Transformative Education: A Philosophical Inquiry Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Douglas W. Yacek Graduate Program in Educational Studies The Ohio State University 2017 Dissertation Committee: Dr. Bryan Warnick, Advisor Dr. Bruce Kimball Dr. Jackie Blount Copyrighted by Douglas W. Yacek 2017 Abstract It has become commonplace within the educational research community to invoke the transformative power of education. Calls to adopt a “transformative” approach to teach- ing, learning, pedagogy, assessment, and professional education can be heard across the disciplines of educational research today—in fields as different as adult education and school leadership, and as estranged as social justice education and educational psychology. Parallel to this discussion is the increasing usage of the language of transformation by ad- ministrators, informational brochures, official websites, and student affairs personnel in higher education. Beyond the English-speaking world, the German fields of educational theory and qualitative educational research have recently seen a flurry of activity on the topic of transformatorische Bildungsprozesse (transformative educational processes). The first aim of this dissertation is to examine some of the common philosophical assumptions that lie behind these various invocations of transformation. What does it mean to undergo a transformative experience? What pedagogical methods are required to bring them about? Where has the idea of a transformative education come from, and what anthropological premises does it assume? These questions are addressed in the first two chapters, which conclude that the various usages of the idea of transformation in education today fall into four different “paradigms” of transformative experience: conversion, overcoming, discov- ii ery and initiation. In the third chapter, I explore some of the ethical problems that accom- pany each of the paradigmatic approaches to transformative education. The central result of this analysis is that only the “initiation paradigm” possesses the necessary resources for addressing the characteristic ethical problems of transformative education, and I therefore defend a revised version of transformative initiation in the fourth chapter. Within the initi- ation paradigm, educational transformation is standardly conceived as an initiation into disciplinary practices, but in this chapter I argue that this conception should be extended to include an induction into a tragic-ironic tradition. The latter can provide resources to pro- tect against what I call the potentially “deformative” outcomes of practical initiation and challenges the standard conception of mastery as proficiency. In the fifth and final chapter, I assess some recent practical proposals for bringing transformative education into the classroom. Although the current enthusiasm for transformative education carries real promise, careful analysis of its actual proposals reveals that the idea is often appropriated and assimilated to non-transformative, and indeed anti-transformative educational ends. iii For Anna Was fesselt mich an irdische Beschwerden? iv Acknowledgements The joys of creative work are due in large part to those occasional experiences of insight which seem in the moment of their occurrence to be wholly personal, novel, and authentic, but which often prove after some reflection to be indebted to a friend, family member or colleague who first inspired its awakening. If there are any insightful perspec- tives or ideas in the proceeding work, they are the result of inspiration from these signifi- cant others who have graciously supported this project. If you are reading this dissertation, you are probably one of them. Thank you especially to the Department of Educational Studies and the Graduate School for providing crucial financial support throughout my doctoral studies at Ohio State University, to Bryan Warnick for exemplifying reasonable- ness and humanity in educational inquiry, to Bruce Kimball for exemplifying the old Gelehrsamkeit (I have fallen short of the example), to Kevin Gary and Matthew Farrelly for getting me through a crisis, to Jamie Teeple and John Fantuzzo for suggesting literature in key places, to the baristas of Stauf’s German Village and Rösttrommel for allowing me to continually overstay my welcome, to my parents for being unshakably proud even when I don’t deserve it, to my brothers for putting up with any preening I might be guilty of, to Lisa Sanders for abetting my early desire to be a know-it-all, and to Paul McCloud, Mark Jonas and Anna Yacek for everything. v Vita May 2010 B. Sci. University of Texas at Austin, with highest honors July 2013 G. D. S. (C2 Certificate in the German Language) Goethe Institute, Frankfurt Dec. 2016 M. A. Ohio State University, Columbus Publications Yacek., D. (forthcoming, 2018). America’s Armed Teachers: An Ethical Analysis. Teachers College Record, 120(9). Yacek, D. (forthcoming, 2017). Dialectics of Education: Adorno on the Possibility of Bildung in Consumer Society. Philosophy of Education 2015, Urbana, IL: Philos- ophy of Education Society. Yacek, D. & Kimball, B. (forthcoming, 2017). Teacher Education and the Liberal Arts. In M. A. Peters (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Educational Philosophy and Theory, Singa- pore: Springer. Yacek, D. (2017). Transformation and Education. In B. Warnick (Ed.), Macmillan Inter- disciplinary Handbook on Philosophy: Education, New York, NY: Macmillan. Yacek, D. (2014). Learning to See with Different Eyes: A Nietzschean Challenge to Mul- ticultural Dialogue. Educational Theory, 64(2), 99-121. Yacek, D. (2014). Going to School with Friedrich Nietzsche: The Self in Service of No- ble Culture. Studies in Philosophy and Education, 33(4), 391-411. Fields of Study Major Field: Educational Studies vi Table of Contents Abstract ............................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................. v Vita ..................................................................................................................................... vi Table of Contents .............................................................................................................. vii List of Tables ..................................................................................................................... ix Chapter 1: Introduction ....................................................................................................... 1 1. Transformative Experience: Three Scenes ................................................................. 1 2. Transformation as an Educational Aim ...................................................................... 5 3. Problematic Connotations ........................................................................................... 9 4. Defining Transformation: The Standard Approach .................................................. 17 5. Outlook: Phenomenologically Sensitive Philosophical Inquiry ............................... 20 Chapter 2: The Paradigms of Transformation .................................................................. 26 1. Introduction ............................................................................................................... 26 2. Transformation as Conversion .................................................................................. 31 3. Transformation as Overcoming ................................................................................ 46 4. Transformation as Discovery .................................................................................... 57 5. Transformation as Initiation ...................................................................................... 73 6. Conclusion ................................................................................................................ 80 Chapter 3: The Ethics of Transformative Education ........................................................ 83 1. Introduction ............................................................................................................... 83 2. The Momentousness of Transformative Experience ................................................ 87 3. The Problem of Consent ........................................................................................... 91 4. The Problem of Controversial Direction .................................................................. 99 5. The Problem of Identity Crisis ................................................................................ 113 6. Conclusion .............................................................................................................. 133 Chapter 4: Spheres of Transformation: Practices, Traditions, Epiphany ........................ 135 vii 1. Introduction ............................................................................................................. 135 2. Initiation into Practices ........................................................................................... 139 3. The Problem of Deformation .................................................................................. 142 4. Tragic Tradition and the Spirit of Gaiety ...............................................................