Education Group Project
For the final group project, I will assign each of you to a group, and each group will select a controversial topic in the philosophy of education that we didn’t cover in class, give a presentation lasting roughly half the class period (including time for questions), and turn in a paper summarizing the presentation. In the presentation, you should explain the philosophical concepts and issues underlying this topic, cite relevant cases, articulate the various positions in the debate and their arguments, and evaluate their strengths and weakness. This will require research on the part of each group member. Although it is helpful to assign each group member a different aspect of the topic, a portion of your grade will be based on how well the various parts of your presentation and paper cohere together: After doing individual research I recommend that you meet again to review the entirety of the presentation and paper as a group. All group members should participate in the presentation aspect of the project. On the cover of the paper, please indicate any group members who did not fully contribute to the project and how they failed to do so.
Sample Topics and
Articles:
Academic freedom and tenure (Simon, Strike in CPE)
Moral education: To what extent is it appropriate? (Haydon, Amiran, Bowie in CPE; Noddings and Slote in PE)
Religious education (Moran in CPE; Alexander and McLaughlin in PE)
Sex education (Archard in CPE)
Affirmative Action in hiring teachers and enrolling students (Boxill in CPE)
The proper relation of teacher and student
A. Personal and emotional connection (Noddings in CCRPE, Strike in CPE)
B. Children’s rights (Dwyer, Markie in CPE)
CCRPE = Steven M.
Cahn, Classic and
Contemporary
CPE = Randall Curren, ed., A Companion to the
Philosophy of Education (
PE = Nigel Blake, ed., The Blackwell Guide to the Philosophy of
Education (