Philosophy 222: Education and Autonomy
Prof. Patrick Frierson
Class Meets: 10-11:20 AM Tuesday and Thursday in Olin 192
Office Hours (Olin 194): 3-5 PM Tuesday, 11-noon Wednesday, and by appointment
This course focuses on a particular issue in the
philosophy of education: how to both respect and cultivate the autonomy of
one’s students. Drawing primarily on
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Immanuel Kant, and Maria Montessori, we will explore
autonomy-based approaches to education, from raising infants through developing
mature adults. The course will require
at least one hour a week of teaching-oriented service in the community, as well
as regular journal entries and a substantial final project.
Books
There are lots of other books that would be
great to read together as a class. We
could read Locke’s Treatise On Education or Dewey’s Democracy and Education or Paolo Friere’s
Pedagogy of the Oppressed. There are lots of anthologies with short
selections from other texts (both classics and contemporary articles) in the
philosophy of education. The first time
I taught this course, we read Shop Class
as Soul Craft by Matthew Crawford.
The most recent time, we read bits of Friere,
Dewey, and others. This year, I’d be
really interested in reading Program or
Be Programmed, a book about how to cultivate autonomy in our current
techno-digital age. If any of you would particularly like to read an important
work in the philosophy of education that relates to the topic of education and
autonomy, you should read it! But if you
want to discuss that book with the whole class, you should take advantage of
the “Presentation” option below to introduce it to the class, or you should let
me know, and if there’s a better way to incorporate it into the regular class
schedule, I’ll make the necessary adjustments.
If neither of these options works, I’ll find a time to meet with whoever
reads the book and we can have a little reading group to supplement the course.
Requirements
The purpose of all of these requirements is to
get you to think carefully about the questions we are discussing in class, the
readings we are doing, and the experiences you are having.
My goal is to avoid busy-work while promoting
real learning. Since this class is a
collaborative endeavor, I need your help in discerning what is working and what
is not, so feel free to provide feedback at any time about any or all of these
assignments, so that requirements may be modified to best meet your learning
needs.
Class Participation. (Not any particular %, but final grade could
be substantially affected.) In order to
do well in classroom discussions, you must come to each class having read and
reread the material assigned for that day. This is a reading intensive course. Throughout, I will do my best to guide you
towards the most relevant passages, but you should not limit your reading to
what I tell you to “focus” on. There is
a lot of rich material in this class, and you are likely to be drawn to and
inspired by things that are not what I
am drawn to and inspired by. The reason
we are reading this stuff together is so that we can all profit from each
other’s perspectives. (Otherwise, I’d
just write a book, and you’d just read it.)
So be prepared to spend a lot of time reading for this class. On your first reading, you should be trying
to get the main points of the reading, and you should also be highlighting
passages of particular importance that you will spend substantial time working
through on your rereading. You should
come to class with a general sense of most important points from the reading,
some possible implications, and an assessment.
You should also ensure that any questions and confusions you have about
the reading are as clearly formulated as possible. “I didn’t get it” is not a good response to a
reading. “I can’t figure out why
Rousseau engages in such and such an activity with Emile on p. X, since he
doesn’t seem to defend it and it seems to contradict his claim on Y that Z” is
a great question/confusion. I will feel
free to call on any of you by name to pose questions/problems, summarize the
main point, or assess the reading. (If
the thought of this scares you to death, let me know. I will still call on you, but I will work
more with you to make it a less terrifying experience.)
Occasional Quizzes. If I feel that these are necessary or would
be helpful for the class, I’ll give occasional quizzes on the readings for each
seminar meeting, and, like participation, these could substantially affect your
final grade. If you would particularly
like quizzes, let me know and I’ll design quizzes for each class.
Service (10%).
All students will be required to participate in some form of service to
the community that involves either education or the service of children in one
form or another. This service should
amount to at least one hour per
week. It can be either paid or
unpaid. Service opportunities can be
found through Whitman’s Student
Engagement Center. Unless you are
already involved in a service activity that you enjoy and think would work well
with the class, I very strongly recommend that you talk to Susan Prudente (prudensk@whitman.edu)
at the Student
Engagement Center. She can work with
you individually to find the best service opportunity for you. If you are not already involved in a service
activity, you should set up a meeting with her before the next class. Some service opportunities that I recommend
are the following (links to all of these can be found at Whitman’s Student
Engagement Center:
·
The Storytime Project, Kevin Miller is the student
intern for this program and he can be reached at storytime@whtiman.edu
·
The Whitman Mentor Program, Katrina Kerrigan and
Aaron Lieberman are the student interns for this program and they can be
reached at mentor@whitman.edu
·
The Green Park BiLingual
Program (300 level proficiency in Spanish required), Gareth Jones is the
student intern for this program and can be reached at gpbilingual@whitman.edu
·
Classroom Connections, Niki Lonberg
is the student intern for this program and can be reached at classroom.connections@whitman.edu
·
stART
program, Teagan King and Amy Zuhang are the
co-interns for this art outreach in partnership with CampFire.
For science based outreach and involvement in the
schools, please contact Heidi Chapin, Science Outreach Coordinator. She
can be reached at chapinh@whitman.edu.
She would be happy to help as well.
THE DEADLINE TO APPLY FOR SERVICE
OPPORTUNITIES IS TUESDAY, JANUARY 24.
YOU MUST APPLY BY THEN IN ORDER TO PASS THIS COMPONENT OF THE COURSE.
I may confer with the supervisor at your
community service location in order to assess how well you have participated in
this component of the course. I will
also use your own self-reports of your service, as recorded in your
journal.
If you show up for your service opportunity
late more than once or miss your service at all, you cannot get higher than a B
for this portion of the course, unless you provide to both me and your
supervisor a note from a physician (or equivalent) saying that you were
incapable of serving. Except under truly
extraordinary circumstances, this notification must be provided at least 48 hours
prior to your scheduled service. If you show up late 3 times or miss more than
once, you cannot get higher than a C. If
you show up late or miss more often than that, you will Fail
this portion of the course.
Journal (45%).
Over the course of the semester, you will be expected to keep a
journal. You should email me your
journal – or hand it in if it’s only available in hard copy – on the dates
listed below. The content of the journal
is somewhat open-ended, but it must include at
least the following:
·
A weekly reflection on your service. You should describe interesting or important
events that occurred in the context of your service. When appropriate you should use your
experiences to help you interpret or critique the readings or vice versa. You should also talk about what seems to be
going well and what seems to be going poorly in your service experiences.
·
Regular reflections on the
readings. For each day that we have a
new reading, you should do some new writing.
Sometimes, I would expect this writing to be little more than a couple
of paragraphs. At other times, I hope
that it would amount to a short paper.
·
Reflections on other forms of learning
you are engaged in this semester, including other classes, the knitting
component (if applicable), etc.
·
Throughout the course of the semester,
I have included “Discussion Questions” in the syllabus, and I may add
additional ones over the course of the semester. For each discussion question, you should
write at least a paragraph long response in your journal. For at least one over the course of the
semester, you should write at least a 1000 word polished response. By “polished” I mean that it should not be
your initial draft journal entry, but a response that you have revised into a
well-organized, clear and concise, elegant essay.
·
Replies to comments. I will write comments in your journals, and
you should reply to at least some of these comments.
·
By the end of the semester, your
journal should include at least 4000 words (about 12+ pages) of polished papers of at least 1000 words
(3+ pages) each. This can include one or
more polished responses to discussion questions, and the form of this 4000 words could be a single coherent 4000 word essay,
or 2-4 shorter essays. When you submit
your final journal, you should clearly indicate the 4000+ word portion(s) of it
that you intend to fulfill this requirement.
Book Review or
Presentation (15%).
Book Review Option: During our reading of Rousseau, you
should read a popular book that discusses either education or the raising of
children. Some books that you might read
include Positive Discipline (Jane
Nelson), Dr. Spock’s Baby and Child Care
(by Dr. Spock), Caring for your Baby and
Young Child (by the American Academy of Pediatrians),
Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child (Weissbluth), Unconditional
Parenting (Alfie Kohn), etc. You can
also just browse the Parenting sections of your local bookstore (or online
bookseller). A particularly cool way to
find a book would be to ask your parent(s) whether there’s any book that they
found particularly helpful when raising you.
You should write a review of that book from a Rousseauian
perspective, and then a meta-review from your own perspective. For the initial review, assume that you are
Rousseau and review the book. (This
review can be modelled on a popular book review format such as the New York
Review of Books, a philosophical book review format such as those at
ndpr.nd.edu, or a rigorous and sustained version of an Amazon book review. Whatever format you choose, however, the
review should be philosophically engaging and substantive, not a mere summary
of the book.) For the meta-review, you
should assess Rousseau’s criticisms and endorsements of the book. In places where they agree, are they right?
In places where they don’t, whose approach to children do you find more
realistic, more appealing, etc. Whose
approach does a better job of educating (towards) autonomy? I have also included an optional product/book
review in the second half of the semester.
For this, you should choose a different book (or toy, or game, or other
product) and examine it from Montessori’s perspective, and/or from the
perspective on education and autonomy that you have developed over the course
the semester. There is no strict length
requirement for this, but I would expect most reviews (including meta-reviews)
to be 1500-2000 words in length.
Presentation Option:
At regular intervals throughout the semester, you will have the
opportunity to give presentations on alternative educational theories and/or
criticisms of the educational theories we are discussing as a class. These presentations can be scheduled at
mutually agreeable dates, but I’ve reserved several classes (see schedule
below) during which I’m planning to leave room for at least one
presentation. I can work with you to
find a good topic, or you can go out and find your own. Many of these dates involve short readings
from additional theorists, and you are particularly encouraged to present on
that theorist on that day. In any case,
before putting together your presentation, you should talk to me about what you
plan to do.
Final Project (30%). For your final project, you must design
either a “toy” (i.e., something for children to work with) or a “game”
(something for children to do) and write a justification of the educational
value of the toy/game. (“Children” here can refer to any learner between
conception and death.) The primary
justification must involve a 1500-3500 word essay showing how the toy relates
to the educational philosophies of Rousseau, Kant, and Montessori. You should also provide a catalog description
of no more than 200 words that both describes the toy/game and briefly states
its educational value. (For a pretty intense version of a Montessori-inspired
game, click here.)
Other Projects (??%). Throughout the course of
the semester, you are strongly encouraged to propose – as individuals or as a
group – other assignments that you think would serve your educational goals for
this course. Subject to my approval, I
will be glad to incorporate these assignments into the course, and to adjust
the portion of the grade due to other assignments accordingly. Make this course your own!
NON-Requirements
Knitting towards autonomy. The last time I taught
this class, it included an optional rock-climbing component, which provided an
opportunity to learn a skill together that is not part of the “conventional”
academic curriculum. This semester, I’d
be interested in including an optional knitting component. If folks are interested, I’ll try to put
together some knitting seminars at my home (or at school, but I have a
fireplace at home). I should make clear
that I cannot knit at all, so I’d be
learning this right alongside you all.
If any of you do know how to knit, I’d love to learn from you. If there’s something else you’d rather learn
together instead, we can decide on that during the first week of the
semester. If we do this, no
student would be required to participate and your grades will not be directly
affected by participation in either activity.
Timeline of Readings and other Assignments
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|
Reading |
Assignments |
Jan. |
17 |
Selections from Kant (I’ll hand these out in class). Kant’s whole Groundwork of
the Metaphysics of Morals is available, with commentary essays, here;
and, in an older translation, here. An old translation of his On
Education is available here. (For the best recent translation of the Groundwork, get this. For the best of On
Education, you’ll have buy this book.) |
|
|
19 |
Rousseau, Discourse on
Inequality, Entire (But don’t read the Dedicatory Letter.) In class, we are likely to focus on the condition of human
beings in the state of nature and then the series of steps that take humans
from that state through increasing levels of “enlightenment and errors”. As you read, think about what, if any, implications this vision
of humanity would have for the education of children. |
Submit journal by noon on Friday to frierspr@whitman.edu You MUST include in your journal a description of the service project
you will undertake this semester, the name and number of your supervisor, and
the steps you have taken to secure your position. |
|
24 |
Rousseau, Discourse on
Inequality, entire (including Dedicatory letter). |
Discussion Question: In the light of the Discourse
on Inequality, how should children be educated? |
|
26 |
Rousseau, Emile, Preface
and Book I (pp. 33-74). Focus on pp.
37-43, 62-69 (especially p. 68), and 74. |
|
31 |
Rousseau, Emile, Book
II (pp. 76-163). The most important
passage is the summary/conclusion on pp. 158-163. You might even read these pages first and
then go back and read the rest; they identify what Emile is like at the age of 10-12. We should be able to work from this passage
back through Book II to identify how Rousseau cultivated this kind of kid. |
More generally, some key concepts to focus on in Bk II: ·
“In what consists
human…happiness?” (p. 80-1) and being “truly free” (84) ·
The two sorts of dependence (85, cf.
“necessity,” p. 89, “laws of the possible” 92, cf. 100, 101) ·
“he gets his lessons from nature and
not from men” (119, cf. 124) ·
“Negative” education (93, cf. 103,
107, 117, and 105 re: moral education) ·
Hurt vs. harm (p. 78, cf. 87) ·
Rejection of books! (116ff., 125) ·
Exercise of the senses (132f.). (For a little on how to teach math, see 145-6.) In addition to the concepts mentioned… Pay attention to Rousseau’s lesson on property (98-99), and think about it. Why does Locke teach about private
property, given his claims from the Discourse? Also spend a bit of time with the fable of the Crow and Fox (pp.
113-115). We may look at a fable or
two in class together, or perhaps a children’s book. |
|
Feb. |
2 |
Rousseau, Emile, Books
II and III (to p. 185). We’re going to take it relatively slowly
through book III…be sure to review the material from Book II as well for this
day. |
Discussion Question: To what extent does the education
described so far in Emile address
points made in the Discourse? Does Rousseau’s educational method preserve
as much of what is good about both society and the state of nature as
possible? How (or why not)? Submit journal by noon on Friday to frierspr@whitman.edu |
7 |
Rousseau, Emile, Book
III (to p. 208) |
Discussion Question: Given where Emile is now – having “lived satisfied, happy, and free” –
what is left for Rousseau to do in terms of his education? Why?
How do you expect Rousseau to deal with Emile beyond “his fifteenth
year” (208)? |
|
|
9 |
Rousseau, Emile, Book
III (to p. 208) E.D. Hirsch, Cultural Literacy, Preface and Chapter One OPTIONAL PRESENTATION DAY. |
Discussion Question: Compare Hirsch and Rousseau.
What are the most legitimate criticisms of Rousseau raised by
Hirsch? In the light of their
readings, how convincing do you find Rousseau’s
approach so far? Which approach is
more likely to cultivate genuine autonomy (however you understand that
concept)? |
|
14 |
Rousseau, Emile, Book
IV (to p. 266). |
Submit journal by 8 am on Wednesday
to frierspr@whitman.edu |
|
16 |
Rousseau, Emile, Book IV, Profession of Faith of the Vicar, (pp.
266-313). The first half of this
reading (pp. 266-295) lays out the basics of Rousseau’s overall
philosophy. Also pay attention to the
summary on pp. 310-13. In addition to
his philosophy in general, pay particular attention to his comments about
freedom and conscience. (Also try to
figure out what role God plays in Emile’s development, and why.) |
If possible, please email me (by
Wednesday evening) a question or comment on the Profession of Faith. I’ll use these to figure out what to focus
on in class. |
|
21 |
Rousseau, Emile, Book
IV, cont. (to end of Book IV, p. 355) Review readings/handout from Kant’s Groundwork. (The whole Groundwork is available, with
commentary essays, here;
and, in an older translation, here.) |
Discussion Question: What differences, if any, are there between the autonomy in
which Kant is interested and the sort of self-governance enabled by the
education described in Emile. Are there aspects of Emile’s education that
Kant could not endorse? Is the end
result something that Kant would endorse? |
|
23 |
POWER AND PRIVILEGE SYMPOSIUM |
You should attend at least two sessions from the Power and
Privilege Symposium and write about them in your journals. |
28 |
Rousseau, Emile, Book
IV, catch-up. |
||
Mar. |
2 |
Rousseau, Emile, Book
V, pp. 357-406. Optional reading by Michael Gurian. |
Book Review #1 First Draft Due Discussion Question: Is there a difference between boys
and girls (and between men and women) that should make a difference for
pedagogy? Submit journal by noon on Friday, March 3 to frierspr@whitman.edu |
7 |
Emile, Book V, pp. 357-480. OPTIONAL PRESENTATION DAY |
Book Review #1 Final Draft Due (by 9
PM) OPTIONAL PRESENTATION DAY |
|
|
9 |
R. S. Peters, Essays on
Educators, selection. Immanuel Kant, On
Education, entire. I may also
give a short handout with other material from Kant. OPTIONAL PRESENTATION DAY |
Discussion Question: Choose one of R.S. Peters’s criticisms
of Rousseau and offer a Rousseauian response, or
discuss one important difference between Kant and Rousseau, or develop an
objection to Rousseau that Peters and Kant left out. EMAIL DISCUSSION QUESTION RESPONSES
TO ME BY MIDNIGHT ON MARCH 8. OPTIONAL PRESENTATION DAY |
|
|
SPRING BREAK (Particularly for those of you – hopefully
all of you – who were bothered by Rousseau’s treatment of Sophie, you should
check out Mary Wolstonecraft’s amazing Vindication
of the Rights of Women, where she directly addresses Rousseau (e.g.
in chapter three). |
Submit Journal (Please get me your journal
at some point over Spring Break, preferably as early as possible, but absolutely no later than March 20.) |
Mar |
28 |
Montessori, The
Montessori Method, chapters 1 and 3 (available online); The
Absorbent Mind,
chapters 1-2. Optional:
selections from Paulo Friere, Pedagogy of the Oppressed OPTIONAL
PRESENTATION DAY |
OPTIONAL PRESENTATION DAY |
30 |
Montessori, The Absorbent Mind, chapters 1-15. |
OPTIONAL PRESENTATION DAY |
|
Apr |
4 |
Montessori, The Absorbent Mind, chapters 16-21. |
Optional
Book Review #2 Rough Draft Due. |
6 |
Montessori, The Absorbent Mind, chapters 22-28. |
Discussion Question: Focusing on one key aspect of
Montessori’s pedagogy, answer the question: Does Montessori satisfy (or
improve on, or fall short of) Kant’s “wish that Rousseau had shown how
schools could arise from” Emile? |
|
|
11 |
WHITMAN UNDERGRADUATE CONFERENCE |
You should attend at least two sessions and write about them in
your journals. |
|
13 |
Montessori, The
Montessori Method, chapters V, VI, XXI, XXII, and at least one other
chapter of your choosing (available online). Prepare
at least one question for our visiting Montessori teacher, Rhea Dorsey! |
OPTIONAL PRESENTATION DAY Submit
Journals on this day for comments. |
|
18 |
Montessori, From Childhood to Adolescence, chapters 1-10. Focus on the first chapter. |
|
|
20 |
Montessori, From Childhood to Adolescence, through the conclusion. |
Optional
Book/Product Review #2 Final Draft Due OPTIONAL PRESENTATION DAY. |
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25 |
Montessori, From Childhood to Adolescence, Appendixes A and B. Also check out this YouTube video on the Hershey Montessori (Farm)
School or this related YouTube video specifically on
adolescents. |
OPTIONAL PRESENTATION DAY. |
|
27 |
Montessori, From Childhood to Adolescence, Appendix C: “The Functions of the
University” (pp. 82-93). Also take a
look at Whitman College’s Mission Statement, available here. |
Try to write
a mission statement for a Montessori University. How does Whitman measure up to Montessori’s
ideals for the University? Which
school would be better, Whitman or a hypothetical Montessori U. that cohered
perfectly with Montessori’s ideals? OPTIONAL
PRESENTATION DAY. |
May |
2 |
Let’s play with our new toys!! |
|
|
4 |
Guest lecturer Rhea Dorsey?
(I hope!!) |
Final versions of projects due. Final drafts of journals due. OPTIONAL
PRESENTATION DAY. |
|
15 |
Date for this class’s final exam. We will not have a final exam, but .
. . |
This is the final due date for the
toy/game justification essays. This is also the final date on which any work
for the class will be accepted. I will
not give extensions beyond this date (though I hope that by this time, you
will also want to continue working on the material from this class through
the summer…). |