Readings in Education and Educational History

Abstract

This paper discusses and comments upon the major ideas of thirteen books I read during the Senior Independent Project quarter. Most of the books discuss contemporary education and the need for reform and three of the books in particular tend to discuss major historical figures and events. These are the books on John Dewey, Comenius and: the history of major educational ideas in the West. My reading was heavily balanced toward the issues of contemporary education, and while these books would not specifically be termed historical, they do examine in varying degrees what education has been in the past and the effects of that earlier education as a take-off: point for discussion of what education should be in the future. Reading one book by John Holt or Herbert Kohl led me to read most of their other works and the imbalance against specifically historical works became complete when I became intrigued by such titles as Education and Ecstasy, and Teaching as a Subversive Activity. Following the discussion of the books are some general remarks concerning my experience as a volunteer teacher's aid in an elementary school during the S.l.P. quarter.