New 490 – Democracy, Ideology, and Education
Fall 2009
Course
Time: M, 3:00-5;50
Instructor:
Dr. John Petrovic
Office:
323 Graves Hall
Office
hours: by appointment
Contact:
205 348 0465, petrovic@bamaed.ua.edu
On
the web: http://www.bama.ua.edu/~jpetrovi/
I. Course
Overview
Public
schools are not just about providing groups of children/students engaging,
“educational” activities. Schools are socio-political institutions that have
been created in certain ways, not always because people actually intended them
to be that way but because certain choices were made about money, organization,
and control. Schools reflect the society (including its history, political
system, economic system, etc.) in which they exist, and it is important to
understand that relationship and how it came about.
Not only
educators and parents but also citizens at-large need to be able to evaluate
critically the multitude of suggestions for how schools should be run,
reformed, and restructured. We all have a stake in public schools. In order to
do that, we need to understand the historical and contemporary purposes of
education and the ways that those have been and are politically manipulated
through ideological positioning. Note that we enter the course with the
assumption that ALL positions are ideological. Our goal is to understand our
particular “democracy” as ideology and the different ways that it affects the broad
purposes of education and specific policies toward “reform.”
II.
Conceptual Framework
The
College of Education prepares practitioners who understand the purposes of
education and have the ability to engage in the ongoing processes of reflection
and dialogue that lie at the heart of socially-responsible,
theoretically-informed, and research-based effective practice.
The
complete conceptual framework for the College of Education can be read at http://education.ua.edu/ncate/cf.html .
III.
Course Text and Readings
Required
Texts:
Apple, M. (2006). Educating the “right” way:
Markets, standards, god, and inequality [2nd ed.].
New York: Routledge.
Freeden, M. (2003). Ideology: A very
short introduction. New York: Oxford University Press.
West, C.
(2005). Democracy matters: Winning the fight against imperialism. New York:
Penguin Books.
Additional
readings will be provided electronically.
IV.
Assignments, Course Requirements, Grading, and Policies
· Paper 1 25
points
· Paper
2 25
points
· Paper 3 25 points
· Participation* 25 points
*Your participation grade takes
into account attendance, quality of homework, and in-class participation.
Attendance. Class attendance is mandatory. Each absence beyond the third will result
in 2 points being deducted from your grade. Doctor's excuses or family
emergencies will be taken into consideration.
Homework
Assignments. Periodically, I will ask you to complete an
assignment (in addition to the reading assignments and paper assignments)
designed to help you prepare for class discussion. There will be a minimum of 3
and a maximum of 5 such assignments (TBD).
Papers. You will be required to
write three short papers (one for each unit of the class). These papers should
be 3-5 pages. I will provide some guiding questions for you to consider as you
determine how best to focus and organize your papers.
Statement of Equal Treatment and Disabilities. The instructor and students in
this course will act with integrity and strive to engage in equitable verbal
and non-verbal behavior with respect to differences arising from age, gender,
race, physical ability, religious preferences, sexual orientation, and national
origin. If you are registered with the Office of Disability Services, please
make an appointment with the instructor as soon as possible to discuss any
course accommodations that may be necessary. If you have a disability but have
not contacted the Office of Disability Services, please call 354-5175 or visit Osband Hall to register for services.
Final Grading. The final grading will be as follows: 100+=A+, 93-100=A, 90-92=A-,
87-89=B+, 83-86=B, 80-82=B-, 75-79=C+, 70-74=C, 65-69=C-, 60-64=D+, 55-59=D,
50-54=D-.
V.
Schedule of Course Topics and Readings
|
Date |
Reading Questions |
Reading |
Assignment |
|
|
Aug. 24 |
Introduction to course and opening discussion: What is democracy?
What are the purposes of education in a democracy? |
none |
none |
|
|
Unit 1: Democracy and Education |
||||
|
Aug. 31 |
What is democracy? Drawing and extrapolating from West, what does
democracy require to flourish? What is political nihilism and why/how does it
threaten democracy? |
West, Chs. 1 & 2 |
a. Interview 5 of your closest democrat friends. Ask them to define
democracy. b. Define the items on the handout. What do they have to do with
democracy? |
|
|
Sept. 14 |
What does democracy require to flourish (cont.)? What does it mean to
say that democracy is a cultural way of being? Why do you think West emphasizes
the black experience as regards democracy? How/why is capitalism implicated
as a problem to democracy? |
West, Ch. 3 Video: Granito de Arena |
|
|
|
Sept. 21 |
What role does the media play in a
democracy? What role does it play in “democratic capitalism”? |
West, Ch. 4 Video: Manufacturing Consent |
|
|
|
Sept. 28 |
How do the three dogmas described by West affect democracy? Are
religion and democracy antithetical? How do we revive our democracy? |
West, Chs. 5-7 |
|
|
|
Unit 2: Democracy and Ideology |
||||
|
Oct. 5 |
|
No
reading Video: Manufacturing Consent, cont. |
Paper #1 due |
|
|
Oct. 12 |
What is the epistemology of the left and of the right? What are the primary
concerns of both and how does Rorty navigate this terrain? How might
Chomsky's take on the media be implicated in or of relevance to Rorty's
discussion? |
|
Interview 5 people. Ask them who they think is more “ideological,”
Democrats or Republicans? Why? Examples? How do they identify politically? Do
you see truth or freedom directing these responses? |
|
|
Oct. 19 |
What is the difference between the popular conceptions of ideology
and theoretical conceptualizations? What is the Marxist view of ideology? How
does the media function ideologically? |
Freedon, Ch. 1 |
|
|
|
Oct 26 |
What are the two kinds of state apparatuses? How do they function?
What does it mean to be interpellated? |
Freedon, Chs. 2-3
Video: Glee |
|
|
|
Nov. 2 |
What is discourse? How does ideology shape our subjectivities? |
Freedon, Chs. 8-10
Video: Seinfeld |
Paper #2 due |
|
|
Unit 3: Ideology and Education |
||||
|
Nov. 9 |
What are the macro and
micro ideologies and in which is the U.S. currently most situated? What tells
you this? |
Freedon, Chs. 6 & 7 |
|
|
|
Nov. 16 |
What, according to Apple, constitutes the ideological map of “the
right”? What are the epistemological stances of the different politics of the
right? What are the implications for educational policy and why? |
Apple, preface, Chs. 1 & 2
Video: Captive Audience |
|
|
|
Nov. 23 |
What is “modernization” for Apple and how does is derive from the
politics he discusses in Chs 1-2? What are the
implications for educational policy and why? |
Apple, Ch. 3 |
|
|
|
Nov. 30 |
In what ways does NCLB support the current socio-economic order? |
Apple, Ch. 4 |
|
|
|
Dec.
?? |
|
None |
Paper #3 due |
|