Showing papers in "Journal of Education in 1969"

Aesthetics in Education.

Abstract: Teaching and developing a course on Aesthetics In Education presents many problems, both of content, and of method. The word aesthetics associated with Education, means for most people Art Education, which is, in fact, the traditional way of introducing aesthetics in education. The assumption is that aesthetic experiences, aesthetic judgment, and aesthetic modes of perception in general, are to be predominately related to the area of the 50-called fine arts. Thus, the way to meaningful aesthetic understanding is through the study of architecture, sculpture, painting, drawing, music, theater, and the dance. Aesthetics in education, therefore, is seen as work in or about these various forms of art. Depending on the type of school, the emphasis is on art appreciation, history of art, technical competence, or simple performance. Art appreciation courses through the Humanities, also called Applied Aesthetics are by far the most common approach to aesthetic education. This is traditionally 50, and, as a matter of fact, a perfectly justifiable academic activity. The educational significance of such undertaking is justified on the assumption, (1) that aesthetic experiences are pervasive experiences affecting personality as a whole, (2) that aesthetic experience is transferable to other areas of human functioning, especially the cognitive area. To the extent that these assumptions are valid, the present practice of having art education, or art appreciation as a separate discipline, would be justified. Such courses would provide for what is called aesthetic education, and in this case, there would be no need for another course on Aesthetics in Education. The above assumptions, however, could be questioned. The assumption as to the pervasiveness of the aesthetic experience, defined as an affective process exclusively, is questionable when one considers man's capacity for compartmentalized functioning. (See further, annotated outline, the disjunctive personality.]

Student Personnel Work: Role Conflict and Campus Power.

Abstract: Campus events in the 1960s have revealed student personnel workers in two roles, both of which are inconsistent with the image the profession has attempted to project. Either personnel people have been notably inconspicuous in the midst of transpiring events, or they have been (with other administrators) targets of vehement attack. This observation raises critical concerns about the roles and functions of college student personnel workers as viewed by administrative superiors, by students, and by themselves.

Aesthetics and Cultural Transformation.

Abstract: Preconditioning Effect of the Aesthetic The aesthetic has a preconditioning effect on later judgment. Taste, the ability to discriminate between the qualitative and the quantitative, the ability to appreciate the essence and value of the beautiful, are teachable. The appreciation of the aesthetic is a creative act, similar to the act of creation itself. Even hatred and bigotry, which are ugly and based upon ignorance, superstition and fear, will yield to the positive influences of beauty when forcefully and sincerely stated. Hence, the encouragement and reinforcement of creativity in the pupil during his formative, enculturative years will fortify him against the negative attractions of the banal, the pornographic, the obscene, and the ugly. In any confrontation of the tawdry by the beautiful, the tawdry inevitably must lose. Where a choice is involved, the entire history of civilization is testament to the victory of beauty. Primitive artifacts, primitive sculpture, cave paintings, the most ancient of monuments remain as evidence of human craving for beauty. Why, in view of this, A. N. Whitehead asks, can our schools not \"produce a population with some love of music, some enjoyment of drama, and some joy in beauty of form and color\"?' Why not, indeed? This sounds like a simple, easily realizable request. Yet, it has not been realized. In fact, it has not been attempted by the public school. Does the explanation for this failure lie in a deeper failure,

The Science of Education.

Abstract: Charles Pierce, the nineteenth century American philosopher, distinguished between four different ways of knowing (Cohen & Nagel, 1934), or as he put it, fixing belief. These four ways were (1) the method of tenacity, (2) the method of authority, (3) the method of intuition, and (4) the method of science. Since the 'science of education' obviously refers to the application of the method of science to the problems of education, we might, perhaps, best begin with a consideration of what we mean by science. One of the basic aims of science, other than the description of empirical phenomena, is to establish general principles by means of which the empirical phenomena can be explained and accounted for. In other words, one of the basic aims of science is theory, a set of interrelated constructs, definitions, and propositions that by specifying the relations among the relevant variables presents a systematic view and explanation of natural events. Of course, such explanation is not valuable only for its own sake but also in many cases because of prior interests in prediction and/ or control. In any case, not all sciences have developed theories to the same degree. In fact, the scientific disciplines can be and often are ordered according to the degree to which theoretical procedures or explanations are used as contrasted with correlational procedures or explanations. The latter, the less highly developed sciences, rely on describing the relationship between phenomena rather than accounting for them from general principles that may not be immediately given. In pursuing a goal of theory formation, the method of science is a specialized form of all reflective thinking and inquiry. Dewey, in his famous analysis of reflective thinking (Dewey, 1933, pp. 106-118), has given a general paradigm of problematical inquiry, and Kerlinger (1964, pp. 13-16) has adapted it for the special case of scientific

Urban Development and Racial Issues- The Counselor's Responsibility*

Abstract: It is a strange freedom to be adrift in the world of men without a sense of anchor anywhere. Always there is the need of mooring, the need of a firm grip on something that is rooted and will not give. The urge to be accountable to someone, to know that beyond the individual himself there is an answer that must be given and cannot be denied. The very spirit of man tends to panic from the desolation of going nameless up and down the streets of other minds where no salutation greets and no friendly recognition makes secure. It is a strange freedom to be adrift in the world of men. ... It is better to be the complete victim of an anger unrestrained and a wrath which knows no bounds, to be torn asunder without mercy or battered to a pulp, than to be passed over as if one were not. For here at least one is dealt with, encountered, vanquished, or overwhelmed but not ignored. To be made anonymous and to give to it the acquiescence of the heart is to live without life, and for such a one, even death is no dying.

A Pax Pedagogica

Abstract: In the 5V2 thousand years of recorded history there have been 14 Vi thousand wars. In the last 30 years nations have fought some 30 times nowadays by forms of military intervention without formal declaration of war which nevertheless mount the most awesome armaments of conventional weaponry in human history. As the Pax Britannica is succeeded by the Pax Americana, the Pax Ballistica continues to masquerade as society's chief political stabilizer. International education therefore arises in our time as a reach for a Pax Pedagogica, which in a thermonuclear age may be mankind's last hope of averting a global holocaust which would indeed be a war to end our civilization. Whether the universalizing of education for peaceful development will succeed in mollifying mankind will depend upon its being seen as the court of final appeal for rational man in irrational society. The United States is the first paramount nation to have set about secondary education for all its people. It is customary to boast that a quarter of the total American population is now under formal instruction of one kind or another; that there are 2,337 universities, colleges and junior colleges, both public and private, now offering higher education of some kind to almost 7,000,000 students, with 500,000 teachers plus 85,000 administrative and service staff. The full magnitude of the American educational enterprise appears when to all this is added the basic structure of school systems 93,000 elementary and 31,000 secondary schools with a total enrollment of 51,000,000 pupils, with some 2,104,000 teachers and about 120,000 superintendents, principals and supervisors. The annual expenditure on schools is $35 billion, and on higher education $20 billion (a massive total which is nevertheless only 5.5 per cent of the gross national product).1 In grand total, the United States provides for 57V2 million educands,

Cultural Causes for Student Activism.

Abstract: In 19581 Rollo May made a statement that has proven to be prophetic in terms of current student behavior. He said, "When a culture is caught in the profound convolutions of a transitional period, the individuals in the society understandably suffer spiritual and emotional upheaval; and finding that the accepted mores and ways of thought no longer yield security, they tend either to sink into dogmatism and conformism, giving up awareness, or are forced to strive for heightened self-consciousness by which to become aware of their existence with new conviction and on new bases." With regard to the present student generation these have proven to be prophetic words, indeed. Three elements of May's prediction may be seen in present student behavior. They are: 1. Apathy demonstrated by many students in their unconcern for the conventional course work, university social activities, or even the future of the "establishment." Such students may retreat to peripheral "pads" with groups of equally uninvolved friends to smoke pot or just withdraw from it all. They are marked by an apathetic narcissism. 2. Experiences in heightened self-awareness. These are the students who experiment on themselves in an attempt to find meaning. They use the consciousness expanding drugs such as L.S.D. or "speed," seldom realizing the profound psychological risks that are involved in such behavior. Certainly such students experiment with sex as well. 3. Attempts to Resonate with the Authority-structure is an effort to find meaning. Such students have come to be called "activists." They are generally angry at authority and derogate the "establishment." (Often with good reason.) We are all familiar with the demonstrations against the Dow Chemical recruiter at Harvard, the "capturing" of the CIA recruiter at the University of Colorado, the threatened walk-ins and sleep-ins if parietal privileges are not liberalized at certain major universities. Appropriate compromise with such student activists does not seem to re-

Technology Revolutionizes Education.

Abstract: Let's begin with the premise that the best ratio of teacher to learner is one to one. Let's consider also the following facts: (1) population is exploding; (2) technology is advancing (more to learn in the same amount of time); and (}) the number of teachers is not proportionately increasing. Given these facts, the only possible way to direct the educational approach at the individual learner is through the heavy utilization of multi-media. The much-used exampleof "if we can have men on the moon then why can't we . .." was never more true than in the area of education. Unfortunately I the transfer of information between teacher and student has until only recently been confined to the resources of the traditional classroom. We are now finding that by systematically organizing learning materials and using multi-media we can extend the efficiency of both student and teacher. Formerly the student played a passive role in the learning process, being neither required nor able to respond and receive correct answersreading a text or seeing a film, fcr example. There was no statement of objectives specifying what the learner must be able to know or do in order to achieve. He was evaluated by a test which mayor may not have been relevant to an understanding of the principles he had learned or applications of them. In contrast, a modern technological approach to education involves the use of audio, visual and electronic equipment which utilizes programed materials. Programming principles can thus be applied for selfinstructional purposes (small learning steps, frequent success, avoidance of failure and repeated review). Learning is controlled and paced by the 'student consistent with his abilities to perform successfully. Selfdirected instructional materials and equipment which are available to him might include the usual visual displays, books, periodicals and manuals, as well as audio and video tapes, films, slides, transparencies, games and units in various subject matters programmed via teaching machines. Teachers are available during self-directed learning activities to assist students when requested, but the responsibility for learning is placed on the student. In this way both student and teacher utilize their respec-

Theories of Piaget and the Technique of the Matrix.

Abstract: The theories of Piaget are too complex and numerous to adequately cover in a short paper, so the focus will be on the matrix puzzle as an aid to accelerate logical classifications and serial ordering skills in handicapped children. In Piaget's model of development, there are four periods of cognitive growth which are qualitatively distinct: the sensorymotor period (0-2 years), the pre-operational period (2-7 years), the concrete-operational period (7-12 years), and the formal-operational period (12). \"Operational\" knowledge (from 7 on) is not achieved by an additive process, however. Notions of object constancy, number, space, time, etc. are being continually reconstructed from existing structures, passing in a gradual but dynamic way from the real object, to its index (an imprint or sound made by the object) to its representation like a picture, and, finally, to a symbol like a word (Kamii and Radin, 1968). Motor (Kephart, 1960), perceptual (Frostig, 1968) and language (Bereiter and Engelmann, 1966) training may be necessary but not sufficient conditions for the acceleration of \"operational\" thought. Training in logical classification and serial ordering skills should be given as well. These skills are defined as the classification of elements in groups (how they are alike such as color, shape) and the placing of groups or classes in successive series (how they relate to each other such as number, size). The matrix puzzle with its two or more dimensional criteria is so simple to construct, first with real objects like blocks, toys/ etc., then with photographs, drawings, etc., and then finally with words, sentences and arbitrary codes like the alphabet and decimal system. Handicapped children use less abstract tools of thought than normal learners, beyond the chronological time when they could be developing the logic of classes and relations between classes (Levi, 1969). They need to be shown in a structured and systematic way how to group objects in an increasing number of categories and to place these categories in serial order. The matrix puzzle facilitates such \"operational\" knowledge. The crucial task is not just to learn a few sets such as shape, color, function, and the like, but to be able to scan among them for the appropriate one in any given exercise. The child progresses from the real to the abstract, from the pictorial to the purely verbal. beginning with only

Modification of the Classroom Behavior of a “Disadvantaged” Kindergarten Boy by Social Reinforcement and Isolation

Abstract: This 1967 Master's degree thesis, by Martha Schatt Abbott, has been abridged by me, in order to conserve space. Secondary analysis and findings not vital to the understanding of the main hypothesis being tested, the discussion of background literature and experimental methodology of classical and operant conditioning, tables and figures portraying daily means and standard deviations, percentages of change in daily behavior of the subject under various experimental conditions, and mean frequency and length of teacher interaction by experimental condition, have been either omitted or abridged. The results of the study have important implications relative to methodology and demonstrate that systematic use of social reinforcement in the classroom can change a child's behavior. Acknowledgement and grateful appreciation is given to Dr. fames J. Gallagher, Director of the Education Improvement Program, Duke University, whose direction and collaboration made the study possible and to others who contributed their-time and effort at Durham where the data was collected. The complete thesis is available in Boston University's Mugar Library.

Instructional Materials Centers for Handicapped Children and Youth.

Abstract: Financial implementation of recommendations made by the President's Panel on Mental Retardation (McCarthy, 1968) for development of a national network of instructional materials centers for handicapped children and youth will determine for years to come important directions of investigation and change regarding the contribution of instructional materials to learning. Investigation and change emanating from teachers and from within schools all too often are suspect and are resisted by educators in colleges and university settings as well 35 by commercial producers of instructional materials. It is' assumed by this type logic that universities and colleges compel teachers in schools to conform to their hypotheses and directions while the implementation of hypotheses through materials is relegated to commercial producers. In this manner, teachers of children u aditonally have been taught answers-while the professors of teachers raise the questions. Knowledge is transmitted to teachers on the use of instructional materials, but little systematic effort is made to give teach. ers a method for evaluating materials and to provide steps for improving their role to learning. Instructional Materials Centers offer an optimistic catalytic process among teachers, pupil and professor; between school program and university; between teacher and commercial producer; between pupil and teacher and between traditional library and resource center. Newly established centers provide 'current and future educators with public, nonprofit opportunity for change without arduous administrative problems and hopefully provide useful meth&ls for revising and developing materials and information that assist handicapped children and youth in what it is that society is trying to teach them. This process acknowledges teachers and pupils as an integral force in the cognitive areas of decision making and problem solving through acquisition of adequate skills in utilizing instructional materials and in changing their effectiveness as the learning task requires.

Educational Materials and Individual Psychology.

Abstract: With the exception of the categories of the deaf and the blind, there have been few materials developed specifically for handicapped children. Most materials used in special classes have been adapted and developed in response to specific problems or needs. One important function of the Special Education Instructional Materials Centers in the future will be the development of new instructional materials. One fruitful line of endeavor in instructional materials development should be based on the implications of the work of leading theoreticians. In the following three articles, the work of Freud, Skinner, and Piaget is examined for instructional materials leads. A. T. Murphy, in an erudite article on general learning theories, eventually discusses the Freudian psychodynamic orientation and the implications derived for the use of materials. His article is followed by two brief articles, one by George Toomey, discussing applications of Skinner, and Bickley Simpson, demonstrating materials use based on the theories of Piager,

The Revolution in English Teaching, 1910-1917.

Abstract: The most dramatic and far-reaching revolution in the field of secondary-school English occurred between ~9~O and ~9~7 and was largely the result of the Reorganization Movement in English Teaching. During that period the philosophy and much of the practice of English teaching was turned topsy-turvy. Never before or since has the term\"revolution\"beenmoreappropriate. In the United States at the tum of the century major changes occurred in the secondary school. Alexander Inglis, onetime professor of education at Harvard University, described the times as one when \"... the accumulation of long-needed changes is compelling radical readjustment in the secondary school as well as in other departments of the system of education.\"· The Reorganization Movement in English Teaching was part of widespread professional activity designed to produce \"radical readjustment in the secondary school.\" Those who comprised it were largely administrators and teachers of English from public high schools and teacher-education institutions\" in major cities across the country, especially in the East and Middle West. The movement began in ~9~O as a protest against existing college-entrance requirements and their effect on the high-school course in English. Soon it became a program of positive action that resulted in the formation of the National Council of Teachers of English and the early efforts of that organization to improve the teaching of English throughout the nation. In ~9u, the New York Association of Teachers of English published \"An Open letter to Teachers of English.\" In it they argued that college-entrance requirements should be relaxed and the English teacher thereby given greater freedom in the selection of subject matter and more opportunity to teach the useful and the relevant in the classroom. Some of them voiced these same opinions before the English Round Table of the N.E.A. in ~9~o. Their words led to the formation of the Committee on College-Entrance Requirements, which, reporting

Some Historical Foundations for Teacher Education at Boston University.

Abstract: John Dewey felt that the central problem of philosophy of education was to identify and to form the right mental and moral habitudes towards the difficulties of contemporary social life One might identify differentials of social class and racial conflict as contemporary difficulties in achieving equality of educational opportunity and social integration Dewey might have referred to problems of social class and of racial conflict as dualisms reflecting difficulties in the structure of an American society which aspires to a democratic ideal Does a dualism between the liberal and technical in teacher education not only reflect but also perpetuate some of these troubles? To help make teacher education at Boston University relevant to such difficulties in contemporary social life, it may be helpful to call attention to the following historic and foundational resources as hypotheses for further testing: (1) The University's concept of service, which is rooted in its history of Methodism, urbanism, and professionalism, offers a uniquely viable commitment