The writings of Lester Frank Ward (1841-1913) on education over the last two decades of the 19th century were almost lost until they were brought to the attention of John Dewey (1859-1952). Ward had prophesied that the 20th century would require three universal curriculums to meet the American democratic prospect. Ward acknowledged that nobody…

It has been suggested that in order to aid students in fulfilling their potential and achieving optimum academic outcomes, both teachers and students themselves should hold beliefs that significantly overestimate student ability and go beyond the available evidence. In this article, I contend that teachers adopting such beliefs or instilling them…

This article attempts to explain through the lens of the Five Relationships the meaning of Joseon neo-Confucian view which emphasized relationship development as the aim and contents of education. In neo-Confucianism, education is the task of guiding learners in cultivating and unfolding capabilities in the relationships of everyday life. Within…

Although recognized for his wisdom on issues of agriculture, ecology, economics, and theology, writer Wendell Berry has been largely ignored for his thinking on education. Yet the same good sense and clear thinking that he applies to other areas of thought can be seen also in his writings on education. This article reviews what scholars have…

This article is intended to contribute to the debate about the nature of a Catholic philosophy of education by exploring the philosophical issues involved in the apparent conflict between scientific and religious knowledge claims. The claim that modern science has rendered religious truth claims unreasonable appears to be influential among…

In the field of character education role-modelling is advocated as an important pedagogical strategy. It is supposed that students learn from "significant others" who exemplify important virtues and values. However, in these strategies it is not clear what and how students precisely can and should learn from exemplars and how the…

This article takes up the educational challenge of the framers of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Specifically, the author explores the question of: how can we talk about a universal conception of human rights in a way that both respects the need for cultural pluralism and the necessity to protect those rights and freedoms that all…

Whether all educationists were philosophers or not, one thing is clear--that all philosophers were educationists--directly or indirectly. May it be Plato, Aristotle, Rousseau or Dewey, they all came up with the notion that to bring about any change at a greater level in a society, change in its educational system is fundamental. Dr. Mohammad…

This historical study explores how educators in the United States responded to the rise of fascism between the World Wars. By considering and then ultimately rejecting the fascist approach to education and philosophy, American educators defined democratic education in contrast to fascist/totalitarian approaches to education by rejecting…

Within educational philosophy and theory there has recently been a re-turn to the concept and practices of studying as an alternative or oppositional educational logic to push back against learning as the predominant mode of educational engagement. While promising, we believe that this research on studying has been limited in a few ways. First,…

What do the philosophies of phenomenological scholars such as Husserl, Heidegger and Merleau-Ponty tell us about education in South Africa? How can we use the philosophies of these scholars to develop the minds of our learners and students holistically? Drawing from Husserl's "lifeworld theory," Heidegger's notion of "Dasein"…

This paper begins with the 'ancient quarrel' between philosophy and literature, which, with the subsequent splitting of "logos" into word and reason, comes to mark philosophy's self-conception and much other thinking besides--compartmentalising, in the process, what is understood by 'literature'. Philosophy, thus separated becomes…

In order to extend our understanding of the relationship between humility and teaching, Leonard Waks investigates both humility and teaching as philosophical concepts and considers their conceptual connections. In doing so, he shows how humility is related conceptually to teaching in unexpected ways. He begins by offering some reflections on the…

Within the last few decades, scholars have uncovered remarkable similarities between Confucian and pragmatist philosophies. Given these resonances, how would a philosophy of music education founded on a synthesis of Confucian and pragmatist ideas look? How would such a philosophy compare with extant philosophies of music education? In this paper,…

Relational equality is broadly understood to be about relating to others as moral equals. I consider three questions of relational equality as applied to education: what, how, and why? Relational equality is important on a macro (societal) level, a meso (school) level structuring of relationships, and a micro (interpersonal relationships) level. I…