Philosophy and Education-A Rough Draft of an Introduction
In his recent book The Grand Design, Stephen Hawking wrote that philosophy is dead. This does not concern me. There are fewer ways to demonstrate the vital presence of a tradition than to declare oneself its successor as Hawking has done. What does concern me for philosophy are many of the ways the word is used, particularly in the education field.
In order to get hired as an educator in a public school in the state of Pennsylvania, one must complete the "Standard Application For Teaching Positions in Pennsylvania Public Schools." The last part of this document is an essay assignment. It explains the desired objective of the essay, "We are interested in your ability to organize and express thoughts on a specific topic in a succinct manner. Please select one of the following topics and write an essay in the space provided on this page."
The topics available for a would-be teacher are as follows:
1. The Most Important Qualities of an Outstanding Educator.
2. My Philosophy of Student Discipline.
3. The Importance of Continuing Professional Development and How I Plan to Incorporate It Throughout My Career.
4 .Essential Elements of Instruction, Administration or Area of Certification.
5. How Information Technology (i.e., computers, Internet) Can Be Integrated into the Instructional Process and Curriculum.
It is the second topic choice that deserves attention, "My Philosophy of Student Discipline." One can, and perhaps should, argue that the "philosophy of" a thing is not the same as Philosophy itself. What is meant here is my "approach" to student discipline not Philosophy as it applies to student discipline. The Philosophical aspects of this word, "philosophy", are purely vestigial, and addressing them is a dangerous and counterproductive task for one applying to a job.
What is asked for is a succinct and functional response to the problem of how to make children obey adults. One should keep in mind that this essay is part of an application, and all applications of this sort are constructed identities. Applications represent the person or what the person believes a representation of himself should look like for him to get hired.
This list of essay choices implies that all educators in Pennsylvania should be able to answer any of these questions. What's more it makes having an answer to these questions part of the constructable identity of a Pennsylvania Educator. From a practical standpoint what this means is that in order to be an educator in Pennsylvania one ought to dismiss any philosophical vestiges that might accompany the word philosophy.
The pressure to define an educator as a non-philosophical being through the creation of his or her identity as it is represented by the application is worrying enough, but what I find particularly disturbing is the object of the preposition which so neuters Philosophy, "Student Discipline." Any of the writing prompts could have been written as this one was, "My Philosophy of Information Technology Integration" or "My Philosophy of Professional Development." It is to define the educator in his least philosophical role, that of the enforcer or the institution's authority, that the word philosophy is introduced, perhaps in an effort to salvage some semblance of dignity or purity for an idealistic would-be teacher.
A teacher has a philosophy of student discipline rather than an approach to it because there is something about the topic of student discipline which needs redeeming, elevation, or dressing up in a tradition. It is here far more so than in the words of Hawking where philosophy as that which was inaugurated through the death of Socrates might be seen to have a corpse. For Philosophy and Student Discipline should be difficult terms to juxtapose.
It is with Hawking's pronouncement of its death and towards a definition of philosophy as something which is self-evidently opposed to Student Discipline that I re-ask the question: What is Philosophy?
The way one goes about answering this question exposes how one has interpreted this question. Interpretations of the question itself abound, and this thesis will focus on a particular interpretation of that question.
One way to interpret the question if "What is Philosophy?" is historically, one strives to define philosophy of the moment as that which succeeds philosophy of the past. What one ends up doing is really answering "What was philosophy?" and adding to that something new by connecting a few dots. Another way is to look at what living people, identifiable as philosophers, are doing with their lives and define contemporary philosophy as the work of philosophers. This would include writing, activism, and teaching. This interpretation of the question is closer to asking "What do philosophers do?"
A better way to interpret the question "What is Philosophy" is with the question "What does philosophy itself do?" This question presumes that there is a way to define philosophy as something other, and perhaps more, than the work of philosophers? This requires granting abstractions some ontological status. In an effort to minimize time spent pinning down a framework with which to treat the abstract as valuable, I'm going to define things by their function rather than their nature.
A thing's function is one way of identifying it. Its function is a sort of trace that has been colored by the context an abstraction can be described as influencing. Philosophy manifests differently in different contexts, and within the educational context is should always be manifesting on the side of rebellion, of freedom, of corrupting the youth.
Defining Philosophy by its functions demands that it be distinguished on the one hand from Science and the other hand from Art. After showing that Philosophy is not Science and not Art but shares certain commonalities with both of these human endeavors, it is towards a definition of philosophy by Alain Badiou that I re-examine philosophy's role in education, and then education's role in American society.
Between these last two acts an answer to the question of What is Philosophy? will be presented: It is that organized and creative cognitive endeavor which increases a person's capacity for expressing the idiosyncracies of his or her mind in such a way as to indicate a purer subjectivity and a greater domain of personal sovereignty.
It is precisely the American education system's anti-philosophical position which is also the source of its failure. This is not to say that by making philosophy mandatory in all public schools, the American education system could be salvaged. The system is beyond flawed, beyond broken. It was never designed to educate human beings but only to train workers, and the acceleration of societal change caused by technological progress has forced people to recognize the limits of constructing workers in this manner, but they are blind to alternatives because the alternatives lie beyond the limits the system puts in place to preserve itself.
The failure of America's educational system is indicative of the failure of the system itself. The absence of the truly philosophical present in the title "My Philosophy of Student Discipline" is an example of exactly how the system buries its alternatives. They are inaccessible and yet in plain sight.
In order to get hired as an educator in a public school in the state of Pennsylvania, one must complete the "Standard Application For Teaching Positions in Pennsylvania Public Schools." The last part of this document is an essay assignment. It explains the desired objective of the essay, "We are interested in your ability to organize and express thoughts on a specific topic in a succinct manner. Please select one of the following topics and write an essay in the space provided on this page."
The topics available for a would-be teacher are as follows:
1. The Most Important Qualities of an Outstanding Educator.
2. My Philosophy of Student Discipline.
3. The Importance of Continuing Professional Development and How I Plan to Incorporate It Throughout My Career.
4 .Essential Elements of Instruction, Administration or Area of Certification.
5. How Information Technology (i.e., computers, Internet) Can Be Integrated into the Instructional Process and Curriculum.
It is the second topic choice that deserves attention, "My Philosophy of Student Discipline." One can, and perhaps should, argue that the "philosophy of" a thing is not the same as Philosophy itself. What is meant here is my "approach" to student discipline not Philosophy as it applies to student discipline. The Philosophical aspects of this word, "philosophy", are purely vestigial, and addressing them is a dangerous and counterproductive task for one applying to a job.
What is asked for is a succinct and functional response to the problem of how to make children obey adults. One should keep in mind that this essay is part of an application, and all applications of this sort are constructed identities. Applications represent the person or what the person believes a representation of himself should look like for him to get hired.
This list of essay choices implies that all educators in Pennsylvania should be able to answer any of these questions. What's more it makes having an answer to these questions part of the constructable identity of a Pennsylvania Educator. From a practical standpoint what this means is that in order to be an educator in Pennsylvania one ought to dismiss any philosophical vestiges that might accompany the word philosophy.
The pressure to define an educator as a non-philosophical being through the creation of his or her identity as it is represented by the application is worrying enough, but what I find particularly disturbing is the object of the preposition which so neuters Philosophy, "Student Discipline." Any of the writing prompts could have been written as this one was, "My Philosophy of Information Technology Integration" or "My Philosophy of Professional Development." It is to define the educator in his least philosophical role, that of the enforcer or the institution's authority, that the word philosophy is introduced, perhaps in an effort to salvage some semblance of dignity or purity for an idealistic would-be teacher.
A teacher has a philosophy of student discipline rather than an approach to it because there is something about the topic of student discipline which needs redeeming, elevation, or dressing up in a tradition. It is here far more so than in the words of Hawking where philosophy as that which was inaugurated through the death of Socrates might be seen to have a corpse. For Philosophy and Student Discipline should be difficult terms to juxtapose.
It is with Hawking's pronouncement of its death and towards a definition of philosophy as something which is self-evidently opposed to Student Discipline that I re-ask the question: What is Philosophy?
The way one goes about answering this question exposes how one has interpreted this question. Interpretations of the question itself abound, and this thesis will focus on a particular interpretation of that question.
One way to interpret the question if "What is Philosophy?" is historically, one strives to define philosophy of the moment as that which succeeds philosophy of the past. What one ends up doing is really answering "What was philosophy?" and adding to that something new by connecting a few dots. Another way is to look at what living people, identifiable as philosophers, are doing with their lives and define contemporary philosophy as the work of philosophers. This would include writing, activism, and teaching. This interpretation of the question is closer to asking "What do philosophers do?"
A better way to interpret the question "What is Philosophy" is with the question "What does philosophy itself do?" This question presumes that there is a way to define philosophy as something other, and perhaps more, than the work of philosophers? This requires granting abstractions some ontological status. In an effort to minimize time spent pinning down a framework with which to treat the abstract as valuable, I'm going to define things by their function rather than their nature.
A thing's function is one way of identifying it. Its function is a sort of trace that has been colored by the context an abstraction can be described as influencing. Philosophy manifests differently in different contexts, and within the educational context is should always be manifesting on the side of rebellion, of freedom, of corrupting the youth.
Defining Philosophy by its functions demands that it be distinguished on the one hand from Science and the other hand from Art. After showing that Philosophy is not Science and not Art but shares certain commonalities with both of these human endeavors, it is towards a definition of philosophy by Alain Badiou that I re-examine philosophy's role in education, and then education's role in American society.
Between these last two acts an answer to the question of What is Philosophy? will be presented: It is that organized and creative cognitive endeavor which increases a person's capacity for expressing the idiosyncracies of his or her mind in such a way as to indicate a purer subjectivity and a greater domain of personal sovereignty.
It is precisely the American education system's anti-philosophical position which is also the source of its failure. This is not to say that by making philosophy mandatory in all public schools, the American education system could be salvaged. The system is beyond flawed, beyond broken. It was never designed to educate human beings but only to train workers, and the acceleration of societal change caused by technological progress has forced people to recognize the limits of constructing workers in this manner, but they are blind to alternatives because the alternatives lie beyond the limits the system puts in place to preserve itself.
The failure of America's educational system is indicative of the failure of the system itself. The absence of the truly philosophical present in the title "My Philosophy of Student Discipline" is an example of exactly how the system buries its alternatives. They are inaccessible and yet in plain sight.
No comments have been added yet.
