ISO: History of Education (in the last several hundred years)

[PrarieGirl]

Hillsdale has a free online course. I haven’t had time to read through the comments so please excuse me if it’s already been suggested. I haven’t done this course yet so I’m not sure how far back it goes. The courses are great because lectures and discussions can be downloaded in audio and listened to on the go ( or while vacuuming ).
https://online.hillsdale.edu/courses...ourse-schedule

[pickandgrin]

You all are the coolest. Thank you!

[Michael]

Martin,
When will your all-in-one, greatly condensed version of all these books come out? Ha! Thank you for the resources. I am curious while at the same time I want to limit how much I invest in ferreting out "what's wrong with things." Since you know exactly what we are doing in our homeschools across K-12, which of these do you think would be the most beneficial for us to read and think about more deeply?

Good afternoon Jessica,

I just spoke with Martin and he said he'd recommend The Transformation of the School by Lawrence Cremin.

HTH!

[pickandgrin]

Thank you, Michael!

[serendipitous journey]

I found this book to be very worth reading: The History of Western Education (William Boyd). It is OOP but one can find used copies fairly inexpensively.

That book is specifically addressing the history of education. In terms of cultural shifts -- understanding how standards of American public life are changing and how one can adhere to the American ideals of a vibrant public square and a shared commitment to American values -- this is a wonderful "debate" between atheist moral thinker Jonathan Haidt and Christian pastor Tim Keller: The Closing of the American Mind: it is encouraging to see how much common ground Keller and Haidt have and how concerned they both are over the rise of what one could call "identity politics".

It's also great to hear their suggestions on how to bridge the gaps brought on by the current culture wars while being respectful, kind, and holding to one's moral center/belief in the absolute truth of one's own faith. Both Keller and Haidt have written several books one could read as a follow-up.

ETA: I do think that "The History of Western Education" is the best thing I've found for tracing the arc of educational movements in the West.

[pax2day]

Jen: "It was understood that Education as a concept was now Enlightened from the Old Day of... gasp... memorization. I was given to believe that the most soul crushing task given to the human mind was memorization of pure facts. Memorization is ethically and morally wrong, and smacks of the patriarchy."

That reminded me of the Introduction to the V. M. Hillyer's A Child's History of the World (1924 edition).

Hillyer: “No matter how the subject is presented it is necessary that the child do his part and put his own brain to work; and for this purpose he should be required to retell each story after he has read it and should be repeatedly questioned on names and dates as well as stories, to make sure he is retaining and assimilating what he hears.

“I recall how once upon a time a young chap, just out of college, taught his first class in history. With all the enthusiasm of a full-back who has just kicked a goal from the field, he talked, he sang; he drew maps on the blackboard, on the floor, on the field; he drew pictures, he vaulted desks, and even stood on his head to illustrate points. His pupils attended spellbound, with their eyes wide open, their ears wide open, and their mouths wide open. They missed nothing. They drank in his flow of words with thirst unquenched; but, like Baron Munchausen, he had failed to look at the other end of the drinking horse that had been cut in half. At the end of a month his kindly principal suggested a test, and he gave it with perfect confidence.

“There were only three questions:
(1) Tell all you can about Columbus.
(2) “ “ “ “ “ Jamestown.
(3) “ “ “ “ “ Plymouth.

“And here are the three answers of one of the most interested pupils:
(1) He was a grate man.
(2) “ “ “ " “
(3) “ “ “ “ “ to.”

Baron Manchausen: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baron_Munchausen

Charlotte Iserbyt, who worked for the Department of Education, said the dumbing down was deliberate. Her book about it is online: http://deliberatedumbingdown.com/ddd/

A forerunner to Gatto was Samuel L. Blumenfeld, author of Is Public Education Necessary? https://www.amazon.com/Samuel-L.-Blu...rwt_scns_share

Jessica, I know the criticism of Wikipedia, but it does give an overview in list form of the history of education: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_education_1

[anastasia5]

I have a suggestion for you, Jessica!

I read Is Public Education Necessary? by Samuel L. Blumenfeld around the same time I began using Memoria Press curriculum (six years ago). It was a well timed recommendation from a fellow home school mother, and it clarified so much for me about the roots of our current system.

This simple book lays out 200 years of education history in a concise and meaningful way. Mr. Blumenfeld focuses on the religious and philosophical beliefs that undergirded the dismantling of what we here call “real education”.

Mr. Blumenfeld (who passed away in 2015) was an outspoken proponent of phonics vs. whole language in early literacy instruction. He created his own phonics curriculum (Alpha-Phonics) and tutored people of different ages and backgrounds to reading fluency. He championed high literacy for all citizens as a means of preserving our inherited culture and freedoms.

Let me know what you think!

[pickandgrin]

Thank you!

[DiannaKennedy]

Baron Manchausen: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baron_Munchausen

I clicked over to read more --- and laughed, because I'm making a connection to a Harry Potter character. The Baron sounds much like Gilderoy Lockhart. "most strongly defined by his comically exaggerated boasts about his own adventures"