This dialogue with Janet Miller, from her early work in the 1980s through the present, explores a post-human response to situatedness and embodiment, and demonstrate possible things to consider when we want to avoid centering human experience--when we strive to steward a universe determined as much by the more-than-human participants in our…

In the authors' conference presentation, they sought to emphasize that in his well-known book, "Democracy and Education" (1916), John Dewey's goal was to describe an education appropriate to a democracy. They point out that he also believed that his approach was a more humane way of teaching and, as many have argued since (e.g., Paley,…

A multimillionaire responsible for several felonies stated recently that humanism is one of the leading causes of crime in the United States. A college English instructor tested the validity of the connection between humanism and deteriorating values, on a limited and informal basis, while conducting in a men's prison a series of weekly programs…

Among the advocates of the "Back to Basics" trend there seems to be little concensus as to what exactly constitutes the "basics." It is clear, however, that what most people mean by "basics" is mechanical skills, punctuation, spelling and grammar. The task of teachers of language is to foster an understanding of how…

Twenty-five years ago a small volume of essays entitled "Crisis in the Humanities" was published containing an ominous message: namely, that the humanistic disciplines had arrived at a crossroad--a turning point at which a decisive change for better or worse was imminent. Humanistic scholarship appears to have declined since that…

Maria Montessori believed that preschool children were capable of practicing an elementary form of democracy, could direct their own learning and discipline themselves, and were able to thoughtfully control their behavior for the benefit of the group. She believed also that it was necessary to prepare the environment so that democracy would begin…

The current interest in values and social conventions stems mainly from an uneasy feeling about people whose behavior fails to live up to the social conventions that are upheld in society. Many people are calling for values and social conventions to be reasserted and education is expected to make an important contribution to this process.…

During the half a million years that man has been on earth, three fundamental technological revolutions have taken place: the agrarian revolution, the industrial revolution, and the era of high technology. In contrast to the first two revolutions, the high tech revolution has taken place at a much more rapid rate, causing pressures that have many…

This paper traces the developement of invitational learning and argues that it has become more precise and applicable as a result of critiques from within. Next, the current invitational model with its "wide-lens" focus is critiqued from its inability to go deeper into the implications of educating: teaching, learning, curriculum, and…

A humanistic approach to debate coaching enhances the ideal of free thought by opposing any censorship of ideas, promoting a wide variety of perspectives on human experience, and encouraging independent, critical thinking and problem solving. This is opposed to traditional authoritarian models in which the teacher is the powerful decision maker…

This paper describes elements of the "New Standards" program that have been set for selected school districts across the United States and challenges people to assess how conceptions of "confluent education" and "multicultural education" may contribute to reaching the proposed new standards. The goal of the New…

Literacy must not be thought of as an elitist concept where only a privileged few are entitled to a formal education, but as a humanistic concept promoting human culture. A recent study found that by the year 2000 a majority of all new jobs will require a postsecondary education. All indications are that many students will continue to enter…

Futurism in foreign language education focuses attention on the need to plan our children's curricula, not on the basis of a mechanical assessment of current needs, but with due consideration for the intellectual abilities life in the future will require. Second language learning offers a safeguard against submission to the technocratic…

This paper looks at the educational thought system that provides a contextual understanding of education, discusses what schools are for, and presents a vision for education. A review of educational literature reveals an ongoing search for a new educational paradigm and focuses on a transformed conception of teaching that shifts the focus from…

The creation of a new undergraduate curriculum in psychology is discussed. It is suggested that the undergraduate psychology curriculum is valuable as an end in itself rather than solely as preparation for a career in the field. The new curriculum would be structured principally around a program of intensive study of the practical, personal…