Del i serien Philosophy and Cultural Identity

What Is a Public Education and Why We Need It

A Philosophical Inquiry into Self-Development, Cultural Commitment, and Public Engagement

Häftad, Engelska, 2017

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The unique mission of a public education is to reproduce a civic public. For the most part this will not happen in a vacuum and requires specific institutions, the most prominent of which are the public schools. Publicly supported schools have other functions as well. They socialize, train, produce a workforce, and, hopefully, promote individual growth and autonomy. Walter Feinberg argues that while all of these functions may be carried on by private or religious schools as well, public schools should have the additional responsibility of reproducing a civic public for a diverse pluralistic society. As Feinberg demonstrates, the problem is that in the context of neoliberal ideology, where all the other educational functions are reduced to economic ones within a market context ruled by competition—nation to nation, state to state, community to community, school to school, teacher to teacher, student to student—the public function becomes less and less central and more and more difficult to carry out. What Is a Public Education and Why We Need It suggests ways to change this by bringing the idea of a true public education back into focus.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum2017-07-17
Mått148 x 234 x 13 mm
Vikt240 g
FormatHäftad
SpråkEngelska
SeriePhilosophy and Cultural Identity
Antal sidor164
FörlagBloomsbury Publishing Plc
ISBN9781498517249

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Introduction: A Public Education as Critical Aspirational IdealChapter One: Education as Self-development Chapter Two: Culture, Character and EducationChapter Three: The Education of Cultural Strangers: The Idea of a Public Education Chapter Four: Public Values and the Civic GoodChapter Five: The Construction and Stabilization of Public ValuesChapter Six: From a Public Education to a Public School

It is good to see a defense of public education. Education philosopher Feinberg distinguishes between public schools and public education. The latter is 'the process through which public values are shaped and transmitted,' those values being standards of behavior scrutinized and refined, 'compatible with core social ideals,' that 'shape civic judgement and guide individual behavior.' Public schools should do this, but other schools may do it too. (Feinberg acknowledges that schools have other purposes as well.) He examines the concepts of education and culture and the basic function of a public school to produce a public through communication, and proposes that the educator’s task is to prepare a public to reflect on the present and engage a future that is not yet fully comprehended. And he suggests some curricula, pedagogical, and financial ideas to advance public education. Feinberg is a good philosopher. His extensive opening remarks admirably explain the role of philosophy in guiding the work of education. Especially useful is his idea that philosophy is best understood as 'a street discipline,' that is, 'grounded in the concerns of everyday people.' Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through practitioners.