Professor:  Hilton Kelly, Ph.D.

Semester:  Fall 2009 

Office:  Chambers 3015

Class Time:  M/W 1:30-2:20

Voice:  (704) 894-2704

Class Location:  Chambers 3187

E-mail:  hikelly@davidson.edu

Office Hrs:  M/T 2:30-3:30 & by appt.

COURSE OVERVIEW

Do schools socialize students to become productive workers?  Does schooling reproduce social class and pass on ethnic and gender biases?  Can a teacher avoid passing on dominant social and cultural values?  What besides subjects do students really learn in schools?  These are some of the questions that students will examine in this introductory course on schools and society.  Using theoretical autobiography as a tool, students will build an understanding of major social theories that have shaped their thinking about educational problems.  In addition, students will construct and reconstruct their own theoretical perspectives to educational trends and debates in the United States.  The course is structured around four broad theoretical and methodological approaches (functionalist, conflict, interpretivist, and critical) to educational studies with the goal of understanding the theory-practice nexus.   We will read the primary works of major social and educational theorists, such as Paulo Freire, Pierre Bourdieu, bell hooks, Patricia Hill Collins and Peter McLaren.  We will also read the works of education scholars whose ideas have been particularly influenced by one or more of the theorists assigned.  Every Friday, students will observe a classroom and will write fieldnotes based upon the theories and theoretical frameworks introduced in the course.  The course requires the completion of a three-part theoretical autobiography, 15 structured contact hours in a classroom (public or private school), and a midterm and final review.    

REQUIRED TEXTS (3)

Feinberg, Walter and Jonas Soltis.  (2009).  School and Society.  5^th ed.  New York:  Teachers College Press.

Fishman, Stephen and Lucille McCarthy.  (1998).  John Dewey and the Challenge of Classroom Practice.  New York:  Teachers College Press.

Freire, Paulo.  (2007).  Pedagogy of the Oppressed.  New York:  Continuum.

READING SCHEDULE

August  

24        Introduction to the Course

26        Theory into Practice

“Theory as Liberatory Practice” (hooks, pp. 59-75)

“Becoming a Gendered Body: Practices of Preschools” (Martin)

28        Theoretical & Historical Overview

            “History of Schooling” (Danns & Span)

“Through the Back Door:  The History of Women’s Education” (Sadker & Sadker)

31        Theoretical & Historical Overview

“Theory and Its Influences on the Purposes of Schooling” (deMarrais & LeCompte)

 (Part 1 of theoretical autobiography due)

September

FUNCTIONALISM

2          Reflections on Life in U.S. Schools                                               

“Education as a Social Function” & “The School and the Life of the Child” (Dewey)

4          Was John Dewey a Functionalist?             

“The Functionalist Perspective on Schooling” & “Functional Theory, Policy, and Problems” (Feinberg & Soltis, pp. 13-38)

7          John Dewey and the Challenge of Classroom Practice              

“Introduction,” “Dewey’s Educational Philosophy” & “Nested Dualisms Underlying Dewey’s Student-Curriculum Integration” (Fishman & McCarthy, pp. 1-45)

9          John Dewey and the Challenge of Classroom Practice  

“Moral Traits of Character and Dewey’s Student-Curriculum Integration” & “Dewey’s Ideology and His Classroom Critics” (Fishman & McCarthy, pp. 47-67)

11        School Visit

Resource Allocation:  What are the priorities of schools? (Feinberg & Soltis, p. 121)

14        John Dewey and the Challenge of Classroom Practice

“My Own Schooling Without Student-Curriculum Integration” & “My Own Teaching Without Student-Curriculum Integration” (Fishman & McCarthy, pp. 69-109)

16        Dewey’s Relevance to Contemporary Education             

“Qualitative Research in a Deweyan Classroom,” “Integrating Student and Curriculum Indirectly” & Dewey’s Relevance to Contemporary Education” (Fishman & McCarthy, pp. 113-151; pp. 219-225)

18        School Visit

Individual Differences and Equal Opportunity:  Can “equal” and “different” be resolved? (Feinberg & Soltis, p. 125)

CONFLICT THEORY

21        Reflections on Life in U.S. Schools

“Education, Socialism, and Revolution” (Bowles & Gintis)

23        Pedagogy of the Oppressed                        

Chapter 1 (Freire, pp. 43-69)

“Marxist Theory and Education” (Feinberg & Soltis, pp. 41-56)

25        School Visit

Class Bias:  Do teachers treat children from different backgrounds unfairly? (Feinberg & Soltis, p. 131)

28        Pedagogy of the Oppressed

Chapter 2 (Freire, pp. 71-86)

“The Hidden Curriculum Revisited” (Feinberg & Soltis, pp. 52-75)

30        Pedagogy of the Oppressed

Chapter 3 (Freire, pp. 87-124)

October

2          School Visit

Education for Work:  Is a liberal education the best education? (Feinberg & Soltis, p. 129)

5          Pedagogy of the Oppressed

Chapter 4 (Freire, pp. 125-183)

7          Pedagogy of the Oppressed            

“Interview with Paulo Freire” (Torres)

Excerpts from Dear Paulo:  Letters from those who dare teach (Nieto)

9          Midterm Review (Part 2 of theoretical autobiography due)

10-13   Fall Break

INTERPRETIVISM

14        Reflections on Life in U.S. Schools

“Collective Identity and the Burden of ‘Acting White’ in Black History, Community, and Education” (Ogbu)

16        School Visit

The Roots of School Failure:  What really constitutes school success? (Feinberg & Soltis, p. 116)

19        What is the Interpretivist Point of View?                         

“The Interpretivist Point of View” (Feinberg & Soltis, pp. 79-95)

            “The Myths of Oppositional Culture” (Lundy)

21        Meanings and Messages

“Meanings and Messages:  Schooling and Socialization” (Feinberg & Soltis, pp. 96-110)

“Notes from the Back of the Room:  Problems and Paradoxes in the Schooling of Young Black Students” (Tyson)

23        School Visit

Meanings and Messages:  What besides subjects do students really learn in schools?

26        Between Classes

            Excerpt from Between Classes, Faculty Life at Truman High (Bruckerhoff)

28        Teachers Are People Too

            Excerpt from Between Classes, Faculty Life at Truman High (Bruckerhoff)

30        School Visit

            Lives of Teachers:  What is teachers’ work?

CRITICAL

2          Reflections on Life in U.S. Schools

“What Does the Flag Mean to You?  Education and Democratic Possibilities” (Hill Collins)

4          No Class:  American Educational Studies Association

6          School Visit

The Curriculum:  What approach best explains the traditional curriculum? (Feinberg & Soltis, p. 140)

9          Critical Educational Theory                       

“The Emergence of Critical Pedagogy” (McLaren, pp. 183-193)

From “Teaching to Transgress:  Education as the Practice of Freedom” (hooks)

11        Critical Educational Theory Continued

“Critical Pedagogy:  A Look at the Major Concepts” (McLaren, pp. 194-219)

“Paulo Freire” (hooks)

13        School Visit

The Teacher’s Body:  Does a teacher’s race, gender, class and sexuality matter?

16        Thinking about Teacher’s Body                 

            Excerpts from The Teacher’s Body (Freedman and Holmes)

18        Bourdieu                               

“Cultural Reproduction and Social Reproduction” (Bourdieu)

Excerpt from Preparing for Power (Cookson & Persell)

20        School Visit

Social Reproduction:  What aspects of society do schools reproduce? (Feinberg & Soltis, p. 126)

23        Gramsci

“Intellectuals and Education” (Gramsci)

“Interview with Gloria Ladson-Billings” (Torres)

“Interview with Henry A. Giroux” (Torres)

25-29   Thanksgiving

30        Critical Race Theory

“Just What is Critical Race Theory and What’s it Doing in a Nice Field like Education?” (Ladson-Billings)

“Brown v. Board of Education and the Interest Convergence Dilemma” (Bell)

December

2          Critical Race Theory Continued    

“And We Are Still Not Saved: Critical Race Theory in Education Ten Years Later” (Dixson & Rousseau)

“Deal with It We Must:  Education, Social Justice, and the Curriculum of Hip Hop Culture” (Baszile)

4          School Visit

Critical Race Theory:  Why should critical race theory be applied to classrooms and schools?

7          Hope in the Unseen

“Looking to Dewey and Freire for Hope in Dark Times” (Fishman & McCarthy)

“Would You Know It If You Saw It?  Practicing Resistance in a Seemingly Color-Blind Society” (Hill Collins)                      

9          Final Review (Part 3 of theoretical biography due)

READINGS

The readings are an essential component of this course.  They provide additional information and perspectives, aid in broadening your understanding, and prepare you for writing assignments.  You will be able to print articles and book chapters from Blackboard.  You will be expected to complete readings before class.  You are required to take copious notes from the readings as preparation for class discussions, the theoretical autobiography, and the midterm and final reviews.  Reading quizzes will be random and calculated as a concomitant assignment. 

LATE PAPERS

Unless you have been given prior approval, writing assignments will NOT be accepted late. 

GRADING

Class Participation (5%)                            Concomitant Assignments (15%) 

Attendance                                                  Reading Quizzes

Cooperative Learning                                 In-class assignments

Classroom Civility                                      Cooperative Learning Activities

Theoretical Autobiography (35%)            Reviews (45%)      

TA 1                                                             Midterm

TA 2                                                             Final

TA 3                                                                                             

THEORETICAL AUTOBIOGRAPHY

The purpose of this assignment is to help you develop and clarify your theoretical perspective for analyzing schools and society in relation to a variety of alternative perspectives and concepts that you will encounter in the readings and class discussions.  You will write, revise and resubmit your theoretical autobiography throughout the semester. 

For all writing assignments, please use W. W. Norton’s Guide to Writing (free access) for grammar, punctuation and APA refreshers.  Go to handbook: http://www.wwnorton.com/college/english/write/fieldguide/index.asp

ATTENDANCE

Attendance to all classes is critical.  If you are unable to attend class for any reason, you should provide a written explanation for your absence.  Five points will be deducted from class participation (total of 100 points) for each “unexcused” absence.  No points will be deducted from class participation for “excused” absences.  I reserve the right to decide whether an absence is unexcused or excused.  (ATTENTION:  Job interviews, doctor appointments, taking a test for another class, leaving early, or coming back late from vacation are not acceptable reasons for missing class.)  Whether unexcused or excused, three absences or more may result in failure.

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY

The students and faculty of Davidson College are committed to the Honor Code and will not tolerate any violation of this principle.  Academic honesty, the cornerstone of teaching and learning, lays the foundation for lifelong integrity.  Academic dishonesty includes, but is not limited to, providing or receiving assistance in a manner not authorized by the instructor in the creation of work to be submitted for evaluation.  This standard applies to all work ranging from daily homework assignments to reviews.  Students must clearly cite any sources consulted—not only for quoted phrases but also for ideas and information that are not common knowledge.  Neither ignorance nor carelessness is an acceptable defense in cases of plagiarism.  It is the student's responsibility to follow the appropriate format for citations.  As indicated in Davidson College’s Student Handbook, I must refer every act of academic dishonesty; violations may result in failure in the course, as well as suspension or expulsion.

DOCUMENTED DISABILITIES

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is a federal anti-discrimination statute that provides comprehensive civil rights protection for persons with disabilities.  The ADA requires that students with disabilities be guaranteed a learning environment that provides for reasonable accommodation.  Any student who feels he or she may need an accommodation based on the impact of a disability should contact me privately as soon as possible to discuss his or her specific needs.  I rely on the Office of the Dean of Students to verify the need for reasonable accommodations.