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Happiness and Education

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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.

320 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

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About the author

Nel Noddings

49 books47 followers
Nel Noddings is an American feminist, educationalist, and philosopher best known for her work in philosophy of education, educational theory, and ethics of care.

Noddings received a bachelors degree in mathematics and physical science from Montclair State College in New Jersey, a masters degree in mathematics from Rutgers University, and a Ph.D. in education from the Stanford University School of Education.

Nel Noddings worked in many areas of the education system. She spent seventeen years as an elementary and high school mathematics teacher and school administrator, before earning her PhD and beginning work as an academic in the fields of philosophy of education, theory of education and ethics, specifically moral education and ethics of care. She became a member of the Stanford faculty in 1977, and was the Jacks Professor of Child Education from 1992 until 1998. While at Stanford University she received awards for teaching excellence in 1981, 1982 and 1997, and was the associate dean or acting dean of the School of Education for four years. After leaving Stanford University, she held positions at Columbia University and Colgate University. She is past president of the Philosophy of Education Society and the John Dewey Society. In 2002-2003 she held the John W. Porter Chair in Urban Education at Eastern Michigan University. She has been Lee L. Jacks Professor of Education, Emerita, at Stanford University since she retired in 1998.

Nel Noddings has 10 children and in 2009 had been married for 60 years. She has described her early educational experiences and her close relationships as key in her development of her philosophical position.

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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
Profile Image for Ietrio.
6,706 reviews25 followers
February 17, 2020
I was raised with this sort of stupidity and overall shallow appraisal of the reality. As I wasn't aware of the existence of one Noddings and probably Noddings wasn't THAT influent when I was in school, I assume Noddings just rehashes old wives tales and popular "common sense" as his own thoughts.

> Because educational programs were designed by men, they were directed at preparation for public life – male life. Homemaking was taught at home and in some schools exclusively for women.

Actually, from Medieval times there were two general directions in education: superior and inferior. The superior path was worthy of the elite, abstract, university-related. The inferior path was practical and it means apprenticeship. The women were defaulting to apprenticeship, yet there were cases when women got the best education available. More, although all sort of political activists dramatize, the act has a lot more to do with birth control than what Noddings pompously calls "public life". To make things worse, the simplistic thoughts generated by Noddings ignore the aspect of women imposing the position to other women and push for a new sentient god, the Society, which, like the father-god from the Christian trinity, is somehow male.

Another remark would be that although the title and the self important remarks imply a general book, Noddings is limited to only the White European World, the others not worthy of the examination.
Profile Image for Alexis.
148 reviews
August 22, 2014
How would we have to change schools if student happiness was one of our aims? Noddings gives us the philosophical background of happiness and then moved forward to talk about different realms in which happiness can occur. Her recommendations in the final chapter about how to aim for happiness in schools calls for radical change, but ones that are generally feasible. I loved this book from the very moment I started reading it.
Profile Image for Pashew Majeed.
78 reviews13 followers
September 2, 2014
Knowing if there is a sense of need in education makes us as parents and educators try to maintain those needs of our kids but, prior and for this to happen, is the realization of those needs. Knowing what we need might reduce the guilt we have; the guilt that is the product of the conflict between civilization and instinct and this is the price we pay for our happiness (Noddings, 2003, p.69). So, to realize those needs is the very first step towards doing what takes us to happiness. As Noddings suggests, with kids there are times when they do not know what they need, and that is when parents or educator impose on them those needs (p.69).


Read all the article here
http://kurdistantribune.com/2014/be-h...
1,083 reviews13 followers
July 19, 2007
What is your definition of happiness? I think mine differs from Nel Noddings. I learned that at no time should a teacher intentionally make a student unhappy for any reason in class. I did get a few motivating thoughts from this book. But generally it did not correlate with the realities of public school at this time. Maybe in the future when the world is different...
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