Politics and Education
This book suggests that the link between politics and education, as described and lived in ancient Greece, can bring forth a search for excellence. Today there exist great possibilities to courageously struggle for excellence. Yet these possibilities are often discarded by educators and politicians, and strangled by the prevailing corporate capitalist regime. The striving for excellence requires striving to attain things that are worthy in themselves, such as wisdom, beauty, justice, love, friendship, and knowledge. When things worthy in themselves vanish from political and educational endeavors, a spiritual wasteland spreads. The book also shows some of the difficulties of a quest for things worthy in themselves in our world, while looking closely at the case of Israel, which is a vibrant democracy. Yet, Israel today has many characteristics of a spiritual wasteland. Struggling against the spread of a wasteland is one of the worthy challenges an educator can undertake. About the author Haim Gordon is a full professor in the department of education at Ben Gurion University of the Negev in Israel, where he teaches philosophy of education. He has been active for fifteen years in struggling for the human rights of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. He has published 21 books, on a wide range of philosophical and political topics and more than 150 papers in professional journals and books. |