Virtue through Challenge: Moral Development and Self‐transformation

In this article, I argue that although the Aristotelian ideal of leading a virtuous life for its own sake is admirable, conventional Aristotelian and neo‐Aristotelian accounts of how it might be realised are empirically inadequate: Habituation is unlikely to produce ‘a love of virtue’, practical experience cannot then produce practical judgement or phronesis, and Aristotle's conception of a virtuous life excludes all but an idealised elite. Instead, I argue that two conceptually distinct aspects of moral development can be identified: the ‘Aristotelian’ and the ‘Humean’. In the former, the desire to lead a virtuous life for its own sake is produced through certain forms of challenging experience which, by disturbing and decentring the egoistic self, evoke a personal moral transformation. In the latter, the capacity to act well in specific social situations is the outcome of a process of socialisation, first in upbringing and later through initiation into the practices of adult life. Both aspects should be promoted in moral education for together they produce something akin to full virtue in the Aristotelian sense: Practical wisdom and practical judgement—or phronesis. Moreover, ‘the good life’ is best conceived as encompassing a variety of transcendent goods. To live a virtuous life for its own sake constitutes one good or form of human flourishing; but it is not the only one.     

Project Math-Muse: Interactive Mathematics Exhibits for Young Children

This paper describes the goals and preliminary work of Project Math-Muse, an interdisciplinary team of university and public school educators working with children's museums to design and evaluate interactive mathematics exhibits for young children. Authors discuss the rationale for the development of small, interactive mathematics exhibits for young children, based on the goal of matching (a) reform-based views of mathematics, which emphasize children's active, hands-on engagement in meaningful activities, with (b) the principles that guide children's museums. Observations of children and adults interacting with two exhibit prototypes developed at a local children's museum are presented along with discussions of some of the issues that have arisen in this work so far. The paper concludes with directions for continued work.     

Educational Assessment in the Russian Federation

The world-wide tendency of national governments taking responsibility for the quality of education by setting standards and monitoring achievement, while leaving the responsibility for the delivered curriculum to the providers, is also felt in Eastern Europe and Russia. The context of this article is this process in the Russian Federation (RF) where the practice of realising 'a common educational space' by enforcing a uniform curriculum upon schools has been replaced by concluding agreements between the federal Ministry of Education and regional authorities about the content of education. The transition to an outcome-based curriculum with more freedom for schools for the content of their teaching, however, has still a long way to go. Essential for this transition is the availability of reliable and efficient instruments to monitor educational achievement, at both the federal and the regional level. This article depicts the present state of affairs in educational assessment in Russia, and focuses on the results of a Russian-Dutch project to explore the feasibility in the RF of a system of final examinations with written, standardised tests.     

Nietzsche,Eternal Recurrence and Education: The Role of the Great Cultivating Thought in the Art of Self‐Cultivation (Bildung)

In this essay, I briefly outline Nietzsche's doctrine of the eternal recurrence that has implications for education, and life in general; and, lastly, I argue that from an educational point of view, Nietzsche's doctrine of the eternal recurrence is best viewed as the great cultivating thought that has radical ramifications for any project of character education. Indeed, Nietzsche's concern with self‐cultivation (Bildung) to a large degree brings together the central tenets of his thinking to emphasise an ethics of character that is meant to serve as an alternative approach to cultivating character or the self in such a way that it reveals ‘what one is’ now (being), and who they could become (becoming). In order to bring this about, Nietzsche does not conceive the eternal recurrence as a theoretical doctrine, but as an exercise that we incorporate into our lives as a habitual practice, vis‐à‐vis, through repeated and prolonged meditation, reflection, thought and dialogue on the significance of the idea in such a way that it transforms the individual for the better. Subsequently, the idea of the eternal recurrence only becomes cultivating and truly educational if it transforms our lives in such a way that we come to revalue the self as a work of art to a point where we are able to educate ourselves against our age.     

A Genealogical Analysis of the Concept of ‘Good’ Teaching: A Polemic

In this essay I intentionally employ Nietzsche's genealogical method as a means to critique the complex concept of ‘good’ teaching, and at the same time reconstitute ‘good’ teaching in a form that is radically different from contemporary accounts. In order to do this, I start out by undertaking a genealogical analysis to both reveal the complicated historical development of ‘good’ teaching and also disentangle the intertwining threads that remain hidden from us so we are aware of the core threads that hold it together. Two major threads are identified in my analysis, which I refer to as: Genealogy I: Teaching as applied science or practice; and, Genealogy II: Teaching as a vocational calling or neutral profession. With this in mind, I take the two value systems (Genealogy I and II) presented in my critique of ‘good’ teaching, and rather than return to old, or create new values, I argue that the true task of any educational endeavour is to make human beings human. Therefore, in the spirit of Nietzsche, I revive and extend Nietzsche's account of Bildung as a dynamic way of living timeless educational aims, such as learning to see, think, speak, write and feel in becoming true human beings.     

Counseling Taiwan Chinese in America: Training Issues for Counselors

This article examines cultural influences on Taiwan Chinese in America who seek counseling. Typical counseling struggles, effective counseling strategies and theoretical approaches, and training implications are addressed.