Arguments for government involvement in education are many. They include the views that many parents cannot afford to educate their children, that private philanthropy cannot make up the deficit, that too many parents don’t care enough about education, and more. At the same time, government involvement in education has risks: * Less parental control over […]
Education’s “Public Choice” Dynamic Read More »
From a post by Lant Pritchett at the World Bank site: “In the early 20th century Helen Todd, a factory inspector in Chicago, interviewed 500 children working in factories, often in dangerous and unpleasant conditions. She asked children the question: ‘If your father had a good job and you didn’t have to work, which would
Are schools worse than factory jobs for kids? Read More »
A standard argument for mandatory schooling is that it reduces crime. Behind that argument are claims that formal education civilizes and/or that schooling gets kids off the streets where they otherwise might be. That is to say, in economics-speak, that education has positive externalities beyond whatever other value one already ascribes it. I’m still re-reading
Does schooling reduce crime? Read More »
A interesting and disturbing article by Professor Piotr Kostyło on “School failure and its interpretations” [pdf], published in Kultura Pedagogiczna out of the University of Warsaw. Kostyło is a professor of philosophy of education at the University of Kazimierz Wielki. Kostyło’s analysis is disturbing because it suggests that Poland’s change from communism to liberal democracy
Kostyło on school failure’s independence of political change Read More »
To accompany my Philosophy of Education course lectures on video, here are readings from key philosophers. Idealism: Plato (the Allegory of the Cave from Republic) and Immanuel Kant (from On Education). Realism: Aristotle (from Politics) and John Locke (from Some Thoughts concerning Education). Pragmatism: John Dewey (from Democracy and Education). Behaviorism: B. F. Skinner (from
Updated: Classic Readings in Philosophy of Education Read More »
I’ve updated the Education page to include recent publications, lectures, and posts.
Update: my publications in Education Read More »
In Buenos Aires, I was interviewed by journalist Belén Marty for the PanAm Post. The theme was populism, postmodernism, and politics, as captured in the title “Populism Succeeds Where Education Fails.” Here are the interview’s original Spanish and English versions, and the interview has now also been translated into Portuguese by Adriel Santana.
PanAm Post interview by Belén Marty — Spanish, Portuguese, and English versions Read More »
The opening of my latest column at EveryJoe: “Rape is among the most horrific of crimes. Sex should be a fun and beautiful thing – but rape takes that most personal of experiences and turns it into a degradation. “There is moderately good news about the number of rapes in the USA. According to the
Campus Sex and the Anti-Sexiness of the New Authoritarians [new The Good Life column] Read More »