Primer Update and Sneak Peek

May 20, 2013 By Leave a Comment
CMM1-13039 copy copy

My latest book --- A Primer for Philosophy & Education --- was released two weeks ago. Since then, there have been two reviews --- here and here --- posted on Patheos blogs and there are several more to come from Patheos and elsewhere. Entering this crucial third week, I'd like to ask you for your help once again. Anything helps: Facebook liking and sharing, Tweets, and especially personal recommendations to people you think might be interested are all a huge help. In the end, the proof … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Education, pastoral philosophy, Philosophy, Schooling Leave a Comment

Sex Miseducation: Abstinence Doesn’t Make Sense UPDATED

May 14, 2013 By 8 Comments

Calah Alexander has written a powerful essay about the psychological and spiritual violence that is often inflicted on women by abstinence-only sex education. Read it. Since I seem to be in a womanist mood these days, I'd like to fully endorse her argument and bolster it with a very simple addition: teaching fertile females and virile males to abstain from having sex is crazy. It is almost as crazy as instructing trees to abstain from growing leaves in the spring. A student once … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Education, Nonsense, Schooling 8 Comments

Constructivism and Its Discontents: An Interview

April 23, 2013 By 8 Comments

About a month ago, I was interviewed by one of my doctoral students, Emmanuel Mensah, for his qualitative social science research project on constructivism and teaching. I was shooting from the hip in a casual, coffee-shop environment, but I think I managed to think through some things, and make some distinctions, that I hadn't done before. My comments follow closely to a talk I gave at Wabash College in February, titled "The Teacher-Centered Classroom." For those who find the term … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Education, Schooling 8 Comments

The Teacher-Centered Classroom

March 5, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Last week I gave two talks at Wabash College. The second talk was unfortunately not recorded. The administration at Wabash College seems to find very serious and somewhat technical lectures on aesthetics, philosophy, and teaching very dangerous these days---so much for the liberal arts. I recorded the noon talk, and the very interesting discussion that followed, myself; here it is, for those who might be interested: The Teacher Centered Classroom. Next week, I'll be training to Portland, OR, … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Education, Philosophy, philosophy of education, Schooling Leave a Comment

Benedict XVI’s Support for Catholic Schools

March 1, 2013 By 2 Comments

Father Ronald Nuzzi, a leading speaker and author on U.S. Catholic schools and director of the Alliance for Catholic Education’s Mary Ann Remick Leadership Program, has a nice reflection on Benedict's support for Catholic schools. He cites Benedict XVI's pastoral visit in 2008, where he described Catholic schools as “an outstanding apostolate of hope.” He goes on to quote Benedict: [Catholic schools] provide a highly commendable opportunity for the entire Catholic community to … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Schooling 2 Comments

Space, and not being smart in an e-mail.

January 29, 2013 By 17 Comments

Sorry, readers. The end of the month is usually the time when I'm trying to meet all the end of the month deadlines that I should've started to work on a month or more ago. I'm swamped. In the meantime, here's an e-mail I just sent to my Foundations of Educational Thought class. You might find it interesting. Some context: I often assign an infamous first paper where students must describe the word 'word' in one page. The better way to put the prompt is like this. Describe the following … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Education, Nonsense, phenomenology, philosophy of education, Schooling 17 Comments

Two Notre Dame Rebuttals

November 27, 2012 By 3 Comments

My post yesterday defending Notre Dame produced a mostly interesting comment box --- including some classic Petrine wit. I also received several e-mails, all of them very thoughtful and honest, regardless of their opinion on the matter. As a result, I realize that I ended up casting too wide a net, trapping fish I never intended to catch, and also weaving a net with too wide a mesh, conveniently letting certain fish pass through that perhaps do not deserve it. And then there is this: Sycamore … [Read more...]

Filed Under: philosophy of education, Schooling 3 Comments

Notre Dame and Its Rather Silly Catholic Malcontents

November 26, 2012 By 14 Comments

Notre Dame is the premiere Catholic institution of higher education and research in the United States of America. Period. I don't have a single degree or academic affiliation motivating me to say that. This assertion should be self-evident. Keyword: should. I am also a life-long fan of the Fighting Irish and, with their recent athletic success, I've been hearing fellow Catholics --- including some of my nearest and dearest friends --- say all kinds of negative things about Notre Dame's … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Nonsense, Political Theology, Schooling 14 Comments