School & Society Seminar

Catalog description

This course is designed to provide students with an opportunity to investigate the philosophical underpinnings, social context, and current discourse of education and schooling in the United States. By historically linking the development of educational initiatives to notions of power, nation building, and citizenship, this class furthers an understanding of the assumptions about the purpose of education within this democratic nation, and its role(s) within our current social and political climate. Discussions of differential access to power and resources will be central to this class, thereby providing a forum for critically exploring educational policy, teaching practices, and the aims and purposes of education that are intimately connected to the social stratification and reproduction. We will draw on students experiential knowledge of schools and teaching to imagine how urban educators can transform the socially reproductive practices of schools. Prerequisite: Enrollment in Urban Teaching Residency Program.