Happiness and Education

When parents are asked what they want for their children, they usually answer that they want their children to be happy. Why, then, is happiness rarely mentioned as a goal of education? This book explores what we might teach if we were to take happiness seriously as a goal of education. It asks, first, what it means to be happy and, second, how we can help children to understand it. It notes that we have to develop a capacity for unhappiness and a willingness to alleviate the suffering of others to be truly happy. Criticizing our current almost exclusive emphasis on economic well-being and pleasure, Nel Noddings discusses the contributions of making a home, parenting, cherishing a place, the development of character, interpersonal growth, finding work that one loves, and participating in a democratic way of life. Finally, she explores ways in which to make schools and classrooms cheerful places. Nell Noddings is Lee L. Jacks Professor of Education, Emerita, at Stanford University. She is past president of the Philosophy of Education Society and of the John Dewey Society. In addition to twelve books, she is the author of more than 170 articles and chapters on various topics ranging from the ethics of care to mathematical problem solving. Her latest books are Starting at Home: Caring and Social Policy (University of California Press) and Educating Moral People: A Caring Alternative to Character Education (Teachers College Press), both published in 2002.

Author: Nel Noddings
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 07/07/2003
Pages: 318
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.20lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.10w x 1.10d
ISBN: 9780521807630

Review Citation(s):
Choice 03/01/2004 pg. 1344
Univ PR Books for Public Libry 01/01/2004 pg. 40 - Strongly Recommended

About the Author
Noddings, Nel: - Nel Noddings is Lee L. Jacks Professor of Education, Emerita, at Stanford University. She is author of 12 books; the latest two are Educating Moral People: A Caring Alternative to Character Education and Starting at Home: Caring and Social Policy, both published in 2002. Noddings spent 15 years as teacher, administrator, and curriculum developer in public schools; she served as Director of the Laboratory Schools at the University of Chicago. At Stanford, she received the Award for Teaching Excellence three times, most recently in 1997. She is member of the National Academy of Education, a Laureate member of Kappa Delta Pi, and she holds two honorary degrees in addition to a number of awards, among them the Anne Rowe Award for contributions to the education of women (Harvard University), the Willystine Goodsell Award (AERA), a Lifetime Achievement Award from AERA (Div. B), and the Excellence in Education Award (Pi Lambda Theta).