on cultural relativism, finding unbiased interpretations of historical occurrences and socio-cultural factors is not possible even if all of the research data and statistics are accurate.

A personal statement of one's educational philosophy that demonstrates a relationship to your knowledge of historical and socio-cultural events and analyses.

One problem within the educational system involves political philosophy: if most societies are called democratic then why don't the people govern the country by voting directly and democratically on issues rather than voting only for representatives who can then vote any way they choose after they are elected? 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 introduced to them and how can they become directly involved in the execution of democratically determined plans?

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 the modern 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 decisions. 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" (p. 4), 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. It is necessary to have an educated public in order to have a direct democracy work efficiently so democracy is dependent the educational system to survive and prosper.

This is an important issue because how people live and how they are governed is what government, and indeed life, is all about and since all people want to live under democratic systems then they should be allowed, utilizing computer and Internet technology, to determine their laws and rule themselves.

The historical analysis of educational issues as related to democracy can involve discussions of the concept and history of democracy and democratic methods that have been used throughout history. Discussions can involve forms of education throughout history as well as how democracy has been implemented throughout history and its relationship to current educational issues. The discussions can involve forms of education throughout history as related to current educational issues and problems as influenced by the educational philosophies of Herbert Spencer, John Dewey, and Jean Piaget. The socio-cultural analysis can compare various societies and traditional cultures and how they have adapted to the principles of democracy as well as current socio-
cultural and economic concerns. Historical and socio-cultural analyses of the educational system and its relationship to democracy can involve issues such as funding, curriculum, testing, traditional cultures, McDonaldization, globalization, standardization, capitalization, commercialization, and transience.

The changes in societies brought on by social movements and technologies, which are blurring the boundaries between nations and ideologies, and the use of planned social change using the components of agents, targets, and methods as well as the empirical-rational, normative-re-
educative, and power-coercive change strategies used in affecting societal change can be explored in relation to the historical and socio-cultural analysis of issue of the democratization of society and the educational system.
A case study of an educational event or issue that reflects an historical and socio-cultural analysis.

Last year when I taught in China the curriculum and textbooks, as one might expect, originated from the centralized Chinese government. The organizational structure there is bureaucratic, centralized, and organized with orders originating from the upper echelon to be dispersed to all of the connecting institutions below in the structural hierarchy (from top to bottom or a vertical structure). The teachers are meant to dispense the government approved information and the student is meant to memorize the information whether they understand the information or not.

In what is called western culture, the organizational structure and its management has evolved along other lines. The philosophical influences on education of Herbert Spencer, John Dewey, and Jean Piaget and others as well as the historical and socio-cultural influences of socialism, capitalism, economics, behaviorism, reductionism, behaviorism, determinism, rationalism, empiricism, cultural evolution, and existentialism have produced a more decentralized educational system in the western world with a more horizontal, rather than vertical, management style and a more student-centered approach to education.

To borrow a quote from Dr. Sabet to illustrate the difference between the Chinese and the "western" approach to education and management structure, in the western cultures "the primary objective of educational leadership at all levels is to release the creative power of the individuals and encourage universal participation in consultation and decision-making. Effective leadership maintains a balance between centralization and decentralization. Centralization is necessary for direction and coordination. Decentralization is necessary for innovation and development. Excessive centralization results in unwarranted bureaucracy while excessive decentralization results in anarchy." (Sabet, 2003). In the western world there is a premium attached to self-
fulfillment and creativity, reasoning, and understanding whereas in the authoritarian methods there is more importance placed on obedience, loyalty, and sacrifice to the group's requirements.

Now that I am teaching in Taiwan, I still experience the sometimes frustratingly bureaucratic approach to education but I am teaching in a private language school which was begun by some Americans in Taiwan (the first school where I taught was licensed by an American company but after the school became a very large the local owners broke away from the parent institution to become an independently owned school) and teaches using a school produced curriculum for the young students and for the older students, beginning at about the third grade, the curriculum is based on the Calvert system from Baltimore and Hunt Valley, Maryland, which began as a system to be used by parents for home schooling and which covers all subject areas. The system in Taiwan is more westernized than in China so the management structure of the schools is here somewhere between centralized and decentralized.
Selection and critique of professional literature dealing with history of education and with its socio-cultural dynamics.

In his book The Americans: the Democratic Experience, Daniel J. Boorstein (1974) writes extensively on the American experience beginning in the 1800's up until the present time. In Book Three, A Popular Culture, Part Eight concerns some issues of education and more specifically, language, knowledge and the arts. Chapter , "A Higher Learning for All" (p. 478) and Chapter 53 concerns college and university education and Chapter 53, "Educating the Great Army of Incapables" (p. 490), is about the development of the philosophy of high school education in the United States of America.

In Chapter 52 Boorstin says "If there was to be a new American religion of Education, the universities were its cathedrals, just as high schools would later become its parish churches". And "if the prime aim of education was growth, then each man was a ladder unto himself. John Dewey's new democracy of facts meant also a new democracy of subjects" (Boorstin, 1974). So to prepare the citizenry for a democratic society, a democratic choice of subjects to taught was offered.

After the Civil War in the United States, there began the practice of giving federal land to institutions of higher learning so these land grants and other economic gifts, some from leading capitalists such as Rockefeller and Carnegie, caused colleges and universities to proliferate. This growth would begin to change the educational environment so that a great number of people had accuss to the university opportunities and systems.

In Chapter 53 the development of the high school system in the United States is explored, in particular the concept of free public high school. John Dewey's concept of New Education was his effort to make the scholl environment like the old "family farm where children learned by doing and by participating in common tasks". And he promoted the idea that "knowledge could be acquired, learning could be possessed, but growth was a process" (Boorstin, 1974). Dewey's ideals of progressive education changed the educational landscape and solidified the Americans' belief in the New Education that he proposed.

References:

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.

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

Press Audio.

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

Nietzsche, F. (1983). Schopenhauer as Educator. In F.

Nietzsche, Untimely Meditations. Cambridge, UK:

Cambridge University Press.

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

Stirner, M. (1967). The False Principle of our Education, or,

Humanism and Reform. Colorado Springs: Ralph Melees

Publisher.

Sylvia, M. (2003). Philosophy of Education. Retrieved Dec.10, 2003 from http://www.newton.mec.edu/Brown/TE/portfolio/my_philosophy.pdf

Tucker, R.C. (1978). The Marx-Engels Reader, Second Edition.

New York: W.W. Norton & Company.

Educational Historical Research:

Vernon Lee Sheeley, Historical Research Methods. Retrieved October 8, 2003 from http://ericcass.uncg.edu/research/sheeley.html

Digital History. Retrieved October 8, 2003 from http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/index.cfm?

Arhs.net search engine and directory. Retrieved October 8, 2003 from http://www.arhs.net/related/historical+research

Other data bases for historical research. Retrieved October 8, 2003 from http://www.rhd.uit.no/nhdc/bases.html,

Historical Research and Resources in the Digital Age: Libraries and Institutional Cooperation. Retrieved October 8, 2003 from http://www.h-net.msu.edu/aha/1999/papers/CronkandSmith.html

What is Historical Research? Retrieved October 8, 2003 from http://www.southalabama.edu/coe/bset/johnson/lectures/ch12.PDF

Courtland State University of New York. Retrieved October 8, 2003 from http://www.cortland.edu/history/research.html

Hansot, E. & Tyack, D. (1982). A usable past: Using history in educational policy, in A. Liberman & M. McLaughlin (Eds.), Policy making in education: Eighty-first yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education, (pp. 1-22). Chicago: The National Society for the Study of Education.

Finkelstein, B. (1992). Education historians as mythmakers, in G. Grant (ed.). Review of research in education, 18 (pp. 255-297). Washington, DC: American Educational Research Association.

Warren, D. (1990). The federal interest: On the history of educational reform in the United States, in J. Murphy (ed.). The Educational Reform Movement of the 1980s: Perspectives and Cases. Berkeley: McCutchan.

Socio-cultural analysis:

Guidelines for Socio-cultural Analysis. Retrieved October 8, 2003 from http://www.iadb.org/sds/doc/IND-JRenshawE.PDF

Socio-Cultural Analysis. Retrieved October 8, 2003 from http://filebox.vt.edu/business/marketing/bao/MKTG4704/im7-11.PDF

Scholar register. Retrieved October 8, 2003 from http://www.adm.u-
tokyo.ac.jp/IRS/ScholarList/ByFunction/func6953_e.html, Scholar register

Socio-cultural Theory and its Applications to Educational Practice and Research. Retrieved October 8, 2003 from http://www.oise.utoronto.ca/~gwells/SocCult.html

Soo, Kyung Lim. Cultural Materialism. Retrieved October 8, 2003 from http://www.indiana.edu/~wanthro/mater.htm

Cultural Materialism: The Struggle for a Science of Culture. (1979). New York: Random House.

Encyclopedia of Cultural Anthropology. (1996). New York: H. Holt and Company

Cultural Anthropology. (1995). 4th ed. New York: Harper Collins College Publishers

Murphy, Martin F. and Maxine L. Margolis, Eds.(1995). Science, Materialism, and the Study of Culture. Gainesville: Univ. Press of Florida.

Harris, Marvin. (1968). The Rise of Anthropological Theory. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell.

Harris, Marvin. (1979). Cultural Materialism: The Struggle for a Science of culture. New York: Random House.

----

Dr. Sabet,

Thank you for your thoughts and insights throughout the course.

Happy Holidays and Happy New Year,

Richard Bloodworth

---

Mavis,

You are right that technology has changed the world and the educational processes (along with social movements and changes in philosophical influences) so dramatically that we live in a world vastly different from the world of 100 years ago. It makes us wonder if the world 50 or 100 years into the future will be as (or even more) culturally and technologically different from the world of today since the changes seem to accelerate exponentially so that the world of the distant future could be unrecognizable and incomprehensible to the people of today's world.

********************************

Below are notes used in ED8111

Online Journal

Course Project: 10% of grade
The course project is a compilation and an edited presentation of material collected in your Personal Online Journal (POJ) throughout the course. (This is the reason that it accounts for only 10% of your final grade; most of the work was done in the assignments in each unit.) Each unit will call for a contribution to the POJ dealing with the competencies in the unit. The material placed in the POJ (the results of the reading, Web searches, and interviews that the learner does) may be edited and cut and pasted into the CourseRoom for the CourseRoom discussion. Also added to the POJ will be commentary derived from the reactions that each learner's posting to the CourseRoom will receive. The POJ will contain assigned components that demonstrate the unit competencies, including:
Historical and socio-cultural analyses of major educational trends and issues.
A personal statement of one's educational philosophy that demonstrates a relationship to your knowledge of historical and socio-cultural events and analyses.
A case study of an educational event or issue that reflects an historical and socio-cultural analysis.
Selection and critique of professional literature dealing with history of education and with its socio-cultural dynamics.
In Unit 9, an edited version of the POJ will be posted to the CourseRoom. It will be a summary of your analysis and written in accordance with the School of Education's current style and format guidelines.
In Unit 10, you will reflect on what the POJ demonstrates in relation to the competencies of the course and on any areas of difficulty that need to be addressed. The instructor and the other learners will provide feedback to you about the summary of the analysis and particularly about its demonstration of the unit competencies and the Program Outcomes. Here, both your instructor and your fellow learners will also address any questions you have raised about your project.
The project outcomes to be assessed are demonstrations that:
All unit competencies have been addressed.
The learner can gather and critically analyze historical and socio-cultural materials regarding education.
The learner can interact with and benefit from collegial interaction.
Rubrics are used to assess the Course Project, and the instructor will look for the extent that your project shows you mastered the competencies.
Your Course Project must follow the APA manual (5th edition) style guidelines.

From Dr. Sabet: This is a good piece from the attached article:
Develop a clear aim which examines a topic within a time frame
List the questions the historical process will attempt to answer
Identify relevant documentary sources (primary/secondary)
Establish a list of documents which relate to the time frame
Keep a research diary of contacts, sources and organisations
Access documents and any individuals who may corroborate the evidence from memory
Record appropriate extracts on cards, under theme headings
Analyse cards under themes and confirm findings by cross-checking sources to establish authenticity and accuracy (internal and external criticism)
Write an account in chronological sequence, including analysis and interpretation where appropriate
Develop a clear conclusion answering questions set out in aim, and where possible identify relevance to present or future nursing issues

U1D1

Choose an education level from the three (K-12; post-secondary or higher education; or adult or continuing education) listed in the Introduction. This education level is the one from which your perspective in the course will be drawn and toward which all of your historical and socio-cultural analyses will be directed. Write in your POJ the reasons for your choice. Describe what background you have in that level of education and write in your POJ what it is about that level that makes you want to study its history and socio-cultural development.
List five issues and/or problems of that level of education that you think are worthy of your study during this course and that have a history or socio-cultural foundation that you believe is important

K-12,

1. child development

2. language development

3. visual language

4. edutainment

5. discipline, concentration, interest

Post-secondary

1. language skills

2. cultural differences

3. economics

4. arts and sciences

5. politics and democracy

socio-cultural: cultural materialism, Steward: cultural ecology, Marx: socialism or historical materialism, Skinner: behavioral psychology, reductionism. Hegel: dialectic materialism. Darwin: evolution. Freud: psychology. Smith: capitalism. Schopenhauer: will and idea. Plato: rationalism. Aristotle: empiricism. White: cultural evolution. Sartre: existentialism.

environment, culture, society

The three levels of cultural materialism: superstructure, structure, infrastructure.

The infrastructure consists of modes of production (i.e. food production) and modes of reproduction (population control). The structure level involves domestic economy (i.e. micro economics) and political economy (i.e. macro economics). The superstructure level involves behavior (i.e. art, music, dance, literature, advertising, rituals, sports, games, hobbies, and science) and mentality (i.e. values, emotions, traditions) Harris (1979).

Cultural Materialism:

Superstructure:

1. Behavior

2. Mental

Structure:

1. Domestic Economy

2. Political Economy

Infrastructure:

1. Production

2. Reproduction

1. INFRASTRUCTURE

A. Mode of Production: the technology and the practices employed for expanding or limiting basic subsistence production, especially the production of food and other forms of energy.

B. Mode of reproduction: the technology and the practices employed for expanding, limiting and maintaining population size.

2. STRUCTURE

A. Domestic Economy: It consists of a small number of people who interact on an intimate basis. They perform many functions, such as regulating reproduction, basic production, socialization, education, and enforcing domestic discipline.

B. Political economy: These groups may be large or small, but their members tend to interact without any emotional commitment to one another. They perform many functions, such as regulating production, reproduction, socialization, education and enforcing social discipline.

3. SUPERSTRUCTURE

A. Behavior Superstructure

Art, music, dance, literature, advertising

Rituals

Sports, games, hobbies

Science

B. Mental superstructure

Values

Emotions

Traditions

(Harris 1979:52-53)

Educational Historical Research:

Vernon Lee Sheeley, Historical Research Methods. http://ericcass.uncg.edu/research/sheeley.html

Arhs.net search engine and directory. http://www.arhs.net/related/historical+research

Other data bases for historical research. http://www.rhd.uit.no/nhdc/bases.html,

Historical Research and Resources in the Digital Age: Libraries and Institutional Cooperation. http://www.h-net.msu.edu/aha/1999/papers/CronkandSmith.html

What is Historical Research?http://www.southalabama.edu/coe/bset/johnson/lectures/ch12.PDF

Courtland State University of New York. http://www.cortland.edu/history/research.html

Hansot, E. & Tyack, D. (1982). A usable past: Using history in educational policy, in A. Liberman & M. McLaughlin (Eds.), Policy making in education: Eighty-first yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education, (pp. 1-22). Chicago: The National Society for the Study of Education.

Finkelstein, B. (1992). Education historians as mythmakers, in G. Grant (ed.). Review of research in education, 18 (pp. 255-297). Washington, DC: American Educational Research Association.

Warren, D. (1990). The federal interest: On the history of educational reform in the United States, in J. Murphy (ed.). The Educational Reform Movement of the 1980s: Perspectives and Cases. Berkeley: McCutchan.

Digital History. Retrieved October 8, 2003 from http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/index.cfm?

-----

Socio-cultural analysis:

http://www.iadb.org/sds/doc/IND-JRenshawE.PDF, Guidelines for Socio-cultural Analysis

http://filebox.vt.edu/business/marketing/bao/MKTG4704/im7-11.PDF, Socio-Cultural Analysis

http://www.adm.u-tokyo.ac.jp/IRS/ScholarList/ByFunction/func6953_e.html, Scholar register

http://www.oise.utoronto.ca/~gwells/SocCult.html, Socio-cultural Theory and its Applications to Educational Practice and Research

http://www.indiana.edu/~wanthro/mater.htm Cultural Materialism, Soo Kyung Lim

Cultural Materialism: The Struggle for a Science of Culture. (1979). New York: Random House.

Encyclopedia of Cultural Anthropology. (1996). New York: H. Holt and Company

1995 Cultural Anthropology. (1995). 4th ed. New York: Harper Collins College Publishers

1995 Science, Materialism, and the Study of Culture. (1995) Gainesville: Univ. Press of Florida.

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

article on online voting retrieve Nov. 7, 2003 from http://www.msnbc.com/news/826193.asp?0cb=-a1-135833&cp1=1

------

from Pati Ranieri

Unit 4, D1

Historically educational theory has been rooted in educational science. Horace Mann, one of the founding fathers of the public school system, suggested that scientific knowledge of how a child's mind works was imperative and without that understanding "one would have no right to attempt to manage and direct…a child's soul" (from Goldberg, 1997). As a result, traditionally courses of study have been "designed by experts and based on a scientific understanding of the mental development of children" (1997). As Goldberg suggests, Mann's theory was unjustified because Mann "based his theory of education [on] phrenology, the now entirely discredited pseudoscience of bumps on the skull" (Goldberg, 1997).
Nonetheless, educational theory has not changed much since its inception. In the 20th Century education received the input of the behaviorists, however, to date, according to Noam Chomsky, "there exists no behavioral science incorporating nontrivial, empirically supported propositions that apply to human affairs or support a behavioral technology" (from Goldberg, 1997), when it pertains to education.
Goldberg suggests that school curriculum has failed to be an ordered course of study based on science. David and Micki Colfax expound on this failure by stating that:
"The public school curriculum-which embodies, at least theoretically, what is to be learned and when-is in fact nothing more than a hodgepodge of materials and assumptions resulting from historical interplay of educational theories, political, expedience, education fads and fashions, pretensions to culture, demagoguery, and demography. It is by no means, as the professional educators would have it, a coherent course of study" (Goldberg, 1997).

School curriculum developed in a group-oriented way of thinking eliminates the individuality of the students and offers nothing but a "one-size-fits-all" educational mentality.
Fortunately, the concept of collaborative learning has gained momentum in recent years. For many, collaborative learning appears to be a fairly new methodology, however, two hundred years ago, a professor from the University of Glasgow, George Jardine, created a collaborative process for peer review. Jardine designed "an extensive practical plan for using modern concepts such as free writing, sequenced essay assignments, writing as discovery, writing across the curriculum, and peer review, as well as traditional lectures, to teach philosophy to under prepared students" (Gaillet, 1994).
Although the implementation of true collaborative learning in the traditional setting can pose a variety of issues; the benefits of the collaborative process circumvent the trails.
According to Tinzmann (etal), the collaborate classroom has four main characteristics:
Shared knowledge among teachers and students
Sharing knowledge creates a shift from the teacher as the expert or information giver to that of a facilitator. Rather than relying predominantly on information streaming in one direction (teacher to student), through collaboration student input becomes critical to the journey; combining the knowledge and skills of the facilitator with the insight, personal experience, culture, and strategies students bring to the experience. This shift in teaching/learning techniques broadens the scope of practice for both instructors and students although in the initial implementation of this form of classroom both instructors and students may experience discomfort; students are not used to that level of participation and many instructors are uncomfortable in an environment that poses them as less than the authority.
Shared authority among teachers and students.
Sharing authority in the collaborative classroom poses vast differences from the traditional classroom. In the TC usually the instructor sets the goals, designs tasks, and assesses learning while in the collaborative classroom students are invited to actively participate in this process.
Teachers as mediators
In the collaborative classroom teachers, as mediators, "adjust the level of information and support so as to maximize the ability to take responsibility for learning" (Tinzmann, etal). In addition, mediators help students connect information, problem solve, and ultimately helps students learn how to learn.
Heterogeneous groupings of students.
The collaborative classroom allows for equity for all students. Skill level, interests, achievements, etc. do not separate students. In this particular setting, everyone learns from everyone, thus enriching the experience for all participants.
Collaborative learning as a method of student learning dependent on each other to master an objective offers a variety of pathways to knowledge for the students. Wade Knoll suggests that,
"collaborative learning values the role of conversation in learning, maintaining that mastery of a knowledge community's normal discourse is the basic qualification for acceptance into that community, and that the only way students can begin to gain access to that community is not through their own teachers interpretation, but through experimentation with the discourse among their peers" (Knoll).
Moreover, collaborative learning encourages critical thinking. According to R. T. and D. W. Johnson the collaborative experience not only enhances interest among students but also promotes critical thinking. Johnson suggests that "there is persuasive evidence that cooperative teams achieve higher levels of thought and retain information longer than students who work quietly as individuals" (Johnson, 1986).

Gaillet, Lynee. (1994). An historical perspective on

collaborative learning. Retrieved October 14, 2003

from <http://jac.gsu.edu/jac/14.1/Articles/5.htm>

Goldberg, Bruce. (1997). Educational theory. Retrieved on

October 22, 2003 from

<http://www.cato.org/cgi-bin/scripts/printtech.cgi/dailys/1-15-97.html>

dailys/1-15-97.html

Johnson, R. T., and Johnson, D. W. (1986) Action research:

Cooperative learning in the science classroom. Science

And Children, 24, 31-32.

Knoll, Wade. Collaborative learning. Retrieved on 10-26-

03 from <http://www.humboldt.edu/~des11/Wade1.htm>

Tinzmann, M. B., Jones, B. F., Fennimore, T. F., Bakker,

J., Fine, C., Pierce, J. (1990) retrieved October 14,

2003 from <http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/rplesys/collab.htm>

----

from Mavis: Not sure the Email is working, so entering possible connections here. My topic of interest has been programs that are available to adults to further their education. The public is not well informed of these programs and many people could benefit from this information. Communication of this information is my topic. I believe the theory or history of these adult programs were intentionally made difficult to obtain so students would remain in school. Time has revealed that this is not keeping students in the classroom.
One such program is James Madison High School, which offers on line high school diplomas. This is an alternative to earning a GED. This type of information could help many high school students who drop out of high school.
I believe one of the reasons this information is difficult to get, is the assumption, that it will encourage students to drop out of high school. With the current drop out rates in some areas, it may be good to inform these high risk students of alternatives such as this.
Another group that is not well informed, is adults with high school diplomas or GEDs. Many of these adults are not aware of the programs that would allow them to go to college and improve their lives.
My sources of information have been many internet sites, newspapers, interviews and our class books. I have been out of town for a few days and it will take some time for me to sort all of these sites out, but due to time left on this assignment, I felt I should get some input in.

AND: The socio-cultural article that was of interest to me, was a comparison between Pell grant recipients and students who were not in need of financial assistance. The Pell grant recipients made a good showing in this study and were able to compete with the students who were not in need of financial assistance, even though, it was noted, many of the Pell grant recipients had children, were married, or a single parent and had other things that consume time and took away from study time. Not only was grades earned studied, but percentage of who graduated from college with a degree.
This points out that these low income students are sincere in their desire for a college degree and deserve consideration for such programs. Perhaps this type of a program would also help students who drop out of high school.

AND: Here are some suggestions for Discussion 2, hope we can use something to come up with one answer.
From Egans book I would attempt to use chapters 2-3-4-5. I must admit I did not care much for Egans ideas.
In Chapter 2 Egan implied that education programs need to change with time. I agree with him on this. I believe that a collaborative classroom, voting on programs to be offered, and internet classes that change with the times would have better results. I am aware that these are not the type of changes that Egan was refering to.
In Chapter 3 Egan felt that if students really learn about things they live with and are interested in, they should like and do well in social studies. Egan points out that this is not the case. I suggest a collaborative, voting informing the public survey would reveal he was incorrect in his assumption that social studies as taught today, relates to the majority of the students in a correct and meaningful way.
In chapter 4 to quote Egan "The trick is to work out how to make "inert" knowledge live-not give up and declare knowledge to be "irrelevant" to students' experiences". Is Egan suggesting that adding more classes, will improve performance on present classes? Will this help education today? I do feel that children learn certain things at particular times (stages) in their lives with more ease, which Egan disagrees with and perhaps a collaborative, voting, informing the public survey could shed more light on these questions?
In chapter 5 Egan suggests our way of determining knowledge is flawed. I would agree to this and again, a collaborative, voting, informing the public survey may come up with a more reliable way of determining knowledge.
These are some of my thoughts on getting our topics together and form one answer, hope it will work with what you guys are thinking. I have a new granddaughter. Sorry for missing Friday. We have until Sunday.

AND FROM PATI:

Historically educational theory has been rooted in educational science. Horace Mann, one of the founding fathers of the public school system, suggested that scientific knowledge of how a child's mind works was imperative and without that understanding "one would have no right to attempt to manage and direct…a child's soul" (from Goldberg, 1997). As a result, traditionally courses of study have been "designed by experts and based on a scientific understanding of the mental development of children" (1997). As Goldberg suggests, Mann's theory was unjustified because Mann "based his theory of education [on] phrenology, the now entirely discredited pseudoscience of bumps on the skull" (Goldberg, 1997).

Nonetheless, educational theory has not changed much since its inception. In the 20th Century education received the input of the behaviorists, however, to date, according to Noam Chomsky, "there exists no behavioral science incorporating nontrivial, empirically supported propositions that apply to human affairs or support a behavioral technology" (from Goldberg, 1997), when it pertains to education.

Goldberg suggests that school curriculum has failed to be an ordered course of study based on science. David and Micki Colfax expound on this failure by stating that:
"The public school curriculum-which embodies, at least theoretically, what is to be learned and when-is in fact nothing more than a hodgepodge of materials and assumptions resulting from historical interplay of educational theories, political expedience, educational fads and fashions, pretensions to culture, demagoguery, and demography. It is by no means, as the professional educators would have it, a coherent course of study" (Goldberg, 1997).

School curriculum developed in a group-oriented way of thinking eliminates the individuality of the students and offers nothing but a "one-size-fits-all" educational mentality.
The concept of collaborative learning has gained momentum in recent years. For many, collaborative learning appears to be a fairly new methodology, however, two hundred years ago, a professor from the University of Glasgow, George Jardine, created a collaborative process for peer review. Jardine designed "an extensive practical plan for using modern concepts such as free writing, sequenced essay assignments, writing as discovery, writing across the curriculum, and peer review, as well as traditional lectures, to teach philosophy to under prepared students" (Gaillet, 1994). In addition, collaborative learning has its origins in a number of movements and philosophies, most of which have influenced progressive adult education. It draws heavily from the schools of experiential learning and student-centered learning that are rooted on the work of the philosopher, Dewey and the social psychologists, Piaget and Vygotsky (MacGregor, 1990).

Collaborative learning suggests that communities of individuals socially, rather than individually, construct knowledge and that the shaping and testing of ideas is a process in which anyone can participate (MacGregor, 1990). Further, collaborative learning stresses the importance of common inquiry in learning; a process through which learners begin to experience knowledge as something that is created rather than something that is transmitted from the instructor to the student (Sheridan, 1989).

While the implementation of true collaborative learning in the traditional setting can pose a variety of issues; the benefits of the collaborative process circumvent the trails.

According to Tinzmann (etal), the collaborate classroom has four main characteristics:
Shared knowledge among teachers and students
Sharing knowledge creates a shift from the teacher as the expert or information giver to that of a facilitator. Rather than relying predominantly on information streaming in one direction (teacher to student), through collaboration student input becomes critical to the journey; combining the knowledge and skills of the facilitator with the insight, personal experience, culture, and strategies students bring to the experience. This shift in teaching/learning techniques broadens the scope of practice for both instructors and students although in the initial implementation of this form of classroom both instructors and students may experience discomfort; students are not used to that level of participation and many instructors are uncomfortable in an environment that poses them as less than the authority.
Shared authority among teachers and students.
Sharing authority in the collaborative classroom poses vast differences from the traditional classroom. In the TC usually the instructor sets the goals, designs tasks, and assesses learning while in the collaborative classroom students are invited to actively participate in this process.

Teachers as mediators
In the collaborative classroom teachers, as mediators, "adjust the level of information and support so as to maximize the ability to take responsibility for learning" (Tinzmann, etal). In addition, mediators help students connect information, problem solve, and ultimately helps students learn how to learn.
Heterogeneous groupings of students.
The collaborative classroom allows for equity for all students. Skill level, interests, achievements, etc. do not separate students. In this particular setting, everyone learns from everyone, thus enriching the experience for all participants.

Collaborative learning as a method of student learning dependent on each other to master an objective offers a variety of pathways to knowledge for the students. Wade Knoll suggests that,

"collaborative learning values the role of conversation in learning, maintaining that mastery of a knowledge community's normal discourse is the basic qualification for acceptance into that community, and that the only way students can begin to gain access to that community is not through their own teachers interpretation, but through experimentation with the discourse among their peers" (Knoll).

Moreover, collaborative learning encourages critical thinking. According to R. T. and D. W. Johnson the collaborative experience not only enhances interest among students but also promotes critical thinking. Johnson suggests that "there is persuasive evidence that cooperative teams achieve higher levels of thought and retain information longer than students who work quietly as individuals" (Johnson, 1986).
Gaillet, Lynee. (1994). An historical perspective on

collaborative learning. Retrieved October 14, 2003

from <http://jac.gsu.edu/jac/14.1/Articles/5.htm>

Goldberg, Bruce. (1997). Educational theory. Retrieved on

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Johnson, R. T., and Johnson, D. W. (1986) Action research:

Cooperative learning in the science classroom. Science And Children, 24, 31-32.

Knoll, Wade. Collaborative learning. Retrieved on 10-26-03 from <http://www.humboldt.edu/~des11/Wade1.htm>

MacGregor, J. (1990). Collaborative learning: shared inquiry as a process of reform. New directions for teaching and learning no,. 42. (Summer 1990): 19-30.
Sheridan, J. (1989). Rethinking andragogy: the case for collaborative learning in continuing higher education. Journal of continuing higher education 37, no 2 (Spring 1989): 2-6.

Tinzmann, M. B., Jones, B. F., Fennimore, T. F., Bakker, J., Fine, C., Pierce, J. (1990) retrieved October 14, 2003 from <http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/rplesys/collab.htm>

(MINE ARE IN ED5006)

Vietnam: A Retrospective

by Mac Lawrence

May 1, 2000

My son was draft age during the Vietnam War. When the casualties mounted and the military needed more bodies, they held a lottery. Dave's number was three - no question he would be called up. What were his choices? Joining the military with intent to kill was not one of them; he had already filed for C.O. status - Conscientious Objector. Would the draft board honor his C.O. beliefs? Luckily he did not have to find out, choosing to continue his college education, a route open to so many young people of the middle to upper class, leaving the fighting to those who wanted to go or couldn't avoid it.

Some people called those like Dave traitors. But it is no more fair to make such a judgment than it was of the anti-war activists to vilify the young men who did the fighting.

Having to face the possibility of my son going to war sharpened my interest in the Vietnam war, to say the least. I had been a naval officer in WWII, but fortunately never had to shoot anybody or get shot at. WWII was, as Studs Terkel said, "The Good War." Devastating yes, but necessary, heroic, clear cut, patriotic. My country calls, I answer.

For me, Vietnam was entirely different. It was the final loss of innocence and illusion about automatic trust in the wisdom of the nation's leaders. It never made sense to me that it was possible to quash an idea (in this case, communism) by violence. Vietnam was such an egregious example of the futility of that approach that I was dumbfounded. What in God's name were our leaders thinking of, to engage in such a war? And what went on in the minds of so many Americans who supported the war?

History says that it was a television war, and that the pictures on TV showing the violence and killing - which is what war is -- was what turned the American people against the war. I don't know. I could not stand to watch the news. I could not even watch M*A*S*H then, though I must have seen each program at least three times during reruns years later. All I could do during the war was try to understand the why of what we were doing, and work to end the madness.

Recently, PBS ran a series on the Vietnam war that was incredibly well done, and absolutely riveting - like the series Victory at Sea that followed WWII. Night after night I sat there entranced, watching the Vietnam debacle unfold, marveling at our arrogance, our stupidity, our ability to ignore reality, our willingness to accept the "light at the end of the tunnel" that no one ever saw, the napalm, the Agent Orange, the massive increases in troops, the body count and body bags, the extension of the bombing into the north and into Cambodia. I saw on film the North Vietnamese as they planned our defeat, knowing that they would eventually win because they fought for the survival of their country and their people. I watched as small, wiry men and women, old and young, walked hundreds of miles carrying heavy weapons and ammunition, setting up their guns and mortars to surround our advanced bases, and shelling our troops methodically and mercilessly. I watched them plan the Tet Offensive, and carry it out.

On our side, I marveled throughout at the courage and sacrifice of our own soldiers, and at the effort and logistics it took to bring to that far off place all that was required to fight a complex war. And I sat there transfixed as one general after another, one politician after another, one president after another -- knowing the truth -- lied to the American public.

And, finally, I watched as America withdrew from a lost war. In the eyes of many, it was a staggering blow to our national pride, strengthening their vow that forever after the U.S. would be so strong militarily that we could wage two global wars simultaneously, and win. The result - certainly part of the Vietnam legacy -- is both a bloated military and a confrontational, kick-butt attitude that now extends far beyond the western hemisphere to the entire globe.

One of my favorite groups is the Center for Defense Information (CDI), a collection of retired admirals, generals, and other high-level military, who understand the limitation of military power and say it plainly. Ordinary citizens can oppose things like NATO expansion, the U.S. as unilateral supercop, and our continued reliance on nuclear weapons. But when CDI's Rear Admiral Eugene Carroll, former director of U.S. military operations for all U.S. forces in Europe and the Middle East, says it, it has decidedly more impact. And this is what he's been saying in speeches around the country - this one given at the University of Missouri March 23.

"This [kick-butt] attitude seems to be at the very root of America's rejection of cooperative efforts to make the world a safer place under the rule of law. Chauvenistic jingoes claim to see a threat to U.S. sovereignty in every agreement which subjects Americans to international norms. Our leaders seem to believe that as the world's most powerful nation we alone are empowered to proclaim and enforce American standards and judgments anywhere in the world. One truth stands out in history: Every nation or empire which would subjugate others will ultimately fail if they attempt to base their dominion on military force."

Strong words. If only Congress and the Executive would listen. But they still don't get it that no nation is wealthy enough to be the superpower on guard everywhere around the globe, and that the rest of the world won't continue to put up with that kind of hegemony. We're still operating on the idea enunciated by President George Bush: "We call the shots."

One final thought: The Samson strength of the military may already be shorn of its power. The razor that shaved it: the computer. Or so I gathered from last weeks' 60 Minutes' segment on cyberwar. Anyone with the smarts and a laptop anywhere in the world can break into any other nation's computer system and take control, disrupting its war-making capabilities, infrastructure, banking systems, power plants, energy and water distribution systems.

Vietnam has left its legacy and its lesson: Better for the world's only superpower to make friends Retrieved Nov. 5, 2003 from http://www.swans.com/library/art6/vnam05.html

By TAMI ABDOLLAH & KRISTA OSMUNDSON

Some of the notes used for ED8111

from comments from Behrooz Sabet in Unit 3 concerning educational management:

Quality in Leadership: According to Sergiovanni, requires both tactical and strategic requirements. Tactical requirements "refer to the necessary but short-range competencies. These are specifics that are easy to teach and learn, readily packaged for workshops, and generally accessible . Excellence is much harder to achieve. It is the leadership component that goes beyond management and includes the strategic requirements ... that give integrity and meaning to leadership." Excellence in leadership is about coordinating the dynamic interplay of the strategic and the tactical requirements.
The primary objective of educational leadership at all levels is to release the creative power of the individuals and encourage universal participation in consultation and decision-making.
The most important principle of effective leadership is to build and maintain unity of thought and action among teachers, staff, and community at large. This, however, cannot be achieved without a consultative climate ruled by practical expression of justice. Effective leadership encourages truth and justice rather than manipulation and partisanship.
Effective leadership maintains a balance between centralization and decentralization. Centralization is necessary for direction and coordination. Decentralization is necessary for innovation and development. Excessive centralization results in unwarranted bureaucracy while excessive decentralization results in anarchy.
By bureaucracy we have created a hierarchy (top down authority) to achieve efficiency. The new leadership, however, employs 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." (Imaging the Future: New Visions and New Responsibilities, By Kenneth Cauthen, Zygon, Vol. 20, N0. 3., Sep. 85)
Shifting Values in Leadership
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

Encarta article on John Dewey:

Dewey, John (1859-1952), American philosopher, psychologist, and educator. Born in Burlington, Vermont, Dewey received a B.A. degree from the University of Vermont in 1879 and a Ph.D. degree from Johns Hopkins University in 1884. Dewey's long and influential career in education began at the University of Michigan, where he taught from 1884 to 1888. In 1888-1889 Dewey taught at the University of Minnesota, returning to the University of Michigan from 1889 to 1894. He continued his career at the University of Chicago from 1894 to 1904 and at Columbia University from 1904 until his retirement as professor emeritus in 1931. Dewey lectured, acted as an educational consultant, and studied educational systems in China, Japan, Mexico, Turkey, and the Soviet Union.

During his tenure at Chicago, Dewey became actively interested in the reform of educational theory and practice. He tested his educational principles at the famous experimental Laboratory School, the so-called Dewey School, established by the University of Chicago in 1896. These principles emphasized learning through varied activities rather than formal curricula and opposed authoritarian methods, which, Dewey believed, offered contemporary people no realistic preparation for life in a democratic society. Dewey felt, moreover, that education should not merely be a preparation for future life but a full life in itself. His work and his writings were largely responsible for the drastic change in pedagogy that began in the United States early in the 20th century as emphasis shifted from the institution to the student. Dewey's theories have often been misinterpreted by the advocates of so-called progressive education; although Dewey opposed authoritarian methods, he did not advocate lack of guidance and control. He criticized education that emphasized amusing the students and keeping them busy, as well as education that was oriented toward pure vocational training.

As a philosopher, Dewey emphasized the practical, striving to show how philosophical ideas can work in everyday life. His sense of logic and philosophy was ever-changing, adaptive to need and circumstance. The process of thinking, in his philosophy, is a means of planning action, of removing the obstacles between what is given and what is wanted. Truth is an idea that has worked in practical experience. Dewey followed the American philosopher and psychologist William James as a leader of the pragmatic movement in philosophy; Dewey's own philosophy, called either instrumentalism or experimentalism, stems from the pragmatism of James.

Dewey's influence can be seen in many fields besides education and philosophy. A political activist, he advocated progressive and sometimes radical approaches to international affairs and economic problems. His voluminous writings include Psychology (1887), The School and Society (1899), Democracy and Education (1916), Reconstruction in Philosophy (1920), Human Nature and Conduct (1922), The Quest for Certainty (1929), Art as Experience (1934), Logic: The Theory of Inquiry (1938), and Problems of Men (1946).

Microsoft® Encarta® Encyclopedia 2002. © 1993-2001 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

----

Encarta article on Jean Piaget:

Piaget, Jean (1896-1980), Swiss psychologist, best known for his pioneering work on the development of intelligence in children. His studies have had a major impact on the fields of psychology and education.

Piaget was born August 9, 1896, in Neuchâtel. He wrote and published his first scientific paper, on the albino sparrow, at the age of ten. He was educated at the University of Neuchâtel and received his doctorate in biology at age 22. Piaget became interested in psychology; he studied and carried out research first in Zürich, Switzerland, and then at the Sorbonne in Paris, where he began his studies on the development of cognitive abilities. He taught at various European universities while he continued his research and writing. In 1955 he became director of the International Center for Epistemology at the University of Geneva, and later he was co-director of the International Bureau of Education. He died in Geneva, on September 17, 1980.

In his work Piaget identified the child's four stages of mental growth. In the sensorimotor stage, occurring from birth to age 2, the child is concerned with gaining motor control and learning about physical objects. In the preoperational stage, from ages 2 to 7, the child is preoccupied with verbal skills. At this point the child can name objects and reason intuitively. In the concrete operational stage, from ages 7 to 12, the child begins to deal with abstract concepts such as numbers and relationships. Finally, in the formal operational stage, ages 12 to 15, the child begins to reason logically and systematically. See Child Psychology.

Among Piaget's many books are The Language and Thought of the Child (1926), Judgment and Reasoning in the Child (1928), The Origin of Intelligence in Children (1954), The Early Growth of Logic in the Child (1964), and Science of Education and the Psychology of the Child (1970).Microsoft® Encarta® Encyclopedia

Encarta Encylopedia article on Herbert Spencer:

Spencer, Herbert (1820-1903), British social philosopher, often regarded as one of the first sociologists. Born in Derby, England, Spencer was mainly self-educated. His early influences included the utilitarian philosophy of Jeremy Bentham and an early theory of evolution developed by the French naturalist Jean-Baptiste Lamarck. See also Thematic Essay: British Political and Social Thought.

In 1850 Spencer published Social Statics, a work in which he stressed the importance of individual freedom and the inevitability of human progress. In Principles of Psychology (1855) Spencer wrote that all organic matter originates in a unified state and that individual characteristics gradually develop through evolution. The evolutionary progression from simple to more complex and diverse states was an important theme in most of Spencer's later works. In A System of Synthetic Philosophy (1860) Spencer outlined a plan for a comprehensive system of philosophy, based on evolution, that would embrace and integrate all existing fields of knowledge. The initial installment in this project, First Principles, appeared in 1862. Later works in the series include Principles of Biology (2 volumes, 1864-1867), Principles of Sociology (3 volumes, 1876-
1896), and Principles of Ethics (2 volumes, 1892-1893).

After Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species in 1859, Spencer embraced Darwin's theory of natural selection. Spencer was an influential proponent of social Darwinism, an application of Darwin's theory to human societies. The theory of natural selection holds that only the most well-adapted individuals in a population will survive and reproduce. Because these successful individuals pass on their adaptive advantage to their offspring, the cumulative effect of this process over many generations is the adaptation of the entire population to its environment. Spencer coined the phrase "survival of the fittest" to describe the competition among human individuals and groups. He argued that human progress resulted from the triumph of more advanced individuals and cultures over their inferior competitors. Wealth and power were seen as signs of inherent "fitness," while poverty was taken as evidence of natural inferiority. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, social Darwinism was used to argue for unrestrained economic competition and against aid to the "unfit" poor. The theory was also used to justify racist and imperialist policies in Europe and the United States.

When social Darwinist ideas fell from favor in the early 20th century, Spencer's reputation as a philosopher and social theorist declined. Nonetheless, his ambitious attempt to systematize all knowledge within the framework of modern science, and especially in terms of evolution, earned him a place among the notable thinkers of the late 19th century. Other works by Spencer include The Man Versus the State (1884) and Essays: Scientific, Political, and Speculative (3 volumes, 1891).Microsoft® Encarta® Encyclopedia 2002. © 1993-2001 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

—

Contributing Writers
Thursday, March 6, 2003

Joining a national student-led opposition to the possible war in Iraq, students across Berkeley walked out of classes yesterday

Retrieved Nov. 5, 2003 from http://www.dailycal.org/article.asp?id=11175

======

Philosophers:

About Plato was the first person to organize and record the issues and questions that define philosophy. As Socrates' <http://www.knowledgeproducts.net/socrates4.html> student, Plato preserved the teachings of his great mentor in many famous "dialogues"; these deal with classic issues like law and justice, perception and reality, death and the soul, mind and body, reason and passion, and the nature of love. The dialogues also discuss the value of moral principle vs. the value of life itself; how to achieve virtue; and how each of us can fulfill our true nature.
The most famous of all Platonic doctrines is the "theory of forms." This theory that any object's true reality is found in its rational form or structure rather than in its material appearance. And Plato's Republic presents his distinctive (and much criticized) vision of the ideal state

Plato believed that philosophy begins in the sense of wonder. With Socrates, he sees philosophy as reason, unhindered by feelings, emotions, and the senses. And from these two great thinkers we have received perhaps the most well known of all philosophical utterances: "the unexamined life is not worth living."

Aristotle, known as "the Philosopher" by later thinkers, created a huge body of work that was virtually synonymous with philosophy for over 2000 years. His most well-known doctrines include the notions that morally virtuous people seek moderation in all things (the "mean" between extremes); that the soul is the essence or the characteristic activity of the living body; that happiness is found not in mere pleasure, but in fully developing the powers of the soul in pursuit of excellence throughout a lifetime; and that in the good life we engage in the right activities for their own sake.
Aristotle organized and classified an immense amount of knowledge, much of it scientific theories developed with only the crudest observational tools. All knowledge is organized into the theoretical disciplines (physics, "first philosophy" [metaphysics], and math); practical disciplines (ethics and politics); and productive disciplines (engineering, medicine, etc.). He classified four types of change (generation/corruption, increase/decrease, alteration, and locomotion) and four types of causation (the material, the formal, the initiating force, and the goal). Aristotle formed a metaphysical theory of what is real("substance"), and described the idea that all things have "potential" and "actual" characteristics. He created logic to distinguish correct from incorrect reasoning; and he reasoned that all motion ultimately is caused by an immutable perfection, an unmoved "primer mover" - which Aristotle called "God."

Aurelius Augustinus was a key figure in the transition from classical antiquity to the Middle Ages. He lived at a time when no distinction was made between philosophy and theology, and the purpose of both was to show the way to wisdom, happiness, and blessedness.

Augustinian thought is perhaps best capsulated in Anselm's famous maxim: "I believe in order to understand." Augustine believed the principal business of life is to arrive at the blissful vision of God, but he came to see that this can be done only after death. Only eternal and unchangeable goods are worth enjoying, and all other joys or pleasures are mere stops along the way. Temporal life is a "living death, a dying life"; its primary characteristic is the dizzying flux of time and change. Evil is not an active, threatening force; it is a lack, a privation, a corruption.

For Augustine, every time we make a judgment of relative value, we implicitly acknowledge an absolute standard of value; and this absolute is God. Our final end, the contemplation of God after death, is a blissful, changeless, restful, and peaceful stillness of vision.

Thomas Acquinas: In the late 13th century, this quiet reflective Dominican scholar concentrated his work on philosophical concerns that today would be considered to be partly theological. He combined the work of Aristotle with Christian, Jewish, Muslim, and pagan thought to reconcile reason and faith; he believed we can know that God exists, but not what god is like.

Thomas's masterpiece, the Summa Theologiae (Summa Theologica), contains over 10,000 objections and replies to fundamental questions about God and the world. It enumerates virtues and vices, and it includes Thomas's famous "five ways" to prove God's existence, which are (1) the unmoved mover, (2) the uncaused cause, (3) the necessary being, (4) the perfect Goodness, and (5) the guiding intelligence. Thomas believed that God is absolutely simple, perfect, good, infinite, omnipresent, changeless, eternal, and unique. God is "Pure Subsistent Act of Being," continuously communicating the possibility of existence to all worldly creatures and objects.

For Thomas, intellectual knowledge is a sign of the spirituality that energizes the human center. He saw the Bible as a substitute for the wisdom of a lifetime's study and learning. All in all, Thomas concluded that mortal happiness (felicity) is uncertain, but immortal happiness (beatitude) is the ultimate end of life; beatitude is to pass beyond death to "see the face of God."

Spinoza: A Portuguese Jew living in Holland, Spinoza sought a life of "supreme and unending happiness". Unable to find deep satisfaction in the usual pleasures of social life, politics or business (or in riches, fame, or sensual pleasure), Spinoza sought a more stable source of contentment. And he found this contentment in God, though not the God of Moses or the Christian Trinity.
Spinoza wrote in the rationalist style of a geometric proof to develop his idea that God is a permanent, indwelling cause of all things. He sees God as a single, unified, all-inclusive causal system that is virtually synonymous with nature. Spinoza believed that the Biblical account of creation is demonstrably false; that there is no such thing as a free will, either for God or man; all things are necessary and inevitable; and all objects, including humans are part of God's active self-
expression. Spinoza saw the presence of God in the constant and orderly working of nature.
Spinoza's sophisticated moral psychology sees evil in the "unruly passions," and says they can be overcome by stronger, positive passions. Our minds can participate in the eternity of God by focusing on natural laws and the way all things follow from God or nature.

David Hume sought to create a comprehensive "science of man" in order to understand human nature and human actions. He saw a constant social and political tension between liberty and authority, and he developed extensive political and economic theories to describe this conflict.
He believed there is an inescapable moral dimension to human life, and it is found in emotions rather than reason. Moral concepts originate from a social perspective, not a personal one; and morality does not require a religious foundation. Hume concluded that we cannot reason about the cause of natural order because we have no experience of that cause. Hume believed that God is a kind of "principle of intelligibility", only remotely resembling the human mind.
In his scientific philosophy, Hume denied that we can isolate objects and understand them outside their context (beyond the influence of other objects). Hume's great discovery was the concept that the mind itself organizes our experience, making objective knowledge impossible. This insight was later expanded by Kant into a broad philosophical revolution, with credit given to Hume.
For Hume, "philosophy is common sense methodized and corrected." Human beings have but two tasks: the theoretical task of discovering how the world really is, and the practical task of making the physical environment serve human purposes.
Kant: Before Kant, philosophers had debated for centuries whether knowledge is derived from experience or reason. Kant says that both views are partly right and partly wrong, that they share the same error; both believe that the mind and the world, reason and nature are separated from one another. Building on an insight from Hume, Kant says that our reason organizes our sense perception to produce knowledge. The mind is a creative force for understanding the manifold of new, unconceptualized sense impressions with which the world bombards us. And Kant says we cannot know the "thing-in-itself" - the object apart from our conceptualization of it.
Kant's "transcendental" philosophy transcends the question of "what" we know to ask "how" we know it. He seeks to discover the rules or laws of the understanding; he concludes that we can never transcend the limits of possible experience, declaring "I have had to limit reason to make room for faith." For Kant, space and time are not external realities; they are tools of the mind in organizing experience. And we are unable to determine the ultimate nature of some things, such as whether humans have free will.
Kantian ethics asserts that we endure a perpetual struggle between duty and desire. The moral Law is universal and it speaks to us through our conscience. Kant's "categorical imperative" is to act only according to the maxim by which you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law of nature.
Hegel created a vast speculative and idealistic philosophy, where truth is found not in the part but in the whole. Nature is an organic whole shot through with rationality akin to the reason in ourselves.

Hegel's famous "dialectic" is an organic process of growth and development in three stages: beginning, advance and resolution. It has two sides: the rational patterns that determine all growth in the world and the logical form of reason.

Each person is both a one and a many, a coexistence of opposites (unity and diversity). Self-
consciousness (the self as subject knowing the self as object) requires mutuality - social interaction with others. And our minds have two functions: the understanding distinguishes between things, and reason synthesizes them.

There are three stages of mind: subjective (concerned with the individual), objective (including customs and beliefs of communities), and absolute (Spirit expressing itself through art, religion, and philosophy). All phases of the dialectical process are brought together in the final unity of Absolute mind.

For Hegel, history is a dynamic succession of novel and creative events, the gradual unfolding of reason. In Hegel's words, "what is rational is actual (real), and what is actual (real) is rational." Great men express the spirit of their age. And God is an absolute and living knower who apprehends the truth of all actuality.

Schopenhauer emphasized the dark aspects of existence. Evil, pain and suffering are not aberration: they express the inner nature of the world. He is pessimistic about the true nature of existence; suffering and pain outweigh the rewards in life and they're central to the riddle of existence.

There are two basic aspects to the world: representation (visible appearances) and will (hidden reality). Will is a unitary, blind, irrational force underlying all nature and expressing itself throughout it. This will is a single metaphysical reality, and each person's experience is a sort of window into it. Our true motives for action are often hidden from us because our own will is mostly hidden. Will, not reason, is the controlling force within us.

Our will to live - our perpetual striving for life - is a continuing cycle of want, temporary fulfillment, and more want. New desires replace any satisfied ones, so no final or lasting happiness is possible. Our will to live - is doomed ultimately to fail, and we die.

There is no overall end or purpose of life, though art offers an escape from an otherwise painful existence. The artist is a genius who can sustain aesthetic ("will-less") contemplation; music expresses the Will itself.

Human actions are propelled by the will, so prescriptive ethical rules have little force ("willing cannot be taught"). But there are four progressive stages of moral behavior; egoism, enlightened self-interest, altruism, and asceticism (denial of the senses and the will to live).

For Kierkegaard, truth is a subjective reality which we must live, not simply something to consider and discuss. His self-consciousness and self-examination highlight the practical demands of existence, and he opposes the speculative thinking of philosophical idealists (especially Hegel).

Kierkegaard urges the reader to commit to make choices about how to live. In Either/Or, he concentrates on sensual indulgence versus duty, the avant garde versus tradition. Fear & Trembling dramatically distinguishes between ethical and religious existence, based on the biblical story of Abraham. We must choose to be a "knight of infinite resignation" (giving up hope for this life). Kierkegaard says much of life's meaning depends not on external conditions, but on our internal choices about relating to them.

Kierkegaard urges us to live with purpose, to see life as an intentional act rather than a series of meaningless events. Our task is not knowing but doing, not understanding but living. He criticizes intellectualism and escapism in favor of believing and committing.

In Sickness Unto Death, Kierkegaard diagnoses a spiritual disease throughout society: despair. We are estranged from the source of our very being as we try to escape the moral responsibility of the self. We must decide whether or not to embrace faith in "paradoxical religion," even if its teachings offend our reason.

Nietzsche condemned nearly all of the religious and philosophical thought of his day to blunt terms (e.g., God is dead). He says the only reality is this world of life and death, conflict and change, creation and destruction. For centuries, religious ideas have given meaning to life in the western world; but as they now collapse, humanity faces a grave crisis of nihilism and despair.

The basic character of life in this world is to exhibit a primal tendency he calls "will to power." He glorifies those who are strong enough to face this reality: for they alone can live joyfully, without God and without any hope of ultimate salvation. The "overman" is his new ideal, the symbol of creativity incarnate.

Man is fundamentally only an animal that has developed in an unusual way. Yet a "higher humanity" can emerge if the most talented, creative and strongest individuals flourish and prevail, rising above the life of the "common herd" that typifies mankind. Nietzsche rejects democratic ideals, believing that they ignore human differences and hinder the exceptionally talented.

Conflict, mastery and creativity are essential to life and its development. The "will to power" brings about new forms of competition and superiority, as artists and other creative types pave the way for the "enhancement" of human life.

John Dewey wants philosophy to rise above old tired disputes to address new, more vital questions and problems. His views are known as "pragmatism," which emphasizes action and results. Here philosophy isn't a system of beliefs but a practical, empirical method of inquiry.

Dewey created new theories of human experience, knowledge, education, social and political philosophy, ethics, art and religion. Art isn't separated from life in museums, it's part of daily activities. Religious experience isn't found in institutionalized religion but in everyday spirituality. God is natural (not supernatural), ideal (not real); salvation is found in continuing, common action. Ethical values describe a thing's relationship to its environment; inquiry must establish what is good as well as what we know (epistemology).

Experience is a continuing, unstable social phenomenon, not a past event. Philosophy is one with education, which continually develops and renews the capacity for new habits. Democracy is a way of life more than a form of government; each person should help create and direct the social forces that affect our lives. Philosophy, experience, education, inquiry, and democracy are bound together, mutually implying one another.

Sartre's existentialism faces the evil in human existence and sees that humans are responsible for it. He doubts man can make moral progress, yet he embraces the possibilities for human life.

Mankind is radically free and responsible. In every moment we choose ourselves; beyond this, we find no instructions for our lives. No external authority gives life meaning, so Sartre's existentialism is boldly atheistic.

For most objects, "essence precedes their existence." But humans must continually create what they are in every moment; human existence precedes essence.

"Existence" hides behind the way we see and talk about it. Conscious life is a type of "Nothingness"; we determine what we now are by the way we project the "not yet" of the future (we are not what we are, and we are what we are not.) Anguish before the future is one way we experience our radical freedom. We're not determined by outside forces; we constantly choose and re-choose ourselves with no assurance that we have a continuing identity or power. So we set up determinisms to ease our minds.

An unstable and unpredictable human condition afflicts all human relations. We can't escape our involvement with others; conflict is inevitable. Death is the ultimate limit; the end of consciousness is the end of meaning.

Where to Now for E-Voting?

Sue Bushell, CIO

27/05/2003 09:57:24

Remember the furore over the 2000 US Presidential election, with its hanging chads, staged protests of angry Republicans on courthouse doorsteps, complaints of disenfranchisement by black voters and controversial Supreme Court rulings? The outcome was so chaotic millions of American voters still talk of their President as "the unelected fraud," even after his resounding victory in the mid-term elections of 2002.

Amongst other problems, The CalTech/MIT Voting Technology Project estimated some four to six million votes were lost in 2000 due to ballot, equipment, registration or polling-place problems. In response, Americans clamored for new voting technology to replace the ageing machines peppering US polling booths across the nation.

The Federal Government moved swiftly to revamp the country's largely paper-based and mechanical voting systems, allocating more than $1 billion to the purchase of electronic voting systems, including optical scanners and touch-screen machines.

Australians too have shown a preference for electronic voting over recent times. A survey of 1000 voters commissioned by the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) and conducted in the three days following the Cunningham by-election shows 60 per cent would like to be able to vote over the Internet from any location either before or on polling day; with 55 per cent supporting the notion of using a computer to vote in a polling booth on polling day.

The idea of electronic voting has also won sympathy from the Australian Institute of Criminology. Dr Russelll Smith, deputy director of research, wrote a report last year entitled: "Electronic Voting: Benefits and Risks," which predicted Australia would see national electronic voting taking off in the next five years, although it predicted concerns over secrecy and undue influence would delay full-blown home voting for some time longer.

But for now, at least, it remains extremely uncertain that IT by itself can save either the day or democracy.

A recent inspector general's report has characterised Miami-Dade County officials who oversaw a $25 million deal to buy new voting machines as "easy marks" after the September 10, 2002, mid-
term election - a national black eye for Miami-Dade - was plagued with problems caused in part by the lengthy start-up time for the machines.

The report found the company that sold Miami-Dade the touch-screen voting machines used in the disastrous 2002 primaries misled county officials about the equipment and delivered goods that were ''hardly state-of-the-art technology,'' according to an inspector general's report obtained on May 7 by The Miami Herald.

A week ago, the company being paid millions of dollars to run Miami-Dade's high-tech voting machines failed to win state approval for its plan to fix the problems that led, in part, to last year's bungled primary elections.

The Miami Herald reports state officials withheld their blessing last week after finding flaws in a new computer program designed by Election Systems & Software to make booting up the iVotronic machines quicker and easier.

The flaws, according to a letter from the state Division of Elections, were ''of sufficient gravity'' and far enough out of compliance with state standards that the new software could not be approved.

And Miami-Dade is far from alone, with polling-place problems manifesting in numbers of other of the 200-plus counties nationwide which had new, electronic machines in place by 2002. For instance in Florida's Broward County, improperly loaded software and incorrect ballots caused problems with 40 to 50 machines. Poorly programmed or calibrated machines in Georgia incorrectly displayed some ballots, while others froze up. And software glitches in 30 Maryland voting precincts caused machines to identify all voters as Democrats. As one US CIO put it: "It wasn't exactly the fall of 2000 all over again - most problems were quickly remedied. But then again, it wasn't exactly the smooth, IT-facilitated voting future that under-the-gun election officials may have hoped for either."

Nonetheless, it looks like more new machines are on the way in the US. On October 4, a joint House-Senate committee agreed on a sweeping election reform bill that allocates $US3.9 billion over the next three years to help states buy new equipment, train poll workers and create computerized statewide lists of registered voters.

At least there are some positive signs for the future. Wired Magazine reported last week that voting machines that print individual ballots are at last moving a step closer to widespread availability.

In response to concerns raised by election officials and security-minded techies, one of the largest makers of touch-screen voting machines has introduced a prototype capable of producing paper ballots. Its one election accessory many computer scientists have clamored for, and it may move computerized voting systems electors can trust a little bit closer to reality.