Philosophical and Psychological Foundations of Education

QUOTATIONS BY TOPIC

CHANGE

The nakedness of standing without a frame, in a new paradigm, carries the pleasures of freedom but it also can evoke fears of looking foolish and exposed, feelings of shame that can readily erupt into rage and attack. This is the moment when we are most tempted to return to the familiar, to restore an old framework at all costs—this moment of paradigm shift, of epiphany or sudden radical insight, the creative moment in the lives of artists and scientists, the moment when our ordinary vision is removed and we come to see that the old ways of seeing were mistaken, were blinding us to what we now can see. ~ Carol Gilligan, The Birth of Pleasure

Old wine does not improve much for being poured into differently shaped bottles, even if the glass is clearer. ~ Jerome Bruner, The Culture of Education, p. 9

[Teachers] are the ultimate change agents. ~ Jerome Bruner, The Culture of Education, p. 84

Development, as often happens, proceeds here not in a circle but in a spiral, passing through the same point at each new revolution while advancing to a higher level. ~ Lev Vygotsky, Mind in Society

It requires troublesome work to undertake the alteration of old beliefs. ~ John Dewey, How We Think

The most violent revolutions in an individual's beliefs leave most of his old order standing. ~ William James, Pragmatism

Familiarity breeds contempt, but it also breeds something like affection. We get used to the chains we wear, and we miss them when removed. ~ John Dewey, The Child and the Curriculum

Where upheavals occur, where the historical fabric is ruptured, the naive mind sees only catastrophe, gaps, and discontinuity. . . . Scientific thought, on the contrary, sees revolution and evolution as two forms of development that are mutually related and mutually presuppose each other. ~ Lev Vygotsky, Mind in Society

Every [developmental] advance is connected with a marked change in motives, inclinations, and incentives. ~ Lev Vygotsky, Mind in Society

It's really not possible for someone to imagine himself/herself as a subject in the process of becoming without having at the same time a disposition for change. And change of which she/he is not merely the victim but the subject. ~ Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of Freedom

Socrates recognizes that getting his students to reveal themselves as they are, or appear to themselves to be, is the first step in giving them the chance to change. ~ Mark Edmundson, Why Read?, p. 27

Back to top

Last updated:
September 19, 2008 4:23 PM