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Soc (2015) 52:232236DOI 10.1007/s12115-015-9892-4
SYMPOSIUM: 21ST CENTURY EXCELLENCE IN EDUCATION, PART 2
A Richer, Broader View of Education
Nel Noddings1
Published online: 15 April 2015# Springer Science+Business Media New York 2015
Abstract This article argues that a unitary purpose of educationto produce better adultsdoes not require a uniform description of curriculum nor a universal ideal of a Bbetter adult^. Rather, it suggests a variety of first-rate programs that address the full range of human talents and interests.
Keywords Educational aims . Purposes . Intellectual knowledge
The nature and purpose of education have been debated for centuries. In the United States, since the beginning of the twentieth century, fiery arguments have arisen over the primacy of intellectual knowledge as the main purpose of education. Repeatedly, strong arguments for additional purposes have been criticized as anti-intellectual, even unpatriotic. The arguments have been further complicated by disagreement over what constitutes an intellectual program of study and whether all students are capable of succeeding in such a program.
After a brief discussion of the central points in this continuing debate, I will argue that we should recognize education as a multi-purpose enterprise that can be unified under one great aim: to produce better adults. I will also argue that the unity of purpose need not imply uniformity of curriculum or programs. Throughout the discussion, I will suggest that we should move beyond the traditional tendency to defend one best way of approaching the problems of education. When we reject the stubborn either/or attitude, we may create a richer, broader, picture of genuine education.
The Debates
The basic question is this: What is the purpose of education? For many centuries, answers to this question were guided and unified by theology. Andrew Delbanco quotes a Harvard graduate of 1825 as saying: BThere is not one truth in religion, another in mathematics, and a third in physics and in art. There is one truth, even as one God^ (quoted in Delbanco 2012,p.41). But in the last half of the nineteenth century, the unifying force began to fall away, and higher education installed new branches, new departments, and new professional schools. The wisdom of that choiceto include professional and business schools in the universitywas criticized in the early 1900s by Hutchins (1999/1936) and...