Chapter 1

Question 1

Why study Philosophy of education

Answer 1

“Mindlessness is the most pertinent and accurate criticism of American education”

Question 2

Teachers are more concerned about the “” rather than the “” of life

Answer 2

How; why

Question 3

There is a need of educators who think about purpose -

Answer 3

To think about what they are doing and why they are doing it.

Question 4

Educators have been so busy creating and implementing new methodology that the have often failed to ask -

Answer 4

Why they implement the technique

Question 5

Students must wrestle with what issues?

Answer 5

Reality, meaning, sources of knowledge, and structure of values

Question 6

Think through the total education and life process to develop a program that will do what?

Answer 6

Assist students in arriving at that goal. Which means we need to have a goal in mind.

Question 7

What is philosophy?

Answer 7

Love of wisdom

Question 8

Philosophy as an activity - what philosophers do

Answer 8

Examining - examine the evidence
analyzing - scrutinizes the logic in an argument
synthesizing - unify thoughts to interpret its experiences
speculative - limitations of human knowledge - jump from the know to the unknown
Prescription - establish standards for evaluating values in conduct and art
Evaluating - making judgements based on a set of criteria

Question 9

Philosophy as an attitude - philosophers bring certain ways of thinking to their task

Answer 9

Self-awareness - honest regarding personal biases, assumptions, and prejudices (no one is neutral; personal dispositions; everyone has a worldview)
Comprehensiveness - collecting as much relevant data on a subject as possible from a wide spectrum of sources
Penetration - to go as deeply into a problem as skill, time, and energy allow
Flexibility - able to perceive old problems in new ways (ability to envision viable alternatives to a viewpoint)

Question 10

Philosophy as content - what are the three fundamental categories which content has been organized

Answer 10

Metaphysics, Epistemology, Axiology

Question 11

What is metaphysics

Answer 11

study of questions concerning the nature of reality - what is ultimately real

Question 12

What is epistemology?

Answer 12

Study of nature of truth and knowledge and how these are attained and evaluated

Question 13

What is Axiology?

Answer 13

Study of questions of value

Question 14

What is education?

Answer 14

A lifelong process that can take place in an infinite variety of circumstances and contexts

Question 15

What two types of education are there?

Answer 15

Direct learning and non-directed or inadvertent learning

Question 16

What are special edition types of learning?

Answer 16

Education and training

Question 17

What are the three aspects of philosophy?

Answer 17

Content, activities, attitude

Question 18

What is the role of the school in society

Answer 18

One agent for learning, education and training.

Question 19

What are some other groups that play a part in learning, education, and training

Answer 19

Family, media, peer groups

Question 20

The family, church, peer group, and school may not be teaching the same message in regard to what?

Answer 20

Reality, truth, and value

Question 21

What happens if the family, church, and peer group are not teaching the same message?

Answer 21

It weakens the impact of the school and gives children a confusing message about what is important in life academically and spiritually

Question 22

Differentiate between schooling, learning, training, and education. In what ways are they distinct? In what ways are they overlapping or interactive?

Answer 22

Training is a type of learning which is a type of education. Training is very basic and can take place on the animal level. Training takes place when receiving consequences for actions. For an animal, this may mean receiving a treat for following a command. For a child, this may mean receiving a punishment for disobedience. When consistently implemented, these consequences or rewards lead to a new behavior. Learning is “the process that produces the capability of exhibiting new or changed human behavior” Once a baby is born, education begins. Within a year, that baby learns to eat, walk, talk, smile, laugh, sit up and many other things. Education is a life-long process. Schooling is a formal environment where training, learning, and education take place. According to the author, only a small percentage of education takes place in a school environment.