OFFICE HOURS:

Feinberg: Tuesday, 1:15-2:45 p.m. (& by appointment)

Zodhiates: Wednesday, 2-3:45 p.m. (& by appointment)

EXPECTATIONS

Readings: We view this as a seminar, which means the bulk of our time together will be devoted to discussions of the readings, with a minimum of lecturing on our part. The quality of the course, therefore, will depend, in large measure, on the willingness of students to come to class prepared -- i.e., to read the day's assignment carefully and critically -- and to participate in exploring the ideas found in the texts we will be reading.

Questions: Students are expected to contribute 2-3 written questions for class discussion each week. Based on the readings, these questions should be no longer than a page, and could be as brief as a few sentences. They will be due by 5:00 p.m. the day before class.

Critical Reviews: Students wishing to receive a grade no higher than a B are expected to write three short papers; 5-7 pages in length, each paper should summarize and discuss one of the more substantial course readings. Students who wish to receive an A are expected to write two critical reviews and a research paper; see below.

Research Paper: Students wishing to receive an A are expected to write a 20-35 page paper that addresses either a topic discussed in class or another topic of their choice. A description of the topic and a 1-2 page outline will be due by March 21st. We want to encourage students who wish to write a research paper to start planning early. Accordingly, we ask students to schedule a conference with us to discuss their ideas for a research paper; these conferences will begin Tuesday, February 7, after class, and end Tuesday, February 28. Some of the time on March 21st has been set aside for a discussion of research topics; we ask students to provide copies of their outlines as a way of facilitating class discussion.

In addition to a packet of readings which will be made available for individual students to photocopy, the following books may be purchased at Horizon Bookstore, 1115-1/2 W. Oregon, Urbana:

• Hannah Arendt, Eichmann in Jerusalem, NY: Penguin Books, 1994.
• Sissela Bok, Lying: Moral Choice in Public and Private Life, NY: Vintage, 1989.
• Stephen Carter, The Culture of Disbelief, NY: Basic Books, 1993.
• Amy Gutmann, Democratic Education, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press,
• Kenneth Strike & P. Lance Ternasky (Eds.), Ethics for Professional Educators, NY: Teachers College Press, 1993.
• Charles Taylor, Multiculturalism and "the Politics of Recognition," Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1992.

SYLLABUS

Jan. 17 Introduction to course

Jan. 24 Topic One: What Is Ethics?

• Strike and Ternasky, eds., Ethics for Professional Educators, Chapters 1-4 & 8.

Jan. 31

• Alasdair MacIntyre, After Virtue, Notre Dame, IN: Notre Dame Press, 1981, Chapters 2 & 3, "The Nature of Moral Disagreement Today and the Claims of Emotivism" & "Emotivism: Social Content and Social Context," pp. 6-34; & Chapter 12, "Aristotle's Account of the Virtues," pp. 137-154.
• Carol Gilligan, In a Different Voice, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1993, pp. 24-45.
• Lawrence Kohlberg, "Education for Justice: A Modern Statement of the Socratic View" in Essays on Moral Development, Vol. I: The Philosophy of Moral Development, San Francisco, Harper and Row, 1981, pp. 29-48.

Feb. 7 Topic Two: What is Professionalism?

• Wilbert E. Moore, The Profession: Roles & Rules, NY: Russell Sage, 1970, Chapter 1, "The Criteria of Professionalism," pp. 3-22.
• A Report of the Holmes Group, Tomorrow's Teachers, E. Lansing, MI: The Holmes Group, 1986, "A Collective Commitment to Action," pp. 61-68.

• Barry L. Bull, "The Limits of Teacher Professionalization," in John I. Goodlad, Roger Soder, & Kenneth A. Sirotnik, eds., The Moral Dimensions of Teaching, San Francisco. Jossey-Bass, 1990, pp. 87-129.

• Rena A. Gorlin, Codes of Prefessional Responsibility, Washington, DC: Bureau of National Affairs, 1986.
• Institutional Review Board, Handbook for Investigators: For the Protection of Human Subjects in Research, Urbana, IL: The University of Illinois, January 1992.

Feb. 28 Topic Four: What is Policy? What Ethical Issues Are Involved in its Formation and Analysis?

• Michael Davis, "Thinking Like An Engineer: The Place of a Code of Ethics in the Practice of a Profession," Philosophy and Public Affairs, Vol. 20, No. 2 (Spring 1991).
• Aaron Wildavsky, Speaking Truth to Power, Boston: Little, Brown, 1979, Chapter 3, "Policy As Its Own Cause," pp. 62-85.
• John W. Kingdon, Agendas, Alternatives, and Public Policy, Boston: Little, Brown, 1981, Chapter 1, "How Does an Idea's Time Come?"; Chapter 4, "Processes: Origins, Incrementalism, and Garbage Cans"; & Chapter 9, "Wrapping Things Up."
• Thomas F. Green, "Policy Questions: A Conceptual Study," Education Policy Analysis Archives, Vol. 2, No. 7 (April 1994).

• Hannah Arendt, Eichmann in Jerusalem
• "Weapons of the Spirit" (Documentary film examines why Huguenot farmers, at some risk to their lives, sheltered Jews in Vichy France.)
• Sissela Bok, Lying: Moral Choice in Public and Private Life (Chapters to be assigned).

March 14 Spring Break

March 21 Amy Gutmann, Democratic Education, Introduction & Chapters 1-4.

March 28 Topic Six: Universalism v. Subcultural Particularity (I)

• Charles Taylor, Multiculturalism and the Politics of Recognition.
• Leon Wieseltier, "Against Identity," The New Republic, November, 28, 1994, pp. 24-32.
• "School Colors: Race at Berkeley High School." ("Frontline" documentary that explores the dilemmas of multiculturalism.)

April 4 Universality v. Particularity (II): Affirmative Action

• Cornell West, Race Matters, Boston: Beacon Press, 1993, ch. 5
• Daniel Bell, "On Meritocracy and Equality."
• M. Glenn Abernathy, Civil Liberties Under the Constitution, Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1985, Regents of the University of California v. Bakke, 438 U.S. 265 (1978), pp. 497-505.
• Richard Rodriguez, Hunger of Memory, NY: Godine, 1981, Ch. 5, pp. 142-172.
• Walter Feinberg, Research & Rhetoric: The Intellectual Foundations of Liberal Educational Policy, New York: John Wiley, 1974, "Against Equality of Educational Opportunity," pp. 262-282.

April 11 Topic Seven: School Choice

• Deborah Meier, "The Little Schools That Could," The Nation, September 23, 1991.
• Charles L. Glenn, "Creating an Irresponsible School Choice Program," in the 1992 Politics of Education Association Yearbook, pp. 128-139.
• John E. Chubb & Terry M. Moe, Politics, Markets, and America's Schools, Washington, DC: Brookings, 1991, Chapter 2, "An Institutional Perspective on Schools"; Chapter 5, "Institutional Context and School Organization."
• Amy Stuart Wells, "The Sociology of School Choice: Why Some Win and Some Lose in the Educational Marketplace," in Edith Rasell & Richard Rothstein, eds., School Choice: Examining the Evidence, Washington, DC: Economic Policy Institute, 1993, pp. 29-48.

April 18 Are There Ethical Limits to Science? The Case of Testing

• Richard J. Herrnstein & Charles Murray, The Bell Curve, New York: The Free Press, 1994, Chapter 1, "Cognitive Class and Education," Chapter 13, "Ethnic Differences in Cognitive Ability," & Chapter 14, "Ethnic Inequalities in Relation to IQ."
• Albert Yee, Halford H. Fairchild, Frederick Weizmann, & Gail E. Wyatt "Addressing Psychology's Problem with Race" American Psychologist, Nov. 1993, pp. 1132-1140.
• Alan Ryan "Apocalypse Now?" The New York Review of Books, November 17, 1994, pp. 7-11.
• Stephen Jay Gould, "Curveball," The New Yorker, November 28, 1994, pp. 139-149.

April 25 Are There Ethical Limits to Science? The Case of MACOS

• Dorothy Nelkin, "The Science-Textbook Controversies," Scientific American, April 1976, Volume 234, Number 4.
• Peter B. Dow, "MACOS: The Study of Human Behavior as One Road to Survival," Phi Delta Kappan, October 1975, pp. 79-81.
• George Webber, "The Case Against Man: A Course of Study," Phi Delta Kappan, October 1975, pp. 81-82.
• Congressman John B. Conlan, "MACOS: The Push for a Uniform National Curriculum," Social Education, October 1975, pp. 388-392.
• Peter B. Dow, "MACOS Revisited," Social Education, October 1975, pp. 388-396.
• Susan Mendus, Toleration and the Limits of Liberalism, Atlantic Highlands, NJ: Humanities Press International, 1989, Chapters 2 & 3, pp. 22-68.

May 2 Are There Ethical Limits to Liberal Tolerance? Prayer in School

• Stephen L. Carter, The Culture of Disbelief.
• Tyll van Geel, The Courts and American Education Law, Buffalo, NY: Prometheus Books, 1987, "Legal Limits on Socialization," pp. 167-210.