Education for Democratic Relations: Two Conceptions

Author(s):

Amrita Zahir

Conference:

ECER 2009

Network:

13. Philosophy of Education - Standard submissions

Format:

Paper

Session Information

13 SES 05 C, The Culture of Education (Part 1)

Paper Session, continued in 13 SES 06 A

Time:

2009-09-29

08:30-10:00

Room:

HG, HS 45

Chair:

Zdenko Kodelja

Contribution

In this theoretical paper I present an analysis of the works of the North American educational scholars Vivian Paley and Donna Kerr. Both authors argue that the quality of a democratic society is at stake if schools continue to neglect to focus on: (1) selves and human relationships as ends in themselves; (2) developing a profound understanding of the moral conditions children require in order to flourish; and (3) helping students carve out their unique ‘outlines’ in relation to others and their surroundings. Outlining their conceptions of an education for democratic relations Kerr and Paley take the role of education in a democracy a step further, indicating that the actual challenge lies in understanding and schooling the self in the act of relating. They maintain that for us to be in democratic relations with one another, we need to be knowledgeable about the composition of the psyche as well as the social dynamics of relationships. Only if this knowledge is familiar to us, so Kerr and Paley, can we understand and ameliorate the undemocratic quality of our lives and societies. Kerr’s and Paley’s conceptions of an education for democratic relations are helpful to my goal of exploring the consequences of marginalization and domination to the formation of human agency and to study in what instances such consequences might be overcome. Reviews of conventional theories of democratic education do not reach far enough in their discussions of what constitutes democratic life. Prioritizing the organization of political structures of governance and the equal distribution of public goods to all, these theories too stringently delineate the private from the public and in doing so, insufficiently address how interpersonal relating influences the formation of selves, agency, and civic societies. Without an explicit focus on and conceptualization of the democratic quality of how we are with one another it is hardly possible for communities to discuss, in political terms, the consequences of marginalization and domination on the individual self and by way of such conversations, work to restore human agency and eliminate conditions that are harmful to its development.

Method

Logical analysis of interdisciplinary theoretical works in the fields of education and democracy, philosophy of education, philosophy, cultural studies, and feminist theory.

Expected Outcomes

Due to limits in scope (2000 words) the submitted paper is a shortened version of the original which stands as the second part of a longer analysis of theories of education in a democracy. The first part explores the works of John Dewey, Amy Gutmann, Eammon Callan, Walter Parker, and James Banks. The goal of juxtaposing Kerr’s and Paley’s conceptions of an education for democratic relations to conceptions of the above mentioned authors is to gain an understanding of how interpersonal relationality is a concern for discourses of education and democracy with regard to the role schools and education hold in harming and restoring human agency. Since this analysis draws on contemporary works from the United States, the submitted paper might be of interest to the current situation of European public education especially as it regards educational equity, diversity and democratic education.

References

Banks, James A. “The Lives and Values of Researchers: Implications for Educating Citizens in a Multicultural Society.” Educational Researcher, Vol. 27 (7) (1998): 4-17. Banks, James A., ed. Diversity and Citizenship Education: Global Perspectives. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2003. Barber, Benjamin. “Education for Civitas: Panel Discussion,” in The Public Purpose of Education and Schooling, edited by John I. Goodlad and Timothy McMannon. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1997. Callan, Eammon. Creating Citizens: Political Education and Liberal Democracy. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997. Dewey, John. “My Pedagogic Creed.” Pp. 321-331 in Kaleidoscope: Readings in Education, 7e, ed. by Kevin Ryan and James M. Cooper. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1995. (Original published in 1897). Dewey, John. The School and Society. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1900. Reprint, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1990. Dewey, John. Democracy and Education: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Education. New York: The Free Press, 1916. Di Stefano, Christine. “Autonomy in the Light of Difference.” Pp. 9-116 in Revisioning the Political: Feminist Reconstructions of Traditional Concepts in Western Political Theory, edited by N. J. Hirschmann and C. Di Stefano. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1996. Fenstermacher, Gary. “On Restoring Public and Private Life.” Pp. 55-72 in The Public Purpose of Education and Schooling, ed. by John I. Goodlad and Timothy McMannon. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1997. Gutmann, Amy. Democratic Education (2nd ed.). Princeton: University Press, 1999. Gutmann, Amy. “Unity and Diversity in Democratic Multicultural Education: Creative and Destructive Tensions.” Pp. 71-98 in Diversity and Citizenship Education: Global Perspectives, ed. by J. A. Banks. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2004. Holland, Dorothy, Debra Skinner, William Lachichotte Jr., and Carole Crain. Identity and Agency in Cultural Worlds. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1998. Kerr, Donna H. “Democracy, Nurturance and Community.” Pp. 37-68 in Democracy, Education, and the Schools, edited by R. Soder. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1996. Kerr, Donna H. “Toward a Democratic Rhetoric of Schooling.” Pp. 73-84 in The Public Purpose of Education and Schooling ed. by J. I. Goodlad and T. J. McMannon. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1997. Kerr, Donna H. “Voicing Democracy in an Imperfect World: Toward a Public Pedagogy of Nurture.” Pp. 127-154 in Leadership for Educational Renewal: Developing a Cadre of Leaders, edited by W. F. Smith and G. D. Fenstermacher. San Francisco: Jossey- Bass, 1999. Paley, Vivian. The Boy Who Would Be a Helicopter. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1990. Paley, Vivian. You Can’t Say You Can’t Play. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1992. Paley, Vivian. The Girl with the Brown Crayon. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1997. Paley, Vivian. In Mrs. Tully’s Room: A Childcare Portrait. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2001. Parker, Walter C. Teaching Democracy: Unity and Diversity in Public Life. New York: Teachers College Press, 2003. Taylor, Charles. Human Agency and Language. Cambridge, England: Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge, 1985.

Author Information

Amrita Zahir

University of Basel

Basel

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