The University of Utah and the Department of Education, Culture and Society seek to provide equal access to their programs, services, and activities for people with disabilities. Reasonable prior notice is needed in order to arrange accommodations.

Drawing upon history, sociology, philosophy, cultural anthropology and other research, this course examines four key questions:

1. What are the purposes of education in a democracy?
2. What are the kinds of knowledge students and teachers and citizens need to have and how do students and teachers arrive at these kinds of knowledge?
3. What sort of expectations can individuals and groups legitimately have of the schools and what demands can they legitimately make?
4. How should we understand teaching as a profession? What are teachers’ responsibilities, what is their sphere of autonomy, and what is their claim to decision-making power?

1. Class attendance and participation;
2. required readings as assigned in the syllabus;
3. written homework and articles assigned in your discussion group; all written assignments assigned in advance (i.e. not including in-class assignments) must be typed and must be turned in on time;
4. unannounced quizzes and process writing exercises assigned in lecture; no make-up work will be allowed for missed or failed in-class written work C however, students may choose to drop their two worst grades for any missed or failed in-class written exercises. Please note that this includes writing activities missed due to illness;
5. a midterm paper (approx. 6-8 pp., typed, double-spaced) that draws upon course lectures, readings, and discussions (topics to be assigned); and
6. a final paper (approx. 7-10 pp., typed, double-spaced) that draws upon course lectures, readings, and discussions (topics to be assigned)

This is a writing emphasis course. The take-home written work that students will be assigned may include some or all of the following: 1) weekly or bi-weekly: short analyses of reading assignments, position papers, comparison/contrast exercises, identification of a paper’s argument and its foil(s), discussion questions, summaries, and/or journal entries, 2) a take-home midterm essay, and 3) a take-home final paper. In addition, students will be given regular in-class written assignments, including quizzes and process-writing exercises.
 
 

Grading of pre-assigned written work will be rigorous, but there will be opportunities for rewrites on the midterm and (in some cases) on weekly, out-of-class written assignments.

Quizzes and in-class process writing: 20% Midterm paper: 25%

Participation, attendance, & assigned short papers: 25% Final paper: 30%

All pre-assigned (as opposed to in-class) written work is to be typed. It must be turned in on time.

Your written (and spoken) contributions should demonstrate that you have read and understood the readings. You are not expected to give an exhaustive summary of the readings, but should bring to bear whatever is relevant in the readings to the topic or question assigned.

Feel free to study with other students and to work out ideas together; however, your phrasing in your written work should be your own, and your papers should demonstrate a distinctive working-through of the material, rather than a mere paraphrasing of others’ work.

We expect that you will have proofread your pre-assigned papers for spelling, punctuation, grammar, and usage. When explicit instruction has been given on particular issues of usage or spelling or grammar (whether in lecture, in discussion, or in comments on your papers), you will be held responsible for that information in your writing.

All quoted material must be identified by quotation marks and by the author’s or authors’ name and a page number. Failure to identify quoted material as quoted material is plagiarism and is a very serious scholarly offense, subject to institutional sanctions. Beware of paraphrasing too closely C for example, don’t just change a word here and there. This is also considered plagiarism. When in doubt, quote the text exactly and put the material in quotes. Some degree of quotation is usually helpful in making your claims specific, but do not rely too heavily on the author’s own phrasing; we are not looking for a “digest” version of an article. It is usually best to be able to summarize an author’s position in your own words. It is often helpful, but not always necessary, to give page numbers for claims about an author’s position even if you are putting the claim in your own words.

You are not required to use any formal system of citation in the course; it is sufficient to indicate the source by author and page number in parentheses, if it is a course reading (e.g. Rose, p. 112). You are welcome to use outside materials in addition to course readings (although not instead of them); if you do refer to or quote outside readings, you should provide a full reference (author, title, date, place, and publisher; also, the edition or volume number, if applicable). Even in the latter case, it is not necessary to use a formal citation system, but if you expect to do further work in which you will use citations (such as a master’s thesis or an article to be submitted for publication), then we encourage you to familiarize yourself with and to use the citation system preferred in your area. (For example, educational psychologists prefer APA style, educational historians tend to prefer Chicago style, and research on children’s literature often uses MLA style or Turabian. Check the scholarly journals in your field.) You will not be graded on this, but it is helpful to get enough practice at using such systems that they become second-nature.
 
 

1. Mike Rose, Lives on the Boundary: A Moving Account of the Struggles and Achievements of America’s Educational Underclass (New York: Penguin, 1989). [available at the University Bookstore]
2. George H. Wood, Schools that Work: America’s Most Innovative Public Education Programs (New York: Plume, 1993). [available at the University Bookstore]
3. Electronic Readings Packet on reserve at the Marriott Library

READING/LECTURE/DISCUSSION SCHEDULE:

Thurs. 24 Aug.     Introduction
 
 

Thurs. 31 Aug.     Institutional Knowledge about Students
Reading:
Rose, Lives on the Boundary, 1-165
Treesberg, “The Death of a ‘Strong Deaf’”
Film: Interview: Mike Rose and Bill Moyers

Electronic Handout: Case study questions

Thurs. 7 Sept.     Institutional Responsibilities towards Students
Reading:
Rose, Lives on the Boundary, 167-242
Jones, “‘We Are Chauvinists’: Sexual Entitlement and Sexual Harassment in a High School”
Friend, “Choices, Not Closets: Heterosexism and Homophobia in Schools”

Process Drama with Prof. Dave Dynak, Theater Dept.

Written assignment due (see electronic handout on case studies from last week).

Electronic Handout: Written assignment on a children’s biography (see readings for next week)

Thurs. 14 Sept.     What Kind of Knowledge Should Be Taught?
Readings:
Burgess, “A Plan that Worked: Emma Hart Willard” (children’s biography chapter)
Willard, “A Plan for Improving Female Education”
Perdue, “Southern Indians and the Cult of True Womanhood”

Read a children’s biography (or a chapter from a young adult biography) devoted to an American Indian figure from before the Civil War.

Written assignment due (see electronic handout on biographies from last week)

Film: In the White Man’s Image

Timeline Question: What was happening between 1810 and 1830 in U. S. politics, science, culture, industry?

Thurs. 21 Sept.     What Is the Purpose of Public Schooling?
Readings:
Katz, Doucet, and Stern, “Early Industrial Capitalism”
Mann, 12th Annual Report
Brownson, “Decentralization: Alternative to Bureaucracy”

Timeline Question: What was happening between 1830 and 1860 in U. S. politics, science, culture, industry?

Thurs. 28 Sept.     Who Should Teach?
Readings:
Beecher, “Remedy for Wrongs to Women”
Letters from Teachers, “‘Civilizing’ the West”
Lerner, “The Lady and the Mill Girl”

Timeline Question: How was life in the east and west U. S. different between 1830 and 1860?

Handout: Questions for midterm papers

Thurs. 5 Oct.     Fall Break: No class meeting
 

Thurs. 12 Oct.     Take-home midterm papers due at beginning of class

No reading assignment, but plan ahead to bring to class at least one textbook in your area and also, if possible, a yearbook, for small group activities

Lecture:     Textbooks as a Genre

Video Activity: Deconstructing The Civil War

Textbook and Yearbook Activities: Bring in textbooks and yearbooks from schools where you are currently teaching or where you yourself went to school (and/or from your parents’ or friends’ schools). In the case of textbooks, bring books in your particular area(s) of interest C more than one, if possible. Textbooks also can be checked out from the Curriculum Library at the Marriott. In the case of yearbooks, bring books from your own schools, your parents’ or partner’s or roommate’s or children’s schools (again, more than one, if possible). The textbooks and yearbooks will be used in small group activities.

Handouts: Deconstructing textbooks, deconstructing yearbooks

Thurs. 19 Oct.     Should Students Be Prepared for the Workplace?  Vocational Education for African Americans
Readings:
Washington, “The Atlanta Exposition Address”
Du Bois, “Of Mr. Booker T. Washington and Others”
Woodson, The Mis-education of the Negro (excerpt)

Film: excerpts from W. E. B. Du Bois

Timeline Question: What was happening between 1860 and 1910 in U. S. politics, science, culture, industry?

Thurs. 26 Oct.     The Hidden Curriculum:  Social Classification and Vocational Education
Guest Lecturer: Prof. Frank Margonis, ECS

Readings:
Violas, “Progressive Social Philosophy: Charles Horton Cooley and Edward Alsworth Ross”
O’Hanlon, “Interscholastic Athletics, 1900-1940: Shaping Citizens for Unequal Roles in the Modern Industrial State”
Anyon, “Social Class and School Knowledge”

Timeline Question: What was happening between 1910 and 1940 in U. S. politics, science, culture, industry?

Thurs. 2 Nov.     Class will not meet, but the following readings are required
Readings:
Padden & Humphries, “Living in Others’ World”
Morrison, “Everyone Here Spoke Sign Language”
Labov, “Academic Ignorance and Black Intelligence”
Delpit, “The Silenced Dialogue”

Thurs. 9 Nov.     Deficit and Differences Theories
Readings:
Houston, “Gender Freedom and the Subtleties of Sexist Education”
Swisher and Deyhle, “The Styles of Learning are Different but the Teaching is Just the Same”
Kissen, “Forbidden to Care”

Film: Out of the Past

Thurs. 16 Nov.     Three Approaches to Inclusion:  Social Conscience, Melting Pot, and Culturally Conscious Books
Readings:
Kohl, “The Story of Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott Revisited”
Thompson, “Harriet Tubman in Pictures: Cultural Consciousness and the Art of Picture Books”
Manzo, “Flap over ‘Nappy Hair’ Book Leads to Teacher’s Transfer”

Electronic Handout: African-American Biography Project

(Bibliography of African-American Histories, Biographies, and Fictionalized Biographies for Children and Young Adults can be found on Audrey’s website or on reserve at the library)

Thurs. 23 Nov.     No Class: Thanksgiving

Handout: Questions for final papers

Thurs. 30 Nov.     What Are the Purposes of Education in a Democracy?  Transmission, Nurturance, and Craft Teaching, Pt. I
Readings:
Wigginton, “Some Overarching Truths”
Wood, Schools that Work, xiii-82
Read a children’s biography on an African-American figure born since 1940 (see handout); written assignment and small-group work will be referenced to this reading

Small-Group Project: Readings in African-American Children’s/Young Adult Biography

Written assignment due (see handout from previous week)

Thurs. 7 Dec.     What Is the Relation of Teachers to the Community?  Transmission, Nurturance, and Craft Teaching, Pt. II
Reading:
Wood, Schools that Work, 83-266

Film: Mahalia Jackson Elementary School/2nd Grade, Harlem, New York

Thurs. 14 Dec.     Final Papers Due