Text 4. Schools of the Future

The schools that will shape our nation's future in the 21st century – are being planned today, at a time when education is again in the national spotlight. Nearly 30 reports issued by commissions and individuals have made it clear to the American people that their nation will be "at risk" unless they pay attention to their schools. During the past several years dozens of panels, commissions and other experts have made recommendations on how schools can become more effective. Continuing to improve America's schools is the key to the United States' future. Schools must make their plans for the future with an understanding of the key issues that will affect education.

A major responsibility of schools in the future will be to prepare students to enter a rapidly changing job market. American workers will need to be more highly trained than at present.

Schools will be responsible for preparing students who are adaptable, who are able to respond quickly to the changing requirements of new technologies. Schools will train both young and adults; adult workers will need reeducation and retraining.

In the future, schools and business will need to work closely in a new business/education partnership.

Emphasis on such "traditional" academic subjects as reading, writing and mathematics will increase.

New technologies, such as computers, videodiscs and cable television will change the look of the "schoolroom." In the future, students may spend 1 or 2 days each week studying at home. Increased and well-planned use of these new learning technologies will enable machines and humans each to teach what they teach best.

Because of the additional responsibilities that will be imposed on teachers, they will archive greater status in society. In the future, they will be paid salaries that are comparable with other professionals. They will work in schools that offer continuing opportunities for professional advancement and training. As a result, education will once again attract the nation's brightest and most qualified students.

Assignment:

Read the text and say:

a) what changes the Americans are planning to introduce in their schools;

b) which of the changes you would like to introduce in our educational system.

2. Choose a university you are interested in. Pick up information about it in encyclopedias or internet as the basis for your presentation.

Text 5. Educational Philosophy and Theory, № 3, 1999

5.1. On the Varieties of Phronesis

Jana Noel, Montana Slate University, Bozeman, Montana. USA

Aristotle defines phronesis as a "True and reasoned state of ca­pacity to act with regard to the things that are good or bad for man." Translations have included, among others, practical reasoning, prac­tical wisdom, moral discernment, moral insight and prudence.

5.2. Research on Teaching Based in the Moral Character

Interpretation

A number of researchers on teaching have proposed that teach­ing is in itself a moral act. These researchers point out the moral and ethical nature of working with students, in a hierarchical system of teacher and students, within specific communities. Jackson (1993) tells us about "The moral l.ifc of Schools" and Alan Tom (1984) por­trays "teaching as a Moral Craft", for instance. Tom (1984), describ­ing teaching as a "moral craft", writes about the moral nature of teaching, not just through the formal practice of moral education, but also through the questions that each of us must address on a daily basis, questions such as "What really matters during one's life? Dur­ing one's career? During the next day or two? To what end docs one pursue a practical activity?" Tom speaks from within what could be considered the moral character interpretation of phronesis, as he writes that "Each of us comes to terms with countless moral situa­tions in a lifetime" and through these we learn the answers to these questions.

A number of other researchers have done their work within the view of the moral character interpretation by focusing on the moral characteristics of teachers. These educators write about a variety of types of characteristics of the teacher who acts with a sense of the practical as in the moral character interpretation of phronesis. They speak of how individuals, teachers in particular, base their living and teaching actions in particular settings on the moral characteristics that they have developed throughout their lifetimes. Others describe this character of the teacher as "caring". David Hansen (1994) de­scribes what the teacher feels for teaching as a "vocation". And Max Van Manen describes a character of the teacher as "tact'.

Van Manen (1991) makes very clear the way that one's charac­teristics not only guide our actions but also arise from those actions. In what Van Manen terms "mindful action", or "tact"» he describes that "Everyday practical action is carried by our orientation to life rather than determined by a practical set of technical skills or com­petencies". As he lays it out further:

We have seen that action characterizing concrete experiences between teachers and students in pedagogical situations may not he reflect he in a deliberate decision-making sense. Yet this action needs to be mindful and to benefit from reflection. This capacity far mindful action I have referred to as tact, pedagogical tact.

As with the Aristotelian scholars examined above, Van Manen believes that the actions of our everyday life are virtually ex­pressions of who we are, as a whole person. "Tact as a form of human interaction means that we are immediately active in a situation: emotionally, responsively, mindfully."

Tactful action cannot be planned of charted out beforehand – it always realizes itself in concrete and unexpected or unforeseeable situations in which one finds oneself and in which one must serve, help, or respond to another person. But even though tact is unplannable, one can prepare for it – one can prepare the heart and mind.

Assignment:

1. Why can teaching be considered a moral act or a moral craft? What is your point of view?

2. What are the moral characteristics of teachers?

3. What is tact? Do you agree with the definition of Van Manen? Give an example of tactful reaction.