Education, Democracy, and the Moral Life

Education, Democracy, and the Moral Life

Michael S. Katz, Ph.D. Susan Verducci, Ph.D. Gert Biesta, Ph.D. Editors Education, Democracy, and the Moral Life

Editors Michael S. Katz, Ph.D. San Jose State University One Washington Square, San Jose, CA 95192-0077, USA Susan Verducci, Ph.D. San Jose State University One Washington Square, San Jose, CA 95192-0092, USA Gert Biesta, Ph.D. Institute of Education, University of Stirling, Stirling, FK9 4LA ISBN: 978-90-481-2355-1 (PB) ISBN: 978-1-4020-8625-0 (HB) e-isbn: 978-1-4020-8626-7 Library of Congress Control Number: 2009922355 Springer Science + Business Media B.V. 2009 No part of this work may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher, with the exception of any material supplied specifically for the purpose of being entered and executed on a computer system, for exclusive use by the purchaser of the work. Printed on acid-free paper 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 springer.com

This book is dedicated to Francis and Patricia Villemain

Preface This volume has its origin in the Francis T. Villemain Memorial lectures at San Jose State University a lecture series established in 1992 to honor the memory of Dean Francis T. Villemain. 1 All the essays in this volume, with the exception of those by Gert Biesta, Susan Verducci, and Michael Katz, were developed from lectures given as part of the series. The general rubric of the lectures was democracy, education, and the moral life a title reflecting Villemain s lifelong love of the work of John Dewey whose preface to his famous work in 1916, Democracy and Education, suggested that the purpose of education was to develop democratic citizens, citizens infused with the spirit of democracy and the capacity to think and act intelligently within democratic settings. Of course, for Dewey, democracy was not to be conceived of as merely a political form of government, but as a shared form of social life, one that was inclusive rather than exclusive and one that was capable of adapting to the changing features of contemporary social and political reality. Francis T. Villemain s appreciation for the intersections of the values of democracy, education, and the moral life was heightened by his doctoral work at Teachers College, Columbia University in the 1950s where Dewey s legacy remained a powerful one. But it also continued during his career at Southern Illinois University where he collaborated in compiling and editing the collected works of John Dewey. Villemain was a dedicated member of the Philosophy of Education Society of North America and was the only member to have served as president of three regional societies throughout the country; he also was instrumental in establishing the Yearbook of the Society, formerly known at the Proceedings of the Philosophy of Education Society. Virtually all of the contributors to this volume have themselves been leading scholars in the North American Philosophy of Education Society as well as active citizens of that society. 1 Many of the Villemain lectures were published in the journal Studies in Philosophy and Education, a journal that Francis founded and edited for many years. The editors would like to express their appreciation to Kluwer Academic Publishers and Springer Science and Business Media for supporting this lecture series and to James Garrison and Gert Biesta, editors of the journal, for assisting in the publication of the lectures. vii

viii Preface Although many of the early lectures in the series had core Deweyan themes, the authors of this volume were given a broad range to raise what they thought were the connections among the three concepts in the title of the lecture: democracy, education, and the moral life. They were not confined to examine Dewey s question: What role does or should education play in creating democratic citizens? The latitude given these authors has resulted in a wide range of philosophical perspectives informed by many different philosophical questions. Let me briefly summarize some of the questions raised in the succeeding volume. Some of them are clearly conceptual: How should we conceive of racism, of the right to education, of religious instruction and moral instruction, of the forms of rationality promoted in higher education, of democratic patriotism, of multiculturalism and multicultural history, of democracy and democratization, of inclusion, of the moral emotions of love and hate, of blogs and blogging as democratic practices, of identity formation, and moral citizenship? Others are more clearly concerned with making connections between theoretical constructs and established educational or schooling practices. They include the following: (1) How do the practices of modern schooling create different forms of social identity? And what kind of schooling would be most valuable in the struggle against social injustice? How might we promote the ethics of democratic citizenship through a Freirean approach to schooling? (Ron Glass); (2) How might we approach teaching history that develops patriotic sentiments without overlooking fundamental injustice to particular ethno-racial groups? (Callan); (3) How should we think about the role of inclusion in developing democratic citizens? How might democracy function in ways that would make it be more inclusive? How might democracy be relieved of its colonial mind-set? (Biesta); (4) How might religious stories function in both religious and nonreligious schools and what can we learn about the connections between religious and moral instruction through the way these stories do, in fact, function? (Feinberg); (5) Within the context of teaching in the university, how might three different kinds of practices deliberation, negotiation, and social activism promote the knowledge, skills, and commitments that democratic citizens need to live moral lives? (Robertson); (6) How might the practice of blogging foster the prospects for improved democratic dialogue on issues of social and political significance? How might it constrain and detract from making such dialogue rational? (Burbules); (7) How might different philosophical and moral traditions from Deweyan ones to eastern spiritual ones help students deal with the conflicting moral emotions of love and hatred and even overcome the destructive forces of hatred? (Diller); (8) and finally, what do these chapters, taken as a whole, tell us about educating democratic citizens? (Verducci). Many other substantive questions are raised in the volume, but these are a limited sampling of some of them. The breadth and depth of these questions illustrate, we hope, how many and varied are the intersections among the themes of democracy, education, and the moral life. The essays in this volume, although philosophical in both their spirit and their intent, were intended for an educated lay audience; they were intended to raise, as well as address, many critical conceptual and substantive questions. In that sense, they aim to foster both serious reflection and additional inquiry into what is truly at stake in the effort to educate in ways that promote moral, democratic citizens.

Acknowledgements The editors would like to acknowledge many of the people responsible for supporting the Villemain lectures at San Jose State since 1992: Patricia Villemain, Francis T. Villemain s beloved wife, whose unqualified, continuing, and unflinching support and friendship has made the lectures a labor of love for me; The College of Education, particularly Deans Dolores Escobar and Susan Meyers; The College of Humanities and the Arts, especially Dean John Crane (now deceased), and Lavonne Simpson, his administrative secretary; The Office of the Provost, especially Provost Carmen Sigler; Rose Stevenson, Dean Meyers Secretary a person who has provided the logistical support for the lectures for the past several years; former Provost Hobert Burns and historian Freeman Butts for their early contributions to the lecture; The Institute for Social Responsibility, Education, and Ethics and especially its recent director, Peter Hadreas; and the philosophy department, especially its chair Rita Manning and the teachers of business ethics, teachers who persuaded their students to attend the lectures. San Jose State University Michael S. Katz ix

Contents Preface... vii Acknowledgements... ix Introduction: Education, Democracy, and the Moral Life: Where Opposites Collide... 1 Susan Verducci 1 Education and the Ethics of Democratic Citizenship... 9 Ronald David Glass 2 Is There a Right to Education? A Philosophical Analysis Through U.S. Lenses... 31 Michael S. Katz 3 The Democratic and Educational Potential of Political Blogs... 47 Nicholas C. Burbules 4 Democratic Patriotism and Multicultural Education... 59 Eammon Callan 5 Racism: What It Is and What It Isn t... 71 Lawrence Blum 6 For Goodness Sake: How Religious Stories Work to Make Us Good and the Goodness that They Make... 85 Walter Feinberg xi

xii Contents 7 Sporadic Democracy: Education, Democracy, and the Question of Inclusion... 101 Gert Biesta 8 Public Reason and the Education of Democratic Citizens: The Role of Higher Education... 113 Emily Robertson 9 Love and Hatred in the Moral Life: Educational Investigations... 127 Ann Diller Index... 141