Narratives in discourses on education crises: Hyman G. Rickover and Georg Picht

Author(s):

Bernhard Hemetsberger(presenting / submitting)

Conference:

ECER 2017

Network:

17. Histories of Education

Format:

Paper

Session Information

17 SES 13,

Paper Session

Time:

2017-08-25

13:30-15:00

Room:

K3.12

Chair:

Helena Ribeiro de Castro

Contribution

When talking about education reforms and change one might ask why reforms should be implemented and which regulations in educational systems need to be changed. Answers can be on a general level like societies have stopped to develop or are even falling behind others, or they can be on an interpersonal one, such as denying following generations the possibility of living a sustainable life. But the gauge used still remains unclear. Assuming that external, transregional events shake up local explanatory models, I posit that such events engender a lack of narratives for seeing the world, society or education. In supporting ambivalence this situation could repress other experiences and explanatory models. Schriewer’s (2003) externalization thesis, Fairclough’s (2006) understanding of discourses as well as Seidenfaden’s (1966) reference to the linguistic and conceptual shape of comparison support this view. During times of upheaval, public discourses are characterized by metaphors and the narration of crises. Some books become bestsellers because they identify causes of and/or solutions for such “crises”. My analysis deals with two important publications – Hyman G. Rickover’s Education and Freedom (1959) and Georg Picht’s Die deutsche Bildungskatastrophe (1964) – which were written during the Cold War and were especially evoked by the 1957 “Sputnik Crisis”. Both books were tremendously successful in shaping public discourse on education crises in the “West” by presenting answers using narrative styles uncommon for this period of time. My research questions are: How do these books frame their narratives on education crises? When contextualizing such narrations, where can we find similar arguments to legitimise education reforms and change?

Method

My methodology follows the work of Hayden White (1994a, 1994b) and Norman Fairclough (2003, 2006), enabling me to show similarities in the writings of Rickover and Picht and especially the role played by such writings in bringing about educational change or leading to controversies in Europe and the United States. Hayden White, in his analysis of historical works, showed that narrative archetypes – romance, comedy, tragedy, satire – can be used to interpret comments or descriptions of chosen sources. He emphasized the “poetic element” of his sources and so do I. As Norman Fairclough (2006) presents his critical discourse analysis (CDA) as a particular way of conceptualizing and researching language, I follow his presupposition that language is a facet of social life closely interconnected with other facets of social life (politics, culture, economy, etc.). This facet is a significant aspect in my research on language usage, and so I concur with Fairclough´s statement that discourses are internalized in practice. The textual analysis of Rickover´s and Picht´s books is led by White´s narrative categories and Fairclough´s instruments of CDA.

Expected Outcomes

My presentation will tease out historical explanations for the success of bestsellers like Rickover´s or Picht´s, leading in the first case to a national report called “A nation at risk” in 1983. In European countries Picht´s book expressed an ideologised tragedy narration and shaped their discourses on education crises. Furthermore, I will show that country comparisons are used not to work analytically with differences but to legitimise reform programs. Stereotype (European) countries – Rickover uses England, Switzerland and Russia, Picht Norway and France – are simply used as arguments in the narration. Finally it is remarkable that the strongest voices in discourses on crises in education are mainly not those of educationalists but emanate from other disciplines or professions whose backgrounds perhaps shape their narrations.

References

Fairclough, Norman (2003): Analysing Discourse: Textual Analysis for Social Research. London, New York: Routledge Fairclough, Norman (2006): Language and Globalization. London, New York: Routledge Schriewer, Jürgen (2003): Globalisation in Education: process and discourse. In: Policy Futures in Education, 1:2; 271-283 Seidenfaden, Fritz (1966): Der Vergleich in der Pädagogik. Braunschweig: Westermann White, Hayden (1994a): Metahistory. Die historische Einbildungskraft im 19. Jahrhundert in Europa. Frankfurt/Main: Fischer White, Hayden (1994b): Der historische Text als literarisches Kunstwerk. In: Christoph, Conrad; Martina, Kessel (Hg.): Geschichte schreiben in der Postmoderne. Beiträge zur aktuellen Diskussion. Stuttgart: Philipp Reclam; 123-157

Author Information

Bernhard Hemetsberger (presenting / submitting)

University of Vienna

Department of Education

Wien

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