[Lecture Two] Philosophy of Education
by Dr. Leonard Peikoff
Total Time: 1 hour, 28 minutes
Course summary: In this lecture series, Dr. Leonard Peikoff explores the nature of education, why contemporary schools do not achieve it, and what the proper basis is. In it, he discusses why education must be conceptual, the principles of proper instruction, and the essential content of a proper education. Read more »
In this lecture: This lecture examines the nature of conceptual education. Dr. Peikoff explains the essential methods for how cognitive content can be taught and the components that make up that approach. In this lecture, he focuses specifically on motivation and cognitive integration.
Study Guide
This material is designed to help you digest the lecture content. You can also download below a PDF study guide for the entire course.
| Why can’t you teach a course for children on thinking methods by teaching thinking methods? |
| How does a child properly pick up new thinking methods in the process of education? |
| Why is motivation a precondition of education? |
| Pick a short topic for instruction and provide what might be motivation for an age-appropriate audience. |
| How do the three theories of cognition approach the question of motivation differently? When during instruction is it appropriate to provide motivation? |
| Beyond cognitive content, what other elements can be used for motivation? |
| How can an instructor achieve the purpose of integration in teaching? |
| What means or tools can teachers use to help students integrate? |
| Give three examples of integration in different topics. |
| What is the role of memory in education? |
Q&A Guide
Below is a list of questions from the audience taken from this lecture, along with (approximate) time stamps.
| 1:05:06 | Do you think it’s a proper motivation to give a child money for having achieved good grades? |
| 1:08:43 | Could you expand on the relative importance of focusing on similarities rather than differences? |
| 1:11:21 | Don’t youngsters have an insatiable desire to learn? Isn’t the important thing in education not to destroy this desire? |
| 1:14:17 | Isn’t there a danger of competition among students, where a student will fail to distinguish between his inability to grasp certain material and his general failure or inefficacy as a person? Shouldn’t you therefore avoid competition? |
| 1:18:24 | Is it too soon for you to comment on specific trends in education? I have in mind two in particular: Glenn Doman, who is allegedly teaching babies to read with flashcards, and Marva Collins in Chicago? |
| 1:20:06 | Do you have any tips or techniques on how to deal with the slow and fast kids in a large classroom environment? |
| 1:22:35 | Would the same teaching principles apply, not only for teaching general thinking methods for children, but also for teaching specific subjects to adults, and would there be other fundamental considerations? |
| 1:24:47 | What do you think of curves as the standard for grading? |