Social and Philosophical Foundations of Education
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Student Questions
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Author:  Justin Pittman [ Thu Sep 07, 2006 4:07 pm ]
Post subject:  Student Questions

In the back of mind lingers a topic that I believe should be in the forefront of our discussions about the human condition, the hidden cirrucula, and the purpose of education. The topic is the student. Specifically:

1) who is a student?

One fundamental answer to this 1st question is "students are people" but such an answer festers another question:

2) which rights do students have?

A good thought experiment for this 2nd question is, "do children have to right to no (formal) education?" If I answer that students in primary and secondary schooling are minors and do not have the same rights as adults who freely chose higher education, like we did as college students, then I ask:

3) what reasons do I, as an adult, have for compelling education onto minors?

I find this third question arrives as the ethical problems that Dr. Turner alluded to at the end of class today. As a teacher, I find it difficult to answer a 10th grader in civics class who questions manditory education while I trumpet freedom, liberty and the other ideals of democracy. It seems there are limitations to freedom, as we briefly discussed the first week of class. These limitations are why I disagreed with Shiparo's justification that schools are institutions for making "better" people by convincing students that democracy is the "best" government. I can't buy into a system that allowed lynching, for example, so I ask myself these questions from the student's perspective.

How would you answer a student who asked these questions?

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