Social and Philosophical Foundations of Education (FDN 5840)
Summer 2008
Instructor: Dr. Bill Vinson
phone: (828) 635-8173 (H)
(828) 632-7063 (W)
e-mail: vinsonw@appstate.edu;
or bvinson@alexander.k12.nc.us;
or vinsons1991@bellsouth.net.
Meeting time: Thursdays 5-9pm
Required readings:
Hard Times by Charles Dickens
The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck
Other readings provided by the
instructor
“The journey of life consists, not in seeing new landscapes, but in having new eyes.”
--Marcel Proust
“We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of our exploring will be to arrive where we
started and
know the place for the first time.”
--T. S. Eliot
“The philosophy of the school room in one generation will be the philosophy of government in
the next.”
--Abraham Lincoln
“We all, whether we know it or not, are fighting to make the kind of world that we should
like.”
--Oliver Wendell Holmes
Meeting schedule, selected readings:
5/29
Starting the conversation
Poem: “When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer” by Walt Whitman
6/5
Hard Times Book the First: Sowing (STUDENT LED DISCUSSION)
“Allegory of the Cave” by Plato
Poem: “Sympathy” by Paul Laurence Dunbar
6/12
Hard Times Book the Second: Reaping (STUDENT LED DISCUSSION)
Thomas Jefferson on education
Two poems by William Blake: “London” and “The Chimney Sweeper”
6/19
Hard Times Book the Third: Garnering (STUDENT LED DISCUSSION)
From Emile by Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Poem: “Not Waving But Drowning” by Stevie Smith
6/26
The Good Earth chapters 1-12 (STUDENT LED DISCUSSION)
The Chinese Tradition (handouts provided by instructor)
Poem: “George Gray” by Edgar Lee Masters
7/3
The Good Earth chapters 13-24 (STUDENT LED DISCUSSION)
Excerpts from “Report No. 12 of the Massachusetts School Board” by Horace
Mann
Poem: from “The Choir Invisible” by George Eliot
7/10
The Good Earth chapters 25-34 (STUDENT LED DISCUSSION)
Selections from “Life Without Principle” by Henry David Thoreau
Poem: “Dirge Without Music” by Edna St. Vincent Millay
7/17
SUMMATIVE PRESENTATIONS
“My Pedagogic Creed” by John Dewey (STUDENT LED DISCUSSION)
Poem: “First Lesson” by Philip Booth
7/24
SUMMATIVE PRESENTATIONS
“Letter from Birmingham Jail” by Martin Luther King, Jr. (STUDENT LED
DISCUSSION)
Poem: “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost
7/31
FINAL EXAM DUE BY 9PM
Requirements: Our course is anchored by three important concepts. The degree to which you
master each of these concepts will determine your grade in the course (a graduate course, which
means anything below an ‘A’ is unacceptable). The three concepts:
1. Reflection: Educators need to learn to engage in metacognition, thinking about their own
thinking; as well as “metapraxis”: deliberating on their actions and decisions within the
educational environment while immersed in it.
2. Belief: Educators must confront the following questions of belief: Where did my
personal/professional beliefs come from? Are they sound? Are my actions consistent with my
beliefs?
3. Metaphor: How do our beliefs influence the way we talk about and describe education? What
do our language choices say about the kind of world that you should like?
You will demonstrate your engagement with the three concepts through the following activities:
1. Class attendance, preparation, and participation in discussion (25%). We need you to be an
active part of every class meeting, by having all readings completed, contributing to the
conversation, and listening. Failure to prepare, attend, or participate can result in lowering your
final grade.
2. Summative project (25%). This project is on a topic of your choice through media and
methods of your choice. Find a question you would like to examine, design a plan, and present
the finished product. Your projects should be guided by at least one of the three concepts, and
must be a learning stretch. Project presentations should be no more than 10 minutes in length.
3. Final (25%). A written product for you to complete the last two weeks of the semester and email to me by 9 pm on July 31.
4. Student led discussions (25%). You will be asked to partner with a fellow student and lead
discussion one night. You will be assessed according to how well you engage the class with the
subject matter, and how well you provoke meaningful discussion.