Global Themes (Part I): Belief Systems
It's funny. Just the other day I was musing about the new Granta Syndicate syllabus on Global Perspectives. Then I got an email requesting that I prepare an outline for the first theme in the syllabus, Belief Systems.
How does one go about this task? I realise that in the past, I used to sit down and churn these things out while my then-boss appropriated them and touted them as his own stuff. That was driven home to me in a big way when a report my colleagues and I wrote was submitted to the higher authorities with no changes at all, except that our names had been deleted and replaced with another name. Heh. Fortunately, while the hardcopy and softcopy may have been sold for a mess of pottage, the software and hardware are resident in this shell. I can still generate things like that, and I can do so more lucratively, as I was telling a friend not ten minutes ago.
I have now decided to adopt a 'Creative Commons' approach for any of my educational consulting projects in which I generate resource materials. Advice is given freely for reproduction in not-for-profit endeavours. But if you want to make money out of your customers by using my stuff, you will pay.
Digressions apart, here is how one goes about doing such things.
Any package of this kind has a structure consisting of five sequential parts, more or less. (The craft of knowing what other parts to add and when to add them is a separate issue, not covered here.) These five parts are: Overview & Intent, Key Points, Cases & Examples, Links & Extensions, Sources. Each part can be extended or elaborated into multiple sections. When you have exhausted all the sections, you have a package.
A package outline consists of a framing device which covers the five major parts so that your client can see what those parts look like and how they work together. If the client wants to know more, or if the client thinks he's smart enough to reverse engineer the package concept on sight, that's his choice. But you must ensure there is enough on display for such a choice to be made.
In the case of Belief Systems, the obvious approach is to begin with a quick historical survey of what people have believed and why. The intent would be to ask why people believe, and then explain the strands which make up different belief systems. The first part therefore contains an historical overview of animism, religion, magic and science as the four main kinds of belief and how these four strands of belief can be compared to the modern paradigms of faith and reason.
The second part must then give the key points of major belief systems and how they demonstrate their coherence. Marxism is as much a belief system as Buddhism, and you can probably say the same for any reasonably coherent philosophy which informs the way people think about life; a belief system is the system that underpins a worldview or a way of life.
The third part would probably include cases of religious, humanist and mathematical belief systems. But since this is a course on global perspectives and not one on philosophy, you'd have to show applicability to life choices and the impact of large movements based on these belief systems on things happening in the world today.
The fourth part would show links to the other fifteen themes; one good example would be how a belief system affects a people's belief in universal education and the form it should take.
The last part would reference some of the more useful or convenient available sources. I always begin by recommending other people's good packages. For example, J M Roberts has a knack for summarising huge historical ideas in a few pages. It isn't for the purists, but it does generate a greater sense of accessibility.
And there you have it: my belief system regarding the generation of educational curriculum packages.
How does one go about this task? I realise that in the past, I used to sit down and churn these things out while my then-boss appropriated them and touted them as his own stuff. That was driven home to me in a big way when a report my colleagues and I wrote was submitted to the higher authorities with no changes at all, except that our names had been deleted and replaced with another name. Heh. Fortunately, while the hardcopy and softcopy may have been sold for a mess of pottage, the software and hardware are resident in this shell. I can still generate things like that, and I can do so more lucratively, as I was telling a friend not ten minutes ago.
I have now decided to adopt a 'Creative Commons' approach for any of my educational consulting projects in which I generate resource materials. Advice is given freely for reproduction in not-for-profit endeavours. But if you want to make money out of your customers by using my stuff, you will pay.
Digressions apart, here is how one goes about doing such things.
Any package of this kind has a structure consisting of five sequential parts, more or less. (The craft of knowing what other parts to add and when to add them is a separate issue, not covered here.) These five parts are: Overview & Intent, Key Points, Cases & Examples, Links & Extensions, Sources. Each part can be extended or elaborated into multiple sections. When you have exhausted all the sections, you have a package.
A package outline consists of a framing device which covers the five major parts so that your client can see what those parts look like and how they work together. If the client wants to know more, or if the client thinks he's smart enough to reverse engineer the package concept on sight, that's his choice. But you must ensure there is enough on display for such a choice to be made.
In the case of Belief Systems, the obvious approach is to begin with a quick historical survey of what people have believed and why. The intent would be to ask why people believe, and then explain the strands which make up different belief systems. The first part therefore contains an historical overview of animism, religion, magic and science as the four main kinds of belief and how these four strands of belief can be compared to the modern paradigms of faith and reason.
The second part must then give the key points of major belief systems and how they demonstrate their coherence. Marxism is as much a belief system as Buddhism, and you can probably say the same for any reasonably coherent philosophy which informs the way people think about life; a belief system is the system that underpins a worldview or a way of life.
The third part would probably include cases of religious, humanist and mathematical belief systems. But since this is a course on global perspectives and not one on philosophy, you'd have to show applicability to life choices and the impact of large movements based on these belief systems on things happening in the world today.
The fourth part would show links to the other fifteen themes; one good example would be how a belief system affects a people's belief in universal education and the form it should take.
The last part would reference some of the more useful or convenient available sources. I always begin by recommending other people's good packages. For example, J M Roberts has a knack for summarising huge historical ideas in a few pages. It isn't for the purists, but it does generate a greater sense of accessibility.
And there you have it: my belief system regarding the generation of educational curriculum packages.
Labels: Belief, Curriculum Development, Education, Globalism, Philosophy
etched with acid at 9:50:00 pm
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