Humanistic Critique of Education

Description

Humanistic Critique of Education’s ten essays by noted scholars address the subject of educational policy, methods, ideology and more, with stress upon the rhetoric of contemporary teaching and learning. Humanistic Critique of Education focuses on education as symbolic action, as the foundation of discovery and, thus, as “equipment for living” in Kenneth Burke’s terms. These essays will spark dialogue about improving education in democratic societies through the lens of humanism.

Informations

• Publié par: Parlor Press, LLC
• Date de parution: 03 février 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781602358843
• Langue: English

Extrait

Humanistic Critique of Education
Teaching and Learning as Symbolic Action
Edited by
Peter M. Smudde
Parlor Press
Anderson, South Carolina
www.parlorpress.com


Parlor Press LLC, West Lafayette, Indiana 47906
© 2010 by Parlor Press
All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America
S A N: 2 5 4 - 8 8 7 9
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Humanistic critique of education : teaching and learning as symbolic action / edited by Peter M. Smudde.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-60235-157-8 (pbk. : alk. paper) -- ISBN 978-1-60235-158-5 (hardcover : alk. paper) -- ISBN 978-1-60235-159-2 (adobe ebook)
1. Education--Philosophy. 2. Education--Aims and objectives. 3. Learning, Psychology of. I. Smudde, Peter M.
LB14.7.H8645 2010
370.1--dc22
2009053934
Cover image: “Golden Library” © 2008 by Alex Nikada. From istockphoto.com
Cover design by David Blakesley
Printed on acid-free paper.
Parlor Press, LLC is an independent publisher of scholarly and trade titles in print and multimedia formats. This book is available in paper, hardcover, and Adobe eBook formats from Parlor Press on the World Wide Web at http://www.parlorpress.com or through online and brick-and-mortar bookstores. For submission information or to find out about Parlor Press publications, write to Parlor Press, 3015 Brackenberry Drive, Anderson, SC 29621, or e-mail [e-mail].


Dedicated to Bernard L. Brock (1932–2006)—teacher, scholar, mentor, colleague, friend.


Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction: A Prelude to Critique
Peter M. Smudde and Bernard L. Brock
1 Linguistic Approach to Problems of Education
Kenneth Burke
2 Kenneth Burke as Teacher: Pedagogy, Materialism, and Power
Andrew King
3 The Both-And of Undergraduate Education: Burke’s “Linguistic” Approach
Elvera Berry
4 The Education of Citizen Critics: The Consubstantiality of Burke’s Philosophy and Constructivist Pedagogy
Peter M. Smudde
5 Extending Kenneth Burke and Multicultural Education: Being Actively Revised by the Other
Mark E. Huglen and Rachel McCoppin
6 Preaching What We Practice: Course Design Based on the Psychology of Form
Richard H. Thames
7 Motives and Metaphors of Education James F. Klumpp and Erica J. Lamm
8 A Burkeian Approach to Education in a Time of Ecological Crisis
Robert Wess
9 “By and Through Language, Beyond Language”: Envisioning a Burkeian Curriculum
Bryan Crable
10 Educational Trajectories for Open and Democratic Societies: Kenneth Burke’s “Linguistic Approach”
David Cratis Williams
Contributors
Index for the Print Edition


Acknowledgments
This book has been a wonderful exploration of education and Kenneth Burke’s applicability to it. Along the way certain people were especially helpful, and I want to briefly express my appreciation and acknowledge them here.
First is the late Bernie Brock, for whom this book is dedicated. He embraced my idea for this book with his usual enthusiasm and sound counsel to help me get it going. The fact that he also wanted to work with me on writing the brief introduction to frame the book was a special joy. I am sorry he did not get to see the final product, but I believe his spirit is somehow gratified.
Second is a small but mighty group of believers in this project. Foremost among them are the contributors to this volume, for without them this book would not exist. I am grateful to the National Society for the Study of Education in Chicago for granting permission to reprint Kenneth Burke’s complete, original article, “Linguistic Approach to the Problems of Education,” which appeared in the NSSE’s 1955 volume, Modern philosophies and education: The fifty-fourth yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education, Part 1 of 2 . I also thank Jim Chesebro, whose wisdom, energy, and sage advice meant a lot to me and will long influence my thinking and management of future projects. Also there is Jeff Courtright, whose friendship, coaching, sound-boarding, and humor have been great blessings upon me and my work. Plus David Blakesley, Parlor Press’s curator-in-chief, gave me marvelous support throughout the process, especially in refining the book’s focus. Parlor Press’s anonymous reviewer gave me excellent comments that helped me and the contributors make this book into a sound contribution to the literature. And Joan Leininger always has been interested in and supportive of this project, especially through her special relationship with Bernie Brock.
Last but certainly not least is my family. My wife, Patty, and my boys, Matt and Jeffrey, put up with a lot of my musings about this and my other projects. Their love and support of me every step of the way means more than they know.


Int roduction: A Prelude to Critique
Peter M. Smudde and Bernard L. Brock
Fifty years hence we may well conclude that there was no “crisis of American education” in the closing years of the twentieth century—there was only a growing incongruence between the way twentieth-century schools taught and the way late-twentieth century children learned.
—Peter Drucker
America’s approach to education is terribly outmoded and should be updated to the realities of the 21st century. 1 The contributors in this volume would like to breathe some new life into the education system and set a new direction. This book’s central focus, then, concerns Burke’s philosophy of education and how his larger system informs us about education as a specific arena of human symbolic action. Isolating a Burkeian pedagogy is simple enough, if and only if one were to depend on his only formal treatise on education from 1955, “Linguistic Approach to Problems of Education,” published here in the first chapter. But Burke scholars would strongly caution against such an approach, citing at least the explanatory power of Burke’s canon to truly illuminate his thinking and apply to humanistic education. This orientation is particularly true when it comes to the symbolic action of education and all that transpires in this specialized realm of human relations.
Kenneth Burke’s philosophy and critical method have been extended into many areas of human relations, but perhaps the least-often addressed area for extension is that of education. A search of published scholarship on the application of Burke to specific and general areas of education (see Chapter 4) reveals only a handful of work, and most of it was published sporadically within the last quarter century and focused on applying only selected Burke “tools” (especially the pentad). Other scholarly work done around the turn of the 21st century was presented at National Communication Association conferences in 1999, 2000, 2003 and 2004, all of which largely targeted ways to teach Burke’s ideas and only began to examine his system as it applies to broad matters of pedagogy.
This book does not develop or advance any singular view on education, except to have Burke as the nexus for thinking about and acting on education. Accordingly, in true Burkeian fashion, this book allows for multiple perspectives. As Burke once said of himself and the critical enterprise: “I think that there has to be a lot of leeway in this business. I see no reason for being authoritarian. . . . The fundamental notion of choice in my scheme is difference” (as cited in Chesebro, 1992, p. 365). The fact that Burke created an open system—one that welcomes others’ views that are similar and different, converging and diverging—allows it to grow beyond what he originally set forth. This book seeks to do just that for education.
Humanistic Critique of Education ’s collection of critiques about education addresses the subject on both general and specific levels. On a general level this book concerns the rhetoric of contemporary teaching and learning. Humanistic Critique of Education focuses on education as “symbolic action” that is “equipment for living” and the foundation for discovery. In this way the book sparks dialog about improving education in democratic societies through a humanistic frame. On a specific level, this book takes the lead from Burke’s only focused piece on education to address matters about the design, practice, and outcomes of educational programs in the new millennium. Concepts like cognitive motivational outcomes, student development, literacy, active learning, constructivism, problem-based learning, cooperative educational movement, learning communities, student retention, community responsibility/service, technology, curriculum development, and others are featured. Such specificity grounds Humanistic Critique of Education in the current context of pedagogy and public policy. This book takes the position that Kenneth Burke’s approach to humans as “bodies that learn language” and rhetoric as symbolic action has a great deal to contribute to a rebirth of education. The chapters that follow will describe aspects of that rebirth.
Readers may wonder why a 50 year old educational treatise can help improve today’s and tomorrow’s education situation . Burke is a pivotal figure in twentieth century rhetoric and social criticism, and we can use his ideas to help us learn from the past and, especially, better prepare for