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7Populist Challenges to Truth and Democracy Met with Pragmatist Alternatives in Citizenship EducationEducational Theory. forthcoming.Populists employ truth as a tool for aligning the people against the elite. Citizenship education rarely takes up critiques of liberal democracy, discussions of populism, or conversations about what truth is. This paper provides an alternative pragmatist vision of truth that builds on the populist call for democracy to better reflect the will of the people, while also pushing back against the harms potentially caused by populism. Students today need to learn how populism works performatively and…Read more
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19Teaching Honesty and Improving Democracy in the Post‐Truth EraEducational Theory 73 (1): 51-73. 2023.In this paper, Sarah Stitzlein considers the consequences of honesty on our democracy, especially for citizens' ability to engage in civic inquiry together as they face shared problems. Honesty is a key component of a well-functioning democracy; it develops trust and fosters the sorts of relationships among citizens that enable civic dialogue and reasoning. Post-truth attitudes and truth decay pose serious obstacles to good civic reasoning as citizens struggle to draw clear distinctions between …Read more
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4Implications of Deweyan Non-ideal Autonomy on Education Practice and PolicyPhilosophy of Education 70 256-259. 2014.
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1Employing Emotion to Improve Thinking and Alleviate InequalityPhilosophy of Education 67 161-163. 2011.
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8Children as Citizens: Educative Environments that Enable Participation and ContributionPhilosophy of Education 78 (3): 126-133. 2022.
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1The State and Civil Society in Rejuvenating Public SchoolsPhilosophy of Education 72 135-137. 2016.
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15Divisive Concepts in Classrooms: A Call to InquiryStudies in Philosophy and Education 41 (6): 595-612. 2022.In this article, I will begin by describing recent divisive concepts legislation, which bans teaching about aspects of racism, sexism, and equity, speculating briefly on the motivations behind it and the implications resulting from it. I will then describe how discussing divisive concepts in classrooms may be a helpful way for students to better understand the particular concepts and for students to take a stand on them. While I will briefly argue for the importance of classroom discussion of di…Read more
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24Pragmatist Hope during COVID-19The Pluralist 17 (2): 18-23. 2022.as covid-19 set in, many people struggled to find or hold onto hope. TIME magazine devoted its entire annual TIME 100 Most Influential People issue to the very topic, offering up suggestions on how to find hope, from religious leaders, politicians, and celebrities. While some presented helpful ideas, I found myself seeking more satisfying and sustaining answers. I turned to pragmatist philosophers, both old and new, to help me understand what hope is, why it matters, and how to foster it.Intrigu…Read more
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30Learning How to Hope: Reviving Democracy through Schools and Civil SocietyOxford University Press. 2019.Free, open access book from Oxford University Press at link below. Democracy is struggling in America. Citizens increasingly feel cynical about our system and doubt they can influence public policy. Distrustful of other Americans and elected officials, some are even turning to authoritarian alternatives. Hyperpartisanship and recent contentious presidential elections have deepened political despair. While some citizens get swept up in optimism during campaign cycles, they often later find themse…Read more
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48Philosophy of education in a new key: Snapshot 2020 from the United States and CanadaEducational Philosophy and Theory 54 (8): 1130-1146. 2022.This article shares reflections from members of the community of philosophers of education in the United States and Canada who were invited to express their insights in response to the theme ‘Snaps...
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8The Democratic Potential of Parental Dissent: Keeping Public Schools Public, Legitimate, and EducationalEducational Theory 70 (3): 355-372. 2020.
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291Democratic Education in an Era of Town Hall ProtestsTheory and Research in Education 1 (9): 73-86. 2011.One central aspect of a healthy democracy is the practice of democratic dissent. For the first time in many years, dissent is being widely practiced in town hall meetings and on street corners across the United States. Despite this presence, dissent is often suppressed or omitted in the prescribed, tested, hidden, and external curriculum of US schools. This article calls for a realignment of these aspects of curriculum with both a guiding vision of ideal democracy and a realistic interpretation …Read more
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Curriculum and the Conscience of ParentsPhilosophy of Education: Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Philosophy of Education Society 1 (1): 1. 2013.none
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160For-Profit Charter Schools and Threats to the Publicness of Public SchoolsPhilosophical Studies in Education 1 (44): 88-99. 2013.none
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330Education for Citizenship in For-Profit Charter Schools?Journal of Curriculum Studies 2 (45): 251-276. 2013.Most Americans and many residents of other democratic countries hold public schools to the social and political goal of preparing children to be good citizens. This goal is being challenged by some new forms of schooling promoted through popular education reform movements, especially in the US. This article reveals potentially insurmountable conflicts between the beliefs and practices of one of those forms of schools, for-profit charter schools, and their public task of educating for citizenship…Read more
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124Implications of Deweyan Non-Ideal Autonomy on Education Practice and PolicyPhilosophy of Education: Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Philosophy of Education Society 1 (1): 254-258. 2014.none
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123Conscience in the Curriculum, Not Opted out of itPhilosophical Studies in Education 1 (45): 74-82. 2014.
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1Breaking Bad Habits of Race and Gender: Transforming Identity in SchoolsRowman & Littlefield. 2008.Every day teachers encounter moments of racial and gender tension in their classrooms. In the most drastic cases, these situations erupt into overt conflict or violence, while in other instances they go largely unnoted. Such incidents reveal that despite equality legislation and the good intentions of many teachers, racial and gender problems persist. How can teachers more effectively handle these moments? How can they prevent them in the future? This book is the first to unite two major schools…Read more
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5Teaching for Dissent: Citizenship Education and Political ActivismRoutledge. 2012.Teaching for Dissent looks at the implications of new forms of dissent for educational practice. The reappearance of dissent in political meetings and street protests opens new possibilities for improved democratic life and citizen participation. This book argues that this possibility will not be fulfilled if schools do not cultivate the skills necessary for our citizens to engage in political dissent. The authors look at how practices in schools, such as the testing regime and the 'hidden curri…Read more
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5American Public Education and the Responsibility of its Citizens: Supporting Democracy in an Age of AccountabilityOxford University Press. 2017.Public school systems are central to a flourishing democracy, where children learn how to solve problems together, build shared identities, and come to value justice and liberty for all. However, as citizen support for public schools steadily declines, our democratic way of life is increasingly at risk. Often, we hear about the poor performances of students and teachers in the public school system, but as author Sarah M. Stitzlein asserts in her compelling new volume, the current educational cri…Read more
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25Hoping and DemocracyContemporary Pragmatism 15 (2): 228-250. 2018.Too often, hope is described in individualist terms and in ways that do not help us understand contemporary democracy or offer ways to improve it. Instead, I develop an account of hope situated within pragmatist philosophy that is rooted in the experiences of individuals and grows out of real life circumstances, yet cannot be disconnected from social and political life. This account can help us to better face current political struggles related to hopelessness and despair, all the while building…Read more
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14Publics for Public Schools: Legitimacy, Democracy, and LeadershipEducational Theory 66 (3): 405-412. 2016.
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20Improving Public Schools Through the Dissent of Parents: Opting Out of Tests, Demanding Alternative Curricula, Invoking Parent Trigger Laws, and Withdrawing EntirelyEducational Studies: A Jrnl of the American Educ. Studies Assoc 51 (1): 57-71. 2015.
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24The Role of “Small Publics” in Teacher DissentEducational Theory 66 (1-2): 165-180. 2016.In this essay, Sarah Stitzlein and Amy Rector-Aranda, drawing on John Dewey's theoretical suggestions regarding how to best form publics capable of bringing about change through deliberation and action, offer teachers guidance on how to form and navigate spaces of political protest and become more effective advocates for school reform. Using Aaron Schutz's analysis of teacher activism as a point of departure, Stitzlein and Rector-Aranda argue for the development in schools of “small publics,” th…Read more
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31Addressing Educational Accountability and Political Legitimacy with Citizen ResponsibilityEducational Theory 65 (5): 563-580. 2015.In this essay, Sarah Stitzlein addresses a key current crisis in public education: accountability. Rather than centrally being about poor performance of teachers or inefficiency of schools, as we most often hear in media outlets and in education reform speeches, Stitzlein argues the crisis is at heart one about citizen responsibility and political legitimacy. She claims that the recent accountability movement has shifted the onus of curing society's problems almost exclusively onto schools, but …Read more
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31Habits of Democracy: A Deweyan Approach to Citizenship Education in America TodayEducation and Culture 30 (2): 61-86. 2014.Throughout his works, John Dewey makes deep and intriguing connections between democracy, education, and daily life. His ideas have contributed to both the theory and practice of participatory democracy and, although he actually “had surprisingly little to say about democratic citizenship” directly, his scholarship has influenced the ideas of others working on citizenship education and has provided rich notions of democracy, education, experience, and public life underlying it.1 However, Dewey c…Read more
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9Rethinking educational rights: Implications for philosophy and policyEducational Theory 62 (1): 1-6. 2012.
Areas of Specialization
Philosophical Traditions |
Philosophy, Misc |
Areas of Interest
Philosophical Traditions |
Philosophy, Misc |