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Democracy can mean a range of concepts, covering everything from
freedoms, rights, elections, governments, processes, philosophies
and a panoply of abstract and concrete notions that can be mediated
by power, positionality, culture, time and space. Democracy can
also be translated into brute force, hegemony, docility, compliance
and conformity, as in wars will be decided on the basis of the
needs of elites, or major decisions about spending finite resources
will be the domain of the few over the masses, or people will be
divided along the lines of race, ethnicity, class, religion, etc.
because it is advantageous for maintaining exploitative political
systems in place to do so. Often, these frameworks are developed
and reified based on the notion that elections give the right to
societies, or segments of societies, to install regimes,
institutions and operating systems that are then supposedly
legitimated and rendered infinitely just because formal power
resides in the hands of those dominating forces. This book is
interested in advancing a critical analysis of the hegemonic
paradigm described above, one that seeks higher levels of political
literacy and consciousness, and one that makes the connection with
education. What does education have to do with democracy? How does
education shape, influence, impinge on, impact, negate, facilitate
and/or change the context, contours and realities of democracy? How
can we teach for and about democracy to alter and transform the
essence of what democracy is, and, importantly, what it should be?
This book advances the notion of decency in relation to democracy,
and is underpinned by an analysis of meaningful, critically-engaged
education. Is it enough to be kind, nice, generous and hopeful when
we can also see signs of rampant, entrenched and debilitating
racism, sexism, poverty, violence, injustice, war and other social
inequalities? If democracy is intended to be a legitimating force
for good, how does education inform democracy? What types of
knowledge, experience, analysis and being are helpful to bring
about newer, more meaningful and socially just forms of democracy?
Throughout some twenty chapters from a range of international
scholars, this book includes three sections: Constructing Meanings
for Democracy and Decency; Justice for All as Praxis; and Social
Justice in Action for Democracy, Decency, and Diversity:
International Perspectives. The underlying thread that is
interwoven through the texts is a critical reappraisal of
normative, hegemonic interpretations of how power is infused into
the educational realm, and, importantly, how democracy can be
re-situated and re-formulated so as to more meaningfully engage
society and education.
Democracy can mean a range of concepts, covering everything from
freedoms, rights, elections, governments, processes, philosophies
and a panoply of abstract and concrete notions that can be mediated
by power, positionality, culture, time and space. Democracy can
also be translated into brute force, hegemony, docility, compliance
and conformity, as in wars will be decided on the basis of the
needs of elites, or major decisions about spending finite resources
will be the domain of the few over the masses, or people will be
divided along the lines of race, ethnicity, class, religion, etc.
because it is advantageous for maintaining exploitative political
systems in place to do so. Often, these frameworks are developed
and reified based on the notion that elections give the right to
societies, or segments of societies, to install regimes,
institutions and operating systems that are then supposedly
legitimated and rendered infinitely just because formal power
resides in the hands of those dominating forces. This book is
interested in advancing a critical analysis of the hegemonic
paradigm described above, one that seeks higher levels of political
literacy and consciousness, and one that makes the connection with
education. What does education have to do with democracy? How does
education shape, influence, impinge on, impact, negate, facilitate
and/or change the context, contours and realities of democracy? How
can we teach for and about democracy to alter and transform the
essence of what democracy is, and, importantly, what it should be?
This book advances the notion of decency in relation to democracy,
and is underpinned by an analysis of meaningful, critically-engaged
education. Is it enough to be kind, nice, generous and hopeful when
we can also see signs of rampant, entrenched and debilitating
racism, sexism, poverty, violence, injustice, war and other social
inequalities? If democracy is intended to be a legitimating force
for good, how does education inform democracy? What types of
knowledge, experience, analysis and being are helpful to bring
about newer, more meaningful and socially just forms of democracy?
Throughout some twenty chapters from a range of international
scholars, this book includes three sections: Constructing Meanings
for Democracy and Decency; Justice for All as Praxis; and Social
Justice in Action for Democracy, Decency, and Diversity:
International Perspectives. The underlying thread that is
interwoven through the texts is a critical reappraisal of
normative, hegemonic interpretations of how power is infused into
the educational realm, and, importantly, how democracy can be
re-situated and re-formulated so as to more meaningfully engage
society and education.
Public education is suffering attacks that are well funded and
extraordinarily complex and multifaceted. These conditions make it
difficult for educators and citizens to gather the information they
need to mount meaningful resistance, especially since mainstream
media tends to be uncritically supportive of neoliberal reforms.
The Orwellian language of reforms is adopted and promoted through
news outlets, politicians, and film; thus, arguments against these
reforms must bubble up through social media and alternative
outlets. By providing a coherent, comprehensive description of
contemporary neoliberal initiatives and analyzing their effects on
students, teachers, administrators, and teacher education, this
book will allow educators, parents, students, and citizens to
strengthen their resolve to save public education and, potentially,
work to preserve the promise of democracy. This book examines and
uncovers the effects of standardization and privatization on public
education. Contributors consider the how of standardized curriculum
and assessment, coupled with philanthropic and corporate pressure,
have influenced the experiences of students, parents, and teachers.
Divided in sections entitled Testing, Testing; Privatization and
Militarization: Redefining Schools; Alienation: Displacing Students
and Teachers; and Resistance: Opting Out and Hope for Change, this
text offers a combination of information and inspiration for
teachers, teacher educators, policymakers, parents and anyone
interested in understanding the current state of public education.
Public education is suffering attacks that are well funded and
extraordinarily complex and multifaceted. These conditions make it
difficult for educators and citizens to gather the information they
need to mount meaningful resistance, especially since mainstream
media tends to be uncritically supportive of neoliberal reforms.
The Orwellian language of reforms is adopted and promoted through
news outlets, politicians, and film; thus, arguments against these
reforms must bubble up through social media and alternative
outlets. By providing a coherent, comprehensive description of
contemporary neoliberal initiatives and analyzing their effects on
students, teachers, administrators, and teacher education, this
book will allow educators, parents, students, and citizens to
strengthen their resolve to save public education and, potentially,
work to preserve the promise of democracy. This book examines and
uncovers the effects of standardization and privatization on public
education. Contributors consider the how of standardized curriculum
and assessment, coupled with philanthropic and corporate pressure,
have influenced the experiences of students, parents, and teachers.
Divided in sections entitled Testing, Testing; Privatization and
Militarization: Redefining Schools; Alienation: Displacing Students
and Teachers; and Resistance: Opting Out and Hope for Change, this
text offers a combination of information and inspiration for
teachers, teacher educators, policymakers, parents and anyone
interested in understanding the current state of public education.
This year (2012) marks ten years of No Child Left Behind and the
U.S. federal government's official designation of what qualifies as
"scientifically based research" (SBR) in education. Combined, these
two policies have resulted in a narrowing of education via
standardization and high stakes testing (Au, 2007) as well as the
curtailment of forms of inquiry that are deemed legitimate for
examining education (Wright, 2006). While there has been much
debate about the benefits and limitations of the NCLB legislation
(e.g., Au, 2010) and SBR (e.g., Eisenhart & Towne, 2003),
critical researchers have held strong to their position: The
reductionistic narrowing of education curricula and educational
research cannot solve the present and historical inequities in
society and education (Shields, 2012). Contrarily, reductionism
(via standardization and/or methodological prescription)
exacerbates the challenges we face because it effectively erases
the epistemological, ontological, and axiological diversity
necessary for disrupting hegemonic social structures that lie at
the root of human suffering (Kincheloe, 2004). Not only has NCLB
proven incapable of overcoming inequalities, but there seems to be
sufficient evidence to suggest it was never really intended to
eliminate poverty and human suffering. That is, it seems NCLB,
despite its lofty title and public discourse, is actually designed
to advance the agenda of handing public education over to
for-profit corporations to manage and privatize thereby
intensifying the capitalist class' war on those who rely on a wage
to survive (Malott, 2010). In the present ethos, reductionism
upholds and retrenches the status quo (i.e. the basic structures of
power), and it puts at risk education and educational research as
means of working toward social justice (Biesta, 2007). Because
social justice can be interpreted in multiple ways, we might note
that we understand critical social justice as oriented toward
action and social change. Thus, critical education and research may
have potential to contribute to a number of social justice
imperatives, such as: redistributing land from the neo-colonizing
settler-state to Indigenous peoples, halting exploitative labor
relations and hazardous working conditions for wage-earners, and
engaging in reparations with formerly enslaved communities.
This year (2012) marks ten years of No Child Left Behind and the
U.S. federal government's official designation of what qualifies as
"scientifically based research" (SBR) in education. Combined, these
two policies have resulted in a narrowing of education via
standardization and high stakes testing (Au, 2007) as well as the
curtailment of forms of inquiry that are deemed legitimate for
examining education (Wright, 2006). While there has been much
debate about the benefits and limitations of the NCLB legislation
(e.g., Au, 2010) and SBR (e.g., Eisenhart & Towne, 2003),
critical researchers have held strong to their position: The
reductionistic narrowing of education curricula and educational
research cannot solve the present and historical inequities in
society and education (Shields, 2012). Contrarily, reductionism
(via standardization and/or methodological prescription)
exacerbates the challenges we face because it effectively erases
the epistemological, ontological, and axiological diversity
necessary for disrupting hegemonic social structures that lie at
the root of human suffering (Kincheloe, 2004). Not only has NCLB
proven incapable of overcoming inequalities, but there seems to be
sufficient evidence to suggest it was never really intended to
eliminate poverty and human suffering. That is, it seems NCLB,
despite its lofty title and public discourse, is actually designed
to advance the agenda of handing public education over to
for-profit corporations to manage and privatize thereby
intensifying the capitalist class' war on those who rely on a wage
to survive (Malott, 2010). In the present ethos, reductionism
upholds and retrenches the status quo (i.e. the basic structures of
power), and it puts at risk education and educational research as
means of working toward social justice (Biesta, 2007). Because
social justice can be interpreted in multiple ways, we might note
that we understand critical social justice as oriented toward
action and social change. Thus, critical education and research may
have potential to contribute to a number of social justice
imperatives, such as: redistributing land from the neo-colonizing
settler-state to Indigenous peoples, halting exploitative labor
relations and hazardous working conditions for wage-earners, and
engaging in reparations with formerly enslaved communities.
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