School and the Limits of Philosophy

Abstract

Philosophy and schools, children and dynamite, elephants and postage stamps: each has a place, but not necessarily in any natural combination with the other. Whether schools and philosophy belong together depends largely on what we mean by both. To the extent that schools are instruments of government regulation and a mechanism for production of economic subjectivity, philosophy might be welcome as an ancillary technique for enhancing problem-solving skills or helping students to think more logically. If, on the other hand, teachers are concerned to promote education as the development of independent thought beyond the realm of instrumental utility, then philosophy is a vital, and potentially critical, engagement with power, with the way schools function, and more generally with society and its government. With reference to some recent policy moves in education, this article argues that the focus on the economic productivity of education is intensifying, and that as educational institutions become more heavily regulated and monitored, there is little provision for, or toleration of, any form of structural criticism, philosophical or otherwise. The conclusion is that philosophy may have an explicit place within the existing school programmes, but that any philosophy which provides a basis for fundamental change in our patterns and expectations of schooling is likely to be undermined. Commitment to critical philosophy becomes, then, a surreptitious activity on the part of individual teachers, operating outside the official curriculum and frustrated by increasing surveillance and demands for accountability.     

‘NO WAR THIS YEAR’

The London Daily Express proclaimed the maxim ‘No War this Year’ on its front pages as late as 7 August 1939. Newspaper historian Stephen Koss has suggested that the ‘no war’ slogan was a ‘delusion’ on the part of the proprietor, Lord Beaverbrook. Berlin chief correspondent, R. Selkirk Panton, was instrumental in ensuring that the policy line was observed through both his news stories and opinion pieces throughout 1938 and 1939. This paper aims to explore the extent to which Panton shared his employer's views, as well as tracing the divergent path of the Express from the rest of Fleet Street and Panton's position as a political outsider within the ‘foreign press colony’ of Berlin. Through the examination of several key stories during the last year before the outbreak of war, in his copy and personal correspondence, a critical evaluation of how Panton negotiated the space between the policy of the paper and the European crises on which he reported can be achieved.     

基于Android和STM32的新型智能快递终端的研究与设计

针对传统快递寄取方式受时间、地理因素限制,操作过程相对麻烦,快递存储空间利用率不高等缺点,本文设计出一种基于Android和STM32的新型智能快递终端。该终端可实现24小时自助寄件、自助派件和自助取件。系统通过全自动机械系统实现快递的自动存取,通过最优化空间分配算法实现快递的最优化存储。实验表明,该系统具有较好的稳定性和可靠性,有效地降低了快递的存储成本。     

Expanding “within context” to “across contexts” learning: a case study of informal and formal activities

Learning happens not only in schools, but also in every context that affords new experiences and opportunities for metacognition. We aim to maximize the different activity-milieux in which learners are engaged in developing their life-long learning dispositions to learn within and across contexts. This paper is a follow up of an earlier published paper in which a framework on interpreting learning as how the self interacts with phenomena and reifications was proposed. Grounded in this learning framework, our research seeks to expand the “within context” learning to “across contexts” learning with evidence from a case study examining a 10-year-old boy's learning process. Through the case study, we will describe the interplay between bowling and schooling and how strategies learned from one context is situated into another drawing upon Ito et al.'s (2010 Ito, M., Baumer, S., Bittanti, M, boyd, d., Cody, R., Herr-Stephenson, B., Horst, … Pascoe, C.J., Perkel, D., Robinson, L., Sims, C., Tripp, L. (2010). Hanging out, messing around, and geeking out: Kids living and learning with new media. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press [Google Scholar]) developmental trajectory of “hanging out-messing around-geeking out” perspectives. The findings show that for learning to be meaningful and authentic for the twenty-first century, it is essential for the learner(s) to be in constant dialectical interactions and relationship with oneself, others, and with the social-cultural artifacts that afford the learning. We conclude with practical implications derived from the study.     

高校教学计划运行管理系统优化的探讨——以安徽工程大学为例

高校教学计划的运行管理作为教学管理的中心环节,占有重要地位。针对学校教务管理系统中的弊端和教学计划运行管理中存在的问题,提出了教务管理系统引入工作流技术和Outlook Express邮件管理软件的设想,从而进一步优化教务管理系统,提高教学计划运行管理的工作效率。     

基于PCI Express总线协议开销的性能分析

在计算机内部和外部,统一总线标准和提高总线带宽一直是计算机发展的重要问题,本文从技术的角度介绍了PCI Express总线的基本拓扑结构和体系结构,并详细介绍了PCI Express总线的分层体系结构,然后对总线的协议开销来源,以及计算方法进行了详细的阐述,并结合实例进行了计算与分析。     

“一带一路”的实践探索——对江苏、浙江、广东的调查

基于对江苏、浙江、广东3省10市的实地调查,文章系统介绍了“一带一路”倡议提出10年来,地方政府和企业在“一带一路”建设方面开展的主要工作,包括重点打造与共建“一带一路”国家（以下简称“共建国家”）之间的交通运输通道、大力发展中欧班列、扎实推进境外经贸合作区建设、积极促进贸易和投资发展、加强科技创新合作与教育、文化交流等。文章也指出了当前“一带一路”建设中存在的主要问题和今后的工作重点。实践表明,“一带一路”建设客观地反映了地方发展的现实需求,具有历史必然性,发展前景乐观可期;同时,我们也要采取切实可行的措施,如完善组织协调机制、构建我国与共建国家开放发展大通道、完善国际融资机制等,推进“一带一路”建设可持续发展。     

Tacit Teaching

This essay reflects upon certain aspects of Wittgenstein's own practices as a teacher. Doing philosophy always took priority for Wittgenstein, whether this was in oral or written form: it was important to show the deep puzzles in our language (and our culture and thinking) as a step toward dissolving them. In this respect, one can teach only as a guide; it is a matter of showing more than saying.
Wittgenstein's approach suggests a model that I will call tacit teaching . Tacit teaching refers to the many forms of informal instruction—some intentional, some unintentional, and some difficult to categorize simply as one or the other—by which skills, capacities, and dispositions are passed along within a domain of practice. Wittgenstein repeatedly uses the language of signposts, of wandering through a city, of being lost and finding one's way, of needing a guide, of learning how to go on by one's self, to refer to the complex web of knowledge and understanding that allows successful autonomous practice in some discipline: most pertinently, in the context of Wittgenstein's own teaching and writing, the discipline of doing philosophy, but with clear reference to teaching and learning in other complex and ill-structured domains as well.     

Virtues of Mentors and Mentees in the Finnish Model of Teachers’ Peer-group Mentoring

ABSTRACT

This study investigated participants’ conceptions of the ideal mentor and mentee in the Finnish model of peer-group mentoring (PGM). Existing mentoring research emphasises dyadic practices, yet there is a lack of investigation of participants’ roles in group mentoring. The main concepts of this inquiry were dispositions (habitus) and virtues drawing on the theory of practice architectures and Aristotelian virtue philosophy. Methodologically, the study can be identified as philosophical-empirical inquiry that utilises a narrative and hermeneutical approach to analyse qualitative data from 30 respondents. As its central finding, the study identified a set of core characteristics that describe the virtues and vices of a mentor and mentee based on the participants’ views. Overall, these characteristics reflected ideas of relatings (peerness, equality), proactive and reactive participation, and presence in the group. Characteristics focused on the social aspect of dispositions in peer-group mentoring.     

Professional judgment and dispositions in teacher education

The word “dispositions” has suddenly emerged in the lexicon of teacher educators in the United States of America, and around the globe as found in publications such as The International Journal of Diversity in Organizations, Communities and Nations and the Journal of the International Society for Teacher Education. However, it is clear from the literature that educators are just beginning to grapple with the definitional and philosophical aspects of the construct. This work seeks to assist the field of teacher education, both in the United States and internationally in gaining a better understanding of “dispositions,” and, at the same time to offer working connections between professional judgment and dispositions, and provide grounding for the construct as “habits of mind” that render professional conduct more intelligent.