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Philosophy of Public Education. INSTITUTION Midwest Philosophy of Education Society, Carbondale, IL DOCUMENT RESUME ED 442 681 SO 031 271 AUTHOR McMurray, Foster TITLE Philosophy of Public Education. INSTITUTION Midwest Philosophy of Education Society, Carbondale, IL. PUB DATE 2000-00-00 NOTE 294p. AVAILABLE FROM Midwest Philosophy of Education Society, 5006 W. Grace Street, Chicago, IL 60641-3450 ($30). PUB TYPE Opinion Papers (120) EDRS PRICE MF01/PC12 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS Definitions; *Educational History; *Educational Objectives; *Educational Philosophy; Educational Practices; *Educational Theories; Elementary Secondary Education; *Intellectual Disciplines; *Learning IDENTIFIERS Professional Concerns ABSTRACT This document begins by considering the controversy over just how to define philosophy of education, and how to establish its legitimate domain and the range of its inquiries. The issue is a question of whether educational philosophy is to be conceived as a practical discipline, or as a theoretical discipline. The document continues by discussing other questions and problems in the philosophy of education. Following a preface and a bibliography of the author, the document is divided into the following chapters: (1) "Defining Philosophy of Education"; (2) "Non-partisan Educational Theory"; (3) "The Function of the Formal School";(4) "Educational Aims"; (5) "Education as Cultivation of Mind"; (6) "Mind and Educational Process"; (7) "Equality, Status, and Society"; (8) "The Curriculum, Confidence, and Tension"; (9) "Experiencing Value"; and (10) "Reasons for Learning." (Contains 27 references.)(BT) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. McMurray -- p 1 PHILOSOPHY OF PUBLIC EDUCATION by Foster McMurray. Professor Emeritus of Philosophy of Education: University of Illinoisat Urbana-Champaign. Chicago, Illinois: Midwest ,,..i . NN: Philosophy of Education ,..i Society, 2000. U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION C4r)PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE AND Office of Educational Research and Improvement DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL HAS EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION BEEN GRANTED BY CENTER (ERIC) Cm) Or This document has been reproduced as received from the person or organization originating it. Michael_A Minor changes have been made to OrLKer improve reproduction quality. TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES Points of view or opinions stated in this C4 INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) document do not necessarily represent 1 official OERI position or policy. 2 BEST COPY AVAILABLE McMurray -- p2 TABLE OF CONTENTS Preface by Michael A. Oliker, ---- pp. 3 to 4. Foster McMurray Bibliography ---- pp. 4 to 7. Chapter 1: Defining Philosophy of Education ---- pp. 1-1 to 1-21. Chapter 2: Non-partisan Educational Theory ---- pp. 2-1 to 2-31. Chapter 3: The Function of the Formal School---- pp. 3-1 to 3-19. Chapter 4: Educational Aims:---- pp. 4-1 to 4-17. Chapter 5: Education as Cultivation of Mind-- pp. 5-1 to 5-31. Chapter 6: Mind and Educational Process---- pp. 6-1 to 6-42. Chapter 7: Equality, Status, and Society---- pp. 7-1 to 7-29. Chapter 8: The Curriculum, Confidence, and Tension----pp. 8-1 to 8-41. Chapter 9: Experiencing Value ---- pp. 9-1 to 9-27. Chapter 10: Reasons for Learning---- pp. 10-1 to 10-28. McMurray -- p3 PREFACE TO PHILOSOPHY OF PUBLIC EDUCATION BY FOSTER MCMURRAY (1914-2000) by Michael A. Oliker, Ph.D. Executive Director: Midwest Philosophy of Education Society 5006 W. Grace St., Chicago, Illinois 60641. Phone: (773) 202-9280; E-mail: <[email protected]> This document is the manuscript of a book that was completed by Professor Foster McMurray of the Department of Educational Policy Studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in the 1980s. Professor McMurray was born in Philadelphia on August 10, 1914, graduated from Lancaster (Pennsylvania) High School in 1932, received a Bachelor's degree from Millersville State Teachers College in Pennsylvania in 1938, received a doctor's degree in philosophy of education from Teachers College Columbia University in 1949, and is currently retired from the faculty of the University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign. Back in the late 1960s I was a Master's student in Foundations of Education at Temple University. At Temple I took several courses in philosophy of education that were taught by faculty who had completed their doctoral programs at Illinois. When I began to express interest in doctoral study in philosophy of education the Temple faculty who I knew all spoke enthusiastically about Prof. McMurray who had been the youngest member of Illinois's Department of History and Philosophy of Education in the 1950s. The professors who I knew at Temple were all interested in the teaching of critical thinking and regarded the philosophy of John Dewey as central to the study of philosophy of education. I later became aware of Prof. McMurray's acquaintance with Dewey while Prof. McMurray was doing his doctoral study at Teachers College in the 1940s. When I became a doctoral student at Illinois I heard Prof. McMurray deliver excellent presentations on Dewey's and Jean Piaget's philosophies of education. The first time I chatted with him in his office he was pleased to find out that there was a student in his department who had a Bachelor's degree from a Pennsylvania state college. Later I took an excellent seminar with Prof. McMurray on "Educational Classics." In that course he encouraged rigorous analytical reading of texts on education by Aristotle, Jean- Jacques Rousseau, Herbert Spencer, John Dewey, Abraham Maslow, and Jean Piaget. We also analyzed the text of a new book on the 19th Century German philosopher of education J. F. Herbart by Prof. Harold Dunkel of the University of Chicago. The discussions in that class were some of the best I had while a doctoral student. Prof. McMurray later served as a member of my dissertation committee. His comments on my writing and research were always helpful. 4 McMurray -- p4 A member of the faculty at Temple University when I was a student there is Prof. James E. McClellan who is now a retired Professor of Philosophy at Texas A & M University. Prof. McClellan studied with Prof. McMurray at the University of Texas in the late 1940s and at Illinois in the early 1950s. Although McClellan was McMurray's student, they became friends because they were both veterans of World War II. In a recent e-mail message, McClellan told me that: "Both veterans, Foster and I soon became friends. I was a very junior commissioned officer with no combat experience, Foster a very senior non-corn who had gone through the entire campaign from D-Day to VE-Day with an armored battalion, `constant discomfort, alternating boredom and terror,' as he described it. ... At Illinois our devoted friendship and close association continued but with a subtle. difference. Whereas we'd been mostly fellow veterans in Austin, we were definitely mentor-mentee at Champaign-Urbana. When Foster had time to spend with me, it wasn't to go to beer halls but to those occasions where he could fulfill his mentorly duties, inducting me into the ways of the examined life, asking me to take responsibility for my taste through all the realms of art and science, exercising me in the discipline of cultural criticism. At Illinois in those days, the university made sure there was always ample culture to critique. Classical music, art exhibits, dance troupes, shows at the School of Architecture, lectures on everything from astronomy to zoology, philosophy of law, and poetry readings. We took in all we could." One of Prof. McMurray's first publications was an essay entitled "The Problems of Verification in Formal School Learning," which appeared in 1949 in Essays for John Dewey's Ninetieth Birthday, pp 47-58. The book was edited by Kefineth D. Benne and William 0. Stanley and published in Urbana, Illinois by the College of Education at the University of Illinois. Dewey died in 1952 but has remained a significant figure in the field of philosophy of education. Written in Chicago, Illinois -- December, 1999. FOSTER MCMURRAY BIBLIOGRAPHY: I. WORKS BY MCMURRAY 1949. Positive Education. Thesis--Columbia University. Format: iv, 325 leaves Subject: EducationPhilosophy (Notes: Photocopy of typescript. Ann Arbor, Mich., University Microfilms, 1971. OCLC ID No.: 05104352.) 1950a. "The Problems of Verification in Formal School Learning." Essays For John Dewey's Ninetieth Birthday, pp 47-58. Edited by Kenneth D. Benne and William 0. Stanley. Urbana, Illinois: College of Education, University of Illinois. Format: 92p. 22cm. 1950b. 'Who Shall Be Educated for What?" Progressive Education 27 (February): 111-116. 5 McMurray -- p5 1951. The Theoretical Foundations of Education. Urbana, Illinois: Bureau of Research and Service, College of Education, University of Illinois. Format: 111 p. 26 cm. Subject: EducationPhilosophy Education--Study and teaching With: Archibald Watson Anderson, Kenneth D. Benne, B. Othanel Smith, and William 0. Stanley. 1955a. "The Controversial Past and Present of the Text." In Text Materials In Modern Education: A Comprehensive Theory And Platform For Research, pp. 9-27. Edited by Lee J. Cronbach. Urbana, Illinois: University of Illinois Press, 1955. (With Lee J. Cronbach.) Format: 216 p. 23 cm. OCLC ID No.: 00188419. 1955b. "The Proper Function of Text Materials." Ibid., pp. 28-58. (With Lee J. Cronbach.) 1955c. "Psychotherapy in the School Curriculum." Progressive Education 32 (May): 82-88. 1955d. "Preface to an Autonomous Discipline of Education." Educational Theory 5 (July): 129-140. 1956a. "A Pragmatic Approach to Certain Aspects of Music Education." Journal of Research in Music Education 4 (Fall ): 103-112. 1956b. "Reply" Educational Theory 6 (January): 17-19. Reply to Jcie Burnett's critique of 1955d. 1958. "Pragmatism in Music Education." In Basic Conceots in Music Education, Fifty-seventh Yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education, Part I. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 1959. "The Present Status of Pragmatism in Education." School and Society 87 (January 17): 14-17. 1965. "How Stupid Can You Get?" Educational Forum 29 (March): 355-359.
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