Happiness and EducationWhen parents are asked what they want for their children, they usually answer that they want their children to be happy. Why, then, is happiness rarely mentioned as a goal of education? This book explores what we might teach if we were to take happiness seriously as a goal of education. It asks, first, what it means to be happy and, second, how we can help children to understand it. It notes that we have to develop a capacity for unhappiness and a willingness to alleviate the suffering of others to be truly happy. Criticizing our current almost exclusive emphasis on economic well-being and pleasure, Nel Noddings discusses the contributions of making a home, parenting, cherishing a place, the development of character, interpersonal growth, finding work that one loves, and participating in a democratic way of life. Finally, she explores ways in which to make schools and classrooms cheerful places. Nell Noddings is Lee L. Jacks Professor of Education, Emerita, at Stanford University. She is past president of the Philosophy of Education Society and of the John Dewey Society. In addition to twelve books, she is the author of more than 170 articles and chapters on various topics ranging from the ethics of care to mathematical problem solving. Her latest books are Starting at Home: Caring and Social Policy (University of California Press) and Educating Moral People: A Caring Alternative to Character Education (Teachers College Press), both published in 2002. |
From inside the book
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Page 1
... that for- mal religions - even Christianity also bring happiness to many lives and that the concept of joy is central to religious life . In the - discussion of religion , I have tried to balance these 1 Introduction.
... that for- mal religions - even Christianity also bring happiness to many lives and that the concept of joy is central to religious life . In the - discussion of religion , I have tried to balance these 1 Introduction.
Page 2
Nel Noddings. discussion of religion , I have tried to balance these very different tendencies . Through more than five decades of teaching and mothering , I have noticed also that children ( and adults , too ) learn best when they are ...
Nel Noddings. discussion of religion , I have tried to balance these very different tendencies . Through more than five decades of teaching and mothering , I have noticed also that children ( and adults , too ) learn best when they are ...
Page 3
... discuss some important defini- tions and descriptions of happiness . Is happiness episodic or can a whole life be ... discussion proceeds , we encounter closely related topics that require further analysis . For example , one feature ...
... discuss some important defini- tions and descriptions of happiness . Is happiness episodic or can a whole life be ... discussion proceeds , we encounter closely related topics that require further analysis . For example , one feature ...
Page 4
... discussing the sources of happiness in personal life , I con- sider a fundamental question of education - that of aims ... discussion of the function of aims in evaluating all we do . Are our aims consistent with one another ? Are the ...
... discussing the sources of happiness in personal life , I con- sider a fundamental question of education - that of aims ... discussion of the function of aims in evaluating all we do . Are our aims consistent with one another ? Are the ...
Page 7
... discussion on aims ( aims - talk ) in education and attempt to justify the establishment of happiness as an aim of education . These chapters provide a foundation for the discussion of educating for happiness in personal life ( Part 2 ) ...
... discussion on aims ( aims - talk ) in education and attempt to justify the establishment of happiness as an aim of education . These chapters provide a foundation for the discussion of educating for happiness in personal life ( Part 2 ) ...
Contents
Happiness | 9 |
Suffering and Unhappiness | 39 |
Needs and Wants | 57 |
The Aims of Education | 74 |
Educating for Personal Life | 95 |
Making a Home | 97 |
Places and Nature | 119 |
Parenting | 138 |
Interpersonal Growth | 179 |
Educating for Public Life | 195 |
Preparing for Work | 197 |
Community Democracy and Service | 220 |
Happiness in Schools and Classrooms | 240 |
Notes | 263 |
Bibliography | 291 |
303 | |
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Common terms and phrases
A. S. Neill academic adults aim of education aims-talk Alfie Kohn algebra analysis argue Aristotle Bachelard basic need Books California Press chapter character child choice classroom coercion consider contribute course critical cultural curriculum democratic develop Dewey discussion Ed Diener example experience explore expressed needs feel friends friendship Gaston Bachelard guilt happiness high school homemaking Hume Ibid important individual inferred needs inflicted insist intellectual interests John John Dewey learning liberal democracy live love of place Maria Jolas mathematics means moral natural Nel Noddings objective one's pain parents Plato pleasure Poetics of Space poetry problem question reason reject religious romantic love Sara Ruddick seems sense skills social society sort speciesism spiritual stories suffering suggested Teachers College Press teaching teenagers Theodore Zeldin things topics trans unhappy virtue women Yale University York young
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Page 287 - Michael Sandel, Liberalism and the Limits of Justice (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1982), and Charles Taylor, Sources of the Self (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989). 25. In his article "The Communitarian Critique of Liberalism,