Word: conant
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Certainly what Conant advocates would radically change the kind of education offered by many colleges and universities. He calls for a general education program that would occupy fully half a student's time and give him a more thorough exposure to mathematics, the natural sciences, the social sciences and the humanities than many graduates of Harvard College obtain. He proposes a specific program of concentration that would take up 30 to 40 per cent of a student's time, and professional training in education that would consume the rest. And he strongly attacks the present system of electives which characterizes...
...real issue, in considering the collegiate education of students who are preparing for a vocation or a profession," writes Conant, "is whether as much as one or two years of collegiate work can be permitted to be spread over a wide range of subjects, in no necessarily coherent pattern, entirely at the students choice...
These are strong words. Were Conant's suggestions to be taken seriously, they could touch off a faculty controversy about what constitutes a proper academic program that would make the fight between academicians and educators look like a high-school debate. Though Conant alludes to the well known sensitivity of the academic establishment to curriculum changes, he hardly reckons with the reaction his proposals could arouse...
...there is a more serious reservation to Conant's proposals. Both at the beginning and the end of the book he makes pious reference to public opinion and the importance of gathering informed laymen's views on teacher education. The program he designs, however, would take little note of these views; by removing extensive state super-vision of teacher training it seeks not to increase public participation, but to widen professional control to include academic faculties. This aim is unrealistic. The ultimate effect of making institutions as a whole responsible for teacher training is to increase the accountability...
...have little quarrel with Conant's suggestions for professional training of teachers. His analysis is remarkably balanced; though he condemns courses which create a mythology of a teaching science, and eclectic courses which relate education to the nature of the universe, he approves the necessity of expertly taught, specific "methods" courses, and stresses the paramount importance of practice teaching...