Social/Pol/Phil Fndtns US Educ

Catalog description

Teachers are increasingly being asked to assume leadership roles in their schools, districts, and communities and grapple with the problems and issues affecting students and their families. The primary goal of this course is to help students apply ethical and philosophical lenses to examine how teaching and learning influence and are influenced by certain fundamental assumptions and beliefs about the nature of individuals, roles of the teacher and student for bringing about certain ends, and the purpose of schooling in a democratic society. Ultimately, this course will help students begin to develop strategies for addressing those aspects that work against students' opportunities to learn. Students will be introduced to questions and issues in the social, political, ethical and philosophical contexts of education that are of a concern to educators, researchers, and various interest groups, and the various (at times contraditory) positions, policies, and practices that have been devised. This course is required for all levels of teacher licensure. This will be a writing/speaking intensive course, focused on argument. While there is no prerequisite for this course, students must reach at least a junior standing at UIndy in order to enroll.