Calling All Curriculists: Virtue and the Future of Deliberative Curriculum

Group Presentation

Three Main Goals

Spots light on the books thesis (Amin) 2- Focuses on the concept of virtue and how it relates to the deliberative tradition (Mariam) 3- Aims to persuade anyone interested in curriculum to adopt a deliberative view. (Subhi)
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(1) The Books Thesis

Curriculum is in chains and thus it must be liberated from narrow views to achieve true education The starting point in CD is to liberate the concept of curriculum before addressing its problems Moving beyond liberating the IDEA of curriculum to PRACTICING the art of DELIBERATION
Understanding how others view curriculum is an essential step to fostering deliberation Recognizing the uniqueness of the intellectual climate in the early 21st century

The Pre-modern Turn & Curriculum Deliberation

Death of enlightenment or the breakdown of positivism signals the advent of the postmodern era, Marginalization of Morality. A futile attempt is made by 20th century university to separate knowledge from morality The dream of separating facts from values turned into a nightmare and now it is time to return to the conceptions of ethics and moral philosophy that integrate them Deliberation is the best means achieve this successful integration

The Effectiveness of Deliberation

With its tendency to avoid going to the extremes or adopt a passive attitude, deliberation prefers a middle path that not only respects wisdom and tradition but also investigates new creative horizons to solve problems in the world of practice So it is not strictly intellectual nor is it purely utilitarian, it is partly idealistic with a pragmatic touch, it is deeply reflective but ultimately concerned with action Pre-modern, as opposed to post-modern avoids quick unwise move

Three Traditions with Moral Philosophy

Utilitarianism (J.S. Mill)( Pragmatism) emphasizes the consequences of an act, whether or not an action is good is determined by the results that it produces. Deontological Ethics (Kant) ( Systematic) stresses the rightness or wrongness of an act itself and not so much on the results that an act produces. It emphasizes rules. Virtue Ethics (Aristotle) ( Deliberative) concentrates on the character of the person who is doing the acting. To virtue ethicists, the circumstances in which a moral action takes place plays a significant role in the decision that ought to be made. This emphasis on situation does not mean that virtue ethicists reject rules or consequences. They consider both as necessary but not sufficient to living a moral life.

McIntyre & the Effectiveness of Deliberation

McIntyres After Virtue challenges not only philosophers but also scholars to return to virtue as a map to redirect our actions Ethics, an inseparable ingredient of curriculum making, is his primary concern He argues that enlightenments rejection of telos, false conception of human nature and its narrow view of moral life led to its failure because it leaves behind a moral scheme that has two elements: moral content and untutored human nature.

Reid & the Effectiveness of Deliberation

Deliberation is the practice of the identification and resolution of curriculum problems and as a practice takes on a virtuous character. This virtuous character is what the curriculum field will cultivate if a deliberative tradition finds more followers. Deliberation is the opposite of screaming matches in which one side seeks to control the other It is the practice of using reason, language and emotion to appreciate one anothers view while at the same time persuading others to follow what we believe is right.

Kunzman & the Effectiveness of Deliberation

In Grapping with the Good, he argues that ethical deliberation in civic society involves a search for common ground. Nowhere in ones culture is inclusive, respect for others and compromise more important than curriculum. However, this difficult political deliberation can not succeed without the concepts of tradition, character, and community that McIntyre argues have been marginalized

Curriculum and Deliberation

McIntyre offers a path to reenergizing curriculum through the power of narrative. A narrative is always headed toward an end. Thus, curriculum, has the potential to bind schools and communities together, integrate knowledge and morality, and combine thought and action. Curriculum deliberation has the potential to revive liberal education. Curriculum deliberation offers a path to liberation not only for busy teachers who are forced to build a curriculum while being shackled with a fact-driven list of state standards, but also for state-level curriculum managers who oversee large-scale reform initiatives. If the curriculum field is to thrive, curriculists should return to tradition, character, and virtue.

(2) Virtue and Curriculum Making

The breakdown of modernism has seen a widespread, rapid increase of interest in Aristotelian politics and ethics. Many scholars believe that virtue ethics provides the best path out of the moral morass that has enveloped the world. In addition to serving as an approach for creating curriculum, deliberative curriculum is a pedagogy that seeks to shape students character toward permanent principles of thinking and acting. Virtue is essential because it gives life and purpose to curriculum efforts. Virtue separates humans from animals because it requires reason, a capacity that animals do not possess.

Virtue and Curriculum Making

Aristotle maintains that virtue is a characteristic of our souls, not an excellence of the body. It is an ability to act in an excellent way This means using reason, language, and imagination to foster humaneness, happiness, and wholeness Aristotle divides virtue into two types: moral and intellectual. He maintains that both are essential. He argues that happiness is the telos that binds small groups as well as communities together. The intellectual and moral virtues cannot, however, be developed only for a short time. Intellectual virtues culminates in thought and understanding, whereas moral virtues always require action

Moral Virtue Versus Intellectual Virtue

Moral and intellectual virtues differ not only in how they are acquired, but also in their purpose. Moral virtues like courage and friendship are attained through practice. They admit of a mean Intellectual virtues differ from moral virtues because they are taught, not developed through habit. Aristotle identifies only five intellectual virtues: science, art, practical wisdom, intelligence, and theoretical wisdom. He describes science as knowledge of the necessary and eternal, art as knowledge of how to make material objects , practical wisdom as knowledge of how to make good judgments, intelligence as knowledge of the principles from which science proceeds, and theoretical wisdom as the ability to understand the relationship between science and intelligence.

How Moral and Intellectual Values Relate to Curriculum Making

The best curriculum makers will of course be those who have cultivated all of the virtues over time. This goal, however, is not easy to attain. The character of the people who deliberate is what gives a curriculum its vitality, infuses it with meaning, and makes it liberating for those who follow it. Practical wisdom is perhaps the most essential of the virtues to curriculum making.

Practical wisdom, therefore, is not a pure science like chemistry or physics because the goal in those fields is to produce eternal knowledge, whereas the end of practical wisdom is judgment.

Practical Wisdom & Deliberation

Aristotle defines practical wisdom as a truthful rational characteristic of acting in matters involving what is good for man. He discusses how deliberation is the method we use to discern how to act in the interest of what is good for man. He summarizes the relationship between practical wisdom and deliberation by stating that good deliberation brings success in relation to what is, in an unqualified sense, the end. The end he has in mind, of course, is happiness, not just for individuals but also for communities and institutions. Without wisdom, deliberators cannot envision a long-term future for students, a school, or a community.

How faith can infuse even more virtues into curriculum making

Faith, hope, and love transform the cardinal virtues of wisdom, courage, moderation, and justice by adding an even longer term dimension to deliberations within religious schools. The spiritual virtues can strengthen deliberation within public institutions, but of course within the constraints required by law. Faith extends knowledge to a higher dimension, providing deliberators with another source of wisdom that can bind schools, colleges, and communities together. Hope provides inspiration to curriculum workers as they deliberate, power to students as they struggle to make sense of a challenging course, and confidence to teachers as they work in difficult circumstances.

Give examples to conventional disciplinary forms of inquiry and interdisciplinary ones.

There are some conventional disciplinary forms of inquiry, such as philosophical, historical, and scientific as well as more recently acknowledged forms such as ethnographic, aesthetic, narrative, phenomenological, and hermeneutic. Interdisciplinary forms such as theoretical, normative, critical, deliberative, and action research are also included. These forms of inquiry are distinguished from one another in terms of purposes, types of research questions addressed, and the processes and logic of procedure employed in arriving at knowledge claims.

Discussing the Chart of Infusing Virtue in

Curriculum Making

How the virtues can serve as the moral and intellectual foundation for a team of curriculum deliberators.
All members of the team must strive to uphold the moral, intellectual, and (where appropriate) spiritual virtues. If all of them do so while making curriculum decisions, then a school, college, or university will be well on its way to establishing a liberating curriculum for all. Universal liberal education will never be achieved until the conversation over curriculum turns to the character of the people who make curriculum decisions.

(3) Why Adopting the Deliberative Tradition

The following map which represents the five traditions is not an absolute, unchanging portrayal of the five curricular traditions, but it is a tool for everyone who is interested in curriculum to use as they address curriculum problems. The opportunity to use the map arises, of course, in educational institutions like schools, colleges, and universities. The occasion, however, also presents itself whenever curriculum is the subject of conversation. In this respect, every conversation about curriculum offers the opportunity to infuse deliberation into our communities and pursue the ideal of a high-quality curriculum for all.

Comenius and a Liberating Curriculum for All

Comenius and a Liberating Curriculum for All

Concluding with Comenius makes sense because we have yet to fulfill the vision he set forth almost four hundred years ago. In The Great Didactic, Comeniuss masterpiece, he was the first to introduce the ideal of universal liberal education. He had a powerful, wide-ranging intellect, but he was also uniquely skilled at the practical tasks required to run a school. Comeniuss goal was not just to set forth a vision, but to accomplish the task of teaching a high-quality liberal arts curriculum to all young people. Comeniuss vision also included women, a radical view at the time.

Comenius and a Liberating Curriculum for All

Comenius provides deliberative curriculists with a role model because of his unique ability to discuss intellectual matters at the highest level while knowing how to resolve practical problems and build community. Comeniuss argument for universal liberal education can be summed up in three points: (1) all of us are made in the image of God, (2) the part of us that is God-like is our ability to reason, (3) all people have the responsibility to make themselves more completely human by strengthening their God-given ability to reason. Comeniuss argument means that the job of a teacher, or curriculum maker, is to make himself more Godlike by training his ability to reason and by contributing to the ideal of a liberating curriculum for all.

Criticism Directed to Comenius

Comeniuss views were consistently criticized by at least two groups. One group thought his vision for educating everyone was naive. Certain souls cannot reason, argued these critics, so teachers and other educators should not even try to develop reason where it never existed in the first place.
A second group also thought Comenius was naive, but for a different reason. They emphasized the fallenness of man to such an extent that they outright rejected Comeniuss view that mankind could be improved through curriculum and teaching.

Comenius Answer to the Criticism

To the first, he responded that everyone is made in the image of God. He understood that some people may reason more strongly than others, but that does not mean that reason is nonexistent in some people. Good teachers and curriculum makers strengthen reason wherever they find it, regardless of how strong it may be. To the second group, Comenius responded by pointing out that in their overemphasis on fallenness these critics rejected the entire point of education. A curriculum that cannot make people better is useless. Comenius omitted nobody from his visionand plan for universal liberal education, and neither should we.

Nulls Hope

Whenever curriculum is discussed, his book will provide deliberators with the inspiration and courage necessary to attain virtue, ask curriculum questions, and teach deliberation. Those who make curriculumand indeed the general publiccan continue to choose one of the other paths that neglects deliberation and virtue, but the result will be a curriculum that culminates in slavery, not liberation.
Twenty-first-century students, their teachers, and the communities they create deserve far better.

Curriculum and Deliberation

McIntyre offers a path to reenergizing curriculum through the power of narrative. A narrative is always headed toward an end. Thus, curriculum, has the potential to bind schools and communities together, integrate knowledge and morality, and combine thought and action. Curriculum deliberation has the potential to revive liberal education. Curriculum deliberation offers a path to liberation not only for busy teachers who are forced to build a curriculum while being shackled with a fact-driven list of state standards, but also for state-level curriculum managers who oversee large-scale reform initiatives. If the curriculum field is to thrive, curriculists should return to tradition, character, and virtue.