The Curriculum of Capitalism: Schooled to Profit Or Schooled to Educate

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

The Curriculum of Capitalism: Schooled to Profit Or Schooled to Educate Georgia Southern University Digital Commons@Georgia Southern Electronic Theses and Dissertations Graduate Studies, Jack N. Averitt College of Spring 2011 The Curriculum of Capitalism: Schooled to Profit or Schooled to Educate Douglas O. Carroll Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/etd Recommended Citation Carroll, Douglas O., "The Curriculum of Capitalism: Schooled to Profit or Schooled to Educate" (2011). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 528. https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/etd/528 This dissertation (open access) is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate Studies, Jack N. Averitt College of at Digital Commons@Georgia Southern. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons@Georgia Southern. For more information, please contact [email protected]. 1 THE CURRICULUM OF CAPITALISM: SCHOOLED TO PROFIT OR SCHOOLED TO EDUCATE? by DOUGLAS O. CARROLL Under the Direction of Grigory Dmitriyev ABSTRACT Utilizing a critical pragmatist framework for analysis of the United States public school education, the research suggests the United States public education system perpetuates a curriculum of Capitalism linking with democracy; yet social Capitalism remains remarkably undemocratic as the experience of race, class, and gender contradict the curriculum of public schools. The consequence of these contradictions is perpetuation of racist or sexist stereotypes, a distinct class system delineated by financial, educational, and techno-wealth, a heightened if not profound sense that the American ideal is no longer within reach or a political sham. In sharp contrast to conservative theories of education and the move to standardize education, progressive educators do not believe in disassociating classroom experience from the sum of the accumulated experience of the individual. The research utilizes a number of tools of curriculum theorists including the incorporation of biographical material of Du Bois, Dewey, Lessing, Marcuse, and Feyerabend as the primary method for investigation. INDEX WORDS: Capitalism, Critical pragmatism, Democratic capitalism, Social capitalism, Curriculum of capitalism, Racial economics, Gender economics, Education reform, Public schools 2 THE CURRICULUM OF CAPITALISM: SCHOOLED TO PROFIT OR SCHOOLED TO EDUCATE? by DOUGLAS O. CARROLL B.A., Armstrong State College, 1982 M. H.S., Georgia Southern University, 1993 A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Georgia Southern University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Degree of DOCTOR OF EDUCATION in CURRICULUM STUDIES STATESBORO, GEORGIA 2011 3 © 2011 DOUGLAS O. CARROLL All Rights Reserved 4 THE CURRICULUM OF CAPITALISM: SCHOOLED TO PROFIT OR SCHOOLED TO EDUCATE? by DOUGLAS O. CARROLL Major Professor: Grigory Dmitriyev Committee: Ming Fang He Patrick Novotny Kent Rittschof Electronic Version Approved: May 2011 5 DEDICATION Dedicated to Dr. Robert A. Burnett, Rebecca and Stephen, and all of the public school educators investing their lives in children as well as all the children under the care of ‗caring‘ public school educators. 6 CONTENTS CHAPTER I – CURRICULUM, CAPITALISM, AND PUBLIC SCHOOL EDUCATION ............................................................................................................................8 Conservative Conceptualization and Progressive Reconceptualization ..................................8 Research Framework and Purpose ........................................................................................41 Theoretical Framework: Critical Pragmatism .......................................................................52 Rationale for Critical Pragmatism as the Research Framework ............................................64 Methodology ..........................................................................................................................76 Preview and Organization of the Chapters ............................................................................81 CHAPTER II – PRAGMATISM, MARXISM, AND THE CURRICULUM OF CAPITALISM..........................................................................................................................85 Pragmatism and the Curriculum of Capitalism .....................................................................85 Evolution of Marxism in the United States ...........................................................................91 Reconceptualizing Marxist Theory: The Frankfurt School and Critical Theory ..................98 The Belief System of the Curriculum of Capitalism ...........................................................108 Paradigms of the Curriculum of Capitalism ........................................................................128 CHAPTER III - DU BOIS AND DEWEY: THE CURRICULUM OF CAPITALISM AND RACE ...........................................................................................................................149 Du Bois Conception: Race, Education, and Democracy .....................................................149 Are Du Bois and Dewey Critical Pragmatists? ...................................................................165 Racial Identity and Capitalism: Vestiges of the Slave Economy ........................................181 Double Consciousness: Of Souls and Lived Experiences ...................................................189 Praxis ...................................................................................................................................198 CHAPTER IV – DORIS LESSING: THE CURRICULUM OF CAPITALISM AND GENDER ...............................................................................................................................201 Biography of a Critical Pragmatist Feminist .......................................................................201 7 Identity, Critical Feminism, and the Curriculum of Capitalism ..........................................206 Colonialism, Feminist Identity, and the Curriculum of Capitalism ....................................230 Praxis ...................................................................................................................................240 CHAPTER V – MARCUSE AND FEYERABEND: THE RISE OF THE TECHNO- CLASS AND THE CURRICULUM OF CAPITALISM ......................................................247 Marcuse and Feyerabend: The Influence of Heidegger ......................................................247 Technology and the Curriculum of Capitalism ...................................................................262 Marcuse and Feyerabend: The Curriculum of Techno-Capitalism and Education .............277 Praxis ...................................................................................................................................291 CHAPTER VI – RECLAIMING PUBLIC SCHOOL CURRICULUM .....................................298 Current State of Public Education .......................................................................................298 Bureaucratic Totalitarianism: The Curriculum for Conformity ..........................................304 Reclaiming Education – Restoring Democracy ..................................................................313 Altering Priorities: Reconceptualizing Education as System for Reform ...........................333 Praxis: A Personal Reflection & Conclusion ......................................................................338 References ....................................................................................................................................353 Author Note .................................................................................................................................389 8 CHAPTER I – CURRICULUM, CAPITALISM, AND PUBLIC SCHOOL EDUCATION Conservative Conceptualization and Progressive Reconceptualization Negotiation of meanings and purposes – itself the mark of a democratic society – is, for progressives, the means of developing the individual initiative, independence of judgment, and social commitment on which democracy in turn depends (Nicholls, 1989, p. 167). If asked to define curriculum, many educators, parents, politicians will quote the all too familiar cliché, ‗the three-Rs‘. Though simple, compact, and concise, in contemporary classrooms it is trite and at the very least an anachronism from colonial America. Curriculum is going through a revolutionary re-invention creating a schism between the orthodox conservative educational establishment and a resurgence of progressive oriented educators seeking to expand the field beyond the belief that curriculum is simply an integrated course of studies or a subject matter standardized for delivery by an educator (Pinar et al., 2002). Standardizing curriculum and the movement for national standardization reinforces the perception the nation‘s public school system is in crisis and the solution to resolving the crisis is greater bureaucratic control and oversight. Progressive and conservative educators have in common the basic belief that public education as an institution is in need of modernization; the form of modernization is at the core of the debate. In reality, though with reluctance – conservative and progressive educators agree upon the idea of a national assessment and to some extent, the idea of a national curriculum. Agreeing to the concept of a nationalized curriculum is one thing. Finding
Recommended publications
  • Collision Course
    FINAL-1 Sat, Jul 7, 2018 6:10:55 PM Your Weekly Guide to TV Entertainment for the week of July 14 - 20, 2018 HARTNETT’S ALL SOFT CLOTH CAR WASH Collision $ 00 OFF 3ANY course CAR WASH! EXPIRES 7/31/18 BUMPER SPECIALISTSHartnett's Car Wash H1artnett x 5` Auto Body, Inc. COLLISION REPAIR SPECIALISTS & APPRAISERS MA R.S. #2313 R. ALAN HARTNETT LIC. #2037 DANA F. HARTNETT LIC. #9482 Ian Anthony Dale stars in 15 WATER STREET “Salvation” DANVERS (Exit 23, Rte. 128) TEL. (978) 774-2474 FAX (978) 750-4663 Open 7 Days Mon.-Fri. 8-7, Sat. 8-6, Sun. 8-4 ** Gift Certificates Available ** Choosing the right OLD FASHIONED SERVICE Attorney is no accident FREE REGISTRY SERVICE Free Consultation PERSONAL INJURYCLAIMS • Automobile Accident Victims • Work Accidents • Slip &Fall • Motorcycle &Pedestrian Accidents John Doyle Forlizzi• Wrongfu Lawl Death Office INSURANCEDoyle Insurance AGENCY • Dog Attacks • Injuries2 x to 3 Children Voted #1 1 x 3 With 35 years experience on the North Insurance Shore we have aproven record of recovery Agency No Fee Unless Successful While Grace (Jennifer Finnigan, “Tyrant”) and Harris (Ian Anthony Dale, “Hawaii Five- The LawOffice of 0”) work to maintain civility in the hangar, Liam (Charlie Row, “Red Band Society”) and STEPHEN M. FORLIZZI Darius (Santiago Cabrera, “Big Little Lies”) continue to fight both RE/SYST and the im- Auto • Homeowners pending galactic threat. Loyalties will be challenged as humanity sits on the brink of Business • Life Insurance 978.739.4898 Earth’s potential extinction. Learn if order can continue to suppress chaos when a new Harthorne Office Park •Suite 106 www.ForlizziLaw.com 978-777-6344 491 Maple Street, Danvers, MA 01923 [email protected] episode of “Salvation” airs Monday, July 16, on CBS.
    [Show full text]
  • Moral Education in a Non-Traditional Setting in Vietnam
    BENDING BAMBOO: MORAL EDUCATION IN A NON-TRADITIONAL SETTING IN VIETNAM Eric J. Buetikofer A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate College of Bowling Green State University in partial fulfillment of The requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS August 2009 Committee: Patricia Kubow, Advisor Christopher Frey William Wiseman ii © 2009 Eric Buetikofer All Rights Reserved iii ABSTRACT Patricia Kubow, Advisor Vietnam is a country rich with culture and tradition. This thesis examines the cultural practice of teaching morality in a non-traditional school in Vietnam. This qualitative case study took place in a non-traditional school located in central Vietnam that caters to street children. Findings from the participant interviews are discussed through the use of vignettes. The vignette themes include morality, citizenship, philosophical association, gender and one’s ability to be moral, bending bamboo and morality, morality and role playing, street children and moral education, learning and importance of language, learning English as a Second Language in the school, and debates and learning good citizenship. Each vignette is discussed using information from participant interviews and Western and Eastern moral education practices. Research for this paper has been completed utilizing educational and psychological theoretical literature concerning moral education and moral philosophy in conjunction with empirical studies conducted in Vietnam. iv This thesis is dedicated to my wife Jessica Turos and my mother Kathy Buetikofer, who have been supportive in all of my educational endeavors. v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank my Thesis committee, Dr. Kubow, Dr. Frey, and Dr. Wiseman, for all of their guidance. I could not have completed this formidable project without you.
    [Show full text]
  • 13 Conclusion
    13 Conclusion Overall patterns of globalization and development In this volume I have depicted a narrowing followed by a widening of the ideological spectrum, capitalist triumph and tribulations, the decline of inter- state wars and their replacement by either peace or civil wars, the intensifi- cation of national citizenship, and the replacement of all empires save one by nation-states. All this was happening on an increasingly global scale – a series of globalizations, which sometimes reinforced, sometimes undercut, and always differed from each other. As a result, the world is more interconnected, though it is not harmonious, and it is nowhere near being a single global sys- tem. It is a process of universal but polymorphous globalization. My second volume identified capitalism and nation-states as the two main power organizations of the long nineteenth century in the advanced countries. In Volume 3 and here I have expanded my horizons to the globe and added empires. The entwined dynam- ics of capitalism, nation-states, and empires brought disastrous world wars and revolutions in the first half of the twentieth century. This was followed by a fairly sharp break after 1945 as power relations subsided into a short “golden age” of democratic capitalism, in which occurred the collapse of all but two empires, a degree of class compromise within capitalism, the institutionaliza- tion of both capitalism and state socialism, the emergence of mass social citi- zenship, and global economic and population growth. The principal military confrontation eased into a merely cold war, which eased further as the Soviet Union stagnated. This plus the advent of nuclear weapons brought a decline in usable military power and a rapid decline in interstate wars across the world .
    [Show full text]
  • Democratic Capitalism
    Democratic Capitalism Why Political and Economic Freedom Need Each Other IAIN MURRAY The Competitive Enterprise Institute promotes the institutions of liberty and works to remove government-created barriers to economic freedom, innovation, and prosperity through timely analysis, effective advocacy, inclusive coalition- building, and strategic litigation. COMPETITIVE ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE 1310 L Street NW, 7th Floor Washington, DC 20005 202-331-1010 cei.org PROFILES IN CAPITALISM OCTOBER 2019 | NO. 4 Democratic Capitalism Why Political and Economic Freedom Need Each Other Iain Murray Competitive Enterprise Institute 2019 Murray: Democratic Capitalism 2 Murray: Democratic Capitalism EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Is capitalism destroying democracy? It is an old question that political thinkers have long wrestled with. Yet, it gained recent prominence with the publication of Duke University historian Nancy MacLean’s widely discussed book, Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right’s Stealth Plan for America, which unleashed heated debate over its claim that libertarian economists, funded by capitalist billionaires, have worked to subvert American democracy over the past four decades. Critics of the free market contend that democracy, as they conceive it, should not be constrained. Yet, it turns out that American democracy is already enchained—by design. We have explicitly rejected the idea of “unfettered democracy.” We accept limitations on the democratic will of the majority in all sorts of areas. We do not allow a democratic majority to use its power to ban any form of political speech, to segregate their communities on the basis of race, or to impose religious views or obligations on others. These constraints on government are the political expression of rights.
    [Show full text]
  • Journal of Curriculum Studies Research Critical Teaching in Classrooms of Healing: Struggles and Testimonios
    https://curriculumstudies.org E-ISSN: 2690-2788 Journal of Curriculum Studies Research June 2020 Volume: 2 Issue: 1 pp. 95-111 Critical teaching in classrooms of healing: Struggles and testimonios Brian C. Gibbs* * The University of North Carolina at ABSTRACT Chapel Hill, School of Education, Chapel Using testimonio methodology, this article describes the Hill, North Carolina, USA. testimonio and struggle of two Chicanx activist social studies E-mail: [email protected] teachers teaching in a large urban high school serving socio- economically poor Latinx students. Both teach critically, Article Info working to develop their students’ understanding of how their Received: April 24, 2020 ethnic and community histories contrast with larger historical Revised: May 16, 2020 narratives. Both teach the racism, misogyny, and homophobia Accepted: May 16, 2020 rampant in American history by connecting it to the present. They also engage a culturally sustaining pedagogy to give 10.46303/jcsr.02.01.6 students strength from their cultural inheritance. Each approached this differently, one developing an ethnic studies This is an Open Access article distributed course, and the second developing a circulo de hombres, and under the terms of the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 embedding a youth participation action research. Each teacher International license. tackled critical teaching and healing simultaneously from (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by- different perspectives yielding a variety of accompanying nc-nd/4.0) struggles. KEYWORDS How to cite Ethnic studies; critical pedagogy; social justice teaching; Gibbs, B. C. (2020). Critical teaching in restorative justice. classrooms of healing: Struggles and testimonios. Journal of Curriculum Studies Research, 2(1), 95-111.
    [Show full text]
  • Understanding the Use of Learner-Centered Teaching Strategies by Secondary Educators
    Walden University ScholarWorks Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies Collection 2020 Understanding the Use of Learner-Centered Teaching Strategies by Secondary Educators Carmen M. Cain Walden University Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies Collection at ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Walden University College of Education This is to certify that the doctoral study by Carmen M. Cain has been found to be complete and satisfactory in all respects, and that any and all revisions required by the review committee have been made. Review Committee Dr. Heather Caldwell, Committee Chairperson, Education Faculty Dr. Michelle McCraney, Committee Member, Education Faculty Dr. Barbara Schirmer, University Reviewer, Education Faculty Chief Academic Officer and Provost Sue Subocz, Ph.D. Walden University 2020 Abstract Understanding the Use of Learner-Centered Teaching Strategies by Secondary Educators by Carmen M. Cain MA, University of Mary, 2016 BS, University of Mary, 2000 Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Education Walden University June 2020 Abstract Use of learner-centered teaching strategies (LCTS) in the classroom practices improves academic achievement. Secondary educators do not consistently demonstrate the use of these strategies. The purpose of this study was to investigate how secondary educators were using LCTS in their instruction and what support they perceived to need to use such strategies.
    [Show full text]
  • The Role of Hidden Curricula on the Resistance Behavior of Undergraduate Students in Psychological Counseling and Guidance at a Turkish University
    Asia Pacific Education Review Copyright 2006 by Education Research Institute 2006, Vol. 7, No. 1, 94-107. The Role of Hidden Curricula on the Resistance Behavior of Undergraduate Students in Psychological Counseling and Guidance at a Turkish University Sedat Yüksel Uludağ University Turkey Student resistance can be a very important problem for the instructors in universities. Student resistance includes the conscious and preplanned behaviors towards the information presented to them in the classroom and the institutional practices. Typically, student resistance takes the form of passive or active non-compliance with roles and outputs expected of them as students. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of hidden curricula on student resistance. The research was conducted on senior undergraduate students in a Turkish University, in the Department of Psychological Counseling and Guidance. Given the exploratory nature of this investigation, a case study methodology was employed. Data was collected from official documents, class observations, and interviews. The results of this research indicated that the students demonstrated resistance to some dimensions of the hidden and delivered curricula. Specifically, while the students showed resistance towards the delivered curriculum and ‘banking education’, they did not show similar resistance to symbolic violence and the ‘warming-up’ process. Key Words: Hidden curriculum, psychological counseling students, student resistance, teacher education Introduction been investigated (Margolis, 2001). The purpose of this 1 research is to examine both the positive and negative effects Student resistance to the schooling process has always of hidden curricula on student resistance in psychological been a problem for teachers and has become one of the most counseling programs in Turkey.
    [Show full text]
  • Student Voice and the International Curriculum: Connections, Contexts and Spaces
    Student Voice and the International Curriculum: connections, contexts and spaces Rohan Skene UCL Institute of Education Doctor in Education (International) i Declaration I Rohan Skene substantiate that the work produced in this thesis is my own. In the instances where information has been derived from other sources, I can confirm that this has been indicated in the thesis. ii Abstract This thesis explores the relationship between student voice and the international curriculum and the significance of this relationship for learning in secondary schools. Framed within a social realist epistemology and employing individual and focus group interviews to gather teacher and student perspectives, this work employs an interpretive research approach, underpinned by established work on student participation and wider concepts of the curriculum and curriculum design. Curricular developments within a growing international secondary school sector, an under-realisation of the recognised benefits of greater student-teacher collaboration and a deficit in research available on the relationship between student voice and the international curriculum created the need to explore these notions further. Three European international schools are researched and contrasted, each one distinctly offering a linear, constructivist or mixed approach in delivering the International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE) or International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme (IBMYP) secondary curriculums. This study confirms that the authentic engagement of students and teachers in learning conversations is similarly problematic in an international context as in a national one. However, impediments to student voice can be negotiated through the creation of a shared space where pedagogical dialogical encounters are encouraged and where teacher and student interior authenticities are affirmed.
    [Show full text]
  • The Limits of Liberalism: Pragmatism, Democracy and Capitalism
    Contemporary Pragmatism Editions Rodopi Vol. 5, No. 2 (December 2008), 81–108 © 2008 The Limits of Liberalism: Pragmatism, Democracy and Capitalism Mike O’Connor Liberalism sanctions both democracy and capitalism, but incorpor- ating the two into a coherent intellectual system presents difficulties. The anti-foundational pragmatism of Richard Rorty offers a way to describe and defend a meaningful democratic capitalism while avoiding the problems that come from the more traditional liberal justification. Additionally, Rorty’s rejection of the search for extra- human grounding of social and political arrangements suggests that democracy is entitled to a philosophical support that capitalism is not. A viable democratic capitalism therefore justifies its use of markets on the consent of the governed, rather than appeals to liberal notions of individualism, liberty, and property. 1. Introduction One of the perennial philosophical problems of liberalism is that of the appropriate relationship between democracy and capitalism. Both systems justify themselves intellectually by applications of core liberal principles – personal liberty, the primacy of the individual, and the preservation of property rights – to the political and economic realms, respectively. But the fact that democracy and capitalism might derive from the same theoretical basis does not necessarily render them compatible with each other. Politics and economics intersect and overlap at so many points that it is impossible to preserve political freedom without significantly impeding the liberty of trade, and vice versa. Additionally, markets themselves depend on a minimum level of security and law-enforcement for their very existence, which makes the existence of capitalism dependent upon prior non-market arrangements. Finally, a govern- ment that is unwilling to use its power in ways that could influence economic free agents in their choices is one that could not, for example, enact a tax code, raise an army, or provide infrastructure; it is, in short, one that does not govern.
    [Show full text]
  • EXPLORING the HIDDEN CURRICULUM WITHIN a DOCTORAL PROGRAM a Dissertation Submitted To
    “IT’S NOT ALWAYS WHAT IT SEEMS”: EXPLORING THE HIDDEN CURRICULUM WITHIN A DOCTORAL PROGRAM A dissertation submitted to the Kent State University College and Graduate School of Education, Health, and Human Services in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy By Rachel Elizabeth Foot August, 2017 © Copyright, 2017 by Rachel E. Foot All Rights Reserved ii A dissertation written by Rachel E. Foot B.A. (Hons), University of the West of England, 2000 M.Sc., Clarion University, 2003 Ph.D., Kent State University, 2017 Approved by __________________________________, Director, Doctoral Dissertation Committee Alicia R. Crowe __________________________________, Member, Doctoral Dissertation Committee Joanne Kilgour Dowdy __________________________________, Member, Doctoral Dissertation Committee Tricia Niesz Accepted by __________________________________, Director, School of Teaching, Learning Alexa L. Sandmann and Curriculum Studies __________________________________, Dean, College of Education, Health James C. Hannon and Human Services iii FOOT, RACHEL, E. Ph.D., August 2017 TEACHING, LEARNING AND CURRICULUM STUDIES “IT’S NOT ALWAYS WHAT IT SEEMS”: EXPLORING THE HIDDEN CURRICULUM WITHIN A DOCTORAL PROGRAM (pp. 315) Dissertation Director: Alicia R. Crowe Ph.D. The purpose of this qualitative, naturalistic study was to explore the ways in which hidden curriculum might influence doctoral student success. Two questions guided the study: (a) How do doctoral students experience the hidden curriculum? (b) What forms of hidden curricula can be identified in a PhD program? Data were collected from twelve doctoral students within a single program at one university. Participants took part in three sets of semi-structured interviews and data were analyzed using a cross-case analysis. Findings suggest that doctoral students experience mixed messages related to the values and norms of the program when the intended, explicit curriculum is contradicted by a hidden curriculum.
    [Show full text]
  • Unschooling and Social Justice/Multicultural Education: (Un)Realized Potential Kristan Morrison Radford University, US
    Other Education: The Journal of Educational Alternatives ISSN 2049-2162 Volume 7(2018), Issue 2 · pp. 97-117 Unschooling and Social Justice/Multicultural Education: (Un)Realized Potential Kristan Morrison Radford University, US. Abstract An online survey of unschooling families (student-directed form of homeschooling) sought to discover whether and how unschooled children experience a social justice curriculum (one that seeks equity between cultures, ethnicities, genders, classes, and sexualities). The 2016 survey asked about unschooled children’s relationships with/recognition of people different from themselves, their degree of critical analysis of systems and institutions in society which created, maintain, and perpetuate inequities, and whether they had opportunities to envision and work for a just and equitable society. The philosophical tenets of unschooling complicate this query, and are explored. Findings illustrate that unschooling’s educational philosophy of “curriculum-as- lived” (as opposed to “curriculum-as-plan”) (Aoki, 2004) has the potential (though not realized by all unschooling families) to provide a unique approach to social justice/multicultural education, allowing unschooled children to learn about minoritized cultures, systems that led to the minoritization, and the possibilities and pathways to a more equitable society. Keywords unschooling, multicultural education, social justice, student-directed learning, homeschooling Introduction Unschooling defined Student-directed learning in the home, termed unschooling (Farenga, 1999), is a form of education in which parents eschew a formal or standardized curriculum and instead allow their children curricular freedom. In unschooling, “the learner’s freedom and autonomy [is] limited as little as possible, ...learning always starts with the individual’s needs, goals, and desires, and not with any supposed body of knowledge or societal demands” (Miller, 2004).
    [Show full text]
  • Postmodern View of the Hidden Curriculum
    Georgia Southern University Digital Commons@Georgia Southern Electronic Theses and Dissertations Graduate Studies, Jack N. Averitt College of Fall 2007 Postmodern View of the Hidden Curriculum Linda W. Dickerson Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/etd Recommended Citation Dickerson, Linda W., "Postmodern View of the Hidden Curriculum" (2007). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 455. https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/etd/455 This dissertation (open access) is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate Studies, Jack N. Averitt College of at Digital Commons@Georgia Southern. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons@Georgia Southern. For more information, please contact [email protected]. 1 A POSTMODERN VIEW OF THE HIDDEN CURRICULUM by LINDA DICKERSON (UNDER THE DIRECTION OF WILLIAM REYNOLDS) ABSTRACT This dissertation will address the hidden curriculum and the impact that it has on the contemporary classroom. In the twentieth century, America is facing a variety of crises, one being the state of the national educational system, and part of this crisis is the public image that the educational system presents to the public eye through the hidden curriculum. Every institution has a public image or the side of it which first meets the eye, but often these images are deceptive. Schools present a public image in that schools teach much more than they claim to teach and they complete this task through rules, curriculum, and responses to all events and situations. The hidden curriculum actually functions in the open through the practices of the school, and is only hidden in the fact that these practices go unacknowledged by teachers, administrators, parents and students.
    [Show full text]