Course Description
What makes education in a democracy unique? What counts as evidence of that uniqueness? What roles do schools play in educating citizens in a democracy for a democracy? In this course, we will engage these questions while investigating education as a social, cultural, political, and economic process. We will develop new understandings of current policy disputes by examining the familiar through different ideological and disciplinary lenses.
Texts: In order of appearance:
Bailyn, B. (1960). Education in the forming of American society. New York: Vintage Books.
Parker, W.C. (Ed.), (1996). Educating the democratic mind. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.
Hooks, b. (1994). Teaching to transgress: Education as the practice of freedom. New York: Routledge.
Jacobson, M.F. (1998).
Whiteness of a different color: European immigrants and the alchemy of race. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Kozol, J. (1991). Savage Inequalities: Children in America's Schools. New York: Crown Publishers.
Moses, R.P. & Cobb, C.E. (2002). Radical equations: Civil rights from Mississippi to the Algebra project. Boston: Beacon Press.
Additional Readings: There will also be handouts from education journals throughout the semester. In particular, we will read a series of articles on the 50th anniversary of the Supreme Court's ruling in the case entitled Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (Kansas).
Focus of Class
Education in a democracy. Feb 9-March 4
Education in the forming of American society, Bailyn.
Educating the democratic mind, Parker.
The purpose of this first unit is to set up a framework for examining educational issues. Bailyn's book reshaped how many researchers and educators conceived of education and the possibilities for research in education. His book is useful for considering education as the transmission of culture rather than simply the transmission of a set of skills or content. He may also spark some thoughts regarding possible topics for your own research paper. Parker's volume is comprised of authors who have considered how education in a democracy might differ from education in a totalitarian state. Throughout the course this topic will be the one to which we will continually return. How do our practices foster democratic life? How does standardized testing foster democracy? Knowledge and skills are important, but NAZI Germany and Mussolini's Italy had many well-educated fascists. Presumably, we are trying to develop democrats (small "d') not fascists. Well, how is that done?
Race, education, and class in the U.S.A. March 8-April22 (Spring Break March 22-24)
Teaching to transgress, hooks
Whiteness of a different color, Jacobson
Savage inequalities, Kozol
This second unit focuses on issues that affect our ability to educate for democracy in a democracy. Hooks offers a personal account of her educational experience and challenges anyone interested in education to rethink assumptions upon which our schools are built. What would "education as the practice of freedom" look like? What policies would foster such an educational system? Jacobson offers a detailed account of the impact of the meaning of Whiteness on the history of the United States. The extraordinary lengths to which White people in the USA have used definitions of Whiteness as a tool of exclusion raises questions about the impact of race on equity and access. Kozol offers a detailed look at the pervasive and persistent inequities embedded in our school systems. His volume raises questions regarding the impact of class on a citizen's ability to attain educational "success."
Trying to make it work on the ground. April 26 – May 6.
Radical equations, Moses & Cobb and guest speakers.
The purpose of the third unit is to consider actual practices that might foster education for democratic life. Radical Equations is a unique volume in which Bob Moses draws links between the Voting Rights Project of the 1960's and the need for Algebra in contemporary classrooms. Moses and Cobb raise interesting questions regarding whether the attainment of a set of knowledge and skills in mathematics in fact serves as a gatekeeper for "success" in US political and economic culture (much like the right to vote did in the 1960's). The guest speakers selected are all educators who are struggling with the issues raised in this course on a daily basis.
Daily Schedule
While this course is listed in what is the more common two-lecture/one discussion format, we will in fact have two discussions and one lecture per week. Per the assignments listed below students will be assigned to lead class discussions.
Assignments: Add the due dates to the calendar on the previous page.
1. Discussion. Prepare and lead one Monday discussion and one Thursday discussion in tandem with a partner following the guidelines for a Socratic Seminar handed out in class and modeled by me at the start of the semester. (15 points each x 2 = 20 points.)
2. Four, two-page response papers. (450-600 words, size 12 font, double-spaced, Times font, APA format, double-sided is fine.) Papers will be turned in during Discussion groups. The schedule of when papers are due will depend on the Discussion section for which you are registered (see below). The purpose of the response papers is to challenge you to respond to the readings in light of class sessions and discussion sections. You are required to reference the comments of at least two other students from class in your papers. These papers should be concise and analytical not summaries of the assigned texts. I have read the texts. I want to know what you think about them not simply what the texts say. The focus questions for your response papers are:
a) What do you think is the most useful idea/key question of the text?
b) In what way does this idea/question deepen or complexify your understanding of education in and for democracy?
(10 points each, 4 essays x 10 points = 40 points.)
Response paper due dates:
Discussion section 22112 | M 8 – 8:50am | 2/16, 3/1, 3/15, 4/19
Discussion section 22113 | M 12:30pm – 1:20pm | 2/23, 3/8, 3/29, 4/26
Discussion section 22114 | M 1:30-2:20pm | 2/23, 3/15, 4/05, 5/3
3. Small Research Paper. Six-ten pages (1400-2200 words, size 12 font, double spaced, Times font, APA format, single sided!) There are many different ways to approach this assignment. The overall purpose is to ask you to select a topic that is of interest to you and examine that topic in light of the questions and texts examined in this course. For example, you might examine a single, existing curriculum for a year-long course used by your former high school, or a broad curriculum framework used by a school district in the USA or another country that sees itself as democratic such as Canada, India, U.K., France, etc. and analyze the curriculum through the lens of one of the texts for this class (always keeping in mind the focus question of the course). For example, after examining the curriculum of a social studies curriculum from your old high school, would Apple or Griffin (in Parker) believe the curriculum fostered democracy? How? Why? Why not? What counts as evidence? What about hooks? What about the Vermont Standards – have you looked at them? Alternatively, review past issues of the journal Theory & Research in Social Education, Multicultural Perspectives, Educational Leadership, or the Journal of Democracy for articles that offer recommendations on how to pursue democratic education or that discuss how particular policies regarding instruction and assessment impact issues such as equity and access. Do the authors in the journals reflect or challenge the authors we have read in this course? What about journals from the content area of your major? What do these journals focus on? (National Council for Teachers of English or Mathematics…) Or, return to Bailyn. Is there one aspect of the research topics he suggests that is of interest to you? How might you pursue that topic? What policy issues are suggested by reading hooks and Parker? How has NCLBE shaped schools? How does your reading of Kozol impact your thinking on this issue? How is Vermont, or a state of your choice, responding to the national movement towards standardized testing? The choice of topic is yours. One page topic summary (10 points) due in writing on Thursday, March 4. Research paper (50 points) due Thursday, April 22.
4. Reflective Journal. The Journal will be collected once in the semester: Thursday, March 18. The purpose of the journal is to provide a place where you can respond in writing to current events in education. Each week you should read at least two articles from the Internet or print media that discuss an issue in K-16 education. In your journal, respond to the two articles in approximately two-three pages of writing. In your response, discuss the articles in light of class readings, class discussions, or new understandings you have gained from the course. The amount of writing is small – approximately three pages a week. The style is informal. Whether it is typed is your choice. The point of this assignment is to ask you to keep up with current issues regarding education that we will not have time to discuss in class. Also, this is an example where the act of writing is being used not simply to present what you believe, but to figure out what you think. This is writing as a way to learn rather than writing for presentation of knowledge. Use your journal writing to work through ideas that might form the focus of your research paper. Full marks are given for completion. No points are subtracted for spelling, awkward prose, or unfinished thoughts. ( 20 points)
5. Attendance and participation. This means that you have read the assigned readings and that you come to class prepared to engage in discussion. (30 points). An unexcused absence = minus five points.
6. Final Exam. (20 points) I will provide five, unattributed passages excerpted from the texts we have read. You are to identify the author of the passage, the text, and analyze the significance of the passage as it relates to the overall message of the particular text and the focus questions of the course.
Points Summary
Lead Discussion 30 points
4 short papers 40 points
One page RP summary 10 points
Research Paper 50 points
Journal 20 points
Final Exam 20 points
Attendance & Participation 30 points
TOTAL 200 POINTS
The rationale for having a point system is simply to clarify the relative value of the various assignments and to make it easier for you to keep track of your grade in the class should you wish to do so.
Final Word
I do not have answers to the focus questions of this course. There are no answers that I am waiting for you to correctly guess. I ask these questions and organize this course because the material and the questions really intrigue me and because I believe that the health of education in the USA is largely determined by the extent to which we engage the issues raised by this course. My own answers become more thoughtful and better informed by talking with you not at you.