Why the Aims of Education Cannot Be Settled

Abstract

The dominant model of curriculum design in the last century assumed that school education could be organized around aims, defined primarily in terms of students' behaviour. The credentials of this model were questioned by, among others, Lawrence Stenhouse, who pointed out that education serves purposes that cannot be stated in terms of behavioural objectives. In this article, I offer support for Stenhouse's conclusion and go beyond it, showing that if education aims at critical understanding of its own value, then it is even more radically open‐ended than Stenhouse argued. My argument is based on two premises. One of them is that the reason why people disagree about what education involves is that they have less‐than‐perfect knowledge of what human characteristics are worth cultivating. This premise is supported by a theory of meaning advanced by Hilary Putnam. The other premise is that one of the aims of education is intellectual independence. From these premises, I conclude that a successful course of education serves purposes that cannot be completely stated in advance.

How to reach and Teach African American Students in Today’s Schools

“…Moving from slavery, to Plessy, to Brown, to NCLB; the overarching question is: What is expected of America's educational system (Hardarson, 2012) and how successful is it? It is difficult to measure the effectiveness of education because some of its impact is revealed in short term, for example, ex-slaves' 95 percent illiteracy rate in 1860 dropped to 70 percent in 1880, and to 30 percent by 1910 (Anderson, 1988); some of it is revealed in long term, for example, 50 years after the Brown case schools are becoming increasingly segregated and unequal (Orfield and Lee, 2004); and some of its purpose is open-ended and cannot be adequately described (Hardarson, 2012).…”

“…It is difficult to measure the effectiveness of education because some of its impact is revealed in short term, for example, ex-slaves' 95 percent illiteracy rate in 1860 dropped to 70 percent in 1880, and to 30 percent by 1910 (Anderson, 1988); some of it is revealed in long term, for example, 50 years after the Brown case schools are becoming increasingly segregated and unequal (Orfield and Lee, 2004); and some of its purpose is open-ended and cannot be adequately described (Hardarson, 2012). In an inductive manner, one may view the effectiveness of education for African Americans in terms of what they are denied and that what they are denied is what it takes to provide quality education.…”

“…The input measures would include equal educational opportunity for all children, adequate educational resources (Riley, 1994), appropriately designed and maintained facilities, and political support. There are also outcome measures of a quality education, if it is viewed as a process of changing learners' behavior patterns (Hardarson, 2012). For example, scores on schools are maintained and used as a housing marketing factor.…”

“…health, unemployment, engage in crime (2, 9). (Campbell, 2003;Balfanz and Legters, 2004;Anderson, 2007); (Riley, 1994;Elmore, 2004;Orfield, 2004;Green et al, 2005;Obiakor, 2007;Howard and Reynolds, 2008;Hardarson, 2012;Reimers, 2013).…”

“…Du Bois (1935) believed that if African American education during Reconstruction had been sustained, today they would be on a level equal to Denmark in literacy. However, the curriculum should be culturally appropriate (Green et al, 2005), reflecting what African Americans live and what they aspire to become and then proceed to emphasize what society needs and demands; it should incorporate early interventions rather than waiting for students to fail (Green et al, 2005); it should differentiate instruction to accommodate various learning styles; and it should make every minute of instructional time count (Hardarson, 2012). These things coupled with appropriate instruction and resources will help close the achievement gap (Anderson, 1988;Tatum, 1997), thereby impacting school attendance, achievement, graduation, and attending college.…”