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St. Augustine believed that we are created to aspire to a perfection that aligns our relationships in such a way that we function out of a sense of respect for ourselves and the universe in which we live. In so doing we explore the possibilities of creativity and happiness. His thinking moved from the context of classical Greek thought into a Christian one. By living and recording the dilemma of being unable to act as his intellect mandated, he developed an innovative concept of will. He believed that we are motivated to act through our loves but we have a divided will that can only move towards integration if we love correctly. This necessitates an inward journey. / The thesis of this paper is that if one subscribes to Augustine's beliefs there are serious implications for education. The following authors are cited to develop these implications in a modern philosophical and educational setting: Charles Taylor, Iris Murdoch, Israel Scheffler and Bob Samples. Finally, a brief resume of relevant teaching approaches and materials is offered.

The aims of modern education are largely Enlightenment-inspired - thus postmodernism finds an uneasy foothold within educational theory. But the needs of the present are not so much for universal reason and truth as for respect and non-violence (which it is argued are the "spirit" of postmodernity). This research report suggests that the usefulness of postmodern thought (and particularly of deconstruction) to education is not so much political as ethical. Drawing upon recent work of Jacques Derrida and commentaries upon his work by Simon Critchley and Johan Degenaar, it is argued that deconstruction is inherently a discourse of moral advocacy and that although it undermines the ultimate validity of any particular thought system this does not render it nihilistic; rather it involves responsiveness and openness towards the Other (person or system). While a reading of postmodern pedagogy acknowledges this, the intention is more often linked to particular political agendas, especially radical and feminist , than to wider ethical issues. Within educational theory a deconstructive "ethic of ethics" has implications for the kinds of knowledge which will be taught, the social relations which will be promoted, and the kinds of educational provision which will be made - but without prescription and within wide bounds of possibility. / Thesis (M.Ed.) - University of Natal, Durban, 1995.

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In this thesis I discuss personal identity (the self) as it relates to authoritative contexts (the sublime). I show how these contexts confer meaning on personal and cultural narratives, which in turn confer meaning on facts and knowledge claims. I outline three conceptions of the self and sublime (Richard Rorty's, Charles Taylor's and Robert Kegan's), and address the implications of these for education. In conclusion I isolate a common product of all three perspectives---unconditional love---and recommend a 'will to positive description' as a necessary and desirable pedagogical goal.

The integration of faith and learning has been an important topic of discussion in regard to the identity of Christian schools and their reason to exist. Christian educators and researchers, however, have provided minimal help to teachers with the task of its practical implementation. Christian school teachers, therefore, talk about the importance of the integration of faith and learning while they often fail to practice it in their daily classroom teaching. In this regard, this dissertation examined Christian elementary school teachers in order to evaluate their proficiency level to integrate faith and learning in their teaching. It also presented the factors that influence teachers when achieving biblical integration. For the purposes of this study, ACSI elementary school teachers in Southeast region and Mid-America region were included. The survey instrument, which was originally developed by Raquel Bouvet de Korniejczuk in her dissertation in 1994 were utilized with a minor revision. The data were analyzed to determine teachers' implementation level of the integration of faith and learning. A t-test was conducted in order to examine if there is any difference in teachers' implementation level according to their educational background or demographic factors. This study also identified the most difficult subject teachers considered when they tried to integrate a biblical worldview and considered the teachers management concerns related to the biblical integration. Finally, a multiple linear regression was run to find out the influential factors on teachers' implementation level of the integration of faith and learning. The study concluded that ACSI elementary school teachers ranked high in regard to the implementation of the integration of faith and learning. They, however, still need to work on changing their teaching techniques, involving students' opinion, and working together with colleagues. Teachers who took classes in theology, participated in training on the biblical integration, and spent more time to prepare for integrating their faith into their daily teaching tended to reach higher levels of implementation. Keywords: Christian elementary school teachers, Christian school education, integration of faith and learning

<p> Rooted in Freirean pedagogy and using the Life Story Interview as a methodological tool, this dissertation research provides insight into the preparation, performance, and resilience of urban high school teachers and explores the viability of the Life Story Approach to reveal an alternative means of researching a teacher's approach to instructional pedagogy. This dissertation examines how a White female teacher's life story has informed her liberatory approach to teaching writing as an act of freedom in her urban high school classroom in Oakland, California. Observations of how the formation of a teacher's identity and instructional approach were influenced by her experiences in the world are explored in her story. This dissertation argues that if liberatory approaches and a critical literacy framework were considered within the context of seminal research on secondary writing instruction, teacher preparation programs and instructional pedagogy in urban classrooms would be compelled to change. These approaches are necessary to raise the critical consciousness of urban educators committed to serving low- income students of color in our nation's public schools and to inform instructional pedagogy and transform urban students' experiences in school and society. Implications for teacher preparation and approaches to curriculum development are considered.</p>

<p> Educators have recommended the integration of engineering and the liberal arts as a promising educational model to prepare young engineers for global economic, environmental, sociotechnical, and ethical challenges. Drawing upon philosophy of technology, engineering studies, and educational psychology, this dissertation examines diverse visions and strategies for integrating engineering and liberal education and explores their impacts on students' intellectual and moral development. Based on archival research, interviews, and participant observation, the dissertation presents in-depth case studies of three educational initiatives that seek to blend engineering with the humanities, social sciences, and arts: Harvey Mudd College, the Picker Engineering Program at Smith College, and the Programs in Design and Innovation at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. The research finds that learning engineering in a liberal arts context increases students' sense of "owning" their education and contributes to their communication, teamwork, and other non-technical professional skills. In addition, opportunities for extensive liberal arts learning in the three cases encourage some students to pursue alternative, less technocentric approaches to engineering. Nevertheless, the case studies suggest that the epistemological differences between the engineering and liberal arts instructors help maintain a technical/social dualism among most students. Furthermore, the dissertation argues a "hidden curriculum," which reinforces the dominant ideology in the engineering profession, persists in the integrated programs and prevents the students from reflecting on the broad social context of engineering and critically examining the assumptions upheld in the engineering profession. </p>

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My thesis centers on a critical analysis of the concept of the "educated person" in Kieran Egan's theory of educational development. Egan presupposes that the erudite human being in western societies is ideally a sophisticated ironic thinker, that is, a person who possesses the fullest range of sense making capacities known to our culture; and furthermore, a person who tactfully and innovatively applies these capacities in everyday life. / My thesis attempts a "thick" description of Egan's notion of ironic understanding in light of the writings of Martin Buber on dialogue, Hannah Arendt on human thinking, Hans Georg Gadamer on the serious playfulness of the interpretative act, Richard Rorty on private irony and liberal democracy, and finally, Michael Oakeshott on the educational conversation. It suggests that these theoretical notions of the fully human life may be practically realized in the educated ironist characterized by Egan in his various writings.