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EDF 7685: Educational Foundations: A Philosophical & Multicultural
Analysis
Dr. Susie Jans-Thomas
Fall 2013
Course Description
Aims to broaden and deepen students’ awareness of various educational
philosophies and their influences in everyday classroom practice. Emphasis will
be on the pluralism and diversity of educational ideas, the practical implication of
such ideas, development of critical and analytical thinking and open mindedness.
Our Vision
To be the best regional comprehensive university in America.
Our Mission
To empower each individual we serve with knowledge and opportunity to
contribute responsibly and creatively to a complex world.
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EDF 7685:
Educational Foundations: A Philosophical & Multicultural
Analysis
College of Professional Studies
Department: Research and Advanced Studies
Academic Year: 2013 – 2014
Credits: 3.0 sh (may not be repeated for credit)
Day & Time: On-line
Professor: Susie Jans-Thomas, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Coordinator, Doctoral Program in Curriculum & Diversity Studies
Editor, The Journal of Intercultural Disciplines
Editor, The Journal of Research and Advanced Studies
Author, Reflections of the 1965 Freedom March from Selma to
Montgomery, Alabama
Phone: 850.857.6173
Email: sjansthomas@uwf.edu
Office: 78/122- Pensacola Campus
Office Hours:
Tuesdays – 2:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Wednesdays – 2:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Thursdays – 1:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.
*By appointment as needed by students.
Course Description:
Aims to broaden and deepen students’ awareness of various educational
philosophies and their influences in everyday classroom practice. Emphasis will
be on the pluralism and diversity of educational ideas, the practical implication of
such ideas, development of critical and analytical thinking and open mindedness.
Completion of EDF 6602 is recommended prior to taking this course.
Purpose of the Course:
The Empowered Person and Professional and Making a Difference is the theme
of the Professional Education Unit’s conceptual framework. This theme focuses
learning experiences on activities that permit the candidate to examine what
he/she does and to take an active role in the instructional process. The subject
matter, class activities, skill development of this course were selected to assist
your personal growth in one or more of the following Empowered Person and
Professional Making a Difference characteristics: a) critical thinker, b) lifelong
learner, c) counselor/mentor, d) decision maker, e) problem solver, and f)
ethical/moral professional.
Student Learning Outcomes
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1. Students will analyze the ideological perspective and political economy of
an historical era to identify their impact on educational systems and
curriculum.
2. Students will articulate a philosophy of education.
3. Students will understand the importance of literacy in a democratic
society.
4. Students will evaluate ways of achieving social equality in public schools.
5. Students will study the effect of cultural and socioeconomic differences on
instructional delivery systems.
6. Students will examine the contributions of minority groups on educational
policies and procedures.
7. Students will assess methods for achieving social equality in schools.
8. Students will explore the effects of current educational trends related to
changing history, philosophy, ethics, cultural diversity, socioeconomic
status, human relations skills, and gender issues.
9. Students will study various aspects of diversity among learners in a
pluralistic society, such as: class, ethnicity, gender, exceptionality,
religion, language, learning styles.
Topics Covered
Daily use of the document: The day and date of each class meeting are
provided. The bold faced word, or phrase, is the general theme or topic for the
class session. The list of statements underneath the bold faced theme are
supporting topics reflective of the main topic.
The *Readings are expected to be completed before class, and
correspond to the day under which they are listed.
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Day 1 – August 28, 2013: Overview and Course Expectations
Discussion on Syllabus
Course Expectations
Organization of the Course
Research Writing
Identifying the Purpose of Writing
Plagiarism
Presenting Research Material
The Writing Process
Presenting a Paper
*Readings: None
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Day 2 –September 4, 2013: Philosophic Issues in Education
Opening Discussion: Murray, Prologue and Ch. 1
BASIC ISSUES
Paradigm for making connections while reading
The Nature of Philosophy and Education
Metaphysics
Epistemology
Axiology
Goals and Practices
Idealism
Socrates and Plato
The Apology
The Republic
What kind of person is projected?
What type of classroom atmosphere is effective?
What should be taught?
What is the role of the teacher?
What methods are effective?
Realism
Aristotle
Nicomachean Ethics
John Locke
Some Thoughts Concerning Education
What kind of person is projected?
What type of classroom atmosphere is effective?
What should be taught?
What is the role of the teacher?
What methods are effective?
Neo-Scholasticism
What kind of person is projected?
What type of classroom atmosphere is effective?
What should be taught?
What is the role of the teacher?
What methods are effective?
Read more about it:
Thomas Aquinas
Summa Theologica
Mortimer Adler
Six Great Ideas
Paideia Program: An Educational Syllabus
Robert M. Hutchins
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Pragmatism
William James
Talks to Teachers
John Dewey
“My Pedagogic Creed”
What kind of person is projected?
What type of classroom atmosphere is effective?
What should be taught?
What is the role of the teacher?
What methods are effective?
Neo-Pragmatism
What kind of person is projected?
What type of classroom atmosphere is effective?
What should be taught?
What is the role of the teacher?
What methods are effective?
Existentialism
What kind of person is projected?
What type of classroom atmosphere is effective?
What should be taught?
What is the role of the teacher?
What methods are effective?
*Readings:
Knight, Chapter 1, 2, 3, & 4
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Day 3 – September 11, 2013: Postmodern Impulse & Contemporary
Philosophies
Opening Discussion: Murray, Ch. 2
Observations
Philosophical Roots
Varieties
Postmodernism and Education
What kind of person is projected?
What type of classroom atmosphere is effective?
What should be taught?
What is the role of the teacher?
What methods are effective?
CONTEMPORARY PHILOSOPHIES OF EDUCATION
Progressivism
What kind of person is projected?
What type of classroom atmosphere is effective?
What should be taught?
What is the role of the teacher?
What methods are effective?
George S. Counts
Educational Humanism in Relation to Progressivism
Humanistic Principles
Institutional Formats
What kind of person is projected?
What type of classroom atmosphere is effective?
What should be taught?
What is the role of the teacher?
What methods are effective?
Jonathon Kozol
William Glasser
Perennialism
What kind of person is projected?
What type of classroom atmosphere is effective?
What should be taught?
What is the role of the teacher?
What methods are effective?
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Read more about it: Mortimer Adler
Paideia Program
Great Books Curriculum
Essentialism
What kind of person is projected?
What type of classroom atmosphere is effective?
What should be taught?
What is the role of the teacher?
What methods are effective?
Read more about it: E.D. Hirsch
Cultural Literacy
What Every Kindergartener Should Know
A Nation at Risk
No Child Left Behind
Reconstructionism
What kind of person is projected?
What type of classroom atmosphere is effective?
What should be taught?
What is the role of the teacher?
What methods are effective?
Futurism in Relation to Reconstructionism
Critical Pedagogy in Relation to Reconstructionism
Multiculturalism
Feminism
Nell Noddings
Behaviorism
Background
Ivan Pavlov
John B. Watson
B. F. Skinner
Principles
*Readings:
Knight, Chapter 5 & 6
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Day 4 –September 25, 2013: The Great Philosophical Debate Begins:
Booker T. Washington
Opening Discussion: Murray, Ch. 3
A Slave among Slaves
Boyhood Days
The Struggle for an Education
Helping Others
The Reconstruction Period
Black Race and Red Race
Early Days at Tuskegee
Teaching School in a Stable and a Hen-House
Anxious Days and Sleepless Nights
A Harder Task than making Bricks without Straw
Making their Beds before they could lie on them
Raising Money
Two Thousand Miles for a Five Minute Speech
The Atlanta Exposition Address
Europe
Last Words
*Readings: Washington, complete
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Day 5 –September 25, 2013: The Great Philosophical Debate Continues:
W.E.B. Du Bois
Opening Discussion: Murray, Ch. 4
Of Our Spiritual Strivings
“How does it feel to be a problem?”
Of the Dawn of Freedom
Color-line
Freedmen’s Bureau
Of Mr. Booker T. Washington and Others
Industrial education
Of the Meaning of Progress
“A Negro Schoolmaster in the New South”
Of the Wings of Atalanta
Liberal Arts Education v. Industrial Education
Of the Training of Black Man
Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs)
Curriculum
Of the Black Belt
The Philosophy of Place
Of the Quest of the Golden Fleece
King Cotton
Of the Sons of Master and Man
Race Relations
Of the Faith of the Fathers
Role of Religion
Of the Passing of the First-Born
Hope of and for the Future
Of Alexander Crummell
A Purpose in Life
Of the Coming of John
“’John,’ she said, ‘does it make every one – unhappy when they
study and learn lots of things?
He paused and smiled. ‘I am afraied (sic) it does,’ he said.
‘And, John, are you glad you studies?’
‘Yes,’ came the answer, slowly but positively.”
p. 171
*Readings: Du Bois, complete
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Day 6 –October 2, 2013: Independent Research No Meeting
Opening Discussion: Murray, Ch. 5
Extend Your Thinking: Watch the movie “The Great Debaters.” Which characters
reflect the philosophical believes of W.E.B. Du Bois? Booker T. Washington?
What is the political economy? What is the educational system?
Be prepared to discuss the movie and philosophical perspectives in class.
Copyright, Jans-Thomas, S.
Day 7 – October 9, 2013: Migrant Families
Opening Discussion: Murray, Ch. 6
Who are migrant families?
Language
Gaps in education
Health and Wellness
Poverty
Fear of Deportation
Legal Issues
Human Beings
*Readings: Jimenez, complete.
Midterm Examination Due
Discussion of “The Great Debaters.”
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Day 8 –October 16, 2013: John Dewey
Opening Discussion: Murray, Ch. 7
Democracy and Education
Education as a Necessity of Life
Education as a Social Function
Education as Direction
Education as Growth
*Readings:
Dewey, Chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 8, & 9
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Day 9 – October 23, 2013: John Dewey
Opening Discussion: Murray, Ch. 8
Democracy and Education
Interest and Discipline
Experience and Thinking
Thinking in Education
The Nature of Method
The Nature of Subject Matter
*Readings:
Dewey, Chapters 10 – 14
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Day 10 – October 30, 2013: Education of Women: Title IX
Opening Discussion: Murray, Ch. 9 & 10
Home Economics Education
The Three R’s
Science Education
Traditional Gender Roles
Intergenerational Relationships
The Great Books
*Readings:
The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate, Chapters 1 – 11.
Locate and Read 5 articles on Title IX
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Day 11 –November 6, 2013: Education of Women: STEM
Opening Discussion: Murray, Ch. 11 & 12
The Question of “Separate but Equal”
Socioeconomic Conditions
Community Influence
The Purpose of Education
Family Involvement
Collegiate Education of Women
Promises of Liberal Education
*Readings:
The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate, complete.
Locate and read 5 articles on encouraging females in STEM
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Day 12 –November 13, 2013: Core Knowledge & Cultural Literacy
Opening Discussion: Murray, Ch. 13
Introduction: Failed Theories, Famished Minds
Intellectual Capital: A Civil Right
An Impregnable Fortress
Critique of a Thoughtworld
*Readings:
Hirsch, Introduction & Chapters 1 - 4
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Day 13 – November 20, 2013: Reality of Research
Opening Discussion: Murray, Ch. 14 & 15
Reality’s Revenge: Education & Mainstream Research
Test Evasion
Practical Effectiveness
Formalism and Naturalism
Key Research Findings
The Common School and the Common Good
*Readings:
Hirsch, complete
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Day 14 – NO CLASS – Thanksgiving.
Day 15 – December 4, 2013: Urban Education
Opening Discussion: Murray, complete
Socioeconomics
Race
Poverty
Curriculum
Service Delivery
Children at-risk
Power of Vocabulary: Semantics of Reform
High Stakes Testing
“Resegretation”
Education in a Democracy
Economic Disparity
Class size
Suburban v. Urban Service Delivery
Role of the Teacher
Role of the Principal
No Child Left Behind
*Readings:
Kozol, complete
PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION DUE.
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Day 16 – December 11, 2013: Final Examination Due.
Cumulative Final Examination
1. Three essay questions
2. One question will be related to The Lemming Condition, by Alan Arkin.
3. APA formatting must be utilized.
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Required Textbooks:
Arkin, Alan. The Lemming Condition. San Francisco: Harper, 1976. ISBN:
0.06.250048.1
Dewey, John. Democracy and Education. New York: The Free Press. 1916.
ISBN: 0.02.907370.7
Du Bois, W.E.B. The Souls of Black Folk. New York: Barnes & Noble Classics,
2003. Original publication 1903. ISBN: 1.59308.014.X
Hirsch, E. D. The Schools We Need and Why We Don’t Have Them. New York:
Anchor Books, 1996. ISBN: 0.385.49524.2
Jimenez, Francisco. The Circuit: Stories from the Life of a Migrant Child. New
York: Houghton Mifflin, 1997. ISBN: 0.395.97902.1
Kelly, Jacqueline. The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate. New York: Henry Holt and
Company, 2009. ISBN: 978.0.8050.8841.0
Knight, George R. Issues & Alternatives in Educational Philosophy, 3rd Edition.
Berrien Springs, MI: Andrews University Press, 1998. ISBN:
1.883925.21.5
Kozol, Jonathan. The Shame of the Nation. New York: Three Rivers, 2005. ISBN:
1.4000.5245.9
Washington, Booker T. Up from Slavery. New York: Penguin Classics. Original
publication 1901. ISBN: 0.14.039051.0
Coming Apart: The State of White America, 1960 – 2010, by Charles Murray.
New York: Crown Books, 2012. ISBN: 978.0.307.45342.6
*****The is the university-wide read! February 4, 2013.
Materials Needed
APA Manual – 6th Edition
3 ring binder
Dividers
Materials chosen by individual students to complete assignments
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Grading/Evaluation
Grading Scale
A = 97
A- = 93
B+ = 90
B = 87
B- = 85
C+ = 83
C = 80
C- = 77
D = 74
No Credit
Participation
10%
To receive credit, examinations, and assignments must be turned in on
the assigned due date. NO late work will be accepted. See syllabus and
assignment specifications for exact dates and times.
Philosophy of Education
25%
Write a philosophy of education. It should answer the 5 questions used to
study all philosophies presented in the course. Be certain to cite sources as
needed using APA formatting. It is not necessary to choose one specific
philosophy, however; there should be parallel thought between ideas.
Be certain the work has an introduction and conclusion.
_____ What kind of person is projected?
_____ What type of classroom atmosphere is effective?
_____ What should be taught?
_____ What is the role of the teacher?
_____ What methods are effective?
Midterm Examination
30%
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The purpose of this examination is to analyze a current topic effecting
educational delivery systems and explain its impact on the existing Political
Economy and Ideology in the United States.
Topic: Migrant Workers
Read: The Circuit: Stories from the Life of a Migrant Child, Francisco Jimenez.
Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1996. ISBN: 978.0.395.97901.0 This can be found in
the Young Adult section of your public library.
Locate, print/copy, and read: 10 articles from newspapers across the country.
The newspapers must represent at least 6 different states. While newspapers are
not generally used in research writing, they assist one in knowing the current
issues in a society.
Locate, and read: 5 articles from professional refereed education journals that
discuss the issue of migrant children in schools.
Write a 5 – 8 page paper analyzing the issue’s impact on education. Carefully
synthesize information found in the articles into categories of political economy,
ideological perspective, and education issues. Be certain to include aspects of
Francisco Jimenez’s education represented in the research conducted.
Format
1. Page 1: Title Page containing: Course number and title, author’s name,
address, email address
2. Pages 2 – 5: Body of Paper
3. Pages 6 & 7: References
2. Double spaced (including references) and provide a one-inch margin on all
sides
3. Font - Times New Roman 12 point
4. Conform to the most recent APA style
Final Examination
35%
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Special Technology Utilized by Students:
Each UWF student is expected to:
1. activate a UWF ArgoNet email account
2. access email two to three times weekly
3. have basic word processing knowledge
Plagiarism Policy:
When submitting responses to weekly questions, please end your
response by typing your name. This demonstrates the thoughts presented are
original. When submitting the Philosophy of Education, Midterm Examination,
and Research Paper please include the following statement on the title page
followed by your biographical information:
“I completed the work I am submitting. The work I am submitting is original
and completed to the best of my ability.”
Expectations for Academic Conduct/Plagiarism Policy:
Student Handbook:
Statement of the University Policy on Academic Conduct:
The Student Code of Conduct sets forth the rules, regulations and
expected behavior of students enrolled at the University of West Florida.
Violations of any rules, regulations, or behavioral expectations may result in a
charge of violating the Student Code of Conduct. It is the student’s responsibility
to read the Student Code of Conduct and conduct themselves accordingly. You
may access the current Student Code of at http://www.uwf.edu/judicialaffairs.
Assistance:
Students with special needs who require specific examination-related or
other course-related accommodations should contact the Student Disability
Resource Center (SDRC) sdrc@uwf.edu, 850.474.2387. SDRC will send an
email to the instructor that specifies any recommended accommodations.
UWF TurnIt In notice: UWF maintains a university license agreement for an
online text matching service called TurnItIn. At my discretion, I will use the
TurnItIn service to determine the originality of student papers. If I submit your
paper to TurnItIn, it will be stored in a TurnItIn database for as long as the service
remains in existence. If you object to this storage of your paper:
*You mast let me know no later than two weeks after the start of this class.
*I will utilize other services and techniques to evaluate your work for
evidence of appropriate authorship practices.