Some Americans have always wanted their schools to provide a liberal education, giving students opportunities to read great books, study the academic disciplines, and expand their minds. But many others, perhaps most of us, have looked for ways to avoid the slow, hard work of academic learning. As the historian Robert Hampel explains, we tend to…

This historiography of Hungarian higher education focuses on the evolution of academic freedom and institutional autonomy at Hungarian institutions of higher education. Through an exploration of trends in higher education policy, structure, and funding, the evolution of institutional autonomy and academic freedom provided a framework for…

This article provides an analysis of the rise of 'scientific management' and 'social efficiency' theories in the early 1900s, traces their impact on the structure and administration of education systems, and critically analyses their contribution to the emergence of a new orthodoxy--outcomes-based education (OBE) approaches to school curriculum…

This dissertation traces the history of three of the colleges in Idaho's Treasure Valley during the 1960s: Boise State University (BSU), the College of Idaho (C of I), and Northwest Nazarene University (NNU). The time period examined in the study begins with the Soviet launch of Sputnik in late 1957 and ends with the deaths of students during…

Critical thinking is not only the basis of philosophy, it is also the essence of education, the salient feature that distinguishes education from training. (CJ)

Eight papers addressing issues in the philosophy of education are featured in this document. These include: (1) "The Relation of 'The Paideia Proposal' and Ortega's Philsosphy of Education" (A. Donoso); (2) "Adler: Ideological Imperialist" (G. W. Stickel); (3) "Anti-Intellectualism and 'The Paideia Proposal'" (D. G. Smith); (4) "Intellectual…

The two biggest educational issues facing China are critical and related--how to provide for equality of educational opportunity and how to maintain an intellectual community that is both "red" and expert. (Author/IRT)

School reformers have not been too radical, but have been unable to sustain their reforming energy and innovative thinking. Reformers are not "tinkering toward Utopia," but are relapsing into habit, meandering back into mediocrity. A remarkably coherent tradition of rethinking schooling is yielding to the forces of inertia,…

An analysis of John Dewey's writing for liberal journals reveals Dewey's early and forceful efforts to refute anti-intellectual perversions of his theories. During the 1920's, the child-centered branch of the progressive education movement included some schools and individuals that expressed anti-intellectual positions. Richard Hofstadter in his…

In his Pulitzer Prize winning work, "Anti-intellectualism in American Life," Richard Hofstadter set out to trace the social movements that altered the role of intellect in society from a virtue to a vice. In so doing, he explored questions regarding the purpose of education and whether the democratization of education altered that…

This paper discusses how elitism and anti-intellectualism have affected the teaching of intellectually gifted students. It examines methods of identifying the intellectually gifted child. It traces trends in education of the gifted through history and discusses the issues of equity, elitism, and anti-intellectualism which have resulted in…

Traces current educational philosophy and practices to 19th-century philosophers who proposed the "mudsill theory," the notion that ordinary children could not be intellectually successful and must be coerced and prepared for work by compulsory schooling. Points to the success of relatively underschooled self-sufficient Lancaster Amish…