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Articles 1 - 30 of 51
Full-Text Articles in Education
Social Movements, Deliberation, And Educational Governance. A Response To “Pragmatist Thinking For A Populist Moment”, Ellis Reid
Democracy and Education
In this response essay, the author provides an account of the role of social movements in a democracy as part of a larger argument about democratic school governance. Focusing on Black Lives Matter (BLM), the author contends that social movements like BLM support a vibrant and legitimate democracy because they constitute vital nodes in the ongoing, norm-governed conversation that constitutes democratic politics. To make this argument, the author defends an account of democratic deliberation that recognizes (1) the contribution of emotion to our capacity for reason and (2) the fact that deliberation extends beyond the confines of official democratic fora. …
Liberating Children, Or Breaking The Backbone Of Our Democracy? A Book Review Of Hostages No More: The Fight For Education Freedom And The Future Of The American Child, Jeffrey Frenkiewich
Liberating Children, Or Breaking The Backbone Of Our Democracy? A Book Review Of Hostages No More: The Fight For Education Freedom And The Future Of The American Child, Jeffrey Frenkiewich
Democracy and Education
In Hostages No More, former Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos provides a 10-chapter memoir in which she argues for school privatization, including the expansion of government funding of charter schools. DeVos argues that the modern public education system, supported by an “establishment” of government bureaucracies, the education industrial complex, and teacher unions, holds American children, especially poor Black and Hispanic children, “hostage” (DeVos, 2022, p. 261) and that her life’s work has been a civil rights struggle to help parents and their children obtain their “education freedom” (p. 216). However, many of her claims are supported with misleading information, and …
The Privatization Movement Is Not Dead! A Book Review Of A Wolf At The Schoolhouse Door: The Dismantling Of Public Education And The Future Of School, Jeffrey Frenkiewich
The Privatization Movement Is Not Dead! A Book Review Of A Wolf At The Schoolhouse Door: The Dismantling Of Public Education And The Future Of School, Jeffrey Frenkiewich
Democracy and Education
In January of 2020, Diane Ravitch published Slaying Goliath, in which she claimed the movement to privatize America’s public school system was dying. While this might be true, the movement is not dead, and this review looks at Jack Schneider and Jennifer Berkshire’s A Wolf at the Schoolhouse Door, which examines the history of school privatization and calls for renewed vigilance by those who oppose it. Schneider and Berkshire argued that defenders of public education need three conceptual frames to fight privatization efforts: (a) a clear presentation of the aims and objectives of the privatization movement; (b) knowledge of the …
Public And Counterpublics: Rereading The Case Of Riverside Through Critical Pragmatism. A Response To "Community Insurgency: Constituency, Choice, And The Common Good", Kathleen Knight-Abowitz
Public And Counterpublics: Rereading The Case Of Riverside Through Critical Pragmatism. A Response To "Community Insurgency: Constituency, Choice, And The Common Good", Kathleen Knight-Abowitz
Democracy and Education
An article of empirically informed philosophical analysis of charter schooling that features local histories, voices of stakeholders, and an optimistic view on the democratic potential of charter school policies, the original piece presents a compelling, if extreme, case of charter school formation. In this response, I offer an alternative theoretical framing to the case. I argue that the scholarship of constitutional scholars is much less relevant as an interpretive lens on the case than more critical, contemporary pragmatist thinkers. I hope to show in this response how Deweyan political philosophy might have been used throughout the argument to produce a …
How Teaching Virtues Became A Movement. A Book Review Of The Rise Of Character Education In Britain: Heroes, Dragons, And The Myths Of Character, Judith L. Pace
How Teaching Virtues Became A Movement. A Book Review Of The Rise Of Character Education In Britain: Heroes, Dragons, And The Myths Of Character, Judith L. Pace
Democracy and Education
How did character education become so popular? What does its curriculum look like? And what is its educational impact? Lee Jerome and Ben Kisby answer these and other questions in a bold and brilliant book. Focusing on the character education movement in Britain, they dissect its theoretical foundation, explain its ascendancy, analyze its curricula, and examine its results. The authors construct a compelling argument that character education clashes with education for democracy.
Character education claims to be a panacea for improving individual children’s life chances as well as an array of societal problems. But with its deeply flawed ideology, curricula, …
Undergoing Political Experience. A Book Review Of Educational Politics For Social Justice, Becky L. Noël Smith
Undergoing Political Experience. A Book Review Of Educational Politics For Social Justice, Becky L. Noël Smith
Democracy and Education
The persistent reports and video evidence of the brutality against people of color, the swell of protest and community organizing in response, and also the noxious swell of white supremacy in the current political climate all amount to a desperate reminder that we must not only continually interrogate our public institutions but thoughtfully pursue the many fronts necessary to dismantle the structural forms of oppression that most U.S. institutions have been built upon. Catherine Marshall, Cynthia Gerstl-Pepin, and Mark Johnson provide an analysis of the political arenas making up the public education system—what they explain as the micro, district, state, …
Essential Reading On Education Reform Dynamics. A Book Review Of Philanthropy, Hidden Strategy, And Collective Resistance, William Wolff, D. Brent Edwards Jr.
Essential Reading On Education Reform Dynamics. A Book Review Of Philanthropy, Hidden Strategy, And Collective Resistance, William Wolff, D. Brent Edwards Jr.
Democracy and Education
This review looks at what sets Philanthrophy, Hidden Strategy, and Collective Resistance (2019) apart from the rest of the available literature surrounding the politics involved in behind the scenes policy-making decisions. The book is broken down into easily digestible chapters that focus on a variety of topics from a quick primer on neoliberalism to the hidden hand of philanthropy and the way it shapes education. Of special note is the focus on praxis, with concrete examples on how the reader can fight to bring democracy to education whether they are a student, professor, teacher, or parent.
What Is Education For? A Response To "What Kind Of Citizens Do Educators Hope Their Students Become? A Response To 'Storypath: A Powerful Tool For Engaging Children In Civic Learning.'", Margit E. Mcguire, Laurie Stevahn, Shari Wennik Bronsther
What Is Education For? A Response To "What Kind Of Citizens Do Educators Hope Their Students Become? A Response To 'Storypath: A Powerful Tool For Engaging Children In Civic Learning.'", Margit E. Mcguire, Laurie Stevahn, Shari Wennik Bronsther
Democracy and Education
Darwich (2020) asked “What Kind of Citizens Do Educators Hope Their Students Become?” in her response to “Storypath: A Powerful Tool for Engaging Children in Civic Education” (McGuire et al., 2019). She argued that civics should be rooted in social justice grounded by critical civic empathy, which requires focusing on power and privilege given persistent disparities in caring for all people within our democracy. We agree and here further emphasize the importance of dismantling systems of oppression that block efforts to advance this goal. We also recognize pragmatic complexities in elementary school classrooms that require teacher professional judgment to create …
The Morning Meeting: Fostering A Participatory Democracy Begins With Youth In Public Education, Rebecca C. Tilhou
The Morning Meeting: Fostering A Participatory Democracy Begins With Youth In Public Education, Rebecca C. Tilhou
Democracy and Education
There is a faltering sense of democracy in America’s current political climate due to polarized opinions about leadership’s decisions and antagonistic political parties. John Dewey (1916) proposed that education is the place to foster democracy, as schools can provide a platform to actively engage students in authentic democratic experiences that will empower them to act democratically beyond the walls of the school. The democratic schools that emerged during the Free School Movement of the 1960s and 1970s embody Dewey’s philosophy, specifically with the shared governance occurring in their School Meetings. Unfortunately, American public education’s present preoccupation with standardization, proficiency scores, …
Education As Commons, Children As Commoners: The Case Study Of The Little Tree Community, Yannis Pechtelidis, Alexandros Kioupkiolis
Education As Commons, Children As Commoners: The Case Study Of The Little Tree Community, Yannis Pechtelidis, Alexandros Kioupkiolis
Democracy and Education
This paper presents the emergent paradigm of the "commons" as an alternative value and action system in the field of education, and it critically draws out the implications of the commons for refiguring education and its potential contribution to democratic transformation. The paper delves into an independent pedagogical community, Little Tree, which is active in early childhood education and care, aiming to explore the ways in which children conduct themselves in accordance with the ethics and the logics of the commons and to show how they thereby unsettle the conventional meaning of citizenship. Proceeding from an enlarged notion of the …
Negating Amy Gutmann: Deliberative Democracy, Business Influence, And Segmentation Strategies In Education, Brian Ford
Negating Amy Gutmann: Deliberative Democracy, Business Influence, And Segmentation Strategies In Education, Brian Ford
Democracy and Education
The task of creating a public will is daunting in any political system, but a democracy dedicated to the principles of participation and public deliberation faces specific challenges, including overcoming organized opposition that may not accept democratic tenets. In the sphere of education (and social reproduction more generally), business-influenced movements to reform public education question many of the established goals and norms of democratic education and thus may be the vanguard of such opposition. In order to interpret and explore these movements, this article enlists Amy Gutmann's work as a heuristic device. In so doing, it looks at the task …
Controversy And The Common Core. A Book Review Of Common Core: National Education Standards And The Threat To Democracy, Courtney L. Gilday
Controversy And The Common Core. A Book Review Of Common Core: National Education Standards And The Threat To Democracy, Courtney L. Gilday
Democracy and Education
For a decade, the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) have been no stranger to controversy. Tangled in the discourse have been numerous scholars, practitioners, policymakers, and community members. Many of those in favor of the Common Core argue that national standards provide a foundation on which to build equitable opportunities for student success, while those opposed say that they disempower autonomy of local schools, community members, parents, and students themselves. In Common Core: National Education Standards and the Threat to Democracy, Tampio (2018) highlights how national standards create barriers for students to operate as citizens in a democratic society. He …
Critical Democratic Education And Lgbtq+-Inclusive Curriculum. A Book Review Of Critical Democratic Education And Lgbtq-Inclusive Curriculum: Opportunities And Constraints, Matthew A. Thomas-Reid
Critical Democratic Education And Lgbtq+-Inclusive Curriculum. A Book Review Of Critical Democratic Education And Lgbtq-Inclusive Curriculum: Opportunities And Constraints, Matthew A. Thomas-Reid
Democracy and Education
With the aim of promoting the democratic education values of inclusion equity and social justice using a queer theoretical framework to identify and deconstruct normalizing forces, author Camicia sets the reader up for a deep analysis of educational practice, policy, and curriculum using Utah and California as concrete illustrations of democratic inclusive curriculum. Camicia's book ends with an epilogue “discussing a rationale for using auto-ethnography within curriculum in order to increase inclusion," which opens up excellent possibilities for future research.
Educational Life In The Interregnum: Race, Dis/Ability, And Special Education, Benjamin Kearl
Educational Life In The Interregnum: Race, Dis/Ability, And Special Education, Benjamin Kearl
Democracy and Education
This article undertakes a comparative analysis of special education policy through the juxtaposition of two recent Supreme Court actions: Allston v. Lower Merion School District (2015) and Endrew F. v. Douglas County School District (2017). This comparison reveals an ordering of special education policy around questions of race. Specifically, this article argues that special education policy is governed by a racecraft of disability labeling that defines students of color as variously disabled and through a biopolitics of special education that expands disability services for individual students who are within the truth demarcated by scientific-juridical mediations of life. Against such negative …
High Costs To Peddling Solutions In Search Of Problems. A Book Review Of Selling School: The Marketing Of Public Education, T. Jameson Brewer
High Costs To Peddling Solutions In Search Of Problems. A Book Review Of Selling School: The Marketing Of Public Education, T. Jameson Brewer
Democracy and Education
The unwavering commitment by reformers to privatize schools through educational marketplaces has fostered a rise in educational advertising necessitated by the competitive nature of commodification. Not only has this new form of "edvertising" fostered the creation of new jobs within the corporate cabal but it relies heavily on what are likely misleading claims of academic success and, additionally, raises serious questions about funds being diverted away from pedagogical practices in favor of glossy advertisements and videos. Selling School: The Marketing of Public Education by DiMartino and Jessen explores the ways in which edvertising within the educational landscape serves as a …
Learning From The Quiet Revolution. A Book Review Of After The Education Wars: How Smart Schools Upend The Business Of Reform, William (Chris) C. Gilbert
Learning From The Quiet Revolution. A Book Review Of After The Education Wars: How Smart Schools Upend The Business Of Reform, William (Chris) C. Gilbert
Democracy and Education
A review of the book After the Education Wars: How Smart Schools Upend the Business of Reform, by Andrea Gabor (The New Press, 2018).
Epistemic Inclusion And The Argument From Circumspection, James Scott Johnston
Epistemic Inclusion And The Argument From Circumspection, James Scott Johnston
Democracy and Education
In this response to Martin's "Should Deliberate Democratic Inclusion Extend to Children?" I examine Martin's comments against the "argument from circumspection," which is dubious regarding the claims children make to change democratic policies and procedures. I explain there are good reasons for being circumspect. One of these concerns the need for all in public discourse to supply not just claims but reasons and to have both these claims and reasons adjudicated in the logical space of reasons. Children, as with all who practice public discourse, must have their claims and reasons assessed for these to be admitted as candidates for …
Talking Back To Corporate Reform. A Book Review Of "You Can't Fire The Bad Ones!" And 18 Other Myths About Teachers, Teachers’ Unions, And Public Education, Alisun Thompson
Democracy and Education
A review of the book “You Can’t Fire the Bad Ones!” And 18 Other Myths About Teachers, Teachers’ Unions, and Public Education, by William Ayers, Crystal Laura, and Rick Ayers (Beacon Press, 2018).
Segregation, The “Black Spatial Imagination,” And Radical Social Transformation, Pauline Lipman
Segregation, The “Black Spatial Imagination,” And Radical Social Transformation, Pauline Lipman
Democracy and Education
This response discusses the complexity of racial segregation in U.S. cities today and an emerging education movement for equity and racial justice. Racial segregation has been and continues to be a potent, and contested, strategy of containment, subordination, and exploitation, but African Americans have also, out of necessity, turned racial segregation into collective survival, radical solidarity, resistance, and counter-hegemonic economic and social relations. New geographies of racial containment, exclusion, and incorporation in the neoliberal, postindustrial city have spawned a new antiracist, antineoliberal education movement. While people of color have the right to live and attend school anywhere, African American and …
Renewed Commitment To Democratic Schools. A Book Review Of These Schools Belong To You And Me: Why We Can’T Afford To Abandon Our Public Schools, Pamela Fisher
Democracy and Education
In These Schools Belong to You and Me, renowned educator Deborah Meier partners with a younger former colleague, Emily Gasoi, to offer both a multigenerational perspective of their successful work in small, autonomous, democratic schools and a rich commentary on the evolution of the small schools movement in light of the recent press for high-stakes accountability. Writing in alternating chapters and reflecting on their decades of experience, MacArthur award winner Meier and Gasoi present a compelling argument for renewed support for democracy and equity in all our public schools.
Does The Common Core Further Democracy? A Response To "The Common Core And Democratic Education: Examining Potential Costs And Benefits To Public And Private Autonomy", Johann N. Neem
Democracy and Education
The Common Core does not advance democratic education. Far from it, the opening section of the language standards argues that the goal of public K–12 education is “college and career readiness.” Only at the end of their introductory section do the Common Core’s authors suggest that K–12 education has any goals beyond the economic: learning to read and write well has “wide applicability outside the classroom and work place,” including preparing people for “private deliberation and responsible citizenship in a republic.” The democratic purposes of K–12 education are not goals but, in the Common Core’s words, a “natural outgrowth” of …
Teaching Controversial Issues In American Schools, Emily Robertson
Teaching Controversial Issues In American Schools, Emily Robertson
Democracy and Education
Robert Kunzman's review of our book is thoughtful and generous. There are numerous points of agreement between us. We indicate a few areas where comments might be helpful to our readers, including our support of pedagogical neutrality, our legal analysis of teachers' rights to free speech, our support of academic freedom for teachers, and the goals of teaching controversial issues.
A Democratic Critique Of The Common Core English Language Arts (Ela) Standards, Nicholas Tampio
A Democratic Critique Of The Common Core English Language Arts (Ela) Standards, Nicholas Tampio
Democracy and Education
Parents, educators, and students have criticized the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects for expecting students to regurgitate evidence from assigned texts rather than think for themselves. This article argues that this popular critique is accurate and that the Common Core, regardless of its advocates’ intentions, has undemocratic consequences. Initially, the essay considers a democratic argument for the Common Core. Then, I show that the standards themselves, faithfully implemented, lead to assignments and assessments that give students few opportunities to articulate their own thoughts or responses. I argue that …
Improving Equality Through Study In The Humanities. A Book Review Of Education And Equality, Jane Blanken-Webb
Improving Equality Through Study In The Humanities. A Book Review Of Education And Equality, Jane Blanken-Webb
Democracy and Education
Danielle Allen’s recent book, Education and Equality, forwards a much-needed perspective for considering the relationship between education and equality in an era in which the value of education seems to be almost unquestionably commensurate with the economic payback it produces in terms of future job earnings. Rather than thinking of education only as a proxy for the transmission of technical know-how and skill that can lead to higher-paying jobs and ultimately improve conditions of economic inequality in our society, Allen took up the intrinsic relationship between education and equality in which the practice of human development, in itself, contributes …
Democracy Dies In Dualisms. A Response To “Dewey And Democracy”, Dan Sarofian-Butin
Democracy Dies In Dualisms. A Response To “Dewey And Democracy”, Dan Sarofian-Butin
Democracy and Education
This essay reviews Atkinson’s article “Dewey and Democracy” and argues that while Dewey and the social foundations classroom may indeed be important for teacher preparation, it is not in the way Atkinson suggests. Namely, I argue that Atkinson’s essay has three distinct (yet interrelated) issues: his problematic oversimplifications, what I term as “Dewey doesn’t do dualisms”; his misreading of Dewey, where I point out that “Dewey doesn’t do debate”; and his unexamined positionality, where I make clear that “Dewey doesn’t do Descartes.” I conclude this essay with a different perspective of a way forward with Dewey: that Dewey’s antifoundationalism serves …
Navigating Middle Of The Road Reforms Through Collaborative Community, Andrea J. Bingham, Patricia Burch
Navigating Middle Of The Road Reforms Through Collaborative Community, Andrea J. Bingham, Patricia Burch
Democracy and Education
The current wave of educational reform is complex and situated in market-based initiatives coupled with a renewed emphasis on local autonomy, deliberation, and community—middle-of-the-road reforms. In practice, schools are challenged to develop organizational forms that can support collaboration and community engagement, alongside the bureaucratic and accountability-driven reforms that demand more oversight, transparency, and demonstrable results. Our intent in this paper is to begin to map the emerging contradictions and opportunities that the complex reform climate presents for practitioners through a case study of a personalized learning charter school. In so doing, we illustrate how a community of teachers within a …
Researching Holistic Democracy In Schools. A Reponse To "Examination Of The New Tech Model As A Holistic Democracy", Philip A. Woods
Researching Holistic Democracy In Schools. A Reponse To "Examination Of The New Tech Model As A Holistic Democracy", Philip A. Woods
Democracy and Education
Bradley-Levine reported in her article how she created an opportunity to explore research data with the aim of examining the degree to which New Tech schools were democratic in the sense conceptualized by the notion of holistic democracy. My response is in three parts. The first sets out my understanding of the significance of the model of holistic democracy and the purpose of the framework. The second is a review of Bradley-Levine’s findings, with reflections that occurred to me as I worked through these. The third comprises my conclusions. The framework has been applied, in my judgement, in a diligent …
What Makes Hope Possible. A Book Review Of Strike For America: Chicago Teachers Against Austerity, Amy B. Shuffelton
What Makes Hope Possible. A Book Review Of Strike For America: Chicago Teachers Against Austerity, Amy B. Shuffelton
Democracy and Education
This is a positive review of Strike for America, by Micah Uetricht.
The Common Core And Democratic Education: Examining Potential Costs And Benefits To Public And Private Autonomy, Benjamin J. Bindewald, Rory P. Tannebaum, Patrick Womac
The Common Core And Democratic Education: Examining Potential Costs And Benefits To Public And Private Autonomy, Benjamin J. Bindewald, Rory P. Tannebaum, Patrick Womac
Democracy and Education
This conceptual paper assesses prevalent critiques of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and analyzes content from the CCSS in language arts and literacy to determine whether the standards are likely to support or undermine key democratic aims of education. The authors conclude that critiques of the CCSS have some merit but are generally overstated and misdirected, and the standards give inadequate attention to the development of public autonomy but an ideal amount of attention to development of private autonomy.
Youth Change Agents: Comparing The Sociopolitical Identities Of Youth Organizers And Youth Commissioners, Jerusha O. Conner, Katherine Cosner
Youth Change Agents: Comparing The Sociopolitical Identities Of Youth Organizers And Youth Commissioners, Jerusha O. Conner, Katherine Cosner
Democracy and Education
Although youth have long been at the forefront of social change, the last two decades have seen an upsurge in the number of organizations, agencies, and governmental bodies dedicated to supporting the idea of youth voice in public policy. Drawing on in-depth individual interviews with 32 youth in one major urban center, this study compares how participation in differently positioned political activities influences participants’ sociopolitical identities and their views of the most effective mechanisms for social change. Specifically, this research compares youth involved in a government-sanctioned youth commission, developed to advise policymakers, with youth involved in a community-based youth organizing …