notes from 10/1

These notes are courtesy K. Fairbanks from last night's class...

October 1, 2009
Hansen
Why would Du Bois be included with the educational philosophy?
His big vision was educational freedom for the Negro race. He lived in a time that slavery was gone, but AA was not making the progress he thought they should. He loved book. He was a ‘book learning ‘guy. He really felt there was ‘book learning’ that needed to happen.
He is different than Booker T. Washington because BTW wanted skills and trade for the AA and Du Bois wanted the population wanted the population to rise up via education. Education is something no one can take away from you because it is something you earn.
• What did Du Bois mean by “the sharing of gifts”? DuBois’ sharing was music. It was a capturing of freedom that had not been used before.
• What is meant by The Veil, a metaphor used by Du Bois? Once you have been oppressed, it is difficult to see past. The race could not do anything themselves but they were free. DuB thought a liberal arts education was the way to break the ‘veil’. It is a paradigm with the whites. There are cultures that cause us to think a certain way. (wedding veil, literacy rate, ignorance, something you can see through?, it is relative to your own reality, ie. The haves vs. have nots)
• Does education have elements of danger, revolution, dissatisfaction, discontents? Why or why not?
o Danger-Revolt: It gives individuals the power to question.
o Discontent: One who is educated can say “this is unfair”…
o Danger: educated people from the ‘wrong side of town’ can rise up and revolt
o The more educated people are, the more tolerant people are (other side of the view)
o Dissatisfaction: One you have a job, you feel like you need more education to move ahead.

• What do you think of liberal arts education for all? Of multicultural education for all?
o Contribute to a more well-rounded person?

Noddings Chapter on Continental Philosophies to Ed Philosophy
You just might be an Existentialist if you…
• Believe in the freedom of human beings
• Are conscious and aware of our human condition
• See God as a partner in dialogue (Kierkegaard, Buber, Tillich)
• Have optimistic toughness (Sartre) (humanness is so brutal) , and can find meaning in life’s harshness (Dostoevsky)
• Accept responsibility for the choices we make
• Believe in individualism and relationship
You Might be a Modified Phenomenologist if,
• You try to identify all the feature of a subject that do not vary as you describe the subject through modification or variations
• You uncover and describe characteristics of a subject that are “invariant”
• Example: to care
• Example: to learn
• Example: to work
You might be a Critical Theorist, if you think…
• Philosophy must be engaged with the great struggles and social movement of our times, should be aimed at action
• Philosophy should produce questions, analysis, and problems posing and solutions (Freire, Grioux), produce a liberal education for all (who wanted this?)
• A debate regarding curriculum and privileged knowledge may be one of the most important debates that we have.
You might practice Hermeneutics, if you
• See meaning in both historical texts and life stories
• Suggest new meanings, encourage further conversation
• Have the “hermeneutic spirit” – to urge a diversity of views, recognize pluralism, use both analysis and interpretation, work towards understanding the parts and the whole
You might be a Postmodernist, if you…
• Accept local truth (maybe there is no absolute truth), basic truths, the sociology of knowledge, accept subjectivity
• Urge us to leave labels behind, recognize multiple ways in which people are shaped by their histories, cultures, experiences, interactions
• Ask to not be called a post modernist
• BTW, are we in charge of ourselves or not?

Andy Hargreaves: Dean Fink
Sustainable Leadership
• Argue for or against distributed leadership
• Argue for or against delegated leadership
• In your learning circles, is there hidden, overt, or any combination of distributed leadership activity?
• Apply figure 3.2 using your experiences.