Tags
common good, education, Morality, Philosophy, school, school leadership, social justice, vision, wisdom
For those of you who do not know, I am in the last push for a PhD in the philosophy of moral education looking intently at moral school leadership by both critiquing the ways schools currently legitimate and replicate the values of the marketplace (at great personal and social expense) and what it might look like to imagine schooling as a moral enterprise for wisdom, virtue and social justice. I am often asked how this might look practically, so I thought I would share two projects I completed for presentation that unpack what I think a school would look like that did just that. I named my school Arete Academy based upon the Greek word for excellence as human flourishing.
This is my intellectual office!
Below you will find links to the presentations I gave. One is a prezi and the other is a pdf file. Feel free to offer thoughts, suggestions and critiques as I shape this into my dissertation and (hopefully) life’s work.
The Wisdom Initiative 
Hello, Scott. I just received this post via email alert and couldn’t help but share my thoughts.
First, I love the name of your school, very appropriate. It certainly stands out considering that most public schools endeavor to “teach to the test”. Rather sophistic, eh? The rather sad state of public education has been broached numerous times between by my mother, a former teacher, and me. But, that is neither here nor there.
Reading your previous article ” My Vision for Education” and this one reminds me of how blessed I am. I am currently engaged in an Honors College program that explicitly exposes its students to a classical education through philosophy, art, and theology, among other things. I’ve been exposed to theologians like St. Thomas Aquinas, philsophers of all kinds, and learnt about the triadic qualities of Truth, Goodness, and Beauty as manifested through art and music. All in all, this experience has taught me to really think for myself and wrestle with the truly hard questions. It honestly scares me that kids that are publicly schooled may not be able to think for themselves. “Know thyself”, as the Oracle of Delphi says.
This particular point is what I love most about my program. Through learning about others and their work, I learn more about myself. And to think I initially desired a classical education just so I could understand my beloved Dante better, what a wonderful and complex experience this has turned out ot be!
I apologize if this response is rather long. Sometimes my words tend to overflow. Anyway, I wish you great blessings in your push for your PhD.
Alaina
Alaina,
Thank you for your insightful comments! You are right: the more I learn about philosophy, theology, literature, etc. the more I learn about myself. “Knowing thyself” is the fundamental project of the human experience, one that we pay so little attention to, to our great detriment. I appreciate your voice in the conversation!
Scott, I began reading your blog with interest just a few weeks ago and I agree wholeheartedly with most of your postings. I am curious about your proposed academy. First of all, the general premise sounds fantastic and so different from the education that most of our children are exposed to now. I am wondering about the integration of higher level math, science, etc. into the your curriculum. These subjects would certainly also be necessary to be successful in many college majors and career paths. I certainly love the idea of children being exposed to so many classical thinkers, the core values that are so missing from our current culture, and working towards true independent thought. I can only imagine what my field (medicine) would look like if this kind of education was the norm.
That being said, without exposure to calculus, chemistry, and physics in high school, I can’t imagine being successful in organic chemistry, biochemistry, neuroscience, college physics, college calculus, etc… that are necessary for careers like engineering, medicine, and meteorology (just to mention a few).
Jennifer,
Thanks for the thoughtful comments. To begin with, this vision would encompass the disciplines under the thematic umbrellas I articulated. I certainly would not leave out any of the subjects you mentioned; in fact, I would integrate them right into the larger discussions of good and evil, virtue, justice etc. as part of what being well-educated looks like. To me, asking deep questions about calculus, chemistry, math, etc. might not only keep kids more engaged, it might help them think through why these are important issues to study. It might answer the age-old question, “Why do we have to know this?” when students see these subjects connected to larger and deeper things than just a test on Friday. In fact, each of these subjects began as questions pertaining to the human condition. My hope is that we could look at them again through the lens of philosophical inquiry. We might ask such questions as: what role should science play in shaping a more virtuous world? Are there some things science can do that it should not? Issues of bioethics might come into play here as well. I hope this all makes sense!
Feel free to respond!
The primary school my kids go to has a very important thread of Character Education. Have a look at this and I’d welcome any comments. (Primary school in New Zealand is from age 5 to roughly age 10 or 11.) http://www.georgestreet.school.nz/about-us/what-character-education
I should perhaps mention that George Street School also has an emphasis on “strength-based learning” – the kids all have lots of chances to do the things they’re really good at and enjoy – from cooking and dancing to computer animation and problem-solving – and learn more basic skills through those activities. I think the combination of the two types of teaching is very important, as only focusing on the students’ strengths, preferences and choices can make for very self-centred kids, while only focusing on (say) duty, obedience and responsibility could encourage the formation of frustrated corporate drones.