Education and Culture - another philosophy of education essay

[SarahW]

I stumbled upon (literally, well as literally as one can stumble while surfing the web) this essay the other day: Education and Culture by Irina Tyk (free pdf download link there). 

 

It reminds me of much that has been discussed here before (like on the Circe thread) but a slightly different approach. 

 

New to me was the idea that education gives children the ability to engage in "courteous dissidence." That it is education which allows people to move beyond tribal discipline (p. 11). Hmmm, I don't know, it seems that one's tribe can have a good effect on one's moral improvement, if the tribe is healthy or moral, of course. On the other hand, there's the perennial problem that some people act morally just because their tribe expects them to - if the tribe shifts to immoral expectations (violent xenophobia or something) those people will be free to act immorally. Tyk seems to see education as the cure, which causes individual conversions to unwavering morality. I'm unconvinced that education itself can be the cause of this (though I suppose it can depend on what "education" is defined as) or if the application has to be purely individual.

 

There's other ideas brought up as well. I'm interested on hearing other's thoughts.

[Momto4inSoCal]

Many people through history have seen education as the cure to societies problems. The church believed education created strong believers. Unitarians believed man was inherently good and if he was educated he would be free to act on his nature which was good. In fact many of our school changes were based in this idea. They wanted to free the students from the strict moral disciplines given to them by the church. Much of that change started in the 1800's. That was the era of Rousseau and the enlightenment. Personally I don't feel that the freedom accomplished what they believed it would and I don't agree that man is inherently good. I haven't read the essay though. I will have to read it.