To rise to the challenges of postmodern culture, Carlson argues, progressives will need to leave the safe harbors of what is familiar and comfortable. A new progressivism can only be forged of a fundamental re-thinking and re-mythologizing of democratic education. Drawing upon cultural studies perspectives, Carlson interrogates philosophy through popular culture for mythologies that might guide such a progressivism. Carlson uses Platonic, Hegelian, Nitzschean, and Heideggerian "mythologies" to elaborate a progressive model that provides powerful ways of "thinking" democratic education and public life.

The essays in this volume explore the educational implications of unsettling shifts in contemporary culture associated with postmodernism. These shifts include the fragmentation of established power blocs, the emergence of a politics of identity, growing inequalities between the haves and the have-nots in a new global economy, and the rise in influ

Advocates of the 'back-to-basics' movement argue that a basic skills programme ensures that students are educated to a minimum level of literacy required to enter the labour force. Critics charge that these efforts only increase school bureaucracy and undermine teachers' autonomy in the classroom. First published in 1992, this book moves beyond the rhetoric surrounding the basic skills debate by providing a thorough yet critical examination of urban education, urban school reform, and teachers' work culture. Beginning with a sparkling theoretical discussion of the problems and pitfalls of back-to-basics reform efforts, author Dennis Carlson argues persuasively that the movement's exclusive emphasis on functional literacy skills rather than higher-order thinking assures that students will remain on the lower rungs of the socio-economic ladder. He then proceeds with an empirical study of two urban high school districts in which he documents the latent effects of back-to-basics on teachers' work lives as well as staff-administration clashes over efforts to implement restructuring programmes. This book offers a sensible and sophisticated treatment of some of the important issues facing urban education and will be of great interest to anyone working in Education.

For all of its promise, public education in the twentieth century never lived up to its democratic potential. Promises to Keep takes a serious look at the slow erosion of the fuller democratic meaning of a public education and a public life and explores the possibilities offered by emerging new progressivism. Inhabiting the intellectual and political space established by recent work in cultural studies, the essays collected here present the significant beginnings of a dialogue among various movements and discourses of democratic education and public life. Blending diverse approaches and distinguished scholars, this ambitious and timely volume struggles with the unfulfilled promises of history and offers hope for the future.

For all of its promise, public education in the twentieth century never lived up to its democratic potential. Promises to Keep takes a serious look at the slow erosion of the fuller democratic meaning of a public education and a public life and explores the possibilities offered by emerging new progressivism. Inhabiting the intellectual and political space established by recent work in cultural studies, the essays collected here present the significant beginnings of a dialogue among various movements and discourses of democratic education and public life. Blending diverse approaches and distinguished scholars, this ambitious and timely volume struggles with the unfulfilled promises of history and offers hope for the future.

Advocates of the 'back-to-basics' movement argue that a basic skills programme ensures that students are educated to a minimum level of literacy required to enter the labour force. Critics charge that these efforts only increase school bureaucracy and undermine teachers' autonomy in the classroom. First published in 1992, this book moves beyond the rhetoric surrounding the basic skills debate by providing a thorough yet critical examination of urban education, urban school reform, and teachers' work culture. Beginning with a sparkling theoretical discussion of the problems and pitfalls of back-to-basics reform efforts, author Dennis Carlson argues persuasively that the movement's exclusive emphasis on functional literacy skills rather than higher-order thinking assures that students will remain on the lower rungs of the socio-economic ladder. He then proceeds with an empirical study of two urban high school districts in which he documents the latent effects of back-to-basics on teachers' work lives as well as staff-administration clashes over efforts to implement restructuring programmes. This book offers a sensible and sophisticated treatment of some of the important issues facing urban education and will be of great interest to anyone working in Education.

The essays in this volume explore the educational implications of unsettling shifts in contemporary culture associated with postmodernism. These shifts include the fragmentation of established power blocs, the emergence of a politics of identity, growing inequalities between the haves and the have-nots in a new global economy, and the rise in influence of popular culture in defining who we are. In the academy, postmodernism has been associated with the emergence of new theoretical perspectives that are unsettling the way we think about education. These shifts, the authors suggest, are deeply contradictory and may lead in divergent political directions--some of them quite dangerous. "Power/Knowledge/Pedagogy" examines these issues with regard to four broad domains of educational inquiry: state educational policy and curriculum reform, student identity formation, the curriculum as a text, and critical pedagogy. The book contributes to the dialogue on the forging of a new commonsense discourse on democratic educational renewal, attuned to the changing times in which we live.

Challenging the conservative political agenda for school reform, Dennis Carlson offers ideas for rethinking democratic progressive ideas in education given the new cultural conditions of a postmodern society. He explores what democratic education must be to meet the demands of learning to work in an ""information age"" and argues for the importance of sexuality education, detracking and multicultural education. The book attempts to reappropriate democratic progressive approaches to education consistent with dramatically new times that call for new ways of thinking about equity, freedom and community. Above all it demonstrates how public participation in educational debates contributes to a healthy and robust public school system for all students.