Jesse Goodman – författare

This book examines the way in which elementary schooling can be used as a means to encourage critical democracy in the United States. It focuses primarily on the dialectical tensions and issues that emerge from the conflicting values of individuality and community through a portrayal of an independent elementary school committed to democratic education.

Portrays the progressive school reform work of the Harmony Education Center over a 12-year period.In Reforming Schools, Jesse Goodman discusses the possibilities, struggles, and complexities involved in reforming today's schools. Drawing from his own experiences at the Harmony Education Center-a progressive educational center he helped establish in 1990-Goodman offers a vision of how to persevere at a time when many progressive educators are feeling discouraged. He focuses on practical ideas for reform, such as establishing school autonomy; creating democratic structures, rituals, and values upon which school reform discourse can be generated; and by addressing the current conservative agenda, how to influence what happens in our nation's public schools. By situating school reform within a progressive history of Western society, the author offers valuable insights and ideas that are alternatives to both the conservative and the radical left analyses of schools and society.