The Challenge to Care in Schools: An Alternative Approach to Education (Contemporary Educational Thought) (Paperback)

by Nel Noddings (Author)
Key Phrases: paideia proposal, motivational displacement, cultural evil, The Challenge, John Dewey, Inner Circle (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
This book challenges the traditional organization of high school studies around the academic disciplines. Noddings argues that such emphasis shortchanges not only the noncollege-bound whose interests are almost ignored, but even those who are preparing for college. The latter receive schooling for the head but little for the heart and soul. Noddings counteracts this condition, insisting "that our aim should be to encourage the growth of competent, caring, loving and lovable persons", a moral priority that our educational system ignores. She argues that liberal education dictates what areas of pedagogy are socially acceptable - ignoring a student's wider range of abilities - and undervalues skills, attitudes and capacities traditionally associated with women. Contrarily, it is "precisely" the competence for caring, Nodding posits, that will prepare our students for the environment of the school, the world of work, the realm of ideas, and ultimately, for each other.

Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Teachers College Press; 1 edition (May 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0807731773
• ISBN-13: 978-0807731772
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6.1 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #676,669 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Can caring work in our schools?, November 21, 2000

By A Customer

Noddings, in this book, addresses some of the issues facing our students in this day and age. She looks at issues of school violence, substance abuse, sexuality, etc. from the perspective of curriculum and provides suggestions on how schools could adress these issues based on the philosophy of caring. Noddings is a reconstructionist in her views but in this book offers concrete examples of how caring could be incorporated into the existing curriculum. Her use of examples helps to clarify her concepts and spheres of caring and why she believes schools need to incorporate care into their curricula. I found her first book difficult to read and did not feel that it made her points as clearly as this book does. I would reccomend this book as an entrance into the discussion of what role alternative views, such as caring, could have in our public schools. For people interested in education, public schools, and how to change our students' experiences for the better, this is a good book to read.

1 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Challenge to Care in Schools, January 12, 2008

By	bookworm (Houston, TX) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Challenge to Care in Schools: An Alternative Approach to Education, Second Edition (Advances in Contemporary Educational Thought Series) (Paperback)

interesting but unrealistic recommendations to change focus of curriculum in education; quotes Dewey quite a bit; easy to read, required for a class