Paper Summary:

The paper argues that in principal, liberalism in modern education is consistent with the most essential purposes of education: to teach students how to think critically and use their minds effectively. The paper contends that conservatism in education directly undermines this critical goal and promotes the rigid acceptance of existing ideas and values. According to this writer, the continual evaluation and reevaluation of ideas and values is the cornerstone of social development in human societies and therefore, the most important mission of modern educators is to facilitate the development of critical thinking in students.

Outline:
Introduction
The Essential Benefits of Liberal Education
Conclusion

From the Paper:

"In American political lexicon, the phrases liberalism and conservatism have very specific connotations having to do with particular contemporary political issues like taxation, abortion, foreign policy, and different interpretations of various civil rights and constitutional protections and privileges. To a great degree, politically-oriented Americans have adopted highly pejorative characterizations of one another in which they view either "liberalism" or "conservatism" as the embodiment of most of the nation's problems. However, in the more general sense of education, liberalism and conservatism have different connotations that, regardless of politically-oriented interpretations, with rather obvious implications."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Davidson, K. (1999). Carl Sagan: A Life. New York: Wiley & Sons.
• Dershowitz, A. (2002). Shouting Fire: Civil Liberties in a Turbulent Age. New York: Simon & Schuster.
• Feldman, N. (2005). Divided by God: America's Church and State Problem and What We Should Do about It. New York: Farrar, Straus, & Giroux.
• Feynman, M. (2005). Perfectly Reasonable Deviations: The Letters of Richard P. Feynman. New York: Basic Books.
• Mooney, C. (2005). The Republican War on Science. New York: Basic Books.

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