Education - History, Political Theory & Ideology, Education - Social & Political Aspects, Major Branches of Philosophical Study, Educational Levels & Settings, U.S. Politics - General & Miscellaneous
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Overview
Education seems to be in one of its perennial crises, and all shades of political opinion quarrel over the reasons and the cure. Alan Ryan asks what these culture wars are really about, and why the battle is so ferocious. His answer is that for two hundred years education has been the focus of three great anxieties: that modern times have turned workers into uncultivated machine-minders; that democracy is degenerating into mob rule; and that our fearsome pace of change leaves us morally and spiritually adrift. Schools have the impossible task of rescuing us from these ill-defined dangers, and discussion about school reform arouses feelings more appropriate to wars of religion. Ryan argues for more perspective and less panic, for a calmer, livelier sense of the complexity and contradictions inherent to democratic education.Editorials
Booknews
An examination of the problems facing the American education system. Ryan (warden of New College, Oxford), who has taught at several major US campuses, looks past the posturing on Capitol Hill to the roots of the problem: the condition of inner-city schools, low literacy and graduation rates, and anxieties over just what a liberal education is and how compatible it is with contemporary society. The work originated as three lectures given at the University of California at Berkeley in March of 1994. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.Kevin Grandfield
"[Ryan's] observations...lower the heated rhetoric and portray liberal education as a means of creating a responsible citizen... Ryan argues for rewarding students for applying skills instead of merely acquiring them; offering quality vocational training; pursuing difficulty; teaching students to express themselves to know what they want to express; and imbuing a sense of connection to larger worlds." -- BooklistTerry A. Christner
"Stressing that the American education system needs revision, Ryan... [focuses] on liberal education and its history, relationship to society, and relevance today. [He] emphasizes that those who are more liberally educated will be better able to deal with the changing world, where different cultures are meshing and evolving." -- Library JournalBook Details
Published
May 1, 1998
Publisher
New York : Hill and Wang, 1998.
Pages
199
Format
Hardcover
ISBN
9780809065394