John Dewey on Progress Speed, or What Happens When Education is Not Critical: In

Praise of Dr !endler
Clinton E "etts
#ssistant Professor
$c$aster %ni&ersity
I read, with great interest and agree'ent, Dr !endler(s recent article in Ethics
and Education )*ol +,, Iss ,- She has cogently identified one of the 'ost significant
educational, if not social, issues of our ti'e . educationalisation . and while her paper
was rather circu'spect, it certainly was i'portant and prescient /here was, howe&er
one aspect of it that did disappointed 'e so'ewhat /hat is, her failure to de&elop the
the'e of social reproduction with any force or clarity, particularly gi&en that social
reproduction theory has all 0ut disappeared fro' the educational landscape I would li1e
then, to offer so'e 0rief co''ents that 'ight e2tend Dr !endler(s thesis /he essential
point that I would li1e to 'a1e is that educationalisation, as !endler discuss it, to the
detri'ent of de'ocratic and critical education, is a for' of social reproduction and hence
ethically du0ious, to say nothing of 0ad education 3ne can only hope, or I do at any
rate, that this 'ight 'oti&ate her to continue this i'portant wor1 rather than lea&e it
largely as a descripti&e one off
Educationalisation 4the transfor'ation of social issues into pedagogical issues,5
)!endler, 6778, p ,9- pro0a0ly 0egins with John Dewey, and I ha&e always had a
pro0le' with Dewey Now, for those of us who wor1 in educational theory and in
particular those of us who ad&ocate for a practice of critical and de'ocratic education,
that 'ay well sound li1e heresy #lthough I do not discount the i'portance of Dewey or
deny the educational genius that atte'pted to 0ring down the 4episte'ology industry,5
howe&er read a certain way, one gets the i'pression that he en&isioned a de'ocracy with
an ar'y of 0espectacled citi:ens wal1ing around with calculators )or perhaps now lap
tops-, sporting poc1et protectors and searching for pro0le's to sol&e, all the while failing
to notice that 'any, if not 'ost, of the pro0le's we are faced with are ones we ha&e
created 3r as ;eet )677+- puts it 4< tre'endous pro0le's and dangers we ha&e
produced and which we are apparently una0le to 'anage &ia the political process5 )p
=8+- #dd to this the fact that 4/his >meta-change( of 'odern society ?fro' 'odernity to
second or refle2i&e 'odernity@ results fro' a critical 'ass of unintended sideAeffects,5
)"ec1, "onss and ;au )677+, p 6- and hopefully 'y point, and the need for so'ething
called a critical education, is clear Perhaps the 'ost pressing pro0le' that we ha&e
created, or that has de&eloped as a side effect of our social and econo'ic 0eha&iour )I
'ight e&en go so are as to say . Enlightenment pro0le' sol&ing-, is glo0al war'ing,
which as the ter' states is a truly glo0al issue Sol&ing social pro0le's, and using, 0oth
education 0roadly spea1ing and the graduates of for'al schooling progra's to do it,
without a 'ultiAperspecti&e, which is to say critical, understanding of those pro0le's,
their history, their social construction, their de&elop'ent and their di&erse potential
solutions, is not only ethically du0ious, 0ut a 0ad use of education !or e2a'ple, are
students e&er as1ed to ponder and reflect on Heath(s truly pro0ati&e Buestion )677C- 4Is it
possi0le to e'ulate 'any of the attracti&e features of ?'odern@ western societies while
a&oiding the social pathologiesD5 )p ===- 3r is 'odern western society the &ery
te'plate fro' which solutions to social pro0le's are de&eloped, while the socially
constructed historiography of its pro0le's are si'ply ignoredD
Elsewhere I referred to this strictly prag'atic attitude to social pro0le's, that
ignores the conseBuences and side effects of 'erely sol&ing pro0le's, as 4the logical
oddity of addressing a pro0le' . with a pro0le'5 )"etts, 6779, p ,86- Indeed in this
night'are scenario of Deweyian pro0le' sol&ing, progress and practical inBuiry
e&eryone loo1s suspiciously li1e an engineer 3r that e&eryone has 0een surreptitiously
fed so'ething li1e progress speed #s C # "owers )677=- recently pointed out:
Dewey represents intelligence )e2peri'ental inBuiry- as the opposite of
tradition< the cele0rated cha'pion of de'ocracy, ends up pro'oting another set
of a0stractions that pro&ide legiti'acy for the neoli0eralEcorporate interest 0y
conditioning the pu0lic to eBuate constant technological change with progress
I 'ention this 0ecause reading !endler(s )6778- e2cellent paper 0rought it 0ac1 to 'ind
/hus, her clai' that 4when science is taught according to an approach of P";, it tends to
conflate science and engineering, intellectual and practical do'ains,5 )p 6+- could not 0e
'ore correct
I teach in a pro0le' 0ased health sciences curriculu' where students are
reflected, e&aluated and assessed to death, or at least to the point of 0oredo' and
disengage'ent In a si'ilar 'anner as !endler(s discussion, constant i'pro&e'ent, life
long learning, pro0le' sol&ing, practical 1nowledge application and e2peri'ental inBuiry
are the &ulgar prag'atic ideology of the day )indeed where is it not- It is nothing less
than a correspondence model of curriculum )though perhaps coherence is a 0etter ter' in
1eeping with the episte'ology 'etaphor-, si'ilar to "owles and Fintis( ),GH=- theory of
social reproduction, where we reproduce what is out there in the hopes of doing 'ore of
it #nd, of course, doing 'ore of it also 'eans doing it 0igger, 0etter, faster li1e
e&erything else in the age of e2cess Hence the tongue in chee1 title of !endler(s )6778-
article 4New and improved educationalising: faster, more powerful and longer lasting.5
I ha&e pre&iously called this, assuming practice )"etts, 677=- where we assu'e
that a gi&en practice is what it is and then teach to that, in a largely neo/ylerian approach,
'uch li1e teaching to test, or teaching to assess'ent In essence we ta1e raw 'aterial,
usually a young student, and create a wor1er, a professional, an ad'inistrator, a
0ureaucrat, a leader or what ha&e you through a P"; process that disciplines, controls
and 4circu'scri0es what counts as 1nowledge and reinforces the attitude that education
ought to 0e a0out engineering: sol&ing e2isting pro0le's5 )!endler, 6778, p 6+- #nd,
of course, to do this we utili:e 4an unrelenting series of assess'ents,5 )!endler, 6778, p,
,8- although we usually refer to the' asI self assess'ents, 'idter' and final e&aluations,
reflections and occasionally reflections on reflection We rarely consider issues of
autono'y and coercion, to say nothing of power, do'ination, su0Jugation, oppression, or
e'ancipation, and what(s 'ore we con&ince oursel&es, and with that the', that it is
necessary, gi&en todays world, and that it is . for their own good as well as the good of
our society Should we encounter resistance fro' students, and we encounter a great deal
of resistance, we do not see it as a potential product of discipline and control )as the
resistance or critical educational theorists did, for e2a'ple Willis, ,GHHI #pple, ,GHGI
Firou2, ,G8+-, 0ut rather as indication for the need of 'ore )and perhaps su0tler for's-
of discipline and control #lthough rarely in an authoritarian for', 0ut rather in the
!oucaultian and the Deleu:ian 'anner that !endler )6778- refers to Indeed 4Koung
people are unconscious foot soldiers in the long front of 'odernity, in&oluntary and
disoriented conscripts in 0attles ne&er e2plained5 )Willis, 677+, p +G7-
!endler )6778- is correct that 4social reproduction theories ha&e generally
e'phasised the reproduction of social hierarchies,5 )p 6+- although they are certainly not
as popular in the educational literature these days, howe&er if you will, there is a new
social reproduction in town /hat all our graduates should 0e ar'ed with state of the art
1nowledge and s1ill, ha&e high and upwardly 'o0ile econo'ic aspirations, and get to
wor1 . sol&ing all these pro0le's we see' to ha&e Just noticed we ha&e )and ignoring the
fact that &ery few of the' actually see' to get sol&ed- /his is to say that we, 0y and
large, 'easure our graduates 0y how they are a0le to function in the world #nd what(s
'ore we )again assuming practice- too often teach as though the world and its pro0le's
is our first responsi0ility I do not 'ean to suggest that it is not, it certainly is, howe&er
the Buestion is not what we teach )ie the world- 0ut how we teach a0out and for it What
is largely forgotten is a critical, and to 0e sure de'ocratic, approach to the world and the
de&elop'ent of students with infor'ed and thoughtful ideas, attitudes and &alues It
'ight e&en 0e argued that the ideas, attitudes and &alues that they do end up ha&ing are,
in 'any respects, the ones we gi&e the'
#s I write this the #'erican presidential political ga'es are in full swing with the
&arious pundits )Senators 30a'a, Clinton and $cCain-, despite their differences,
agreeing that social pro0le's need to 0e sol&ed now, Buic1ly and to a large e2tent
education, or educationalisation, is the preferred route /o 0e sure there are pro0le's to
0e sol&ed, now and Buic1ly, 0ut as far 0ac1 as ,G=+ Edgar !rieden0erg ),G=+-, in his
classic Coming of Age in America, noted 4our ha0itual e&asion of 'oral issues 0y turning
the' into e'pirical pro0le's<5 )p ,7- Not long after that, Lo0ert Dree0an ),GH=-, a
functionalist in the Parsonian )Parson, ,G9G- tradition no less, referring to the unwritten
)hidden, infor'al, co&ert, i'plicit- curriculu', stated that 4< it has 0een the freBuent
ha0it of educators to spend inordinate a'ount of ti'e thin1ing a0out goals, planning new
acti&ities to achie&e the', and then continuing to do what they ha&e done all along5 )p
,6,- $oreo&er, he added 4< so'e careful speculation a0out the unwritten curriculu',
the unanticipated effects of educational decisions, should 0eco'e part of our ordinary
thin1ing a0out schooling )p ,6,- #gain, this was in ,GH= and I a' not sure it is really
any different today !ew see'ed to ha&e noticed that education, or again
educationalisation, 'ight well 0e part of the pro0le' #lthough hidden curricula do
a0ound no dou0t )and still ha&e their connection to class, race and gender ineBuality-,
what we rarely focus on is what Eisner called the null curriculum 4< what schools do
not teach the options students are not afforded, the perspecti&es they 'ay ne&er 1now
a0out, 'uch less 0e a0le to use, the concepts and s1ills that are not part of their
intellectual repertoire5 ),G89, p ,7H- In a word . critiBue /o 0e sure educational
'ission state'ents, philosophies and o0Jecti&es are saturated with the words critiBue,
criticis' and critical thin1ing, howe&er on the educational ground, as it were, the
'andate is &ulgar prag'atis' all the way down 4< if we shift our attention< to the
teaching acti&ities of the undergraduate college< ?the@ picture is of the gradual shrin1ing
of the old arts and sciences core of the uni&ersity and the e2pansion of occupational and
professional progra's5 )"rint, 6776, p 6+,- $oreo&er, ha&e educators, curriculu'
planners, ad'inistrators and others who ha&e 0efore the' the delicate tas1 of
legiti'ating what education is, e&en read Landall Collins( ),GHG- The Credentialed
ocietyD $ore recently Collins )6776- goes so far as to suggest that:
$any people ha&e 0een 'es'eri:ed 0y the highAtech sector and easily fall into
the rhetoric that 'a1es it a Justification of 'assi&e educational e2pansion< the
s1ills of cuttingAedge highAtech industries, such as co'puters, are generally
learned on the Jo0 or through personal e2perience rather than in the for'al
0ureaucratic setting of schooling )p 6=-
Hence, the rush to 'eet the de'and of the, so called, 1nowledge econo'y is largely an
ideological s'o1escreen that sidetrac1s us fro' so'ething li1e John Dru''ond(s
e2plication of professional caring:
/he professional act of caring is not only a0out what can 0e &erified It is also
a0out the attach'ent of the carer to the hu'an condition, to a philosophy of 0oth
the indi&idual and the collecti&e that, while it 'ay pro&e difficult )or e&en
i'possi0le- to define co'prehensi&ely, 'ay ne&ertheless withstand the &agaries
of econo'ic rationalis' )p =9-
I a' certainly not a conser&ati&e traditionalist wa&ing around #llan "loo' ),G8H-, Loger
Mi'0all ),GG7-, Willia' "ennett ),GG6- and the li1e, in fact I a' pro0a0ly 'ore in line
with the radicalis' of Henry Firou2 and Peter $c;aren )indeed I 'ight 0e a tenured
radical, if I were tenured- Ket despite decades of education theori:ing 0y $ar2ists,
critical theorists, postA'odernists, postAstructuralists, fe'inists and so on, we see' to 0e
e2periencing 4< an e2pansion of 'oderni:ation with a vengeance<5 );atour, 677+, p
C9- /he Buestion is 4where are all the educational radicalsD5 although $ichael #pple
)677=- is still at it to so'e e2tent it see's E&en $ichael Koung )of !nowledge and
Control fa'e- see's to ha&e ta1en 0ac1 'ost of his early wor1 in two recent articles
)6778I 677H with Johan $uller- in fa&our of a new, more empirical, sociology of
educational 1nowledge Indeed, in so'e respects, e'piricis' see's to ha&e returned
with a &engeance Perhaps, in the postAci&il rights era, radicals, and to so'e e2tent
li0erals, are si'ply e2pending all their energy in the struggle to ste' the tide of the
neoli0eralEneoconser&ati&e ad&ance, and the per&asi&e educationalisation rhetoric that is
often used as a carrot to 1eep us 'oti&ated gi&en the age of cynicis' Perhaps they ha&e
nothing left with which to ta1e 0ac1 ground toward critical and de'ocratic education
/he point is that we do not need 'ore educational theori:ing )although I a' not
suggesting so'e Lortian acBuiescence-, 0ut rather 'ore education )as opposed to
training- and less educationalisation )or course I a' not saying anything new here-
Perhaps we should recall Mier1egaard(s ),G89- long forgotten, yet su0tly 0rilliant,
definition of education 4What then is educationD I had thought it was the curriculu' the
indi&idual ran through in order to catch up with hi'self: and anyone who does not want
to go through this curriculu' will 0e little helped 0y 0eing 0orn into the 'ost enlightened
age )p H9-5
I ha&e always considered it a great irony that I wor1 and teach at the sa'e
uni&ersity as Henry Firou2 #nd yet we, in our depart'ent at any rate, ha&e failed to
recogni:e the potential of pro0le' 0ased learning for critical and de'ocratic education
Indeed, I was shoc1ed when I 0egan wor1 on this that no one else had recogni:ed it
either I could locate only a single article )"urch, 677,- that addressed the issue of using
a pro0le' 0ased approach that is 0oth de'ocratic and critical "urch )677,- used a P";
for'at to 4con&ey political and ethical content5 )p ,G+- $oreo&er, he clai's that 40y
decentrali:ing the classroo', students disco&er the latitude to e2plore ideas, for'
opinions, and e2press the'sel&es /hey also find they 'ust engage others and confront
no&el ideas5 )"urch, 677,, p 67+- Indeed, I a' a supporter of P"; and the use of
pro0le's or cases in education Howe&er, the purpose of such an approach is not 'erely
to sol&e the pro0le', 0ut rather to use real world pro0le's to 0e critical of this particular
real world in addition to gaining 1nowledge and de&eloping s1ills to li&e and wor1 in it
$ost i'portantly it is i'perati&e that students co'e to see that this real world, indeed all
real worlds, as e&ery critical theorist and postA'odernist 1nows, are constructed and so
can 0e deconstructed and reconstructed, though not ar0itrarily )see Hac1ing, ,GGG-, rather
than si'ply li&ed and wor1ed in "ut, deconstructed and reconstructed into what is the
central Buestion #nd the answer can only 0e ascertained with a critical education, not
training in pro0le' sol&ing Perhaps if we &iew what we are doing as Deleu:ian social
control and certainly a for' of reproduction, which !endler has so wisely pointed out,
rather than as 'any see' to thin1 . 'erely and 'eticulously preparing graduates for the
world, then we 'ight also co'e to see that not 'o&ing away fro' correspondence or
coherence 'odels of education toward critical and de'ocratic ones is . unethical
0eha&iour to 0oth our students and the, so called, world Lather than John Dewey on
speed as are educational founder, we need a so0er, conte'plati&e de'ocratic philosopher
that recogni:es the need for education to 0e education, which is to say e'ancipatory,
instead of si'ply training for social and econo'ic ends
Leferences
#pple, $ )677=- Educating the "right# way: $ar%ets, standards, &od, and ine'uality
New Kor1: Loutledge
#pple, $ ),GHG- (deology and curriculum ;ondon: LoutledgeEMegan Paul
"ec1, %, "onss, W N ;au, C )677+- /he theory of refle2i&e 'oderni:ation:
Pro0le'atic, hypotheses and research progra''e Theory, Culture ) ociety, *+)6-, ,A
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"ennett, W J ),GG6- The de-valuing of America: The fight for our culture and our
children New Kor1: Su''it "oo1s
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S'ith 68 years later ,ournal of Advanced Nursing, -.)9-, =++A=CC
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democracy and impoverished the souls of todays students New Kor1: Si'on #nd
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Paulo !reire cannot contri0ute to re&itali:ing the co''ons Capitalism Nature ocialism,
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