•IMON FRASER UNIVERSITY
4§
Spring Semester 2002 ?
EDUC 437 - 4
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Ann Chinnery
Ethical Issues in Education
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Office: TBA
Phone:
291-3395/205-9066
1301.00
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E-mail: ahchinne@sfu.ca
Tuesday 12:30-16:20 in WMX 2503
PREREQUISITE
EDUC 230 or Educ 401/402
DESCRIPTION
In contrast to traditional views of education as the acquisition of abstract intellectual competencies
and so-called marketable skills, and moral education as a discrete subject, educational theorists are
paying increasing attention to the realization that education is itself a moral project. In other words,
classroom practices, curricula, and educational policy all reflect a certain moral standpoint, but one
which goes all too often unexamined. In this course we will re-open questions of morality in
education -- the nature of morality and moral agency; domains of moral concern; how we ought to
live in harmony with each other and the environment; and strategies of moral transformation. Since
these questions are essentially questions of moral selfhood, the course will focus as much on
self-transformation as on the exploration of content.
OBJECTIVES
The course will aim to foster:
• the capacity for (written and oral) reflexive inquiry into our theoretical frameworks and practices
• the ability to read philosophical texts accurately and critically, and to employ philosophical
vocabulary
• the ability to participate in productive large and small group dialogues in a community of inquiry
REQIJJIREMIIENTS
• reading responses - 45%
• workshop sessions toward the final paper - 15%
• final paper - 40%
** Please note: There is no final exam in this course.
REQUIRED TEXTS
Hooks, Bell. (1994). Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom. New York:
Routledge. ISBN: 0-4159-0808-6.
Noddings, N. (1992). The Challenge to Care in Schools. New York: Teachers College Press.
ISBN: 0-8077-3177-3.
Orr, D. (1996). Earth in Mind: On Education, Environment, and the Human Prospect. Washington,
D.C.: Island Press. ISBN: 1-55963-295-X.