Educational theorist visits Monmouth

By: Amanda Bloomer
Contributing Writer

Tuesday’s convocation, sponsored by the Monmouth College education department, featured Nel Noddings.

Noddings, the author of thirteen books and hundreds of articles which tackle a wide range of subjects. She is well-known for her contribution to educational philosophy and her presentation focused on some of her more recent work in the discipline. Noddings is currently the Jacks Professor Emeritus of Child Education at Stanford University

Her presentation, “Critical lessons for critical thinking,” based on her recent book. According to Noddings, what our schools should be teaching is “critical self-understanding.” What she proposes is a reevaluation of priorities in education and a greater attention to ethical education—in essence, revolution on a budget. Part of what this requires is shift in paradigm; but, on a more manageable level, it asks teachers engage their students in activities of self-analysis. To better illustrate her theory, she chose to concentrate on the second chapter of her book which deals with the psychology of war. Noddings claimed that teachers are often discouraged from addressing controversial issues in the classroom, but that these are the best teaching opportunities. Her book poses this question as a springboard for such a discussion: “Why is war so attractive?” And inversely, “Why is everyday life so boring?” These are historically difficult, but often deliberated questions of psychological and sociological importance. In fact, Noddings cited Anthony Swafford’s memoir, “Jarhead,” as a more recent attempt at an answer.

Noddings does not presume to propose change without also proposing a solution; she showed her audience what little it would take to implement her suggestions. high school history textbooks are typically organized around wars and, subsequently, so are high school history courses. Schools could take a commonly used high school text such as “The Iliad,” and forego some of the extended discussion on metaphors to talk about Achilles’ moral transformation following the death of his friend, Patroklos. Students need to know that the loss of moral identity is as much a threat of war as that of bodily harm. Noddings said there is value in the current patriotic version of history, but that it needs to be coupled with a more ethically-conscious dialogue. Furthermore, peace should be credited as more than simply the conclusion of war.

Noddings presented in the Morgan Room that evening to a large and attentive crowd. The evening’s lecture, “Happiness in Education,” was named after her book of the same title. Noddings would like to see happiness listed under the objectives for a successful classroom. However, she has discovered that most people not only consider happiness to be incompatible with education, but also irrelevant.

The current trend in American education is in direct conflict love of intellectual pursuits. Americans try to say that any child can accomplish anything given the right circumstances. Noddings contends that this is a very harmful attitude because “nothing is as unequal as sameness”; and, while happiness may be difficult to measure via standardized testing, it is a noble aim for educators. Noddings, in wrapping up her talk, asked the audience to meditate on this quote by John Dewey: “To find what one is fitted to do, and to secure an opportunity to do it, is the key to happiness.”