Pedagogy, Education, Teaching All books
Régis Debray
The Teaching of Religion in State Schools
French public opinion largely approves the idea of reinforcing the study of religion from a cultural perspective in state schools. The intention is not to put God back into the school system. Religious traditions and the future of the humanities now share a common fate, and strengthening religious education will depend on strengthening education as such. The spirit of secularism should have nothing to fear." Régis Debray Régis Debray teaches philosophy.
Jean-Pierre Kahane
The Teaching of Mathematical Sciences
What should be the goals and the contents of the mathematics syllabus from primary school to university? What changes should be undertaken to accompany and prepare for future developments in science and technology? And how should the initial training, competitive recruitment and further education of maths teachers evolve and develop? This book is the fruit of several months work by a committee, presided by the mathematician Jean-Pierre Kahane, on the future of the teaching of mathematics.
Stella Baruk
Si 7 = 0. Quelles mathématiques pour l'école ?
Stella Baruk is known for her uncompromising criticism of the way mathematics is taught at school. She sees children's frequent aversion to the subject as a clear demonstration of the failure of current methods. Following her earlier book, L'Age du Capitaine, in which she denounced the meaningless mathematical problems that children were burdened with and enjoined to solve, she now addresses the difficulties encountered by the new generation of the captain's children. She has reproduced pages from the exercise books of primary school pupils, with a commentary underlining the confusion created by modern maths in the minds of children who are not yet familiar with mathematics. Her message is clear: the fault lies not in modern maths, but in the fact that the cart has been put before the horse. Modern maths was created to generalise operations and structures that recur in every aspect of mathematics, and modern maths cannot be correctly understood without the full mastery of those operations and structures. Yet, the teaching of mathematics has been turned on its head, with the abstract being taught before the concrete and the general before the specific - with the result that empty formalism is all that is being passed on. Baruk's very precise analyses, illustrated with specific examples, will help parents understand their children's mistakes and difficulties, so that they can help them overcome them. Stella Baruk is a mathematics teacher and pedagogical researcher.
Jean-Michel Blanquer
The School of Life
To surmount the on-going fruitless discussions on education, the author proposes a series of guidelines for an open, humanistic school system.
Jean-Michel Blanquer
The School for the Future in France
A informed contribution to the debate on education and the university in this pre-election period. Selected and finely-drawn examples from around the world illustrate how these contradictions can be overcome: Stanford and Silicon Valley, Singapore University, the Ecole Polytechnique de Lausanne nd research, ESSEC and entrepreneurship, and more.