Philosopher views


INSTITUTIONS ARE NECESSARY



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INSTITUTIONS ARE NECESSARY

1. ELIMINATING SCHOOLS MAKES THE MEDIA THE TEACHER

Arthur Pearle, Chairmen for committee on education, University of California, AFTER DESCHOOLING WHAT? Alan Gartner ed. 1973. p. 116-117

Try to deinstitutionalize education as a symbol and the beginning of the deinstitutionalization of everything and you quickly reinstitute the law of the jungle- which quickly breaks down into a new set of oppressive institutions. The same unfortunate situations holds true for attaining any of the other goals of a desirable society. Politics learned at the hands of Richard Daley, culture picked up at the feet of Johnny Carson, and interpersonal relations gleaned from groupings in the street are the alternatives to school. That these alternatives are already to characteristic of contemporary American Society in not a reason for removing schools, but for reforming them.


2. QUALITY INSTITUTIONAL EDUCATION IS NECESSARY FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE DISENFRANCHISED

Pamela J. Smith, Assistant Professor, Boston College Law School. HOWARD LAW JOURNAL, 1999, p 42.

While education is not the only resulting Hydratic head, it is one of the most vicious. After all, education allows the populace to best take advantage of the ‘more perfect Union’ formed by the Framers. Further, subeducation immediately and primarily affects children- when Blacks are most vulnerable and in need of protection. Moreover, it is access to quality education that will primarily determine whether a Black person will prosper in this country and obtain (1) opportunity-providing employment; (2) enough information and knowledge to use and access healthcare; (3) sufficient economics to purchase a home and property; and (4) enough information to intelligently seek and access basic civil and human rights.
3. THE HIDDEN CURRICUA OF SOCIETY ARE BEST ADDRESSED FROM WITHIN SCHOOLS, WE MUST IMPROVE OUR SCHOOLS, NOT ELIMINATE THEM.

Robin Barrow, Visiting Professor of the Philosophy of education at the University of Western Ontario, RADICAL EDUCATION: A CRITIQUE OF FREESCHOOLING AND DESCHOOLILNG, 1978. p. 139.

It seems indisputable that schools have a hidden curriculum. As Freire puts it, ‘education cannot be neutral,’ and its values come out in both the overt and hidden curricula. Consequently Lister is correct to suggest that full-scale curriculum reform must also involve a change in the hidden curriculum. But the idea of some change that would do away with a hidden curriculum altogether is inconceivable, so deschooling cannot be defended on these grounds. All that can be done to combat the dangers of a hidden curriculum is, first, to take steps to control its content so that the messages it transmits are desirable, and second to take steps to offset the surreptitious nature of the transmit ion by bringing the values and beliefs imparted into the open and subjecting them to examination. One defeats insidious influence, as one does all forms of indoctrination, be enabling and encouraging people to examine and reflect. Deschooling, by contrast, would not remove all signs of hidden curriculum’ it would merely place it beyond immediate control and allow of no calculated steps to offset its effects.

Immanuel Kant

Political Philosopher (1724- 1804)

Immanuel Kant was born in 1724, the son of a saddler. In 1740, Kant entered upon his university studies in his hometown and attended lectures in a wide variety of subjects. The salient trait in Kant’s character was probably his moral earnestness and his devotion to the idea of duty. Some have broken down Kant’s life

into two phases. First, the pre-critical period, when he was under the influence of the Leibniz-Wolffian

system, and the critical period, when he was thinking out and expressing his own philosophy. These time frames are important to understand because they provide explanations for how and when is positions shifted. To understand the many issues Kant discusses requires an examination of: (1) political orientation, (2) knowledge, (3) knowledge, (4) categorical imperative and (5) application to debate.


Kant was inclined to support limited constitutional monarchy. He sympathized with the Americans in the War of Independence, and later with the ideals of the French Revolution. In fact, his political ideas were intimately associated with his conception of the value of the free moral personality. Kant spends

considerable time discussing the notion of intellectual knowledge. Kant argues that intellectual or rational knowledge is knowledge of objects which do not affect the senses: that is to say, it is knowledge, not of sense, but of intelligence. Sensitive knowledge is knowledge of objects as they appear, that is, as subjected to what Kant calls the “laws of sensibility,’ namely the a priori conditions of space and time, whereas intellectual knowledge is knowledge of things as they are. The empirical sciences come under the heading of sensitive knowledge, while metaphysics is the prime example of intellectual knowledge.


Kant argues that the human mind does not constitute or create the object in its totality. That is to say, things perceived and known are relative, in the sense that we perceive and know them only through the a priori forms embedded in the structure of the human subject. To put the matter crudely, we no more create things according to their existence than the human who wears red-tinted spectacles creates the things which he/she sees. If we assume that the spectacles can never be detached, the human will never see things except as red, and their appearance will be due to a factor in the perceiving subject. Essentially Kant was arguing that the perception lens that each of us examines the world through has an overpowering effect on our orientation.
Finally, Kant believed that there was a pure rational element in moral judgments. That is, morality comes from reason, and rigorous thought. Kant called his axiom the categorical imperative. To varying degrees, in Kant’s view, all humans possess a sense of right and wrong; universal moral law as apprehended by conscience must be obeyed by all rational beings. Moral imperatives inherent in human nature are categorical--without conditions, exceptions, or extenuating circumstances. A lie, for example, always is unethical. Moral imperatives are right in themselves, not because of their consequences. As touchstones to guide ethical behavior, Kant presented two forms of his Categorical Imperative. First: Act only on that maxim which you can at the same time will to become a universal law. We must ask ourselves, is the ethical principle which I am using to justify my choice a principle that I would want everyone to follow in similar situations? Is the ethical standard that I am following in a particular case one which I would agree should apply to everyone? Second: Always act so that you treat humanity, whether in your own person or in another, as an end, and never merely as a means. Humans must not be treated simply or solely as things (means to an end), but always also as persons worthy of dignity and respect in themselves
There are a multitude of ways that a debater could use Kant’s philosophy in a round. For example, the debater could set up a criteria using Kant’s categorical imperative as the test for a particular value. The decision-rule would: (1) set up the standards for assessing value controversies--universally acceptable, and (2) separate the discussion of values and action. The second point may be extremely useful for debaters who seek to avoid discussing the actions inherent in values. Although Kant sees action and values as interconnected, he does argue that we should view values before we examine the actions caused by a particular value. The debater could also challenge certain values as being insufficient because they are contingent and not universal. Finally, one could use Kant’s notion of intelligent vs. sensible knowledge as a way to distinguish between fact and value. Especially important would be a discussion of the role of perception in determining facts. As suggested previously, perceptions have a profound impact on the elements of any given controversy. A debater could attack various conclusions based on the perceptive lens of the author.



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