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

Education Commons

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

Articles 1 - 14 of 14

Full-Text Articles in Education

Private Interests Or Public Goods?: Dewey, Rugg, And Their Contemporary Allies On Corporate Involvement In Educational Reform Initiatives, Deron Boyles, Kathleen Abowitz Oct 2010

Private Interests Or Public Goods?: Dewey, Rugg, And Their Contemporary Allies On Corporate Involvement In Educational Reform Initiatives, Deron Boyles, Kathleen Abowitz

Deron R. Boyles

In some ways, John Dewey lived through a time similar to what we now experience: the rise of corporate power in a historical moment of unsurpassed national wealth and consumer materialism, and the accompanying substantial influence of business interests in the structure, politics, and agendas of public school systems. Dewey’s writings in the first three decades of this century mark a kind of “wisdom of the elders,” offered by a public intellectual who experienced, at least in some form, the kind of tumultuous relationships we are currently witnessing between the economy and education.


Intellectualism, Infiltration, And The Imaginary: The Challenge Of Conservative Think Tanks In Developing Coherent Democratic Community, Deron Boyles, Philip Kovacs Oct 2010

Intellectualism, Infiltration, And The Imaginary: The Challenge Of Conservative Think Tanks In Developing Coherent Democratic Community, Deron Boyles, Philip Kovacs

Deron R. Boyles

This paper extends the question “What should we be doing and what kinds of activities would we be engaged in during the time we take off to craft and assert ourselves as public intellectuals?” Kathleen Kesson and Jim Henderson provided us with historical background (and a delightful song parody) while Kent den Heyer challenges us to take two years off from the academy and engage in research that would better enable us to communicate with and influence those in positions of power. For the purpose of this paper, we wish to join with Kesson, Henderson, and den Heyer, if only …


Uncovering The Coverings: The Use Of Corporate-Sponsored Textbook Covers In Furthering Uncritical Consumerism, Deron R. Boyles Oct 2010

Uncovering The Coverings: The Use Of Corporate-Sponsored Textbook Covers In Furthering Uncritical Consumerism, Deron R. Boyles

Deron R. Boyles

In this article, I explore the various kinds of book covers that exist to see if a metanarrative can be discerned. I also wish to question the degree to which the various covers indicate, inscribe, or otherwise represent cultural values that might be problematic. In a basic and general sense, my intent is to investigate what symbols are actually represented on the dust jackets. What meanings do they foreclose or 'cover' over? What messages might they send? This article highlights and describes a series of textbook covers, from over one hundred that have been provided to me by various students, …


Dewey's Epistemology: An Argument For Warranted Assertions, Knowing, And Meaningful Classroom Practice, Deron Boyles Oct 2010

Dewey's Epistemology: An Argument For Warranted Assertions, Knowing, And Meaningful Classroom Practice, Deron Boyles

Deron R. Boyles

In an effort to navigate the treacherous path between professionalism and social relevancy, this essay takes up an area of professional philosophy - epistemology - with the intention of reclaiming the integrative role John Dewey held for philosophy and classroom practice. Deron Boyles asserts that epistemology can and should represent an area of inquiry that is relevant and useful for philosophy of education, especially as it develops classroom practices that foster inquiry. He specifically seeks to revive Dewey’s conception of warranted assertibility in an effort to show the value of fallibilist epistemology in practical and social teaching and learning contexts. …


A Lesson Of Human Connection: 9/11, Film, Brotherhood, And Interpretation, Deron R. Boyles Oct 2010

A Lesson Of Human Connection: 9/11, Film, Brotherhood, And Interpretation, Deron R. Boyles

Deron R. Boyles

Brothers Gedeon and Jules Naudet were within two blocks of the World Trade Center (WTC) on the morning of September 11, 2001 when terrorists flew hijacked planes into the WTC towers. Both brothers had cameras with them, as they were engaged in shooting a documentary film about firefighters at the time. As a result, they captured unique footage from the area, including the only images from inside Tower 1, where firefighters were trying to get a handle on the situation. The footage includes sounds of falling bodies and scenes of firefighters trying to escape from Tower 1 after Tower 2 …


Institutes, Foundations, And Think Tanks: Conservative Influences On U.S. Public Schools, Deron Boyles Oct 2010

Institutes, Foundations, And Think Tanks: Conservative Influences On U.S. Public Schools, Deron Boyles

Deron R. Boyles

While a complete analysis of the effects of conservative think tanks is beyond the scope of this article, we include the above passage as evidence of what, on a broad scale, the “idea brokers” have been working towards. While education is only one area where neoconservative think tanks seek to influence public policy, it has become the issue for many neoconservatives. In this article, we focus on four think tanks—The Manhattan Institute, The American Enterprise Institute, The Heritage Foundation, and The Thomas B. Fordham Foundation—and what they are doing to reshape public schools in ways more suitable to neoconservative and …


Politics Or Principles?: Joseph Kinmont Hart And The University Of Washington, 1910-1915, Deron Boyles Oct 2010

Politics Or Principles?: Joseph Kinmont Hart And The University Of Washington, 1910-1915, Deron Boyles

Deron R. Boyles

Joseph Kinmont Hart was a young professor of education during this time and played a role in the unrest at the university. Hart was a popular teacher, a sought-after speaker in the community, and an agitator for social change. His politics were in contrast to most of the Board of Regents and the state legislature and the battles he fought with his own colleagues ultimately led to his being fired with the rest of the department in 1915. Hart was among a number of people who questioned Suzzallo’s candidacy for the UW presidency. It was widely believed that Hart wrote …


Joseph Kinmont Hart And Vanderbilt University: The Rise And Fall Of A Department Of Education, 1930-1934, Deron Boyles Oct 2010

Joseph Kinmont Hart And Vanderbilt University: The Rise And Fall Of A Department Of Education, 1930-1934, Deron Boyles

Deron R. Boyles

More cautionary positions are represented in the editorial comments of L.L. Thurstone and W.W. Charters. In 1930, Thurstone wrote in the Journal of Higher Education that academic freedom needed to be guarded. He broadly referred to cases when he argued for a defense of academic freedom by involving the “Association of University Professors” and having the organization effectively censure colleges and universities that encroached on academic freedom. Within his article, however, he noted that his “plan involves no violence in speech or action, and it does not challenge the legal right of the trustees of a university to decide matters …


The Challenge To Foundations And Leadership: Critical Discourse, Hegemony, And The Power Of Traditions, Deron R. Boyles, Douglas Davis Oct 2010

The Challenge To Foundations And Leadership: Critical Discourse, Hegemony, And The Power Of Traditions, Deron R. Boyles, Douglas Davis

Deron R. Boyles

This paper is a representational conversation between the authors-a social foundations professor and a leadership professor-regarding a leadership program in which both faculty members teach.


The Exploiting Business, Deron R. Boyles Oct 2010

The Exploiting Business, Deron R. Boyles

Deron R. Boyles

Far from being limited to supermarket programs, school-business partnerships are increasing in number and variety and arguably represent a larger, exploitative agenda. The agenda is a pro-business, pro-capitalist, pro-careerist one that excludes questions about whether business is exploitative of workers and consumers (and schools), whether capitalism is the only or best economic theory, and whether elementary school students should be forced to consider their future based not on “What do you want to be when you grow up?” questions, but “What do you want to do when you grow up?” questions.


Taking Care Of Business: Advertising, Commercialism, And Implications For Discourse About Schools, Deron R. Boyles Oct 2010

Taking Care Of Business: Advertising, Commercialism, And Implications For Discourse About Schools, Deron R. Boyles

Deron R. Boyles

This essay challenges the long-standing notion that the overriding purpose of U.S.A. public schools should be to produce future workers for corporate America. It questions the current discourse-the language we use when we talk about schooling, teaching, and learning. In effect, this essay takes exception to the undergirding assumption that public schools are primarily in existence as avenues for private gain. The claim is that a new language of inquiry and critique is needed in order for teachers and students to realize a significant, if untapped potential for U.S.A. schooling: namely, critical analysis of the taken-for-granted.


The Gig Is Up: Combating The Meanings Of Education Proffered By Science, Technology, And Global Capitalism, Deron Boyles Oct 2010

The Gig Is Up: Combating The Meanings Of Education Proffered By Science, Technology, And Global Capitalism, Deron Boyles

Deron R. Boyles

Colleagues in the academy seem to have a fascination with conceptual analysis and the term “education.” Debates are held, papers are written, and symposia take place within which definitions are articulated and modulated. Whether the point is to provide narrative, stipulative, or programmatic definitions matters little to the larger point: the quest for the meaning of “education” continues. In their turns, schooling and training are contrasted with education in order to help clarify the differences in scope, purpose, and meaning of the various terms. The concepts are often qualified in discussions of literacy, socialization, and democracy, but why? Why are …


Reconsidering Learning Communities: Expanding The Discourse By Challenging The Discourse, Deron Boyles, Susan Talburt Oct 2010

Reconsidering Learning Communities: Expanding The Discourse By Challenging The Discourse, Deron Boyles, Susan Talburt

Deron R. Boyles

This article draws on historical and philosophical lenses and interviews with students to question some fundamental tenets underlying the practice of freshman learning communities (FLCs): that they develop community and improve students' learning experiences. The article brings to the discourse of FLCs some critical questions regarding their value and practice.


Would You Like Values With That?: The Role Of Chik-Fil-A In Character Education, Deron Boyles Oct 2010

Would You Like Values With That?: The Role Of Chik-Fil-A In Character Education, Deron Boyles

Deron R. Boyles

I explore three main lines of inquiry: (1) the specifics of “Core Essentials” as a strategy for teaching character; (2) the role (and ironies) of private businesses influencing public school curricula; and (3) the assumptions inherent in the kind of teaching of character outlined by “Core Essentials.” Girding this inquiry is a concern about the problematic enterprise of teaching character, itself, as if it were an unquestionable domain. Further, the oddly-but-related contexts of childhood obesity findings and Christian influences (both general symbolism and fundamentalist indoctrination) on and in public spheres will be considered via Theodore Brameld’s Ends and Means in …