Professors Shawn Klein and Matt Flamm are conducting a new reading group this semester on Plato’s works on the trial and death of Socrates. From the flyer:
In 399 BCE, Athens executed Socrates for impiety and corrupting the youth. Plato immortalized the trial and death of Socrates in his dialogues: Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, and Phaedo. These are not merely historical dialogues, but philosophical treatises that examine the nature of piety, philosophy, justice, and death. The Reading Group will discuss each of these dialogues and the philosophical issues they raise.
Each meeting will take place at the Center for Ethics and Entrepreneurship office on the second floor of Burpee, from 1-2pm. There will be light refreshments. A free copy of the book will be provided to participants.
Dates:
September 10: Overview and Introduction
September 17: Euthyphro
October 1: Apology
November 5: Crito
November 19: Phaedo
An article in New York Daily News covers the increasing demand for the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship’s (NFTE) courses in our faltering economy. NFTE was founded by Kaizen interviewee Steve Mariotti, who states, “Kids are aware of how fragile a job is and they begin to think about how they could create a job if they had to.” The article also profiles several young graduates of the program who have become entrepreneurial success stories.
Shown above, NFTE graduate Steve Gordon, 18-year-old founder of TatooID.
The Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE) recently won a Distinguished Achievement Award from the Association of Educational Publishers for NFTE’s mathematics curriculum “Entrepreneurship: Owning Your Future”. From the announcement: “Written by NFTE Founder Steve Mariotti, the curriculum teaches fundamentals of mathematics as well as comprehensive guide to developing a business plan. It focuses on critical basic business skills including business communications, negotiating, business ethics, social responsibility, time management, and goal setting.” We interviewed Mr. Mariotti for the August 2009 issue of Kaizen (PDF). Read the full-length interview here.
The Khan Academy YouTube channel is the most popular source for free online educational videos, beating out even MIT. Salman Khan, the man behind it all, is a self-appointed teacher who tries to “deliver things the way I wish they were delivered to me.” He has made over 1,400 videos so far, most of them consisting only of his voice and crude illustrations. He now has a non-profit organization, also called Khan Academy, that is devoted to “providing a high quality education to anyone, anywhere.”
In a recent Forbes article, Sramana Mitra asks whether business schools that emphasize raising venture capital over bootstrapping set up their students for failure in the “real world.” First-time entrepreneurs typically don’t have the track record necessary to secure venture capital, so if they see it as their only option they may never get their business off the ground. It’s a testament to CEE Professor Jeff Fahrenwald’s Entrepreneurship course that bootstrapping and venture capital are both given equal consideration as appropriate funding tactics.
During the Fall 2009 semester, CEE sponsored two essay contests. Cash prizes were awarded to the first place winners and honorable mentions in each contest. The essays were judged on their accuracy and depth of interpretation and their independence of thought.
The first contest was held in Professor Stephen Hicks’s Introduction to Philosophy course. Students were asked to write about the truth or falsity of the following Shakespeare line from Act II of Hamlet: “This above all: to thine own self be true / And it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man.” Students related this line to one or more of their course books — Plato’s Apology and Crito, Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead, and René Descartes’ Meditations. Congratulations to our five winners!
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The second contest was held in Professor Shawn Klein’s Business and Economics Ethics course. Students were asked to defend or criticize the following claim made by the character Gordon Gecko in the movie Wall Street: “Greed, in all of its forms—greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge—has marked the upward surge of mankind.” Congratulations to our three winners!
The Department of Philosophy and the Center for Ethics and Entrepreneurship are sponsoring two new reading groups, which are open to all interested members of the Rockford College community.
The Theory of Moral Sentiments by Adam Smith. This group will meet from 1-2 pm in the CEE office on the second floor of Burpee on the following dates:
January 22
February 5
February 26
March 19
April 9
April 30 .
The discussions will be led by Professor Shawn Klein, with Prof. Matthew Flamm. Also, there will be complementary snacks at each meeting!
Honor: A History by James Bowman. This group will meet from 6-7 pm in Scarborough 204 on the following dates:
February 9
February 23
March 16
March 30
The discussions will be led by Professors Stephen Hicks and Shawn Klein. .
Free copies of the books will be given to all who are interested in participating. Stop by the CEE office on the second floor of Burpee (open 9-5 weekdays) to pick up your free copy, or feel welcome to get one at the first meeting.
Anja Hartleb-Parson, CEE’s Research & Publications Manager, talks with Fall 2009 guest speaker Joshua Hall about his presentation on “The Dilemma of School Finance Reform.” Professor Hall explains why we are spending more on public education over time but may not be getting our money’s worth. Watch the video below.
Dr. Stephen Hicks, CEE’s Executive Director, talks with Fall 2009 guest speaker Dr. Jerry Kirkpatrick about his recent book, “Montessori, Dewey, and Capitalism”. Dr. Kirkpatrick compares and contrasts the educational philosophies and methods of John Dewey and Maria Montessori, and discusses the potential benefits of such methods in a capitalist society.
Professors Shawn Klein and Matt Flamm are conducting a new reading group this semester on Plato’s works on the trial and death of Socrates. From the flyer:
