Finding Educational Insights in Psychoanalytic Theory with Marcuse and Adorno

This article seeks to clarify the potential that Herbert Marcuse's and Theodor W. Adorno's psychoanalytic accounts may have with respect to the philosophy of education today. Marcuse and Adorno both share the view that psychoanalytic theory enables a deeper understanding of the social and biological dynamics of consciousness. For both thinkers, psychoanalytic theory provides conceptual tools for thinking through contradictions between the needs of an individual and those of the governing entity. In fleshing this out, I first explore Marcuse's radical account of sublimation which seeks to demonstrate how the revision of instinctual energy makes it possible to establish a subjectivity which utilises the human potentiality to its fullest. I then turn to Adorno who emphasises the importance of understanding that exterior conditions transform our instinctual energies. After recapitulating Adorno's conception of natural, instinctual impulses and his use of psychoanalytic theory, I will explore the possibility of a critical rationality through a critique of rationality's current mode. From the perspective of Adorno's and Marcuse's theories, both rationality and sensuous desire play their respective roles in enabling critical rationality. In conclusion, the article reflects the different advantage points of Marcuse's and Adorno's accounts from the perspective of philosophy of education. Thus, education should provide individuals with the ability to recognise the subtle and invisible ways through which the calculating mode of rationality operates in late‐capitalist society. Regarding education, Adorno's conception of non‐identity could be developed in the direction of promoting ways of experiencing non‐conformity within such a society.     

STANDARD EXAMINATIONS IN THE GREATER BOSTON HEBREW SCHOOLS

This article examines the educational philosophy that arises from several focal writings of Rabbi J. B. Soloveitchek. These specific writings, however, do not deal directly with education, and the article illustrates the way that educational doctrine can be shown to arise from philosophical writings as such. On the basis of this research, the article points to possible diversities of interpretation and even confrontations between the conclusions that arise from several texts. In this framework, the authors suggest a new critical interpretation of Rabbi Soloveitchik's thought through the perspective of the philosophy of education. This provides new insight not only to his educational teachings but also into other aspects of his thought.     

Wendell Berry on Education: A Cultural Inheritance of Care

Although recognized for his wisdom on issues of agriculture, ecology, economics, and theology, writer Wendell Berry has been largely ignored for his thinking on education. Yet the same good sense and clear thinking that he applies to other areas of thought can be seen also in his writings on education. This article reviews what scholars have observed about Berry’s ideas on education, and then contextualizes his thinking through a comparison with two giants of educational theory: John Dewey and Paulo Freire. Berry’s local focus and his emphasis on community and the ecosphere create a vision for education that could lead to a healthier, more peaceable world.     

An Exploration of Moshe Greenberg's Religious Vision and its Manifestation in His Bible Scholarship and Writings on Bible Education

This article is an attempt to explore the religious vision of Moshe Greenberg in some detail, and in particular, to analyze how his approach to education is applied to and reflected in his ideas about the teaching and learning of Bible, and in his own Bible scholarship itself. The paper examines the connection between Greenberg's philosophy of religion and Wilfred Cantwell Smith's conception of religion as a collection of religious “symbols,” one of which is the sacred text itself. The article includes an analysis of Greenberg's Bible scholarship and writings on Bible education.     

Kant and prejudice,or, the mechanical use of reason

This paper examines an issue of recent Kant scholarship on education: the supposed disconnect between his theory of morals and his theory of character. While the debate is often couched in terms of Kant’s ‘phenomenal–noumenal’ distinction, or the distinction between moral theory and culture, I follow scholarship suggesting the best way to understand Kant’s distinction is by following his account of the ‘conduct of thought.’ Doing so demonstrates the Lectures on Logic and particularly, his account of prejudice, as playing a large role in the articulation of what it is to think subjectively. We also see the importance of conducting our thinking from the subjective standpoint to an objective (moral) one in order to fulfill our obligations to both think and act morally.     

Paradoxes of Sahrawi refugees' educational migration: promoting self-sufficiency or renewing dependency?

Education is often prioritised by refugee children and families, as well as by their political representatives and international actors alike. This article explores the specificities of the Sahrawi refugee education system, focusing in particular on the nature, motivations and implications of Sahrawi refugee youths' educational migration to Cuba through a scholarship programme designed to promote self-sufficiency and socio-economic development in the Sahrawi refugee camps. Drawing upon interviews conducted with Cuban-educated Sahrawi refugees in Cuba and in their Algerian-based refugee camps I argue that, despite educational migration having become a central part of Sahrawi refugee children's, youths' and adults' imaginary landscapes, Sahrawi youths' educational migration to Cuba is ultimately paradoxical in nature, reshaping and reinforcing, rather than reducing, Sahrawi refugees' dependence upon Western aid providers.     

Paulo Freire in a Hall of Mirrors

Since first published in English in 1970, Pedagogy of the Oppressed has inspired generations of scholars and social activists to examine the inherent potential of Paulo Freire's theories on grassroots intellectual emancipation and education in marginalized communities. The interpretive lineage of Freire's writings is vast, indeed. To date, scholars continue to mobilize Freire's ideas to establish meaningful connections between what he describes as “liberatory teaching” and the role progressive educators must play in bringing about a more just and humane society. Freire's popularity outside Brazil, however, has come with inevitable tradeoffs worth considering, particularly as regards the epistemological directions and labels affixed to his educational philosophy. Considering the “many Freires” phenomenon, Sandro Barros takes a genealogical approach in this essay to the metanarratives that have made up Freire scholarship outside Brazil. His analysis is guided by the following questions: (1) What kinds of hermeneutic cultures have enveloped Freire's ideas in academic contexts? (2) How have these cultures shaped the reading practices that surround his texts?     

Childhood and education in Jean-François Lyotard’s philosophy

The theme of childhood and education in Lyotard’s philosophy provides an interesting field of reflection combining education studies and continental philosophy. Childhood in Lyotard’s thought is mostly understood as infantia, a concept that appears towards the end of his work. The claim of this article is that childhood in Lyotard’s philosophy cannot be reduced to the late concept of infantia; looking at the recurring nature of this theme in his writings that is present from the beginning, as well as various figures under which it appears, pushes Lyotard’s readers to reconsider his work from a pluralist and interdisciplinary perspective.     

What Is Educational about Education? The Distinctiveness of Education

This article explores two questions: (1) Is education a unique and distinct discipline? (2) Is education anything other than the achievement of noneducational aims or objectives? In it, Trevor Norris examines how these two questions are interconnected, specifically analyzing how what we think about education as a distinct field of study informs what we ask of it as a practice. When we study education, we should be educational about it, because if we render education as the object of study, it is never endowed with agency or distinctiveness. Norris inquires into the distinctiveness of education as a way of thinking and a way of impacting the world, asking what are the conditions that make it possible for us to identify something as “educational”? To investigate this question, Norris draws from Hannah Arendt's account of politics, and he concludes by describing a case study assignment that requires educational foundations students to draw from philosophy of education in order to show what exactly is educational about education by contrasting education with business and psychology.     

Kurt Hahn’s moral equivalent of war

Kurt Hahn’s educational thought is less well‐known than the educational institutions he established. This article analyses Hahn’s educational ideas through a reading of his speeches and limited writings, and sketches the historical context in which these ideas developed. Although his aristocratic background resulted in a thoroughly conservative worldview, he developed a largely progressive educational practice focusing on active ‘Samaritan service’ and experiential learning, enabling students to discover the Christian purpose of life. Hahn’s notion of Samaritan service has been adopted, in secularised form, by the International Baccalaureate, and it is here where his lasting contribution to primary and secondary education lies.     

Gramsci's challenge to the politics of the left in ‘Our Times’

This article offers a detailed discussion of the writings of Antonio Gramsci, one of the founders of the Italian Communist Party. Gramsci's writings, and secondary source accounts of these, have had a profound influence in many areas of ‘radical’ adult and community education in the United Kingdom and elsewhere. The article attempts, by returning to Gramsci's original texts and by interpreting them within his own ‘leitmotiv’, to challenge many of the current applications of his thought within radical education and ‘left’ political practice. The former types of applications are normally filtered through the political and academic writings of the latter; therefore the challenge offered, on behalf of Gramsci, is directed primarily at these.     

沿着苏霍姆林斯基的足迹与时代同行——乌克兰名校长德尔卡契和哈依鲁莲娜访谈录

近三十多年,我国教育界热心于苏霍姆林斯基教育思想研究的同行们,常常关注如下问题：苏霍姆林斯基是如何成长为伟大的教育家的？苏霍姆林斯基教育思想中最为关键的要点是什么？乌克兰在当前是如何继承和发展苏霍姆林斯基教育思想的？笔者就这些问题采访了乌克兰帕夫雷什中学校长瓦·德尔卡契女士和基辅市苏霍姆林斯基实验中学校长瓦·哈依鲁莲娜（通讯）院士。     

Minds and more: Extending the scholarship of Graham Nuthall

Graham Nuthall described research findings from his recent classroom studies as educationally transformative, analogous to the shift to a Copernican universe. In honouring this assertion, we focus on two aspects of Graham's work: the role of theory in his scholarship, and the relationship between his scholarship and the pursuit of educational equity. In each case, we speak to why these aspects of his work are important and how each facet of his work is poised to advance the enterprise of education. Finally, we address some of the transformative implications of these two aspects of Graham's work for educational research and teacher education.     

A review of research on formal reasoning and science teaching

A central purpose of education is to improve students' reasoning abilities. The present review examines research in developmental psychology and science education that has attempted to assess the validity of Piaget's theory of formal thought and its relation to educational practice. Should a central objective of schools be to help students become formal thinkers? To answer this question research has focused on the following subordinate questions: (1) What role does biological maturation play in the development of formal reasoning? (2) Are Piaget's formal tasks reliable and valid? (3) Does formal reasoning constitute a unified and general mode of intellectual functioning? (4) How does the presence or absence of formal reasoning affect school achievement? (5) Can formal reasoning be taught? (6) What is the structural or functional nature of advanced reasoning? The general conclusion drawn is that although Piaget's work and that which has sprung from it leaves a number of unresolved theoretical and methodological problems, it provides an important background from which to make substantial progress toward a most significant educational objective. All our dignity lies in thought. By thought we must elevate ourselves, not by space and time which we can not fill. Let us endeavor then to think well; therein lies the principle of morality. Blaise Pascal 1623-1662.     

沿着苏霍姆林斯基的足迹与时代同行——乌克兰名校长德尔卡契和哈依鲁莲娜访谈录

近三十多年,我国教育界热心于苏霍姆林斯基教育思想研究的同行们,常常关注如下问题:苏霍姆林斯基是如何成长为伟大的教育家的?苏霍姆林斯基教育思想中最为关键的要点是什么?乌克兰在当前是如何继承和发展苏霍姆林斯基教育思想的?笔者就这些问题采访了乌克兰帕夫雷什中学校长瓦·德尔卡契女士和基辅市苏霍姆林斯基实验中学校长瓦·哈依鲁莲娜(通讯)院士。     

Differently Academic? Constructions of ‘academic’ in higher education

This article draws on my research, in which I have interviewed a group of students over the course of their degrees. The women are all taking women's studies combined with a range of other subjects in a ‘new’ university with campuses in inner London and on its outskirts. This article considers the women's perceptions of both women's studies and their second subjects as "academic", as well as how they think both the university and the wider world value the academic nature of their various subjects. It asks whether subjects are only valued as "academic" if they focus on the writings of men, and are considered "objective", abstract and theoretical. Do students need to be seen to be "thinking like a man" in order to value their subjects and have them valued by others, or are there ways to be "differently academic"? It concludes by suggesting some alternative ways for institutions of higher education to consider the meaning of "academic" in higher education.     

自然即艺术:自然主义教育学的三种历史形态及其追求

自然主义教育学以"自然"的不同内涵而有不同历史形态。亚里士多德、夸美纽斯与卢梭为其代表人物。亚里士多德的自然主义教育,以人的潜能为自然,以城邦需要为其补缀,是古雅典自由教育反省的结果;他对教育艺术和良善生活艺术统一的追求,为自然主义教育学定下基调,但具有泛灵论的思维特点。夸美纽斯的自然教育,以改善宗教社会为目的,以外在世界为自然,并以其规训教育艺术,使教育世俗化成为可能,具有经验论特点。卢梭以人的内在自然为自然,提出自然教育概念,并上升其为教育本体;其教育一般方法的旨趣为教育艺术提供了余地;自然主义教育是其契约国家的教化工具,它使教育研究直面人本身,但具有机械论特点。自然教育学的历史形态反映教育科学思维发展的历史性;其共时性,在于追求教育艺术和良善生活的统一。     

CHALLENGING SPECULATION ABOUT “DEWEY'S RACIALIZED VISIONS”

In this essay Michael Eldridge maintains that Frank Margonis has in a recent article ill‐advisedly speculated about John Dewey's pedagogy, suggesting that his “racialized visions” of students and classroom communities involve a “false universalism” that is problematic for our multicultural society. Based on this understanding, Margonis concludes that we need to seek an alternative to Dewey's educational philosophy. Eldridge strongly disagrees with this conclusion, arguing that assessing Dewey's philosophy and pedagogy is not a matter for speculation but should instead be based on the extensive documentation and research that is readily available. Eldridge focuses in this essay on documenting Margonis's speculations regarding Dewey's theory and pedagogy, and then offering an alternative reading of Dewey's writings as well as scholarship about Dewey's life and work. Ultimately, Eldridge argues that a wholesale abandonment of Dewey's educational approach is unnecessary and would be misguided.     

Joseph Schwab,curriculum, curriculum studies and educational reform

The ‘Practical 1’ paper combines Schwab’s abiding concern, for the nature and quality of educational experience with another abiding concern, for how we think about what we do. The Practical 1 is the first of a set of four ‘practical’ essays. These in turn are the product of his thinking about college education and his ideas on the principles of scientific inquiry applied to education in the Practical 1. What Schwab said about education was considered provocative at its time. What Schwab was doing has continuing value. He would, no doubt, say different things in the current educational environment but what he was doing as he said them would remain close to the original.