The Philosophy of open education / edited and with an introduction by David Nyberg.

'Open', 'informal', and 'humanistic' are words used to describe new styles of education which depart from ordinary or traditional education. Too often, however, these adjectives are used in a strongly polemical or self-justifying rather than analytical way. Often too, the grounds for accepting or rejecting open education are political or moral, instead of being based on a consideration of the nature of open education and its strength and weaknesses. This collection of essays is central to the debate on open education, analyzing the important concepts in the field. The contributions, all written by authorities on the philosophy of education, deal with problems of definition, knowledge, socialization, freedom, cultural perspective, and unique meanings and metaphors.

Part 1: Problems of Definition 1. What's 'Open' about Open Education? Brian V. Hill 2. Open Education: An Expression in Search of a Definition Don Tunnell 3. Open Education: Open to What? Kieran Egan 4.Openness: The Pedagogic Atmosphere Donald Vandenberg Part 2: Problems of Knowledge 5. That's Just Einstein's Opinion: The Atuocracy of Students' Reason in Open Education Hugh G. Petrie 6. Teaching as Making Sense of What is Known D. Bob Gowin Part 3: Problems of Socialization 7. Subjectivity and Standards in the Humanities R. S. Peters 8. Socialization, Social Models, and the Open Education Movement: Some Philosophical Considerations Kathryn Morgan 9. Open Education and Social Criticism Michael L Simmons, Jr. 10. Open Education: An Aspirin for the Plague Part 4:Problems of freedom 11. Autonomy and Control: Toward a Theory of Legitimate Influence Kenneth Strike 12. Freedom and Desire in the Summerhill Philosophy of Education Leonard J Waks

Includes bibliographical references and index.