The Battle for Social Foundations of Education: A Report from the Middletown Front.
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| Title: | The Battle for Social Foundations of Education: A Report from the Middletown Front. |
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| Language: | English |
| Authors: | Brosio, Richard |
| Peer Reviewed: | N |
| Page Count: | 41 |
| Publication Date: | 1994 |
| Document Type: | Opinion Papers Speeches/Meeting Papers |
| Descriptors: | College Administration, College Faculty, Department Heads, Education Courses, Elementary Secondary Education, Foundations of Education, Higher Education, Intellectual Disciplines, Politics of Education, Power Structure, Preservice Teacher Education, Schools of Education, Social Structure, Teacher Attitudes |
| Abstract: | This paper describes the interdepartmental and university-wide struggle over the status of the social foundations of education discipline at a midwest university. Opening sections of the paper describe the location and status of social foundations courses and faculty members during the 1960s and 1970s as the institution developed from a teachers college into a multipurpose university. Next the paper describes a later secessionist movement attempting to establish a Social Foundations of Education Department at the institution. This includes a detailed account of meetings, sub-groups of the faculty, and developments, communications, and discussions with administration as well as the failed attempt to establish a separate department. A subsequent section describes how the ideas behind the succession movement continued at the university in various political and administrative struggles. A final section describes this local struggle as part of a larger battle against what is seen as a generally reactionary period of national history. This section argues that the opponents of social foundations knew enough about the critical and even subversive potential of foundational inquiry to fear and resist its effects. The paper closes with a broader discussion of teacher education and its purposes. (Contains 49 references.) (JB) |
| Entry Date: | 1995 |
| Accession Number: | ED380421 |
| Database: | ERIC |
| Abstract: | This paper describes the interdepartmental and university-wide struggle over the status of the social foundations of education discipline at a midwest university. Opening sections of the paper describe the location and status of social foundations courses and faculty members during the 1960s and 1970s as the institution developed from a teachers college into a multipurpose university. Next the paper describes a later secessionist movement attempting to establish a Social Foundations of Education Department at the institution. This includes a detailed account of meetings, sub-groups of the faculty, and developments, communications, and discussions with administration as well as the failed attempt to establish a separate department. A subsequent section describes how the ideas behind the succession movement continued at the university in various political and administrative struggles. A final section describes this local struggle as part of a larger battle against what is seen as a generally reactionary period of national history. This section argues that the opponents of social foundations knew enough about the critical and even subversive potential of foundational inquiry to fear and resist its effects. The paper closes with a broader discussion of teacher education and its purposes. (Contains 49 references.) (JB) |
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