[Lecture Five] Philosophy of Education
by Dr. Leonard Peikoff
Total Time: 1 hour, 27 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: Dr. Peikoff explains the basic teaching skills and methods that must be adopted to succeed at teaching. He explores the nature of delivering content, the training needed for teachers themselves, as well as the political context of education.
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.
| What are the values and weaknesses of the lecture method? |
| What are the values and weaknesses of the discussion method? |
| Are these two methods actually mutually exclusive? |
| What purposes can be accomplished by delimited discussions within a lecture? |
| What subjects are absolutely necessary to teach new teachers? |
| What is the role of psychology in training teachers? |
| How should teachers be trained in varying methodologies? |
| Why does rational education presuppose a free society? |
| Why does a statist society necessitate an anti-conceptual education? |
Q&A Guide
Below is a list of questions from the audience taken from this lecture, along with (approximate) time stamps.
| 1:01:24 | What is your preference between lecturing from an outline and lecturing from an explicit text? |
| 1:03:14 | Could you read a little bit of what you used as notes to give us an example? |
| 1:05:33 | Do you have any thoughts on class size and whether students should be grouped by ability? |
| 1:07:34 | Can you elaborate on the reasons for stopping education at age 15? |
| 1:10:27 | What types of teacher training is mandated by law? |
| 1:11:25 | Why to you think in free society you wouldn’t have to have a PhD? |
| 1:14:09 | How much time do you allot for grading a student’s paper and consulting with them? |
| 1:16:22 | Do you think that the college protests of the 60s were caused primarily by low entrance requirements or low educational standards? |
| 1:18:35 | Granted that long range philosophic training is the ultimate solution, can’t short range education help by sending specific rational speakers to various adult groups? |
| 1:21:29 | As part of your motivation you said that we could find out where our own education was lacking and this know what needs remedy. I see serious holes in my education. What can one do late in life to correct a poor education given that one now has the time, money, and motivation? |