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Simon Fraser University
Spring Semester 2008
Education 100W
Selected Questions and Issues in Education
E100
Monday & Wednesday ?
Marlowe Irvine
4:30-6:20 pm AQ 4150 ?
email: mirvine@sfu.ca
"What is an education and can I still get one?"
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This is a course about what "education" is. Where, when, how, and why does "it"
happen (if it does at all)? Who benefits? Who is hurt? Who gets to participate? Who
doesn't? Who cares about it? Who sees it as a means to an end? Is your idea of an
education the same as the ideas of everyone else who talks about education?
We will attempt, first, to disentangle education from all of those other aspects of
human endeavour that command and deserve our attention. Next, we will attempt to
reweave the web of understanding of our lives in a way that includes and honours the
contribution of education. We will examine how this understanding contributes to
educational institutions, such as they are, and the individuals and groups who participate
in those institutions. We will wonder how one becomes an authority 'on' education, and
how one becomes an authority 'in' education.
There will also be a social and historical component to the course. Why are so
many concerned with education? Where do the current ideas about education come from?
Where will those ideas go from here?
This is not intended to be primarily a course for future teachers, but those who
consider teaching, at any level, might wish to consider the issues it will cause to surface.
This is not intended to be primarily a course for those who wish to study education in
their university futures, but those who consider a life in the study of education might
wish to engage in the conversations this course is intended to generate.
The course is called "Selected Questions in Education;" some of the questions
explored will arise from our discussions in class.
The course is a writing intensive designated course. So, yes, writing will be
required, but the writing required will focus on the revisioning process; on the 'making
better' of the presentation of ideas. The types of assignments required will be varied,
from straight-forward essays to stories.., to genres and types of writing particular to each
individual's interests.
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Selected readings will be distributed in class or via the web.
The final grade for the course will be determined as follows:
Written work/Assignments:
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50%
Individual and pair presentations: ?
25%
A "take home"
final: ?
25%
