CONTINUING EDUCATION,THE PROMOTION OF CULTURE,AND THE SOCIAL ROLE OF THE UNIVERSITY

For many years, the author has been thinking about the problem of how to combine continuing education courses in universities with efforts to promote the dissemination of culture in the broadest sense. He begins his article with two definitions, one of the concept of continuing education itself, the other of the concept of culture. He indicates that increasingly a popular demand is being manifested for courses combining both objectives, particularly on the part of those who had to interrupt their studies prematurely or who completed them some time ago. He cites two seminars currently being offered at the University oE Athens, one an interdisciplinary seminar in philosophy, organized eight years ago, the other, a seminar in the philosophy of art. Both of them have opened their doors to all interested persons. They have been extremely popular, despite the fact that enrol‐lecs earn no credit for attending them. With the aid of the appropriate national authorities, similar programmes could be created in other universities in the countries belonging to Unesco so as to respond to a genuine social need.     

UNESCO: PROMOTION OF THE ROLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN SOCIETY

UNESCO has just published its “Draft Medium‐Term Plan (1977‐1982)” which is one of the principal documents serving as a basis for discussion at the 19th session of the General Conference of the Organization, to be held during October and November 1976 in Nairobi. We give below extracts from this text concerning higher education.     

THE ROLE OF HEROES IN JEWISH EDUCATION

Rosenak has shown that contemporary Jewish education must negotiate the tension between relevance and authenticity. For those who embrace authenticity as a goal, education is often mediated through heroes--who are ideal cultural types. Such education is hampered by the diminution of heroes in contemporary culture: The hero has been replaced by the role model, and the aspiration to be like the hero has been replaced by individualism. This article explores the idea of heroes in education both in the philosophic literature (Taylor, McIntyre, Rosenak) and in various aspects of Jewish education in the United States, including a look at wider American Jewish culture in this regard. A brief comparison to Israeli Jewish education is also included, where similar tensions and dilemmas are found.     

THE ROLE OF THE SOCIAL SCIENTIST IN THE SCHOOL OF EDUCATION

The four coauthors describe the twenty-five-year history of efforts of the Council of Learned Societies in Education (CLSE) to represent the interests of the social foundations of education in the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE), including the evolution of CLSE into the Council for the Social Foundations of Education and its recent departure from NCATE after a quarter century of successful involvement. The coauthors, each personally supportive of foundational involvement in national accreditation, delineate advantages gained by both CLSE and NCATE during the quarter century of involvement, while also describing concerns and arguments that have led to the current disassociation of the Council for Social Foundations of Education (CSFE) fromNCATE. The article concludes with suggestions for the future and the coauthors' hope that this history and chronicle will provide incentive for reinvolvement of the foundations in national accreditation circles.