Concepts in Education Philosophical Studies ed. by J. V. D’Cruz and P. J. Sheehan (review)

BOOK REVIEWS 181 Concepts in Education Philosophical Studies. Ed. by J. V. D'CRuz and P. J. SHEEHAN, Melbourne, Australia: Mercy Teachers College-Twentieth Century Publications, 1973. Pp. 96. This survey of educational theory by a group of philosophers is a useful reference tool. That the writers are located in Australia and New Zealand may come as a surprise considering how little attention professional journals here focus on that corner of the globe. Of course, Australian novelists like Morris West and Patrick White do make our best seller lists, but philosophers from their homeland are a rarity in the academic pantheon. In nine essays the authors discuss such topics as educating and indoctrination , education and creativity, and a critique of Ivan Illich's "Descholling Society." Bibliographies accompany several of the essays. Dr. I. A. Snook of New Zealand treats of "Moral Education," a timely topic and one which has traditionally been a concern for Anglo-Saxon thinkers. It is no mere fad that both in England and the United States moral education is very much an "in" subject just now. The work of John Wilson at Oxford and his associates on schemes of moral education which are value neutral is summarized, as is the empirical research of Lawrence Kohlberg at Harvard, with his famed six stages for moral development . On the related subject of "Religious Education" Dr. P. J. Sheehan from Melbourne enquires first how it can be a form of education and, then, if it is a religious form of education. Can there be activity , he asks, an activity which is both concerned with a particular religion , and at the same time meets accepted criteria of education? This activity is not to be equated with a study about religious phenomena. The question raises the thorny issue as to whether and in what sense religious education is viewed as indoctrination. The paper on " Educating and Indoctrinating" by Dr. John Kleinig offers some helpful insights here. Dr. Sheehan acknowledges that his brief attempt to describe what the concept of religious education means draws heavily on a thesis from the University of Melbourne. The essay could be improved with some references to current catechetical literature. The absence of any bibliography for this paper is particularly unfortunate. The contributors to this collection have dealt with their specific topics on the premise that educational questions do have a philosophical basis whether they are concerned with improving the quality of teaching or scrutinizing the values that are taught. One would like to supplement this collection with still another which would focus on a much neglected area, a theology of education. University of Dayton Dayton, Ohio MicHAEL DoNNELLAN, S. V. D. ...