Rethinking Educational Philosophy with Margarita Mooney Suarez: Why Teachers Don't Have to be Bureaucratic Therapeutic Reformers

Classical Education

About Our Guest

Margarita Mooney Suarez (Clayton)* is an Associate Professor in the Department of Practical Theology at Princeton Theological Seminary. She founded The Scala Foundation in 2016 and continues to serve as Scala’s Executive Director. Scala Foundation’s vision is to restore meaning and purpose to American culture by focusing on the intersection of artists (culture creators), liberal arts education, and religion (liturgy, personal prayer, theology).

Notes

In this episode, Trae and Margarita Mooney Suarez (Clayton) take a closer look at the philosophical underpinning of modern education.

The late American philosopher, psychologist, and educational reformer John Dewey maintains a massive influence on how contemporary schools and families think about learning and the role of the school and its teachers. Dewey’s philosophy of education, while seemingly positive on some points, is ultimately grounded in the denial of the spiritual needs of students and a rejection of tradition. As a result, Dewey's views have contributed to the rise of beliefs and practices that effectively turn teachers into little more than bureaucratic therapeutic reformers, cut off from tradition with little to no approaches to teaching outside the scientific method applied across subjects.

Today, most schools strip students of traditional beliefs and practices and expect them to build a future on no sure foundation. If we want to undo the influence of Dewey and restore a common unity between the church, the household, and the school, we will need some help. Enter Jacques Maritain and Luigi Giussani.

* Margarita married David Clayton after this recording and now shares his last name.

Some topics and ideas in this episode include:

• Deep Rot in Our Education System
• The Influence of Philosophy on Education
• Jacques Maritain and Luigi Giussani's Concerns with John Dewey
• Teachers as Beuarocratic Therapeutic Reformers
• Truth and The Scientific Method
• All Education as Moral Education
• The Freedom to Choose What’s Right
• Teaching as an Art
• Common Unity Between Household, Church, and School
• Tradition and Authority
• Deconstruction, Questioning, and Scepticism

Resources and Books & Mentioned In This Episode

• After Virtue by Alasdair MacIntyre
• A Common Faith by John Dewey
• Letters to a Young Education Reformer by Frederick M. Hess
• The Crisis of Western Education by Christopher Dawson
• The Burnout Society by Byung-Chul Han
• Education at the Crossroads by Jacques Maritain
• The Risk of Education: Discovering Our Ultimate Destiny by Luigi Giussani

Margarita’s Foundation and Books

• SCALA Foundation
• The Acton Institute 28th Anniversary Speech
• The Love of Learning: Seven Dialogues on the Liberal Arts
• The Wounds of Beauty: Seven Dialogues on Art and Education

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Credits:

Sound Engineer: Andrew Helsel

Logo Art: Anastasiya CF

Music: Used with permission. cellists: Sara Sant' Ambrogio and Lexine Feng; pianist: Alyona Waldo

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