.
?
[]
Education-437-4/
.
823-5 Ethical-Issues. in Education
FALL SEMESTER,. 1983
?
INSTRUCTOR: Dr. Cornel Hamm
Undergraduate: Thursdays 4:30 - 8:30 ?
LOCATION: on campus
Graduate: Thursdays 4:30 - 9:30
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
This course is concerned with identifying and examining moral and ethical
issues in education. Three broad areas of concern are explored.
(1) The normative character of education as a whole and its justification.
Questions like the following will be examined: ?
Is the God-like role of
education in setting goals for children morally tenable? Can there be a
value-free education? Does the contemporary shift to informal modes of
education remove the moral problem? What justification is there for
selection of compulsory curriculum content in education? Have we the
right to force children to go to school? (2) Questions related to
problems of equality of educational opportunity, autonomy, interpersonal
relationships, and rights in education. What is the place for the exercise
of authority in education? Is discipline and punishment in schools
warranted? Who ought to control schools? What rights do children,
teachers, and parents have?
(3)
The meaning and nature of moral education.
What is the status of moral judgements? Are moral principles "objective"?
When is a principle a moral principle? Can values be taught? Should they
be? How do some recent theories of moral education (values clarification,
developmental theories) fare under careful examination? Is moral education
without indoctrination possible?
The course is intended for those who want to think hard and argue about
these kinds of questions. ?
It should be valuable to teachers, administrators,
counsellors and all serious students of education. There are no pre-requisites
for this course.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS:
1.
Participation in seminars through formal and informal presentations from
time to time.
2.
A mid-term examination based on required readings.
3.
A term paper of about 10 typewritten pages on a relevant topic approved
by the instructor.
TEXTS:
Peters, R.S. Ethics and Education. George Allen & Unwin, London, 1966.
Cochrane, D.B., Hamm, C.M., Kazepides, A.C., (eds.) The Domain of Moral
Education. ?
Paulist Press and 0.I.S.E., 1979.