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1. In your opinion, is teaching a profession or not? What
changes might make teaching a true profession? What does teacher
professionalism mean to you?
2. Are staff development programs essential for maintaining
high-quality teaching? If so, what should their main focus be? Who should
design these programs and how?

Whereas the Arabic scholars deliberately borrowed knowledge
from other cultures, the ancient Chinese resisted cultural borrowing. Do you
favor or oppose the borrowing of “foreign” concepts in American education?

1. How do think the Sophists would feel about such trends as
focus groups, public opinion polls, sound-bite commercials, and the negative
advertising used in modern political campaigns?
2. Reflect on the influence of religion in the history of
education. Examine the role of religion in American society, especially issues
related to separation of church and state.

Visit the “Classic Philosophers” series on the Radical
Academy Web site (www.radicalacademy.com) for information on the Sophists,
Plato, Aristotle, and other ancient Greek philosophers. Determine the Sophists’
historical and contemporary relevance.

The “Gallery of Educational Theorists,” created by Edward G.
Rozycki, is a useful Web site for students of education history and
philosophy.The site is www .newfoundations.com/GALLERY/Gallery.html. The site
analyzes theorists such as Aquinas, Aristotle, Luther, and Plato, all treated
in this chapter, as well as other world educational figures, in terms of such
questions as What is knowledge? What is learning? and How is knowledge to be
transmitted? Use this site to help you develop your own philosophy of
education.

In school situations, some teachers’ and students’ behaviors
are regarded as appropriate and others as inappropriate. Make a list of
appropriate and inappropriate behaviors and why this behavior is so designated.
Determine how students learn to make distinctions between the appropriate and
the inappropriate.Then, hypothesize about how Confucius, Plato, Aquinas, Erasmus,
and Luther might evaluate your list.

How would you define an educational mentor? Who were the
mentors that contributed to your ideas about education, schools, and teaching?
Which of the pioneers in the chapter most appeals to you as an historical
mentor?

1. Do you agree or disagree with Rousseau’s critics who
claimed his method presented an overly romantic and unrealistic view of
children and their education? Defend your answer
2. Do you agree or disagree with critics who allege that
Jane Addams’s philosophy of socialized education diverts schools from teaching
academic skills and subjects? Defend your answer.

1. Reflect on trends such as whole-language learning,
collaborative learning, constructivism, portfolio assessment, use of technology,
and the standards movement. How might the pioneers discussed in this chapter
react to these trends?

1. Do you agree or disagree with critics who contend that
Freire has contributed to class conflict in schools by pitting the poor against
the rich? Defend your answer
2. Do you support Spencer’s argument that education should
stimulate competition or Dewey’s view that it should encourage cooperation?
Defend your answer.