Education in Crisis

One-Sheet for SOPHIA Conversations

Adobe logo, to serve as a link to the one-sheet in Adobe PDF.

One-sheet as a printable Adobe PDF.

SOPHIA’s Executive Director Eric Thomas Weber created this SOPHIA one-sheet for the facilitation of a conversation with the Albuquerque Philosophy Collective, our SOPHIA Chapter in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The prompts on this one-sheet consider both current matters involving education in the time of the COVID-19 pandemic crisis, as well as broader, continuing crises in education concerning real problems as well as problems of misunderstanding concerning education.

Image of an old school building falling apart.

Thanks to spoilt.exile for permission to share this photo.

The COVID-19 pandemic prompted nations around the world to make sudden and radical changes to schooling practices in the spring of 2020. For a generation prior to the pandemic, scholars and critics of all stripes have proclaimed a variety of crises in education, from questions of whether students are learning anything and are being “left behind” to concerns over inequality and inadequacy of school funding. In 2020, the health crisis saw kids returned home without plans for how parents and guardians would care for their children and the economic effects of the virus and quarantining practices put many people out of work. There have emerged two narratives of crisis in education, then, one long-standing concern over how best to educate people and another about education in times of crisis. This SOPHIA one-sheet presents two prompts, which can either be considered in sequence or separately, in two different meetings.

Click on the Adobe PDF logo on right, on the featured image hereabove, or here to open a printable, Adobe PDF version of the one-sheet.

Special thanks go to the Albuquerque Philosophy Collective and especially to Ty Camp for prompting the creation of this one-sheet and inviting Executive Director Weber to meet with their dynamic and energetic SOPHIA chapter in September of 2020!

091: Ep88 – School Was Our Life

Philosophy Bakes Bread radio show & podcast

In this 88th episode of Philosophy Bakes Bread, “School Was Our Life,” Dr. Jane Roland Martin, author of School Was Our Life (2018), joins Eric Thomas Weber and Anthony Cashio to talk about progressive education.

Photo of the cover of Dr. Martin's book, School Was Our Life, next to a black and white artwork of her portrait.

Dr. Jane Roland Martin is professor Emerita of Philosophy at the University of Massachusetts Boston. She has published many books on philosophy, education, and gender and received a Guggenheim Award. Her most recent book is titled School Was Our Life, published in 2018 with Indiana University Press. Thank you for joining us today, Jane! Eric’s colleague, Dr. Beth Goldstein, in Educational Policy Studies and Evaluation at the University of Kentucky, called his attention to Martin’s 1991 essay titled “The Contradiction and the Challenge of the Educated Woman,” which inspired him and Anthony to reach out to Dr. Martin, who is an authority in the philosophy of education.

 Listen for our “You Tell Me!” questions and for some jokes in one of our concluding segments, called “Philosophunnies.” Reach out to us on Facebook @PhilosophyBakesBread and on Twitter @PhilosophyBB; email us at philosophybakesbread@gmail.com; or call and record a voicemail that we play on the show, at 859.257.1849. Philosophy Bakes Bread is a production of the Society of Philosophers in America (SOPHIA). Check us out online at PhilosophyBakesBread.com and check out SOPHIA at PhilosophersInAmerica.com.

(1 hr 16mins)

Click here for a list of all the episodes of Philosophy Bakes Bread.

 

 

Subscribe to the podcast!

We’re on iTunes and Google Play, and we’ve got a regular RSS feed too!

Logo for Spotify that links to the Spotify page for Philosophy Bakes Bread.iTunes logo.Google PlayRSS logo feed icon and link.

 

 

Notes

  1. Jane Roland Martin, School Was Our Lives (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2018).
  2. Israel Sheffler
  3. Summerhill School in England, and A. S. Neill.  
  4. The Dalton School in New York
  5. The Little Red Schoolhouse Wikipedia page.
  6.  Pamela Paul, “Let Children Get Bored Again,” The New York Times, February 2, 2019. 
  7. John Dewey on “Play and Work in the Curriculum,” Chapter 15 of Democracy and Education (New York: The Free Press, 1916/1997). 
  8. Elisabeth Irwin of the Little Red Schoolhouse on Wikipedia.com. 

 

You Tell Me!

Dr. Martin’s question for listeners is inspired by her work on a new, forthcoming book: 

“Do you think that to preserve the natural environment of the planet that has allowed our species to flourish human nature has to change? If so, can we change it?”

Let us know what you think! Via TwitterFacebook, Email, or by commenting here below.

086: Ep82 – BC16 – On Addams and Dewey

Philosophy Bakes Bread radio show and podcast

Dr. Marilyn FischerIn this 82nd episode of Philosophy Bakes Bread and our 16th “breadcrumb” episode, Eric Thomas Weber and Anthony Cashio invite Dr. Marilyn Fischer back on the show to talk about the relationship between Jane Addams and John Dewey.

A collage of photos of John Dewey and Jane Addams.

As a reminder, Marilyn is a Professor Emerita at the University of Dayton where she specializes in political philosophy and American Pragmatism. She focuses especially on Jane Addams’s philosophy. She has a strong passion for interdisciplinary work. She is the author of several books, including Ethical Decision Making in Fundraising (2000), On Addams (2003), and in 2008, she released a co-edited volume titled Jane Addams and the Practice of Democracy.

Reach out to us on Facebook @PhilosophyBakesBreadand on Twitter @PhilosophyBB; email us at philosophybakesbread@gmail.com; or call and record a voicemail that we play on the show, at 859.257.1849. Philosophy Bakes Bread is a production of the Society of Philosophers in America (SOPHIA). Check us out online at PhilosophyBakesBread.com and check out SOPHIA at PhilosophersInAmerica.com.

(17 mins)

Click here for a list of all the episodes of Philosophy Bakes Bread.

 

Subscribe to the podcast!

We’re on iTunes and Google Play, and we’ve got a regular RSS feed too!

Logo for Spotify that links to the Spotify page for Philosophy Bakes Bread.iTunes logo.Google PlayRSS logo feed icon and link.

 

 

Notes

  1. Hull House Museum.
  2. Jane Addams and the Labor Museum.
  3. The University of Chicago Laboratory Schools.

067: Ep63 – Democracy and Public Exposure

Philosophy Bakes Bread radio show & podcast

Dr. Mark Sanders.In this 63rd episode of the Philosophy Bakes Bread radio show and podcast, Eric Thomas Weber and Anthony Cashio interview Dr. Mark Sanders on “Democracy and Public Exposure.” We ask Mark about democracy and public philosophical engagement, including some of the special projects that he runs in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Photo of a streaker at a soccer game, playing on the sillier sense of 'public exposure,' when we really mean public engagement, of course.

Mark specializes in American Pragmatism and social and political philosophy. He is very involved on campus; he is a Faculty Associate with the Center for Professional and Applied Ethics and the Faculty Co-Advisor of the Philosophy Club. Mark has recently written and published articles in Human Affairs and the Review Journal for Political Philosophy. The focus of his recent work has been on the intersection of deliberative democracy, pragmatic pluralism, and citizenship. Mark also has interests in phenomenology especially the views of French philosopher Maurice Merleau-Ponty.

Listen for our “You Tell Me!” questions and for some jokes in one of our concluding segments, called “Philosophunnies.” Reach out to us on Facebook @PhilosophyBakesBread and on Twitter @PhilosophyBB; email us at philosophybakesbread@gmail.com; or call and record a voicemail that we play on the show, at 859.257.1849. Philosophy Bakes Bread is a production of the Society of Philosophers in America (SOPHIA). Check us out online at PhilosophyBakesBread.com and check out SOPHIA at PhilosophersInAmerica.com.

(1 hr 1 mins)

 

Click here for a list of all the episodes of Philosophy Bakes Bread.

 

 

Notes

  1. Albert Camus, The Myth of Sysiphus (New York: Vintage Press, 1991).
  2. The story of Sysiphus.
  3. The New College of Florida.
  4. The Web site for Campus Compact, and the Charlotte, North Carolina Chapter.
  5. Jana Mohr Lone and Michael Burroughs, Philosophy in Education: Questioning and Dialogue in Schools (Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2016).
  6. Lynx Light Rail of Charlotte, NC.
  7. James Fishkin on deliberative polling and the Center for Deliberative Democracy.

 

 

You Tell Me!

For our future “You Tell Me!” segments, Mark posed the following question in this episode:

“Not to promote excessive drinking, but: Do you think that there ought to be a drinking game to go along with the Philosophy Bakes Bread podcast?”

Proposed examples: When you hear “I like that,” “Right on,” “Indeed,” Eric’s out-of-date pop-culture references, or “This is correct!”

Let us know what you think! Via TwitterFacebookEmail, or by commenting here below.

 

 

065: Ep61 – The Future of Community College Education

Philosophy Bakes Bread radio show & podcast

Dr. Cliff Harbour.In this sixty-first episode of the Philosophy Bakes Bread radio show and podcast, the second that aired in 2018, co-hosts Eric Thomas Weber and Anthony Cashio interview Dr. Cliff Harbour on “The Future of Community College Education,” the theme of his 2015 book, John Dewey and the Future of Community College Education.

The front of a community college building, on which the words were edited to read: 'The Future of Community College Education.'

Chemeketa Community College, Creative commons license.

Cliff is Professor of Counseling and Higher Education at the University of North Texas, which he joined in 2017. From 2008 until this move, he taught at the University of Wyoming, and before that at Colorado State University. He has an impressive philosophical background, having majored in Philosophy as an undergraduate, before studying the law. After that, he headed to Duke University for his master’s degree in Philosophy, and then completed his doctorate in education at North Carolina State University.

Listen for our “You Tell Me!” questions and for some jokes in one of our concluding segments, called “Philosophunnies.” Reach out to us on Facebook @PhilosophyBakesBread and on Twitter @PhilosophyBB; email us at philosophybakesbread@gmail.com; or call and record a voicemail that we play on the show, at 859.257.1849. Philosophy Bakes Bread is a production of the Society of Philosophers in America (SOPHIA). Check us out online at PhilosophyBakesBread.com and check out SOPHIA at PhilosophersInAmerica.com.



(1 hr 5 mins)

Click here for a list of all the episodes of Philosophy Bakes Bread.

 

The cover of Cliff Harbour's book, 'John Dewey and the Future of Community College Education,' featuring John Dewey. Notes

  1. Cliff Harbour, John Dewey and the Future of Community College Education (London: Bloomsbury Academic Publishers, 2014).
  2. Richard Field, “John Dewey,” Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
  3. Fast Facts on Completion Rates,” the National Center for Education Statistics.

 

You Tell Me!

For our future “You Tell Me!” segments, Cliff posed the following question in this episode:

“Where do you see philosophy reflected, displayed, exhibited in the arts, like literature and film?”

Let us know what you think! Via TwitterFacebookEmail, or by commenting here below.