Brighouse: Educating for Flourishing

I really like the book, On Education, by Harry Brighouse. He presents some pretty big ideas, but does so in a casual manner that is easy to read. I think he presents the information so that it becomes meaningful and valuable to all concerned citizens and not simply future educators. I like the way he uses examples and creates scenarios to further his main points. Although I agree with many of the concepts he suggests, I found a few points a little bit hard to totally see eye-to-eye on. For instance, I think the school does have a responsibility to help foster "life skills" in its students. However, I definitely disagree that the notion of having classes based on subjects like family life, work/life balance, credit and taxpaying, and how to use leisure time should be separate subject matters. Because children spend so much time in schools, it is the responsibility of the school to enhance their life-related skills as well as the academic subject lessons, but I think they should be something incorporated across curriculum areas. Brighouse says he does not have a stance on whether the life-skill subjects should be separate or incorporated. I think it would be a huge mistake to feel that the focus of any time in school should be primarily on some social issue. These concepts should be part of any well-balanced literature curriculum. And skills such as taxpaying and credit balancing, should not have to be taught in specifics. If the students are learning the set math curriculum, then they should have an easier time understanding these "life-skill" concepts later on. Schools should be building the foundation and giving exposure to a wide variety of subject areas.