Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Education Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Journal

Democratic Theory

Arts and Humanities

Articles 1 - 9 of 9

Full-Text Articles in Education

Scientifically Based Research And Teacher Agency: Combating “Conspiracies Of Certainty”, Kurt Stemhagen, Brionna C. Nomi Oct 2021

Scientifically Based Research And Teacher Agency: Combating “Conspiracies Of Certainty”, Kurt Stemhagen, Brionna C. Nomi

Democracy and Education

This project considers how certain types of educational research position teachers as problems to be managed or worked around. We start with a discussion of scientifically based research (SBR), particularly how the quest for generalization/objectivity are often pursued at the expense of relevance. We use the way teachers are positioned in the growing field of Implementation Science as an example of what’s wrong with SBR. A fundamental tension emerges—researchers’ need for scientific control is inescapably at odds with the idea of teacher as professional. Finally, we provide an example of an approach that has potential to counter the SBR-influenced idea …


Epistemic Inclusion And The Argument From Circumspection, James Scott Johnston May 2019

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 …


Should Deliberative Democratic Inclusion Extend To Children?, Christopher Martin Oct 2018

Should Deliberative Democratic Inclusion Extend To Children?, Christopher Martin

Democracy and Education

To what extent should the child’s point of view be included when a political community endeavors to make just decisions, and why? Democrats are committed to a principle of political inclusion grounded in equal respect for persons. Yet we regularly deny children the right to vote and we often just assume that the citizens doing the hard work of democratic deliberation are adults. As I will show, electoral conceptions of democracy can plausibly reconcile this tension in a way that requires no serious adjustment to the principle of inclusion. However, I also argue that a similar reconciliation seems unavailable to …


Teaching For Toleration In Pluralist Liberal Democracies, Betto A.F. Van Waarden May 2017

Teaching For Toleration In Pluralist Liberal Democracies, Betto A.F. Van Waarden

Democracy and Education

This article determines which education enables the perpetuation of diverse ways of life and the liberal democracy that accommodates this diversity. Liberals like John Rawls, Stephen Macedo, and William Galston have disagreed about the scope of civic education. Based on an analysis of toleration—the primary means for maintaining a pluralist liberal democracy—I argue that schools should teach democratic participatory skills and a minimal exposure to diversity to enable citizens to participate in the democratic process of defining which cultural and religious practices the state should tolerate or prohibit through its laws. To make this argument, I contend, in contrast to …


Educating Each According To His Needs: A Response To “Beyond The Schoolhouse Door: Educating The Political Animal In Jefferson’S Little Republics”, Andrew Holowchak Apr 2015

Educating Each According To His Needs: A Response To “Beyond The Schoolhouse Door: Educating The Political Animal In Jefferson’S Little Republics”, Andrew Holowchak

Democracy and Education

This essay is a reply to Brian Dotts’s “Beyond the Schoolhouse Door,” which focuses on the need of a system of general education in Jefferson’s writings on educative reform.


Beyond The Schoolhouse Door: Educating The Political Animal In Jefferson’S Little Republics, Brian W. Dotts Apr 2015

Beyond The Schoolhouse Door: Educating The Political Animal In Jefferson’S Little Republics, Brian W. Dotts

Democracy and Education

Jefferson believed that citizenship must exhibit republican virtue. While education was necessary in a republican polity, it alone was insufficient in sustaining a revolutionary civic spirit. This paper examines Jefferson's expectations for citizen virtue, specifically related to militia and jury service in his 'little republics.' Citizens required not only knowledge of history and republican principles, but also public spaces where they could personify what they learned. Jefferson often analogized the nation as a ship at sea, and while navigational instruments are necessary in charting an accurate course, i.e., republican theories, they become inconsequential without the decisive action required for their …


Democratic Teaching: An Incomplete Job Description, Rachel Bradshaw Sep 2014

Democratic Teaching: An Incomplete Job Description, Rachel Bradshaw

Democracy and Education

The importance of public education in democratic states is almost beyond dispute. Too often, though, discussions of democratic education focus solely on policies and systems, forgetting the individual teachers who are ultimately responsible for educating future citizens. This paper attempts to illustrate just how complex and significant the role of teachers in a democratic republic can be.


Jefferson And Democratic Education. A Response To "Thomas Jefferson And The Ideology Of Democratic Schooling", M. Andrew Holowchak Apr 2014

Jefferson And Democratic Education. A Response To "Thomas Jefferson And The Ideology Of Democratic Schooling", M. Andrew Holowchak

Democracy and Education

This essay is a reply to James Carpenter's “Thomas Jefferson and the Ideology of Democratic Schooling.” In it, I argue that there is an apophatic strain in the essay that calls into question the motivation for the undertaking.


“The Diffusion Of Light”: Jefferson’S Philosophy Of Education, M. Andrew Holowchak Oct 2013

“The Diffusion Of Light”: Jefferson’S Philosophy Of Education, M. Andrew Holowchak

Democracy and Education

Jefferson's republicanism—a people-first, mostly bottom-up political vision with a moral underpinning—was critically dependent on general education for the citizenry and higher education for those who would govern. This paper contains an analysis of Jefferson’s general philosophy of pedagogy by enumerating some of its most fundamental principles, applicable to both elementary and higher education.