Don't Know Much About History - Essay Example

Nevertheless, in historical ages when American educational system was being conceptualized and developed, no one was interested to view the ideas from various schools of thought as complimentary but everyone was committed to prove that their part of the elephant is the best and they know the creature better than others. The neo-classical philosophers were of the view that schooling system should be designed with the help of their philosophy alone and that of others should be discarded. In the history of American schooling system, four distinct intellectual groups tried to influence the educational system and mechanism of the country.

The first group is known as the humanistic school of thought that argued that schooling system must be designed in such a way that it should help in communication, prioritization and internalization of cultural norms and civic concepts in the mind of the next generation. The second group was in love with the novel concept of child development and conveyed that the schooling system must insure psychological and spiritual growth of students. The growth of students must be attained with the help of modifying and designing teaching and schooling according to various different needs of the students (Kliebard pp. 148). Then, another intellectual group emerged and it said that the schools must make the students learn the art and science of being a contributive human being.

The focus of this group remained on the societal role of the individual in carrying forward the entire society in terms of economics, arts, and sciences. Finally, the re-constructivist approach appeared that stated that the schools are there to bring a vast scale social and political change in the community every now and then (Kliebard pp. 150). Highlights of Dinner with Philosophers from all Educational School of Thought Eliot invited Hall, Ayres and Counts to the dinner. Everyone was on time except Counts because he was busy in delivering lecture at the university and therefore, got late but rushed into the event approximately half an hour after its commencement.

He apologized to everyone on the table, dragged his chair near to the host, and greeted him with warmth and respect. However, when he saw signs of annoyance on others’ faces then he seek refuge into stuffing his plate. The intellectual discussion started after the first round of wine and the host himself initiated it. He initially said that American schooling system is outdated and therefore, needs serious restructuring. He also added that he believes that the notion of ethics and civic virtue should be engraved in the students so that they should not indulge in crimes.

Counts jumped into the discussion and argued that ethical standards of the society are closely related and correlated with economic outlook of the society and therefore, a man with a full belly can talk about righteousness. Ayres commented that we should classify our children into various groups in the light of their interests and capabilities and modify our teaching practices according to their learning needs. The discussion carried out and soon became a quarrel. The intellectual fight was interrupted by Counts when he noted that not all of the present approaches towards education are divergent but indeed, they are leading to the same objective that is human evolution.

Everyone was stunned by the observation because each person was looking to