Landscapes of Education – serie

Love, Justice, and Education by William H. Schubert brings to life key ideas in the work of John Dewey and their relevance for the world today. He does this by imagining continuation of a highly evocative article that Dewey published in the New York Times in 1933. Dewey wrote from the posture of having visited Utopia. Schubert begins each of thirty short chapters with a phrase or sentence from Dewey's article, in response to which a continuous flow of Utopians consider what is necessary for educational and social reform among Earthlings. Schubert encourages the Utopians, who have studied Earthling practices and literatures, to recommend from their experience what Earthlings need for educational and social reform and how they can address obstacles to that reform. The Utopians speak to myriad implications of Dewey's report by drawing upon a wide range of philosophical, literary, and educational ideas - including many of Dewey's other writings. Their central message is that loving relationships and empathic dedication to social justice are necessary for educational reform that responds wholeheartedly to learner needs and interests. True to Dewey's original position, such education must be built upon social reform that works to overcome acquisitive society based on greed: the principal impediment to realizing human potential, democratic society, and educational relationships that enhance it. To overcome the debilitating acquisitiveness that plagues Earth is the challenge for educators and all human beings who seek to involve the young in composing their lives and cultivating a world of integrity, beauty, justice, love, and continuously evolving capacities of humanity.

Love, Justice, and Education by William H. Schubert brings to life key ideas in the work of John Dewey and their relevance for the world today. He does this by imagining continuation of a highly evocative article that Dewey published in the New York Times in 1933. Dewey wrote from the posture of having visited Utopia. Schubert begins each of thirty short chapters with a phrase or sentence from Dewey's article, in response to which a continuous flow of Utopians consider what is necessary for educational and social reform among Earthlings. Schubert encourages the Utopians, who have studied Earthling practices and literatures, to recommend from their experience what Earthlings need for educational and social reform and how they can address obstacles to that reform. The Utopians speak to myriad implications of Dewey's report by drawing upon a wide range of philosophical, literary, and educational ideas - including many of Dewey's other writings. Their central message is that loving relationships and empathic dedication to social justice are necessary for educational reform that responds wholeheartedly to learner needs and interests. True to Dewey's original position, such education must be built upon social reform that works to overcome acquisitive society based on greed: the principal impediment to realizing human potential, democratic society, and educational relationships that enhance it. To overcome the debilitating acquisitiveness that plagues Earth is the challenge for educators and all human beings who seek to involve the young in composing their lives and cultivating a world of integrity, beauty, justice, love, and continuously evolving capacities of humanity.

This book embraces the idea of listening to and learning from students. Although many educational theorists have long argued that incorporating children’s perspectives about teaching and curriculum has the potential for increasing students’ interest and participation in learning, their radical perspectives are still ignored or dismissed in theory and practice. Through featured essays, historical excerpts, and provocative poetry, this collection provides research literature and inquiry ideas that ought to be part of educational debates, policy discussions, and decision makings. Articulated through thoughtful prose and discerning analysis, youth, teachers, and scholars featured in this collection illuminate the power and promise of not only listening to and learning from students, but also acting upon the insights of students. This book calls for the 21st century educational workers--teachers, educators, parents, community workers, administrators, and policy makers--to perceive students as massive reservoirs of knowledge that invigorate possibilities for teaching, learning, and curriculum in the contested educational landscape.

This book embraces the idea of listening to and learning from students. Although many educational theorists have long argued that incorporating children’s perspectives about teaching and curriculum has the potential for increasing students’ interest and participation in learning, their radical perspectives are still ignored or dismissed in theory and practice. Through featured essays, historical excerpts, and provocative poetry, this collection provides research literature and inquiry ideas that ought to be part of educational debates, policy discussions, and decision makings. Articulated through thoughtful prose and discerning analysis, youth, teachers, and scholars featured in this collection illuminate the power and promise of not only listening to and learning from students, but also acting upon the insights of students. This book calls for the 21st century educational workers--teachers, educators, parents, community workers, administrators, and policy makers--to perceive students as massive reservoirs of knowledge that invigorate possibilities for teaching, learning, and curriculum in the contested educational landscape.

Multiliteracies: Beyond Text and the Written Word emphasizes literacies which are, or have been, common in American culture, but which tend to be ignored in more traditional discussions of literacy—specifically textual literacy. By describing multiliteracies or alternative literacies, and how they function, we have tried to develop a broader understanding of what it means to be literate in American culture. The 39 topical essays/chapters included in this work represent a sampler of both old and new literacies that are clearly at work in American culture, and which go beyond more traditional textual forms and models.Multiliteracies: Beyond Text and the Written Word asks: How is the experience of students changing outside of traditional schools, and how do these changes potentially shape the work they do, how they learn, and the lives they lead in schools and less formal settings? This work assumes that our increasing diversity in a postmodern and increasingly global society brings with it demands for a broader understanding of what it means to be literate. Multiliteracy “literally” becomes a necessity. This work is a guidebook to the new reality, which is increasingly so important to schools and the more general culture.

Multiliteracies: Beyond Text and the Written Word emphasizes literacies which are, or have been, common in American culture, but which tend to be ignored in more traditional discussions of literacy—specifically textual literacy. By describing multiliteracies or alternative literacies, and how they function, we have tried to develop a broader understanding of what it means to be literate in American culture. The 39 topical essays/chapters included in this work represent a sampler of both old and new literacies that are clearly at work in American culture, and which go beyond more traditional textual forms and models.Multiliteracies: Beyond Text and the Written Word asks: How is the experience of students changing outside of traditional schools, and how do these changes potentially shape the work they do, how they learn, and the lives they lead in schools and less formal settings? This work assumes that our increasing diversity in a postmodern and increasingly global society brings with it demands for a broader understanding of what it means to be literate. Multiliteracy “literally” becomes a necessity. This work is a guidebook to the new reality, which is increasingly so important to schools and the more general culture.

Queer South Rising: Voices of a Contested Place is a collection of essays about the South by people who identify as both Southern and queer. The collection’s name hints at the provocative nature of its contents: placing Queer and South side-by-side challenges readers to think about each word differently. The idea that a queer South might rise undermines the Battle Cry of “The South’s Gonna rise Again!” embedded in the collective memory of a conservative South. This rising does not refer to a kind of Enlightenment transcendence where the region achieves some sort of distinctive prominence. It suggests instead ruptures, like furrows in a plowed field where seeds are sown. The rising Whitlock envisions is akin to breaking and turning over meanings of Southern place. The title further serves to remind readers of the complexities of the place as it calls into question notions of a universal, homogenous LGBT, queer, identity. Queer South Rising is the first truly interdisciplinary collection of essays on the South and queerness that deliberately aims for multiple approaches to the topics. This collection is intended for a wide audience of “regular” folks. Essays explore multiple intersections of Southern place—religion, politics, sexuality, race, education—that transcend regional boundaries. This book counters conventional scholarly texts; it invites all readers interested in the South and queer themes to engage with the narratives it holds—and perhaps question their assumptions. Whitlock has sought, in collecting these essays, to seek out a diverse group of authors—across disciplines, professions, and interests—to shatter perceptions about a nostalgic, romanticized Southern culture in general.

Queer South Rising: Voices of a Contested Place is a collection of essays about the South by people who identify as both Southern and queer. The collection’s name hints at the provocative nature of its contents: placing Queer and South side-by-side challenges readers to think about each word differently. The idea that a queer South might rise undermines the Battle Cry of “The South’s Gonna rise Again!” embedded in the collective memory of a conservative South. This rising does not refer to a kind of Enlightenment transcendence where the region achieves some sort of distinctive prominence. It suggests instead ruptures, like furrows in a plowed field where seeds are sown. The rising Whitlock envisions is akin to breaking and turning over meanings of Southern place. The title further serves to remind readers of the complexities of the place as it calls into question notions of a universal, homogenous LGBT, queer, identity. Queer South Rising is the first truly interdisciplinary collection of essays on the South and queerness that deliberately aims for multiple approaches to the topics. This collection is intended for a wide audience of “regular” folks. Essays explore multiple intersections of Southern place—religion, politics, sexuality, race, education—that transcend regional boundaries. This book counters conventional scholarly texts; it invites all readers interested in the South and queer themes to engage with the narratives it holds—and perhaps question their assumptions. Whitlock has sought, in collecting these essays, to seek out a diverse group of authors—across disciplines, professions, and interests—to shatter perceptions about a nostalgic, romanticized Southern culture in general.

Robert Lake explores with the reader what is meant by imagination in the work of Maxine Greene and Paulo Freire and their relevance in an era of increasingly standardized and highly scripted practices in the field of education. The author explores how imagination permeates every aspect of life with the intent to develop capacity with the readers to look beyond the taken-for-granted, to question the normal, to develop various ways of knowing, seeing, feeling, and to imagine and act upon possibilities for positive social and educational change. The principal aspect of the work illustrated in this book that distinguishes it from other work is that an 'imaginary' dialogue between Maxine Greene and Paulo Freire runs through the book using actual citations from their work. Each chapter starts with such a dialogue interspersed with the works of others and the author’s critical autobiographical reflections. With a brief overview of the socio-cultural evolution of imagination from pre-literate times to the present, the author explores some of the current iterations of imagination including the eugenics movement and 'dark' imagination, sensing gaps and creative/critical imagination, metaphors as the language of imagination and empathy as social imagination. Reflecting upon emerging tensions, challenges, and possibilities curriculum workers face in such an era of standardization, the author calls for a curriculum of imagination.After providing a brief overview of the socio-cultural evolution of imagination from pre-literate times to the present, the author looks at some of the current iterations of imagination, including the eugenics movement and 'dark' imagination, sensing gaps and creative/critical imagination, metaphors as the language of the imagination, and empathy as social imagination. All of these ideas are then incorporated in a curriculum of imagination that is envisioned through Joseph Schwab’s four commonplaces of curriculum followed by a discussion of emerging tensions, issues and possibilities for praxis and scholarship in present and future inquiry.

Robert Lake explores with the reader what is meant by imagination in the work of Maxine Greene and Paulo Freire and their relevance in an era of increasingly standardized and highly scripted practices in the field of education. The author explores how imagination permeates every aspect of life with the intent to develop capacity with the readers to look beyond the taken-for-granted, to question the normal, to develop various ways of knowing, seeing, feeling, and to imagine and act upon possibilities for positive social and educational change. The principal aspect of the work illustrated in this book that distinguishes it from other work is that an 'imaginary' dialogue between Maxine Greene and Paulo Freire runs through the book using actual citations from their work. Each chapter starts with such a dialogue interspersed with the works of others and the author’s critical autobiographical reflections. With a brief overview of the socio-cultural evolution of imagination from pre-literate times to the present, the author explores some of the current iterations of imagination including the eugenics movement and 'dark' imagination, sensing gaps and creative/critical imagination, metaphors as the language of imagination and empathy as social imagination. Reflecting upon emerging tensions, challenges, and possibilities curriculum workers face in such an era of standardization, the author calls for a curriculum of imagination.After providing a brief overview of the socio-cultural evolution of imagination from pre-literate times to the present, the author looks at some of the current iterations of imagination, including the eugenics movement and 'dark' imagination, sensing gaps and creative/critical imagination, metaphors as the language of the imagination, and empathy as social imagination. All of these ideas are then incorporated in a curriculum of imagination that is envisioned through Joseph Schwab’s four commonplaces of curriculum followed by a discussion of emerging tensions, issues and possibilities for praxis and scholarship in present and future inquiry.

In Necessary Spaces: Exploring the Richness of African American Childhood in the South, Saundra Murray Nettles takes the reader on a journey into neighborhood networks of learning at different times and places. Using autobiographical accounts, Nettles discusses the informal instructional practices of community “coaches” from the perspective of African American adults who look back on their childhood learning experiences in homes, libraries, city blocks, schools, churches, places of business, and nature. These eyewitness accounts reveal "necessary spaces,” the metaphor Nettles uses to describe seven recurring experiences that converge with contemporary notions of optimal black child development: connection, exploration, design, empowerment, resistance, renewal, and practice.Nettles weaves the personal stories with social scientific theory and research and practical accounts of community-based initiatives to illuminate how local communities contributed human, built, and natural resources to support children’s achievement in schools. The inquiry offers a timely and accessible perspective on how community involvement for children can be developed utilizing the grassroots efforts of parents, children, and other neighborhood residents; expertise from personnel in schools, informal institutions (such as libraries and museums); and other sectors interested in disparities in education, health, and the quality of physical settings.Grounded in the environmental memories of African American childhood, Necessary Spaces offers a culturally relevant view of civic participation and sustainable community development at the local level. Educational researchers and policy makers, pre-service and in-service teachers, and people who plan for and work with children and youth in neighborhoods will find this book an engaging look at possibilities for the social organization of educational resources. Qualitative researchers will find a model for writing personal scholarly essays that use the personal to inform larger issues of policy and practice. In Necessary Spaces, local citizens in neighborhoods across the United States will find stories that resonate with their own experiences, stimulate their recollections, and inform and inspire their continuing efforts to create brighter futures for children and communities.

In Necessary Spaces: Exploring the Richness of African American Childhood in the South, Saundra Murray Nettles takes the reader on a journey into neighborhood networks of learning at different times and places. Using autobiographical accounts, Nettles discusses the informal instructional practices of community “coaches” from the perspective of African American adults who look back on their childhood learning experiences in homes, libraries, city blocks, schools, churches, places of business, and nature. These eyewitness accounts reveal "necessary spaces,” the metaphor Nettles uses to describe seven recurring experiences that converge with contemporary notions of optimal black child development: connection, exploration, design, empowerment, resistance, renewal, and practice.Nettles weaves the personal stories with social scientific theory and research and practical accounts of community-based initiatives to illuminate how local communities contributed human, built, and natural resources to support children’s achievement in schools. The inquiry offers a timely and accessible perspective on how community involvement for children can be developed utilizing the grassroots efforts of parents, children, and other neighborhood residents; expertise from personnel in schools, informal institutions (such as libraries and museums); and other sectors interested in disparities in education, health, and the quality of physical settings.Grounded in the environmental memories of African American childhood, Necessary Spaces offers a culturally relevant view of civic participation and sustainable community development at the local level. Educational researchers and policy makers, pre-service and in-service teachers, and people who plan for and work with children and youth in neighborhoods will find this book an engaging look at possibilities for the social organization of educational resources. Qualitative researchers will find a model for writing personal scholarly essays that use the personal to inform larger issues of policy and practice. In Necessary Spaces, local citizens in neighborhoods across the United States will find stories that resonate with their own experiences, stimulate their recollections, and inform and inspire their continuing efforts to create brighter futures for children and communities.

The sensuous is the human experience, unfolding our everyday experiences and articulating our affects. Without sensory information, we could neither know nor be. This is because we gain information through our senses and interpret that information as perceptions, the sociocultural frames used to analyze that input. This is the case regardless of how a sensorium is constructed, a more limited Western five senses model for example. It is also the case no matter how senses are defined, they ways they are expressed, or the ways in which they are understood to function. Further, because there are often greater differences between members within a particular group than divergences between groups, how one attends to and acts in light of sensory information is always a polyphonic tapestry constructed on the warp of the sociocultural and the weft of individualism. Education, the transfer of information between people, animals, things, and ecologies, is therefore a sensory endeavor.Sensuous curriculum is one means of describing this deeply layered intersection of educational ways of being and knowing. In many ways inverting how questions of curriculum are often framed, Sensuous Curriculum: Politics and the Senses in Education foregrounds how sensory understandings are forms of educational, relational politics. Bringing the depth and complexity of sensory studies firmly into curriculum and foundational studies of education, contributors to this volume address this educational and political intersection from a wide variety of theoretical and practical perspectives that are always embodied and material. Approached in an academic yet accessible manner, Sensuous Curriculum addresses key questions about what it means to educate and the ideas and ideals render those understandings sensible. This variety, depth, and accessibility combine to make Sensuous Curriculum an important resource for those interested in critical studies of the senses in educational ecologies and holistic education. It is a text as at home in theory and methods doctoral courses as it is in undergraduate courses for preservice teachers and will be of interest to those searching for rich ways to conceptualize education outside of a standards-centric perspective.

The sensuous is the human experience, unfolding our everyday experiences and articulating our affects. Without sensory information, we could neither know nor be. This is because we gain information through our senses and interpret that information as perceptions, the sociocultural frames used to analyze that input. This is the case regardless of how a sensorium is constructed, a more limited Western five senses model for example. It is also the case no matter how senses are defined, they ways they are expressed, or the ways in which they are understood to function. Further, because there are often greater differences between members within a particular group than divergences between groups, how one attends to and acts in light of sensory information is always a polyphonic tapestry constructed on the warp of the sociocultural and the weft of individualism. Education, the transfer of information between people, animals, things, and ecologies, is therefore a sensory endeavor.Sensuous curriculum is one means of describing this deeply layered intersection of educational ways of being and knowing. In many ways inverting how questions of curriculum are often framed, Sensuous Curriculum: Politics and the Senses in Education foregrounds how sensory understandings are forms of educational, relational politics. Bringing the depth and complexity of sensory studies firmly into curriculum and foundational studies of education, contributors to this volume address this educational and political intersection from a wide variety of theoretical and practical perspectives that are always embodied and material. Approached in an academic yet accessible manner, Sensuous Curriculum addresses key questions about what it means to educate and the ideas and ideals render those understandings sensible. This variety, depth, and accessibility combine to make Sensuous Curriculum an important resource for those interested in critical studies of the senses in educational ecologies and holistic education. It is a text as at home in theory and methods doctoral courses as it is in undergraduate courses for preservice teachers and will be of interest to those searching for rich ways to conceptualize education outside of a standards-centric perspective.

In Contemporary Urban Youth Culture in China: A Multiperspectival Cultural Studies of Internet Subcultures, Jing Sun explores contemporary Chinese urban youth culture through analyses of three Chinese Internet subcultural artifacts-A Bloody Case of a Steamed Bun, Cao Ni Ma, and Du Fu Is Busy.Using Douglas Kellner’s (1995) multiperspectival cultural studies (i.e., critical theory and critical media literacy) as the theoretical framework, and diagnostic critique and semiotics as the analytical method, Sun examines three general themes--resistance, power relations, and consumerism. The power of multiperspectival cultural studies, an interdisciplinary inquiry, lies in its potentials to explore contemporary Chinese urban youth culture from multiple perspectives; explore historical backgrounds and complexity of cultural artifacts to understand contradictions and trajectories of contemporary Chinese urban youth culture; recognize alternative medias as a space for contemporary urban Chinese youth to express frustrations and dissatisfactions, to challenge social inequalities and injustices, and to create dreams and hopes for their future; recognize that the intertexuality among cultural artifacts and subcultures creates possibilities for Chinese urban youth to invent more alternative media cultures that empower them to challenge dominations, perform their identities, and release their imagination for the future; invite Chinese youth to be the change agents for the era but not to be imprisoned by the era; and overcome misunderstanding, misrepresentation, or underrepresentation of contemporary Chinese urban youth cultural texts to promote linguistic and cultural diversity in a multicultural, multilingual, and multiracial world. Sun argues that contemporary urban youth need to obtain critical media literacy to become the change agents in contemporary China. They need to be the medium of cultural exchanges in the multicultural, multilingual, and multiracial world.In order to best assist contemporary Chinese urban youth in expressing their voices, portraying their hopes, and performing their historical responsibilities as change agents, Sun sincerely hopes more research will be done on the contemporary Chinese urban youth culture, especially on its contradictions and trajectories, with the intent to shed light on more richly textured, nuanced, and inspiring insights into the interconnection between contemporary Chinese urban youth and media power in an increasingly multicultural, multilingual, and multiracial world.

In Contemporary Urban Youth Culture in China: A Multiperspectival Cultural Studies of Internet Subcultures, Jing Sun explores contemporary Chinese urban youth culture through analyses of three Chinese Internet subcultural artifacts-A Bloody Case of a Steamed Bun, Cao Ni Ma, and Du Fu Is Busy.Using Douglas Kellner’s (1995) multiperspectival cultural studies (i.e., critical theory and critical media literacy) as the theoretical framework, and diagnostic critique and semiotics as the analytical method, Sun examines three general themes--resistance, power relations, and consumerism. The power of multiperspectival cultural studies, an interdisciplinary inquiry, lies in its potentials to explore contemporary Chinese urban youth culture from multiple perspectives; explore historical backgrounds and complexity of cultural artifacts to understand contradictions and trajectories of contemporary Chinese urban youth culture; recognize alternative medias as a space for contemporary urban Chinese youth to express frustrations and dissatisfactions, to challenge social inequalities and injustices, and to create dreams and hopes for their future; recognize that the intertexuality among cultural artifacts and subcultures creates possibilities for Chinese urban youth to invent more alternative media cultures that empower them to challenge dominations, perform their identities, and release their imagination for the future; invite Chinese youth to be the change agents for the era but not to be imprisoned by the era; and overcome misunderstanding, misrepresentation, or underrepresentation of contemporary Chinese urban youth cultural texts to promote linguistic and cultural diversity in a multicultural, multilingual, and multiracial world. Sun argues that contemporary urban youth need to obtain critical media literacy to become the change agents in contemporary China. They need to be the medium of cultural exchanges in the multicultural, multilingual, and multiracial world.In order to best assist contemporary Chinese urban youth in expressing their voices, portraying their hopes, and performing their historical responsibilities as change agents, Sun sincerely hopes more research will be done on the contemporary Chinese urban youth culture, especially on its contradictions and trajectories, with the intent to shed light on more richly textured, nuanced, and inspiring insights into the interconnection between contemporary Chinese urban youth and media power in an increasingly multicultural, multilingual, and multiracial world.

This book is a theoretical inquiry into alternative pedagogies that challenge current standardized practices in the field of science education. Through Mandy Hoffen, a fictional persona, Dana McCullough, the author, explores how stories of Henrietta Lacks become part of a conspiracy to change science education. Mandy Hoffen, however, never expected to find herself in the middle of a conspiracy. As a science teacher of 20 plus years, she worked diligently to meet the needs of her charges, who are currently ninth and tenth grade biology students in an age of standardized testing. The author also creates imaginary dialogues which serve as the theoretical framework for each chapter. Each chapter unfolds in a form of a play with imaginary settings and events that bring Henrietta Lacks back from the grave to participate in conversations about science, society, and social justice. The imaginary conversations are based on the author’s experiences in graduate courses, direct quotations from philosophers of science, historians of science, science educators, curriculum theorists, and stories of students in their study of Henrietta Lacks in a high school biology classroom. The play describes the journey of a graduate student/high school teacher as she researches the importance of the philosophy of science, history of science, science curriculum and social justice in science education. Through reflections on fictional conversations, stories of Henrietta Lacks are examined and described in multiple settings, beginning in an imaginary academic meeting, and ending with student conversations in a classroom. Each setting provides a space for conversations wherein participants explore their personal connections with science, science curriculum, issues of social justice related to science, and Henrietta Lacks.This book will be of interest to graduate students, scholars, and undergraduates in curriculum studies, educational foundations, and teacher education, and those interested in alternative research methodologies. This is the first book to intentionally address the stories of Henrietta Lacks and their importance in the field of curriculum studies, science studies, and current standardized high school science curriculum.

This book is a theoretical inquiry into alternative pedagogies that challenge current standardized practices in the field of science education. Through Mandy Hoffen, a fictional persona, Dana McCullough, the author, explores how stories of Henrietta Lacks become part of a conspiracy to change science education. Mandy Hoffen, however, never expected to find herself in the middle of a conspiracy. As a science teacher of 20 plus years, she worked diligently to meet the needs of her charges, who are currently ninth and tenth grade biology students in an age of standardized testing. The author also creates imaginary dialogues which serve as the theoretical framework for each chapter. Each chapter unfolds in a form of a play with imaginary settings and events that bring Henrietta Lacks back from the grave to participate in conversations about science, society, and social justice. The imaginary conversations are based on the author’s experiences in graduate courses, direct quotations from philosophers of science, historians of science, science educators, curriculum theorists, and stories of students in their study of Henrietta Lacks in a high school biology classroom. The play describes the journey of a graduate student/high school teacher as she researches the importance of the philosophy of science, history of science, science curriculum and social justice in science education. Through reflections on fictional conversations, stories of Henrietta Lacks are examined and described in multiple settings, beginning in an imaginary academic meeting, and ending with student conversations in a classroom. Each setting provides a space for conversations wherein participants explore their personal connections with science, science curriculum, issues of social justice related to science, and Henrietta Lacks.This book will be of interest to graduate students, scholars, and undergraduates in curriculum studies, educational foundations, and teacher education, and those interested in alternative research methodologies. This is the first book to intentionally address the stories of Henrietta Lacks and their importance in the field of curriculum studies, science studies, and current standardized high school science curriculum.

In From Socrates to Summerhill and Beyond: Towards a Philosophy of Education for Personal Responsibility, Ronald Swartz offers an evolving development of fallible, liberal democratic, self-governing educational philosophies. He suggests that educators can benefit from having dialogues about questions such as these: 1). Are there some authorities that can be consistently relied upon to tell school members what they should do and learn while they are in school? 2.) How should the imagination of social theorists be both used and checked in the development and implementation of innovative educational reforms? 3.) How can teachers in personal responsibility schools help their students learn? These questions are representative of problems that Swartz raises in his book.Swartz identifies four educational programs as personal responsibility schools. These are Little Commonwealth (Homer Lane); Summerhill (A.S.Neill); Orphans Home (Janusz Korczak) and Sudbury Valley School (Daniel Greenberg). Swartz then suggests that these learning environments create social institutions that are liberal, democratic, and self-governing and therefore endorse the policy of personal responsibility. This policy states: All school members, students included, are fallible authorities who should be personally responsible for determining their own school activities and many policies that govern a school. Schools which incorporate this policy can interchangeably be referred to as personal responsibility, self-governing, or Summerhill style schools.In providing an historical and philosophical understanding of Summerhill style schools, Swartz suggests that these educational alternatives have intellectual roots in the ideas associated with Socrates as portrayed in Plato’s Apology. Specifically, in personal responsibility schools teachers are not viewed as authorities who attempt to transmit wisdom to their students. Rather, self-governing schools follow the Socratic tradition which claims that teachers can be viewed as fallible authorities who attempt to engage students in dialogues about questions of interest to students. The interpretation of Plato’s works used by Swartz can be found in Karl Popper’s The Open Society and Its Enemies. Swartz has also been significantly influenced by the educational writings of Bertrand Russell and Paul Goodman. Goodman’s Compulsory Miseducation makes it clear that schools which follow in the tradition of Summerhill compete with the educational programs that are an outgrowth of John Dewey’s writings.In summary, Swartz’s book aims to engage educators in dialogues that will lead to improved educational theories and practices.

In From Socrates to Summerhill and Beyond: Towards a Philosophy of Education for Personal Responsibility, Ronald Swartz offers an evolving development of fallible, liberal democratic, self-governing educational philosophies. He suggests that educators can benefit from having dialogues about questions such as these: 1). Are there some authorities that can be consistently relied upon to tell school members what they should do and learn while they are in school? 2.) How should the imagination of social theorists be both used and checked in the development and implementation of innovative educational reforms? 3.) How can teachers in personal responsibility schools help their students learn? These questions are representative of problems that Swartz raises in his book.Swartz identifies four educational programs as personal responsibility schools. These are Little Commonwealth (Homer Lane); Summerhill (A.S.Neill); Orphans Home (Janusz Korczak) and Sudbury Valley School (Daniel Greenberg). Swartz then suggests that these learning environments create social institutions that are liberal, democratic, and self-governing and therefore endorse the policy of personal responsibility. This policy states: All school members, students included, are fallible authorities who should be personally responsible for determining their own school activities and many policies that govern a school. Schools which incorporate this policy can interchangeably be referred to as personal responsibility, self-governing, or Summerhill style schools.In providing an historical and philosophical understanding of Summerhill style schools, Swartz suggests that these educational alternatives have intellectual roots in the ideas associated with Socrates as portrayed in Plato’s Apology. Specifically, in personal responsibility schools teachers are not viewed as authorities who attempt to transmit wisdom to their students. Rather, self-governing schools follow the Socratic tradition which claims that teachers can be viewed as fallible authorities who attempt to engage students in dialogues about questions of interest to students. The interpretation of Plato’s works used by Swartz can be found in Karl Popper’s The Open Society and Its Enemies. Swartz has also been significantly influenced by the educational writings of Bertrand Russell and Paul Goodman. Goodman’s Compulsory Miseducation makes it clear that schools which follow in the tradition of Summerhill compete with the educational programs that are an outgrowth of John Dewey’s writings.In summary, Swartz’s book aims to engage educators in dialogues that will lead to improved educational theories and practices.

In Living the Questions: Dispatches From a Life Already in Progress, Wade Tillett takes up the question of how to live – not in some abstract sense, but in the urgent present. Tillett realizes that how to live is a question that each of us is already asking – and answering – moment-by-moment. These texts offer surprising discoveries of how we are already inventing solutions to living in multiple and discontinuous worlds through our daily actions. By examining small specific pieces of daily life, Tillett explores how we navigate through tentative, multiple, and often contradictory positions. Among the many situations artistically explored are visiting a church, narrating a family movie, exposing students to a nearby school, re-working a found sculpture, taking a licensure exam, attending a protest, and waiting for the El. By juxtaposing multiple voices and images, he attempts to see how, in both method and content, the texts themselves act on the worlds and lives they describe.Tillett narrates from many perspectives: teacher, researcher, writer, artist, architect, activist, parent, theorist, and struggling protagonist of his own life. As such, many readers sharing such roles will immediately find connections within the book. For researchers struggling to find workable qualitative methodologies after poststructuralism, the experimental methods employed here may provide welcome inspiration. However, the book seems aimed not so much at particular disciplines but at anyone who, like Tillett, is actively searching for how to live. Anyone involved in such a search will likely find hope and ways forward in his methods that look at life as we are already living it.

In Living the Questions: Dispatches From a Life Already in Progress, Wade Tillett takes up the question of how to live – not in some abstract sense, but in the urgent present. Tillett realizes that how to live is a question that each of us is already asking – and answering – moment-by-moment. These texts offer surprising discoveries of how we are already inventing solutions to living in multiple and discontinuous worlds through our daily actions. By examining small specific pieces of daily life, Tillett explores how we navigate through tentative, multiple, and often contradictory positions. Among the many situations artistically explored are visiting a church, narrating a family movie, exposing students to a nearby school, re-working a found sculpture, taking a licensure exam, attending a protest, and waiting for the El. By juxtaposing multiple voices and images, he attempts to see how, in both method and content, the texts themselves act on the worlds and lives they describe.Tillett narrates from many perspectives: teacher, researcher, writer, artist, architect, activist, parent, theorist, and struggling protagonist of his own life. As such, many readers sharing such roles will immediately find connections within the book. For researchers struggling to find workable qualitative methodologies after poststructuralism, the experimental methods employed here may provide welcome inspiration. However, the book seems aimed not so much at particular disciplines but at anyone who, like Tillett, is actively searching for how to live. Anyone involved in such a search will likely find hope and ways forward in his methods that look at life as we are already living it.

This book explores possibilities for students to have a much greater role in curriculum than mere receivers of it. In fact, we suggest what happens when students are the curriculum. We draw upon our scholarship (theory, practice, and praxis) over the years to show how educational experiences can be invigorated and embodied when students ask the what’s worthwhile questions, joining teachers as fellow curricularists, action researchers, and practical inquirers, to engage in creative insubordination that refines the theories within (and among) them through lifelong education. Such educational experience stems from listening carefully to students and creates meaning because it is of and by students, and therefore more genuinely for them. It is cultural experience writ large because it draws on curricula of educational experience from many spheres of life (outside of school and in school) to continuously reconstruct who and what they are. It draws on teacher and student lore and is improvisational, pedagogically pivoting, adapting, and emerging. It finds new spaces, crevices, and cracks wherein students continuously re-create themselves – the curriculum that they are becoming. This book includes previously published articles and book chapters by William H. Schubert and Brian D. Schultz. The authors include dialogic interludes between chapters to introduce, reflect on, and connect the chapters and their theorizing.