“Critical educators argue that
any worthwhile theory of schooling must be partisan. That is, it must be
fundamentally tied to a struggle for a qualitatively better life for all by
constructing a society based on nonexploitative relations and social justice.” –MacLaren,
p. 132
Please think about the quotation above and the reading in general and comment on how/whether this thinking fits with the kind of work you want to do with your PhD and beyond. Feel free to talk about what is inspiring, challenging, intimidating, unreasonable, etc. about the critical perspective in social science research.
Note: if you get the chance to post prior to class, that's great, but since I put this up far too late, I will give the first ten minutes of class for folks to jot down some thoughts prior to our discussion.
Kim here:
ReplyDeleteWhile the benefits of critical theory as a research framework are certainly substantial in their ability to reveal assumptions and analyze context, there are potential pitfalls to be aware of when using critical theory as a partisan philosophy. In their goal of disrupting the reproduction of inequalities and promoting social justice, critical theory researchers may be dismissive of a student or teacher’s lived experiences or ignore best practice to achieve their goal. For example, if a critical theorist is convinced that social justice is only achievable through “the abolition of class society and the realization of a socialist alternative” (McLaren, p. 128), then they may dismiss all potential solutions that only work within the context of a capitalist system even if those solutions have demonstrated educational merit or help build a path to a more egalitarian society. If it is uncomfortable or dangerous for a participant in a study to adhere to a critical researcher’s vision, this may not be immediately apparent to the researcher themselves or may be deemed unimportant in the political aim of the researcher’s work. For example, when McLaren discussed the teachers who felt his rhetoric was too radical and might put their lives in danger, I got the sense that while he advocated an “under the radar” approach in that community he was pretty open to the idea of people in that community sacrificing themselves for the cause. I am not sure I would feel comfortable with an outsider researcher dictating to me an educational vision to sacrifice for. This example, of course, has many situational factors involved but I feel the sentiment of sacrifice is valid to explore in the context of critical theory.
Having said that, critical theory can be a powerful tool to help understand the social and political forces at work and to help change the direction of educational reform to better empower educators as professionals and make for a more egalitarian school experience for all students. Critical theory reveals historical, political, and social assumptions at work when observing an educational phenomenon and allows the researcher to position their own beliefs and values in the context of their work. This makes for a very transparent research process with an ultimate objective that is hard to argue with: “to empower the powerless and transform existing social inequalities and injustices” (McLaren, p.122).
Michael Here:
ReplyDeleteI wrote some of this before, and some after, but here are some thoughts:
“I want to emphasize that I am distressed by the way I was produced as a public-school educator, and the that this book was written as a way to share how I have been able to re-form my pedagogy and politics through an engagement with critical theory, a Marxist humanist philosophy of praxis, and a commitment to social transformation steeled in the crucible of class struggle.”
In the words of Polonius from Hamlet, “O, I am slain!”.
McLaren’s words pinpoint the reason, and even though I thought I was hiding safely behind a tapestry of noncommitment, or maybe just simply unwillingness to come out and proclaim where I am. To ungird my loins, means to feel safe, and this stance doesn’t exactly feel “safe” because it isn’t necessarily the “norm”. Unconventionality comes to my mind in talking of critical theory and its meaning, which is unfortunate.
I felt compelled to leave the classroom and attend a higher education program in Curriculum, Culture, and Change. I have felt for a while now there is an uneven distribution of wealth and power within the “American system”. There is a need for a redistribution of power, and a major way in which this can be accomplished is through education, or a massive coup in which a new, fair government is installed instead of the corrupt regime which currently rules, I digress…
Refocusing: A point in which really felt authentic to me, and made me rethink my views on class in the world is when McLaren points out class is not founded in biology, but subsists in a purely social world. Meaning, sexism and racism are strongly degrading in our society; yet, they are based on the idea of faux biological which is reinforced through social constructs and the dominate class. While class relies solely on social constructionist thought to navigate ways in which it oppresses relies on purely the inane decision of the dominate culture. I am always reminded of linguistic derivations in America because in school we put pressure on lower class people groups to learn how to “code switch” when really we are telling the dominate culture prefers speech pattern that resemble this specific model.
Overall, I found this article encouraging because it reminded me that people care about ways in which unfair structures exist in the world. I don’t know if the social structures will ever up heave themselves, but just acknowledging inequalities makes me feel less alienated from my work – I’m of course references Marx. And of course, I realized that maybe class isn’t the end all and be all of for explaining the way problems because quite simply it isn’t that simple, and McLaren’s commitment to classism and Marxism is commendable, but the problem is more complex. I don’t know the answers, but I am glad people are concerned about things I am concerned about, and I don’t mean that in an egotistical way