Sound Bite
Americans believe in education. Education allows you to make something of yourself. Education plays a special role in that it simultaneously provides a way out and a way in. But a way out of what? And a way into what? That's not always clear.
Three characters with different skills and outlooks explore the idea of education, questioning what true education is, challenging common conceptions and putting forward rich definitions of education and what it ideally would be.
About the Author
Nick Pappas has published a series of over 20 thought-provoking books with Algora Publishing, examining ways to handle personal challenges, how to think about our relationships to each other and how to decide our own path in life, how to choose what we do and why, and how to get the most out of everyday life.
Nick teaches high school English Language Arts in Western New York. Prior to that he worked as a director and consultant in information technology. He is a graduate of the University of Chicago and Harvard Law School. Nick has written numerous short stories and poems in addition to his philosophical dialogues.
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About the Book
People do expect knowledge, understanding, and maturity of those who receive education. Unfortunately, things don;¢t always pan out. Sometimes Ã?¢'¬Ã??education;¢ produces a kind of learned ignorance; sometimes cliquishness; and sometimes...
People do expect knowledge, understanding, and maturity of those who receive education. Unfortunately, things don;¢t always pan out. Sometimes Ã?¢'¬Ã??education;¢ produces a kind of learned ignorance; sometimes cliquishness; and sometimes blindness. So how do you get the good and avoid the bad?
Director, a philosopher figure in this book, gets at the question with his two interlocutors, Musician and Professor.
Music is often a great passion of young people. According to some of the more influential ancient Greeks, music educates the soul. And I think this is something people today can appreciate. Music speaks to the soul; education would like to speak to the soul. Music, in the broadest sense, can be, and often is, its tool.
What is this broadest sense? And how is music a tool? The youths in question here do not like to think of music as a tool for education, or any other thing for that matter. Music liberates. Music frees. Music is beyond all other concerns. But is it? That's why the second character in this book is a musician and not someone who is concerned with engineering, for instance. Engineering is important, a necessity in our world;but who would argue it gives wing to the soul?
Education can point to a door, but we must walk up, turn the knob, and walk in on our own. There's no guarantee for what's behind that door. So true education takes a fair amount of courage. I;¢m not of the opinion that courage can be taught. We can emulate the courageous, but it's all on us.
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Pages 218
Year: 2018
LC Classification: Education - Philosophy
Dewey code: 370.1--dc23
BISAC: PHI000000 PHILOSOPHY / General
Soft Cover
ISBN: 978-1-62894-366-5
Price: USD 19.95
Hard Cover
ISBN: 978-1-62894-367-2
Price: USD 29.95
eBook
ISBN: 978-1-62894-368-9
Price: USD 19.95
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