M.Ed. Cohort Assignment 4/30/99

Kari Fruechte Extension Educator

I chose to read Chapter 3 in the "Complementary Methods for Research in Education" textbook. The chapter was on Historical Methods in Educational Research. I chose the chapter because I thought that any research project should include some historical data on how education has changed from the past to the present. The information presented in the chapter was interesting in the way it looked at history as both a science and an art. To me that meant that although there are concrete facts agreed on by all historians, there are also many interpretations of the information that can be subjective. I think depending on the viewpoint you begin this as you study a topic, you may choose to include historical data that backs up that view. The other point that really struck me was the assumption held until the 1950's that education centered, almost exclusively, on the public school. And public schools generally educated to meet the needs of a society of more well to do people. The thoughts of Ben Franklin and Henry Adams greatly interested me in the essay by Bernard Bailyn. Bailyn claimed that "both men early in life realized that the past no longer held the key to the present or future, that the knowledge, traditions, and responses of their parents would not suffice for their needs, that they would have to undertake their own education into careers whose patterns were not only indistinct but nonexistent, mere possibilities whose shape they would themselves determine. " These two were obviously very progressive thinkers in their time, and reflect very clearly the same sentiments of many educators today.

-- Anonymous, May 06, 1999

Answers

Ah, yes, science and art...viewpoint and perspective...As you can probably guess, I make some effort to search out "silenced" or "unavailable" perspectives about historical events and I have to be sure you know about Howard Zinn. He is a historian like no other! There are several web sites dedicated to him and his work (I was there last night at 11:00 pm with my 16 year old who has a bad habit of remembering assignmens very late at night!). Also, relating research to science, history and art, Sarah Lawrence Lightfoot has a beautiful book called "Portraiture."

-- Anonymous, May 07, 1999