This article explores the nature, strengths and limitations of Roman, Christian, Kantian and utilitarian ethics and their legacy in some modern theories of educative leadership that are educative in intent and outcome. It is shown that Roman, Christian, Kantian, and utilitarian ethics have profoundly shaped transformational, instructional,…

After a brief overview of what intellectual virtues are, I offer three arguments for the claim that education should aim at fostering "intellectual character virtues" like curiosity, open-mindedness, intellectual courage, and intellectual honesty. I then go on to discuss several pedagogical and related strategies for achieving this aim. (Contains…

This essay focuses on the need to educate the new "persona educada", a dignified, honorable person with a good measure of social and personal responsibility who also possesses the habits of the mind and heart. To cultivate "una persona educada" requires a newly formed vision of education and pedagogy. Examples of three entrenched agreements that…

Despite the rigorous debate around the purposes of higher education and the associated concept of graduate attributes, science education at the tertiary level has remained largely impervious to engaging with these ideas. This may be due to the emphasis on the knowledge base of the hard science as opposed to the emphasis on the knower in the…

In order to address some of the key underlying issues currently distorting dominant approaches to schooling it is necessary to acknowledge and engage with our broad intellectual and cultural responsibilities currently shunned by contemporary policy. Philosophy has a key role to play here, in terms of both deconstruction and recommendation. Drawing…

The "elemental" refers to the essentials of the contents that make them accessible to a child. The effects on a child of contents that are mastered are the "fundamental". In a fruitful didactic unlocking (presentation) it is possible for a child to achieve considerably more insight than merely an understanding of the learning…

Despite the belief that college-going is an intellectual process by which people become more knowledgeable, evidence of this remains sketchy. (Author/HS)

In this critique of June T. Fox's article (EJ 003 566), author contends that Bruner has resolved experimentally some of the rather muddy philosophical ideas suggested by Dewey and that the remaining differences between them may ultimately be seen as differing aspects of an identical problem. (Author/MB)

American society requires leaders with depth of vision; such individuals will arise from an education that endeavors to cultivate the intellect and provide the occasion for the acquisition of virtue. (Author)

Presents a basic examination of non-physical mental acts as educational objectives. (Author)

Theories of scholarship as ritual in nursery school and kindergarten and education as contest in elementary school through secondary school are discussed. Consequences of carrying such false notions into higher education are noted. Mastery, intellect, and courage are proposed as the three elements necessary to scholarship. (Article originally…

This paper asserts that the basic skills, the three Rs, should be considered as a means to an end in education rather than the end in itself. According to the author, one of the most important basic skills is the skill of "basic crap detecting" advocated by Charles Weingartner. Students need to develop their own critical insights. Basic skill…

Where does course content fit into the context of modern theories and practices of a liberal arts education? Two camps within the academic community are described: those who feel responsible for the personal growth of their students and those who see themselves as dispensers of information. (LBH)

Education of the child, including preschool education, has been and still is a topic of great concern to many people. Translation of this concern into constructive programs for early childhood education is a profound problem, one that is debated often and emotionally. There is a dichotomy between those who favor educational practices based on…