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Articles 1 - 30 of 58
Full-Text Articles in Social and Philosophical Foundations of Education
Spotting Power: Reframing Media Literacy In Civic Education, Kason Kendall
Spotting Power: Reframing Media Literacy In Civic Education, Kason Kendall
Democracy & Education
This article analyzes and critiques the tendency to frame media literacy as a neutral skill set concentrated on verifying sources, or "spotting the error." While this approach emphasizes cognitive habits of checking for bias and accuracy, it does not adequately prepare students to understand intentional misinformation as a political strategy. Building on Matthew's (2020) response to Curry and Cherner (2019), I propose that limiting media literacy to error correction hides the strategic production and intentional spread of disinformation by powerful organizations, corporations, and media outlets. Rooted in curriculum theory and the work of scholars such as Gramsci, Hall, Habermas, and …
How To Educate When Deliberation Falls Short? A Response To “Affective Alignment And Hidden Conflicts: Political Emotions In Blended Spaces Of Democratic Education Classrooms”, Anniina Leiviskä, Veli-Mikko Kauppi
How To Educate When Deliberation Falls Short? A Response To “Affective Alignment And Hidden Conflicts: Political Emotions In Blended Spaces Of Democratic Education Classrooms”, Anniina Leiviskä, Veli-Mikko Kauppi
Democracy & Education
Here, we explore potential educational strategies in response to the problems of democratic education highlighted in the feature article’s case study. Drawing on deliberative democracy and Deweyan pragmatism, we contend that in settings marked by affective polarization, such as the school examined in the case study, direct conversation over contentious political topics may not be the most effective path toward meaningful educational outcomes. Instead, we propose two alternative approaches: first, fostering dialogue about the social norms that shape the conditions for political deliberation in the classroom; and second, encouraging collaborative inquiry among students who hold opposing perspectives. Both approaches aim …
Reassessing The Open Classroom Climate In Civic Education: Insights From 60 Studies, Ryan T. Knowles, Kalie Chamberlain
Reassessing The Open Classroom Climate In Civic Education: Insights From 60 Studies, Ryan T. Knowles, Kalie Chamberlain
Democracy & Education
This paper explores scholarship relating to an open classroom climate as a fundamental strategy for promoting democratic values and social justice within educational settings. Sixty research studies were identified that found relationships between an open classroom climate and desirable outcomes, such as civic knowledge, political self-efficacy, and support for human rights. These findings come from researchers across fields, countries, and decades. Results are considered within criticisms of deliberative democracy theory with suggestions for teaching and research.
Democratic Education In The Literature Classroom: Integrating Political Literacy And Political Emotions Into Agonistic Literary Discussions. A Response To “Agonism In A Classroom Discussion On Strindberg’S Miss Julie”, Baptiste Roucau
Democracy & Education
In an era of rising polarization and populism, how can we transform the literature classroom into a site of democratic education? Drawing on agonistic scholarship, Tysklind et al. (2024) offer the agonistic literary discussion, a novel pedagogical approach aiming to prepare students for the complexities of democracy by forming collective identities and navigating conflictual consensus. To build on the authors’ work, this response article proposes two additions—political literacy and political emotions—and cautions against the risk of antagonism. Agonistic literary discussions can integrate political literacy through teaching relevant knowledge and careful questioning, enabling students to situate characters’ experiences in political contexts …
Action Civics As A Powerful Tool—Not A Panacea—In The Provision Of High-Quality Civic Education. A Response To “The Domino Effect”: How Early Adolescence Describe Their Capacity For Civic Engagement", Daniela Kruel Digiacomo
Action Civics As A Powerful Tool—Not A Panacea—In The Provision Of High-Quality Civic Education. A Response To “The Domino Effect”: How Early Adolescence Describe Their Capacity For Civic Engagement", Daniela Kruel Digiacomo
Democracy & Education
Action civics happens when young people do research, action, and reflection on social or political issues they care about. In this third decade of the 21st century, action civics is often found in after-school and/or out-of-school contexts, and substantive research now shows its power and potential for providing transformative learning experiences for young people, as is evidenced again in "The Domino Effect: How Early Adolescents Describe Their Capacity for Civic Engagement"—one of the feature articles of this issue. At the same time, action civics, precisely because it is so often conceived and enacted in out-of-school time spaces, is not, and …
Beyond The Human: Democratic Education Through The Ethics Of Care And Carriance. A Response To “Reimagining Democratic Education With Care Ethics—Toward Care-Full Democratic Education”, Michalinos Zembylas
Beyond The Human: Democratic Education Through The Ethics Of Care And Carriance. A Response To “Reimagining Democratic Education With Care Ethics—Toward Care-Full Democratic Education”, Michalinos Zembylas
Democracy & Education
This is a response to Koponen and Kasa’s argument that feminist theorizing and care ethics have been overlooked as theoretical approaches in the current democratic education debate. Their article draws on these insights to theorize democratic education in ways that combine care and democracy. In my response, I aim to offer clarifying comments and questions while suggesting ideas to expand Koponen and Kasa’s analysis. Specifically, I highlight two perspectives that, in my view, warrant further exploration in democratic education: developing theoretical frameworks that move beyond human-centered and anthropocentric accounts and, embracing care and the concept of "care-carrying" or "carriance" (Ettinger, …
Reconstructing Democracy In Polarized Times: Thinking Through/With The Crt Conflicts, Kathy Hytten, Kurt Stemhagen
Reconstructing Democracy In Polarized Times: Thinking Through/With The Crt Conflicts, Kathy Hytten, Kurt Stemhagen
Democracy & Education
In this essay, we consider how reconstructing our ideas about the nature of democracy, and its relationship to education, can help us respond to contemporary challenges. We focus specifically on the ongoing fights about critical race theory (CRT), providing an overview of the CRT controversy—we argue that its cultivation for political reasons has often lessened the possibility of democratic discussions of race, racism, and ongoing white supremacy. Next, we consider how debates around CRT can help us to rethink how we “do” democracy and how to use education to help cultivate democratic habits and values. Finally, we describe three possibilities …
Myths Economic And Civic. A Book Review Of The Education Myth: How Human Capital Trumped Social Democracy, Kelly Swope
Myths Economic And Civic. A Book Review Of The Education Myth: How Human Capital Trumped Social Democracy, Kelly Swope
Democracy & Education
I review historian Jon Shelton's 2023 book, The Education Myth: How Human Capital Trumped Social Democracy. First, I summarize the book's main claim that a pernicious myth about public schooling's role in developing human capital is the root of our current educational problems. Second, I provide a chapter-by-chapter summary of the book's contents. Finally, I analyze the book's accomplishments and suggest that there is one powerful education myth about public schools' relationship to American democracy that the author omits from this valuable new study.
Public Schooling For Democracy. A Book Review Of Public Education: Defending A Cornerstone Of American Democracy, Ellis E. Reid V
Public Schooling For Democracy. A Book Review Of Public Education: Defending A Cornerstone Of American Democracy, Ellis E. Reid V
Democracy & Education
This essay is a book review of Public Education: Defending a Cornerstone of American Democracy.
Who’S Afraid Of Populism? A Book Review Of Political Education In Times Of Populism, Claudia W. Ruitenberg
Who’S Afraid Of Populism? A Book Review Of Political Education In Times Of Populism, Claudia W. Ruitenberg
Democracy & Education
Edda Sant’s Political Education in Times of Populism offers a helpful, minimalist understanding of populism. By separating the form of populism from its content, we can reserve our moral panic for particular populist movements, while understanding the role of populist contestations in the democratic process. The book offers educators new and provocative points of departure for discussing present conditions and their historical antecedents, including the role of populist movements.
Social Movements, Deliberation, And Educational Governance. A Response To “Pragmatist Thinking For A Populist Moment”, Ellis Reid
Democracy & 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. …
Too Much Storytelling, Too Little Democracy. A Book Review Of Critical Issues In Democratic Schooling, Bridget Brett, Emma Curtin, Sue Ellen Henry, Lili Kilkenny, Maddyson Mallory, Daija Misler, Bess Murad, Lucia Singer
Too Much Storytelling, Too Little Democracy. A Book Review Of Critical Issues In Democratic Schooling, Bridget Brett, Emma Curtin, Sue Ellen Henry, Lili Kilkenny, Maddyson Mallory, Daija Misler, Bess Murad, Lucia Singer
Democracy & Education
No abstract provided.
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 & 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 …
Toward A Pedagogy Of Cooperative Learning. A Review Of Education And Democratic Participation: The Making Of Learning Communities, Xiuying Cai
Democracy & Education
No abstract provided.
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 & 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, …
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 & 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 …
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 & 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.
Segregation, The “Black Spatial Imagination,” And Radical Social Transformation, Pauline Lipman
Segregation, The “Black Spatial Imagination,” And Radical Social Transformation, Pauline Lipman
Democracy & 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 …
Should Deliberative Democratic Inclusion Extend To Children?, Christopher Martin
Should Deliberative Democratic Inclusion Extend To Children?, Christopher Martin
Democracy & 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 …
Drawing On The Past To Open Up Possible Futures. A Response To "The Cultural Contours Of Democracy: Indigenous Epistemologies Informing South African Citizenship", John Ambrosio
Democracy & Education
This article is a response to a qualitative study that examined how the indigenous African notion of ubuntu informs how some school teachers in a Black township in South Africa conceptualize Western-oriented narratives of democracy. While the study acknowledges important differences in how ubuntu is understood and defined, the author argues that it nonetheless tends to overlook them in order to harness ubuntu as a force for positive social change and national development. The author argues that ubuntu could potentially serve as a powerful cultural force for change, but this requires a context in which some of the moral qualities …
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 & 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 …
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 & 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 …
Countering The Neos: Dewey And A Democratic Ethos In Teacher Education, Jamie C. Atkinson
Countering The Neos: Dewey And A Democratic Ethos In Teacher Education, Jamie C. Atkinson
Democracy & Education
Neoliberalism and neoconservatism are two ideologies that currently plague education. The individualistic free-market ideology of neoliberalism and the unbridled nationalistic exceptionalism associated with neoconservatism often breed a narrowed, overstandardized curriculum and a hyper-testing environment that discourage critical intellectual practice and democratic ideas. Dewey’s philosophy of education indicates that he understood that education is political and can be undemocratic. Dewey’s holistic pragmatism, combined with aspects of social reconstructionism, called for a philosophical movement that favors democratic schooling. This paper defines neoliberal and neoconservative ideologies and makes a case for including more critique within teacher preparation programs, what Dewey and other educationists …
In Defense Of Ambiguity In Education. A Book Review Of Rethinking Sexism, Gender, And Sexuality, Caitlin Howlett
In Defense Of Ambiguity In Education. A Book Review Of Rethinking Sexism, Gender, And Sexuality, Caitlin Howlett
Democracy & Education
This article offers a positive review of Rethinking Sexism, Gender, and Sexuality, a readable and refreshing account of the ambiguities and possibilities relating to gender and sexuality in education today. The review argues that, with a focus on public school experiences, this collection of vignettes, lessons, and critical essays, amounts to a resource that is of great value to teachers, preservice teachers, teacher educators, and citizens as they navigate the ever-changing winds of gender and sexuality, particularly as they diverge and multiply along categories of race, religion, ethnicity, and class. This book offers hope and excitement for those of us …
Teaching Spirituality As Ontology In Public Schools. A Response To "Democratic Foundations Of Spiritual Responsive Pedagogy", Barbara J. Thayer-Bacon
Teaching Spirituality As Ontology In Public Schools. A Response To "Democratic Foundations Of Spiritual Responsive Pedagogy", Barbara J. Thayer-Bacon
Democracy & Education
In “Democratic Foundations of Spiritually Responsive Pedagogy,” Lingley worried that talk of spirituality is taboo in U.S. public school classrooms. Lingley pointed out that the dominant narrative demands silence on the topic. She wanted to make the case for spiritually responsive pedagogy as vital to an inclusive democracy. I begin this responsive essay by describing Lingley’s argument, and then I strengthen her argument through my work on relational ontologies. When we equate spirituality with ontology, we realize it is impossible to avoid teaching spirituality in our schools, for we begin passing on to our children our fishing nets to help …
A Call For More Literature And Deeper Data. A Response To "The Cultural Contours Of Democracy: Indigenous Epistemologies Informing South African Citizenship", Moeketsi Letseka
A Call For More Literature And Deeper Data. A Response To "The Cultural Contours Of Democracy: Indigenous Epistemologies Informing South African Citizenship", Moeketsi Letseka
Democracy & Education
This review provides a critical appraisal of Kubow and Min's paper. It teases out their conception of liberalism and argues that the classical notion of liberalism as a political theory that advocates individual liberty based on assumptions of the unencumbered autonomous individual has lost currency. This is because over the years liberalism has mutated into a multiplicity of new forms, and there is no single view that can be said to define what it means to be a liberal. The paper raises methodological questions with respect to the use of focus group interviews. It implores researchers to first ask themselves …
The Critique Of Deliberative Discussion. A Response To “Education For Deliberative Democracy: A Typology Of Classroom Discussions", David I. Backer
The Critique Of Deliberative Discussion. A Response To “Education For Deliberative Democracy: A Typology Of Classroom Discussions", David I. Backer
Democracy & Education
My response to Samuelsson’s (2016) recent essay offers a different paradigm with which to think about education, deliberative discussion and democracy. I call this paradigm the critique of deliberative discussion. Following Ruitenberg’s application of Mouffe’s critiques of deliberative democracy to education, the critique of deliberative discussion focuses on what Jameson called the “political unconscious” of deliberative discussions like those presented by Samuelsson. There is literature that critique traditionally moderate-liberal notions of deliberative discussion, which Samuelsson defines his typology: reason, willingness to listen, and consensus. While others, like Ruitenberg, have developed this critique of deliberative-democratic citizenship education, the critique of deliberative …
Teaching For Toleration In Pluralist Liberal Democracies, Betto A.F. Van Waarden
Teaching For Toleration In Pluralist Liberal Democracies, Betto A.F. Van Waarden
Democracy & 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 …
Being Critical About Being Critical. A Response To "Toward A Transformative Criticality For Democratic Citizenship Education", Nicholas C. Burbules
Being Critical About Being Critical. A Response To "Toward A Transformative Criticality For Democratic Citizenship Education", Nicholas C. Burbules
Democracy & Education
This response to "Toward a Transformative Criticality for Democratic Citizenship Education" takes a positive and supportive stance toward pressing the arguments forward. By focusing on the communicative components of democratic citizenship education and activist pedagogy, it highlights some of the tensions and difficulties of actually doing this work.
Democratic Foundations For Spiritually Responsive Pedagogy, Audrey Lingley
Democratic Foundations For Spiritually Responsive Pedagogy, Audrey Lingley
Democracy & Education
Spirituality has been identified as an important component of democratic education by influential scholars such as Dewey, Freire, hooks, and Noddings. However, many teachers in the United States do not engage openly with a framework for understanding, organizing, and integrating pedagogical knowledge of spirituality within the context of culturally conscious social justice education. Drawing from an analysis of the works of Dewey, Noddings, Freire, and hooks and using a critical construct of spirituality that emphasizes inquiry, practical experience, meaning making, and awareness of interconnectedness, I argue that spiritually responsive pedagogy is a vital element of emancipatory, culturally responsive education in …