Education
PAIDEIA (py-dee-a) from the Greek pais, paidos: the upbringing of a child. (Related to pedagogy and pediatrics.) In an extended sense, the equivalent of the Latin humanitas (from which "the humanities"), signifying the general learning that should be the possession of all human beings.
From The Paideia Proposal
The purpose of this section is to direct the reader to the principal resources concerning education at Everything Progressive.
In our education overview, linked above, we discussed our perspective on the the place of education in a well-lived life; and we noted that the closest institutional parallel to our views lies in the sort of school advocated for by American philosopher Mortimer Adler. These he referred to as "Paideia" schools.
Adler founded an organization known as the Institute for Philosophical Research, which engaged in several exceptionally worthwhile activities. In the early 1980s members of the institute spun off the Paideia Group, which undertook to create both an educational manifesto and a more concrete framework for Paideia schools.
The trilogy of books they produced ultimately included The Paideia Proposal, an Educational Manifesto (1982), Paideia Problems and Possibilities, a Consideration of Questions Raised by The Paideia Proposal (1983), and The Paideia Program, an Educational Syllabus (1984).
Their proposal was received with surprising enthusiasm, and throughout 1982 and 1983 Adler, with admirable energy for a man in his eighties, engaged in something of a media blitz. His ideas were widely discussed, and pilot projects were subsequently undertaken at several locations. To this day, Paideia schools continue to innovate and still represent the growing tip of American educational thought.
To some degree, Paideia schools represent a return the long and honorable liberal arts tradition in education, which emphasized subjects like languages, history, philosophy, and scientific principles, that deal with subjects of broad cultural concern rather than those more narrowly focused on vocational preparation. The purpose of a liberal education might be said to be to "produce" a better person, while the purpose of vocational education is to produce a better employee. But while the British traditionally emphasized mastery of Greek and Latin, with a corresponding reading of the classics of the Greco-Roman canon, Paidea schools instead emphasize the relevance of education to the participation of citizens in a genuine democracy.
Moreover, Adler emphasized, the basic education supplied within the American framework of kindergarten through 12th grade is best regarded as the stepping stone to a lifetime of continual educational advancement for everyone - not just the college-bound. And he saw this as being, nevertheless, the best preparation, too, for vocational education, particularly given the rapid tempo of change in contemporary society.
To more fully grasp the unsurpassed importance of liberal education, we commend to all readers Brand Blanshard's masterful The Uses of a Liberal Education.
With the remarkable insights available there understood, the Paideia trilogy will resonate all the more powerfully, as a highly effective means for achieving the ends of a liberal education. All three books are relatively short, and can be read in just one or two weekends.
They are reviewed at the links below:
The Paideia Proposal, an Educational Manifesto
Paideia Problems and Possibilities, a Consideration of Questions Raised by The Paideia Proposal
The Paideia Program, an Educational Syllabus
In the future we will go on to offer resources that will invite the reader to participate in do-it-yourself science and technology projects for the true life-long learner.
The education that I propose includes all that is proper for a man and it is one in which all men who are born into this world should share . . . . Our first wish is that all men be educated fully to full humanity, not any one individual, not a few, nor even many, but all men together and singly, young and old, rich and poor, of high and lowly birth, men and women - in a word all whose fate it is to be born human beings, so that at least the whole human race becomes educated, men of all ages, all conditions, both sexes, and all nations.
John Amos Comenius/The Great Didactic, 1657
This Is a Temporary Stub . . .
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