Recensions / Book Reviews

Recensions / Book Reviews
Anti-Racism, Feminism and Critical Approaches to Education
Edited by Roxana Ng, Pat Staton, & Joyce Scane
Westport, CT: Bergin & Garvey, 1995. xviii +172 pages. ISBN 0-89789-328-X (pbk.)
REVIEWED BY REBECCA PRIEGERT COULTER, UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN ONTARIO
An edited collection is normally a reviewer’s nightmare. Anti-Racism, Feminism
and Critical Approaches to Education, a volume in the Critical Studies in Education and Culture Series edited by Henry A. Giroux and Paulo Freire, is a happy
exception to this rule. Although this book contains seven chapters by six different
authors, the work forms a coherent and readable whole. It deserves to be widely
read and used in senior undergraduate and graduate courses to achieve the
editors’ purpose, namely “to open up dialogues among scholars and educators
about how minority perspectives can challenge and inform existing educational
practices” (p. xv). Furthermore, it is a delight to read a work on multicultural and
antiracist education that is Canadian in origin and emphasis and includes material
on more than the central region of the country.
This book is organized into two sections. The first deals with wider policy
questions and analyzes different approaches to program development. The first
two chapters, one by Goli Rezai-Rashti on Ontario and one by Cameron McCarthy on the United States, discuss the differences between multicultural and
antiracist education and explore the assumptions behind specific educational
initiatives. McCarthy, for example, critiques three dominant multicultural curriculum models which he terms cultural understanding, cultural competence, and
cultural emancipation. In a fine example of the scholar as teacher, he carefully
assesses the assumptions, strengths, and limitations of these models, using concrete examples to illuminate his arguments. Both he and Rezai-Rashti conclude
with discussions about the possibilities for developing a more critical and emancipatory approach. Jon Young introduces a different element into the discussion
by tackling the question of teacher education. Using a comparative approach, he
explores how the British and Canadian systems of teacher preparation and professional development approach multicultural and antiracist teaching and concludes
that although the policy discourse is more developed in Britain, both countries
are woefully neglectful when it comes to providing for the education of teachers
at the pre-service and in-service levels.
The second section of the book contains four chapters dealing directly with
pedagogy. Robert Regnier, Rezai-Rashti, Rick Hesch, and Roxana Ng all provide
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challenging, though accessible, analyses of critical approaches to antiracist
education. Rezai-Rashti writes of her experiences as a practitioner with an
Ontario school board. In her second contribution to this volume, she explores
school personnel’s failure to deal adequately with issues facing high school girls
from different racial, ethno-cultural, and religious communities. Using specific
examples, Rezai-Rashti demonstrates how principals and teachers respond to
minority female students on the basis of Eurocentric assumptions about other
cultures and how they fail to understand the complexities of racism and sexism
in the lives of these young women. Consequently, these students’ needs are not
met. Hesch and Ng contribute reflections on their teaching work in the postsecondary sector. Hesch takes up questions raised about his own purposes and
practice as a White, middle-class, male intellectual teaching a group of Aboriginal women in the Saskatchewan Urban Native Teacher Education Program.
Because his initial attempts to shape his students into Gramscian “organic
intellectuals” were resisted, Hesch was forced to negotiate the content and
conditions of his course with the students. He traces this process and discusses
what he learned as a teacher from working with this particular class of Aboriginal women. Ng draws on her experiences teaching at a number of universities
to explore the dynamics of race and gender in the classroom as they are played
out among students and between students and the professor. She explores questions of power, authority, expertise, and responsibility, using carefully selected
events from her own teaching career as examples.
I have left to the last Regnier’s contribution to this book because I found it the
most innovative and exciting piece in what is overall a very strong and useful
volume. Regnier’s article is also likely to be the one which most troubles students and teachers, and because of that it will challenge them to think differently
about the meaning and purpose of education. Drawing on the lessons of Aboriginal opposition to the Meech Lake Accord and the Mohawk stand-off at Oka in
1990, and arguing that political struggle must be seen as pedagogical struggle,
Regnier develops the notion of “warrior as pedagogue, pedagogue as warrior.”
In a compelling argument about antiracist, critical Aboriginal education and
authentic learning, Regnier draws on Giroux’s notion of teacher as transformative
intellectual and Purpel’s notion of teacher as prophet, to develop his own vision
of the pedagogue as warrior, as someone who will “criticize racial injustice and
enact the possibility of a reconstructed order within school” (p. 67). His arguments about “the school of the street” and political resistance as pedagogy will
introduce many to alternative ways of thinking about education.
This book provides a grounded introduction to contemporary debates about
multicultural and antiracist education and is particularly helpful in expanding our
understanding of critical, antiracist pedagogical practices. In its clarity of expression and its wise use of both theory and practical examples, it stands as an
excellent example of good teaching. Readers may not agree with everything that
is said, but they will almost certainly engage with the content.
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L’éducation intégrée à la communauté en déficience intellectuelle
par L. Saint-Laurent
Montréal: Les Éditions Logiques, 1994. 281 pages
RECENSÉ PAR GHYSLAIN PARENT, UNIVERSITÉ DU QUÉBEC À TROIS-RIVIÈRES
La parution d’un ouvrage de synthèse sur les réalités psychopédagogiques qui
entourent l’intégration sociale, communautaire et scolaire des élèves ayant une
“différence intellectuelle” caractérisée par de graves limitations intellectuelles
apporte une multitude d’outils à celles et ceux qui veulent créer, à l’école, un
climat et un environnement pédagogique stimulants.
L’ouvrage se compose de 15 chapitres, succincts et fort bien rédigés, qui
contiennent des outils pédagogiques, des exemples clairs et surtout les fondements théoriques à la base des interventions proposées.
Dès les premières pages, l’auteure laisse transparaître son engagement personnel et professionnel envers ces élèves. Elle indique même que ce sont les
élèves qui lui ont appris ce qu’est l’éducation intégrée à la communauté et qui
lui ont appris . . . bien plus encore (p. 9–10).
L’introduction trace un bref historique des services pédagogiques offerts,
depuis les années 1960, aux élèves présentant un grave déficit intellectuel et
aborde un peu le concept de programme éducatif intégré à la communauté.
Les sept premiers chapitres s’intéressent surtout à définir les caractéristiques
d’un programme éducatif, initié à l’école, mais visant l’intégration à la communauté. Ces chapitres touchent principalement les aspects suivants: la collaboration
famille-école, les stratégies pédagogiques et l’organisation de la classe, les
habiletés reliées au domaine résidentiel, l’utilisation de l’environnement communautaire pour un meilleur développement de l’autonomie et de la vie en société
et l’entraînement à des habitudes reliées au marché du travail.
Le huitième chapitre donne des indications intéressantes pour la mise en
oeuvre d’un programme éducatif individualisé qui tient compte de l’environnement, des habiletés de l’élève, de la gestion du plan d’intervention individualisé
et de l’identification de quelques variables intéressantes qui doivent influer sur
la description des objectifs.
Le neuvième chapitre, fort intéressant, délimite la pertinence pour l’école de
développer des plans de transition individualisés afin d’assurer une continuité
entre l’école et la vie adulte. Les suggestions de l’auteure sont fort louables, mais
l’adéquation et le réalisme d’un tel plan, eu égard aux réalités de l’emploi et du
chômage pour l’ensemble des travailleurs du Québec, laissent quand même
songeur.
Tout bon formateur d’intervenants et, surtout, d’enseignants en adaptation
scolaire voudra sûrement consulter le chapitre 10 de cet ouvrage. On y trouve de
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nombreuses pistes et stratégies à considérer pour l’organisation des matières
scolaires pour les élèves ayant une limitation intellectuelle importante. Tout le
contenu du chapitre invite les enseignants à offrir des activités autotéliques aux
élèves. Celles-ci doivent: (1) être intéressantes, autorenforçantes et avoir une
finalité en soi; (2) partir du vécu de l’élève; et (3) développer des habiletés
techniques qui se généralisent dans le quotidien. Par ailleurs, le quatorzième
chapitre fournit quelques réflexions fort pertinentes sur la gestion de l’horaire
pédagogique pour celui qui applique des programmes intégrés à la communauté.
Les onzième, douzième et treizième chapitres proposent différentes pistes
intéressantes au niveau de l’évaluation et du développement des habiletés motrices de base, des habiletés de communication et des habiletés sociales. En effet,
dans les onzième et douzième chapitres, l’auteure présente d’excellents trucs pour
pallier à des limitations motrices importantes. Le treizième chapitre, touchant par
le biais les effets de l’intégration scolaire, propose différents moyens pour élargir
le réseau social des personnes présentant un grave déficit intellectuel. Ce chapitre
traite évidemment de la dimension affective et, sans fausse pruderie, aborde la
dimension sociosexuelle de ces personnes.
Considérant tout le courant de la normalisation et de la valorisation des rôles
sociaux, ce livre arrive à point avec la présentation d’outils et de grilles d’observation et avec la proposition d’objectifs réalistes et réalisables dans la communauté. Une seule ombre au tableau . . . Quelques coquilles laissées par le traitement de texte. Par exemple: tenac-ité (p. 19); individ-ualisé (p. 125); pro-blème
(p. 229). En mettant de côté ces quelques peccadilles, le lecteur sera sûrement
comblé par la facture de l’ouvrage. Son articulation même contribue à apporter
de bonnes heures de lecture. Le texte, très aéré, présente de nombreux tableaux
et est étoffé de références très pertinentes. De plus, la fin de chaque chapitre
offre quelques questions qui permettent au lecteur de se livrer à quelques exercices de réflexion sur les interventions et la problématique de l’éducation intégrée
à la communauté.
The Spirit of Teaching Excellence
Edited by David C. Jones
Calgary: Detselig Enterprises, 1995. 208 pages. ISBN 1-55059-120-7 (pbk.)
REVIEWED BY ALLEN T. PEARSON, UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN ONTARIO
This book consists of 10 original essays by professors, most if not all of them
teacher educators, at, almost exclusively, universities in western Canada. In these
essays, the authors reflect on teaching, and, in particular, on their views about
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what makes excellent teaching. The editor contributes an introduction and epilog
(sic) as well as one of the essays. The editor advised authors to be “personal,
intimate and compelling.” The aim of the book is “to inspire and to uplift and
to give purpose to teachers in training and in practice now.” The result is a range
of essays that are personal, with some intimate and others compelling. There are
personal memoirs of teachers who, in the eyes of the authors, excelled at their
craft. Others are accounts of how particular teachers exemplified what has been
discovered in research on teaching. Most authors describe their own teachers, but
one essay focuses on the reports about teaching made to university counsellors.
Although the teachers described come from all levels, from elementary schools
through universities, I noted with interest that few were teacher educators. Professors of education seemed to have made less impact on these teacher educators
than did their other teachers.
The strength of this book arises from its autobiographical nature. Instead of
general accounts of what might constitute excellent teaching, ideas and claims
are contextualized in the work of particular individuals. The impact that a teacher
can have on a student is made abundantly clear by the descriptions of teachers’
influence on the lives of these reflective and insightful authors. On the other
hand, the chief weakness I would cite also stems from the fact that the essays are
autobiographical. Autobiography, by definition, tells us about the life of the
person presenting the narrative. Consequently, a reader learns more about the
authors of these essays than about the teachers who so influenced them. Let me
cite one example. The first teacher described by Jones is a Mr. Albrecht. He is
a superb teacher of high standards who also served as the school disciplinarian
and meted out rather harsh penalties to those who violated school rules. The
picture of Mr. Albrecht in this reader’s eyes is one of a perhaps troubled person,
certainly of a lonely, unconventional man. What I wanted was a biography of
Mr. Albrecht which would tell me what makes such a person tick. Admittedly
he is a fine teacher, but what made him at once an excellent teacher, an authoritarian taskmaster, and something of a recluse? A biography would be much more
helpful. An autobiographical account by one of his students does not tell us
enough about the teacher; it tells more about the author and his respect for high
standards, the joy of learning, and his sense of accomplishment.
This collection, then, tells readers about excellence in teaching through the
eyes of the authors. Consequently, the authors are the central actors in these
stories, not the teachers they describe. As the authors are themselves university
teachers, they were undoubtedly successful as students. One wonders, then, if
autobiographical accounts of excellence in teaching by people who were not successful in school would be different. That is, the book may actually provide an
account of the spirit of teaching excellence as perceived by formerly successful
students who have chosen to make a career studying teaching. The perceptions
of others might be quite different.
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As a result of my doubts about what can be produced by autobiographical
accounts from a set of authors who have so much in common, as opposed to by
biography of excellent teachers, I am not sure that this collection will serve to
“inspire and to uplift and to give purpose to teachers in training.” The reflections
of former students who were successful enough to stay in education for their
working lives may not serve this purpose as well as would careful biographies
of the teachers who so influenced these authors’ work. Another aspect of the
book that may be off-putting to students in teacher education is the spiritual
aspect introduced by a couple of the authors. Some of them have taken the spirit
of teaching excellence to mean that there is something spiritual, or vaguely
religious, about excellence in teaching. At these points, readers will find themselves presented with platitudes and high-sounding moral evocations. One gets
the feeling that there is something like “The Power of Positive Thinking” going
on here. One hopes the authors are not suggesting that if intending teachers read
about excellent teachers and pay attention to some moral truisms they too will
be on the road to being excellent teachers.
These reservations aside, this collection is interesting and provocative. Some
of the authors are very successful in raising interesting and challenging questions
about the nature of teaching that will provoke questions, thought, and discussion
among students in teacher education programs.
Décrochage scolaire, décrochage technique: la prospérité en péril
sous la direction de Denyse Côté, Gilles Paquet et Jean-Pascal Souque
Hull: ACFAS [Association canadienne-française pour l’avancement du sciences]
Outaouais, 1993. 133 pages
RECENSÉ PAR PIERRE POTVIN, UNIVERSITÉ DU QUÉBEC À TROIS-RIVIÈRES
Comme le soulignent les auteurs responsables de l’ouvrage, il est devenu clair,
ces dernières années, que la prospérité économique et le progrès social dépendent
de plus en plus dans la socio-économie globale contemporaine, de ressources
humaines bien formées, du bagage de connaissances techniques, de l’expertise
et du capital cognitif de nos populations.
Le problème central qu’abordent les auteurs de ce livre, c’est, entre autres, que
les jeunes n’acquièrent pas le niveau de formation nécessaire pour pouvoir
contribuer de manière importante à l’effort économique du pays. Cette lacune est
due, en partie, au taux élevé de décrochage scolaire ainsi qu’à la désaffectation
des études scientifiques et techniques. Ces deux phénomènes pourraient fort bien
mettre notre prospérité en péril.
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Le volume se compose de trois parties. La première partie analyse le décrochage scolaire à la lumière d’un article de Jacques Grand Maison, intitulé “Pour
contrer le décrochage scolaire: une piste prometteuse.” L’auteur y présente une
analyse macroscopique des causes du décrochage scolaire et propose une réflexion sur l’importance de la démarche initiatique comme voie de sortie de la
crise. Lorraine Savoie-Zajc dans un texte sur “Le sens de l’école pour des jeunes
identifiés à risque de décrochage scolaire” présente d’un point de vue microethnographique les diverses représentations de l’école que se font les jeunes
potentiellement décrocheurs. Pour ces deux auteurs, l’une des solutions pour
contrer le décrochage scolaire passe par la transformation de l’école.
La deuxième partie du livre pose le problème de la culture scientifique et du
décrochage technique. Dans un premier temps, Claude Janvier, dans un texte
intitulé “La culture scientifique et technique: il ne faut pas s’excuser d’être nuls,”
démontre l’importance d’une réforme de l’enseignement scientifique et technique
à l’école. Pour sa part, Benoît Godin, dans son texte intitulé “Les indicateurs de
culture scientifique et technique: quand dire, c’est ne rien faire,” remet en
question le discours sur la culture scientifique et technique. Enfin, Jean-Pascal
Souque aborde “Le rôle des musées de sciences dans le développement de la
culture scientifique et technique.”
La troisième partie, quant à elle, tente de faire des liens entre les décrochages
scolaires et techniques. Andrew Sharpe, dans son texte “The role of higher
education in Canada’s international competitiveness,” traite de l’emploi et la
prospérité économique sous l’angle de l’importance de l’éducation et de l’acquisition du capital cognitif. De son côté, dans son texte “Et si Candide avait raison:
pour une approche renouvelée des relations entre éducation et travail,” Paul
Simard remet en question notre savoir scientifique et nos représentations mentales tant du travail que du processus éducationnel. Finalement, Gilles Paquet
dans un texte synthèse intitulé “De la société salariale au réseau pensant: gestion
de la précarité, savoir et raccrochage,” tente de faire des liens entre les décrochages scolaires et techniques, le monde du travail et de l’emploi, et la prospérité
économique. L’auteur mentionne qu’il faut rien de moins que “changer la
théorie,” les paradigmes: recadrer les réalités, c’est-à-dire l’image des systèmes
économique et éducatif et de la filière formation/qualification-compétences/
emploi.
L’on peut considérer que chaque chapitre de ce livre est très riche en informations, en réflexions et en remises en question de nos représentations du
décrochage scolaire, de la culture scientifique, du lien école/travail ainsi que du
processus éducationnel en général. Le lecteur y trouvera une occasion de se
familiariser avec diverses formes de “décrochages” et d’analyser cette problématique dans une perspective davantage à long terme. Ceci dit, ce volume pourrait
décevoir l’intervenant ou le chercheur qui s’attendrait à trouver des pistes d’intervention ou des orientations de programme pour contrer le décrochage scolaire.
La diversité des thèmes abordés (décrochage scolaire, culture scientifique et
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technique, rôle des musées de sciences, etc.), laisse transparaître un manque
important d’unification entre les parties composant le tout. Le défi que représente
les liens entre les diverses formes de “décrochages” reste donc à relever. La
qualité de chacun des textes de ce volume profiterait davantage d’une diffusion
sous forme d’article dans diverses revues spécialisées.
Taking Control: Power and Contradiction in First Nations Adult Education
By Celia Haig-Brown
Vancouver: UBC Press, 1995. xvi + 288 pages. ISBN 0-7748-0493-9 (pbk.)
REVIEWED BY LAARA FITZNOR, UNIVERSITY OF MANITOBA
Haig-Brown uses critical ethnography as a framework not only for understanding
a particular First Nations’ attempt, by means of the adult Native Education
Centre (NEC) in Vancouver, British Columbia, to control educational goals,
define policies, and enforce practices relevant to their needs and aspirations, but
also for conducting fieldwork about “people’s interactions and understandings,
in a particular time and place, concerning particular topics” in the NEC setting
(p. xiv).
As part of that framework, Haig-Brown draws on Foucault’s analysis of
power, in which simplistic views of power relations are problematized and
changed realities made possible. Her reason for drawing so strongly on Foucault,
though she denies any “replication of his work” (pp. 17, 43), is the complex
nature of the power and control issues surrounding First Nations’ formal education. Haig-Brown contextualizes the First Nations’ educational situation as a
reinscription of Foucault’s “unspoken warfare,” in which schools “have, along
with many other things, helped maintain economic inequities and assaulted the
original languages” (p. 17). With further reference to Foucault, she notes that
“sociology of knowledge proponents see power as something which lies in the
interstices between people, not as something which can be held, like a substance”
(p. 14). Taking Control acknowledges not only the power relationship of NEC
to the White dominant structures, but also the struggles to expose dynamic
cultural productions, subjugated realities, and First Nations’ resistance to being
controlled, assimilated, and rendered invisible.
Throughout her study, Haig-Brown is able expose the multiplicity of social
voices regarding Indian control of Indian education. Those voices talk about the
place (NEC), the programs (including policies and practices), the staff, the
students, and the nature of control. For Haig-Brown, this process has allowed
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Native truths to be heard. She has honoured the many layers of interaction taking
place at NEC by showing that locally constructed knowledge is the authority.
Haig-Brown acknowledges the complexities and contradictions of a First
Nations educational institution having to demonstrate academic success, as
defined by Eurocentric ideologies, and at the same time ensuring that the needs
and aspirations of its people are met through culturally appropriate programming.
Another issue she discusses is the financial support NEC receives from “White”
agencies using colonial criteria for providing funds. Will the more skills-oriented
training geared for the job market be funded? Or courses that could more readily
accommodate cultural growth, struggles, and aspirations?
Many transforming themes became evident in Haig-Brown’s interviews with
NEC participants: the constant acknowledging of differences of two worlds
(White vs. Indian); the blending and integration of ideas and practices influenced
by these two worlds; the redefinition of identity (Nativeness); culture and language development, commitment and reintegration; deepened confidence and
pride in Aboriginal heritage; autonomy; access to material culture in an urban
setting; connections to the diversity of First Nations; opportunities for Native
spirituality practices; a healing place and process; and social and political involvement at the grassroots. Haig-Brown shows how these themes are continually
discussed, debated, and refined to “enrich the discourse of First Nations power
and control” (p. 229).
Haig-Brown locates her study “within my assumptions and ways of working”
(p. xvi). She has no illusions about her participation. This is a welcome admission of concern for cultural misappropriation. Her clear announcement that she
is a White woman of privileged background clearly implies limitations to her
study. But the question remains: How far can people cross the cultural, social,
and political boundaries to contribute in a meaningful way to First Nations’
control over their own lives? Haig-Brown presents her research in a manner that
demonstrates honour and commitment to those efforts.
Une école de son temps: un horizon démocratique pour l’école et le collège
Par Jocelyn Berthelot
Montréal: Centrale de l’enseignement du Québec et Éditions Saint-Martin, 1994.
288 pages. ISBN 2-89035-226-9
RECENSÉ PAR G-RAYMOND LALIBERTÉ, PROFESSEUR EMÉRITE, UNIVERSITÉ LAVAL
À son habitude, Jocelyn Berthelot, agent de recherches en éducation à la Centrale de l’enseignement du Québec (CEQ), nous présente le fruit d’un travail
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audacieux, rigoureux et riche en maturité intellectuelle et sociale. Au-delà de ce
qu’il nous avait déjà beaucoup amené à penser avec L’école de son rang sur la
douance en 1987 et Apprendre à vivre ensemble sur l’éducation et l’immigration
en 1991, au-delà aussi de ses nombreux et tenaces travaux à portée interne à la
CEQ, il nous donne ici un véritable essai sur “la mission et les finalités qu’il
convient de donner à l’école québécoise à l’aube du XXIe siècle.”
L’horizon ne manque pas d’ampleur, mais il faut dire tout de go que l’auteur
n’a en rien raté son objectif; le projet d’école qu’il nous propose a bel et bien les
dimensions essentielles de ce qu’il annonce, soit de fonder les choix éducatifs sur
des principes actualisés de justice et d’égalité, sur un renforcement de l’éducation
à la citoyenneté, d’une éducation fondée sur le dialogue et d’une école qui soit
elle-même un lieu d’exercice de la démocratie (p. 75–76).
Dit aussi rapidement ce peut paraître une utopie de plus, surtout si produite
par un professionnel de la CEQ. Aussitôt qu’on met toutefois les yeux sur le
travail on se rend compte de la très riche et très opportune “recension d’idées,
d’études et de débats” qui y trouve place, et dont l’auteur a su tirer profit pour
soutenir l’essai dont il est ici question. Le travail est tout à fait convaincant
lorsque il oppose, par exemple — et il le fait tout au long du livre — marché à
démocratie comme source de cohérence pour l’école de l’an 2 000 (p. 66–68).
De même en est-il de son chapitre deux où, lisant de façon particulièrement
alerte les auteurs d’aujourd’hui, il trace les grands axes de ce prochain siècle,
dont il se servira plus loin pour définir les enjeux éducatifs qui en sourdront.
J’aime bien que l’on nous rappelle, par exemple, que “face à (une) croissance
exponentielle du savoir (par tous annoncée), la solution ne pourra plus résider
dans un cumul de connaissances spécialisées, (mais) dans une formation moins
compartimentée qui vise à développer l’esprit scientifique et qui comporte une
composante critique et éthique” (p. 82). Les composantes professionnelles des
formations de demain, de tous les niveaux, devront alors se saisir des grands
enjeux éthiques (technosciences), mais aussi des objectifs sociaux qui fassent que
l’on partage des traits communs autant que l’on intègre la diversité ethnoculturelle. À ce prix, la formation professionnelle deviendra enfin polyvalente et il
deviendra concevable de trouver une nouvelle alliance entre formation générale
commune et spécialisation, entre sciences et sciences humaines, entre l’univers
physique et l’univers social, etc (p. 154–155). Et pour l’école de contribuer à la
“formation d’un sujet démocratique,” c’est-à-dire autonome et responsable pour
soi et dans ses relations à autrui, capable de partager les exigences, les ressources
et les responsabilités de la communauté d’appartenance et ouvert aux préoccupations d’ordres écologique et planétaire (p. 153).
Le quatrième chapitre est la traduction en projet éducatif concret pour l’école
et le collège de la ligne directrice reproduite dans les paragraphes ci-avant. Ce
projet est “en construction,” nous avertit-il, et ses propositions “visent, d’une
part, à démocratiser la réussite et, d’autre part, à faire de chaque établissement
une véritable cité éducative” (p. 168).
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On ne se surprendra guère de voir mettre l’accent “sur un nouvel équilibre
entre les missions de développement individuel et de développement social de
l’éducation” (p. 118); il y a maintenant une bonne quinzaine d’années (Petitat,
1982) que l’on ne s’impose plus de choisir entre reproduction (mission surtout
sociale) et production (mission de développement individuel). Il serait même
difficile à concevoir dans un projet à visée de formation démocratique, que l’on
néglige l’une ou l’autre de ces tendances lourdes.
Mais de la part de l’auteur et de la CEQ elle-même, il est surprenant que
l’établissement devienne l’un des deux thèmes majeurs du projet de cité éducative, l’une des deux voies de “réactualisation de la révolution tranquille.” Non
pas en soi, c’est tout plein de sens, mais parce que le discours de la CEQ, et de
ses agents de recherche, a toujours fortement marqué ses distances des vagues
successives de projets éducatifs d’établissement. J’ai trouvé la CEQ frileuse à cet
égard, au nom “d’une concurrence fondée sur les choix des (seuls) parents —
consommateurs” (p. 123) ou, pour le dire autrement, afin d’éviter la désocialisation du service éducatif de caractère public. Il en reste d’ailleurs encore quelque
chose dans le livre de l’auteur lorsque sous le sous-titre “une différenciation
inquiétante” (p. 221–222), il rappelle la nécessité, à travers “l’innovation” locale,
de ne pas cesser “d’être école commune.” En bout de piste, il n’est pas évident
que l’abstention systématique de la CEQ et de la plupart de ses syndicats,
lorsque venait le moment de tracer un projet éducatif local, n’ait pas laissé toute
la place aux idéologues et technologues de projets éducatifs élitistes (douance,
programme dit international) ou doublement sélectifs (sports — arts — études,
etc.). Il est heureux que l’on s’apprête à rectifier le tir et je souhaite vraiment
que l’on commence à miser aussi sur les forces démocratiques de la société
civile, y compris celles agissant au sein des communautés locales non exclusivement formées des professionnels de l’éducation (p. 223–227).
Que de belles choses encore ne faudrait-il dire à propos de ce livre, dont les
très stimulantes pages 236 à 242 sur “le métier d’élève.” Si, j’étais en position
de pouvoir décider du livre à mettre entre les mains des étudiants-maîtres à leur
entrée en formation, ce serait certainement celui de Jocelyn Berthelot, avec signet
aux pages 236 à 242. Ah et puis je l’enverrais bien aussi au titulaire du ministère
de l’Éducation du Québec, en livraison personnelle, alors que nous sommes à
l’étape finale des États Généraux sur l’éducation.
P/S J’aime moins la notion de “mutation” du premier chapitre à caractère historique et je conteste passablement l’interprétation rigoriste des obligations
confessionnelles des écoles publiques en pages 243 et 244 (notes 79 et 80). Mais
il faudrait encore quelques pages pour m’en expliquer . . .
RÉFÉRENCE
Petitat, A. (1982). Production de l’école — production de la société: analyse socio-historique de
quelques moments décisifs de l’évolution scolaire en occident. Genève: Librairie Droz S.A.
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Assessing Students in Classrooms and Schools
By Robert J. Wilson.
Toronto: Allyn and Bacon, 1996. 193 pages. ISBN 0-205-18818-4 (pbk.)
REVIEWED BY DENNIS RAPHAEL, UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO
Assessing Students in Classrooms and Schools, a pre-service text in measurement
and evaluation, is a well-written and timely book. “Its purposes are to describe
what roles assessment typically plays in classrooms and schools and to show how
modern assessment concepts can help in the performance of those roles” (p. ix).
It depicts the assessment experiences of Kathy Strickland, a senior-elementary
school teacher who first grapples with assessment issues with her Grade 8
charges, and then expands her methods as she teaches a high school class.
Wilson’s technical expertise and practical wisdom are demonstrated in his
insights into varied roles that assessment thrusts upon teachers: mentor, interactive guide, formal guide, accountant, reporter, and program director. He discusses such important matters as reliability, validity, grading, and the use of both
teacher-developed and standardized instruments.
Assessing Students is a fascinating window into the intellectual world of a
mid-1990s educator charged with training prospective teachers in assessment. As
a document of our times, it could be the subject of a discourse analysis by
graduate students in the sociology, history, or philosophy of education.
Beyond that, I am ambivalent concerning the book’s value as a definitive
assessment text, an ambivalence that I express in the form of three propositions.
Proposition I: Assessing Students is an essential assessment text in the new
educational era.
It is clear from the book that traditional approaches to teaching and learning
are outdated and new child-centred, outcomes-based approaches are the wave of
the future. “The focus of Kathy’s attention,” Wilson contends, “is not the curriculum or its statement of end-products objectives, nor is it a standardized report
card, which her school has abandoned, or the results of various assessments
showing that her students do not know their math facts. Actually they do, but
they do not learn them by rote. Kathy’s focus instead is on each one of her
students, as individuals, and on helping each one grow (intellectually yes, but
also emotionally, socially, esthetically, and ethically)” (p. 143).
The knowledge explosion has also made traditional subjects obsolete; developing skills in accessing and processing knowledge across disciplines is now more
important. Kathy teaches an integrated curriculum; her high-school assignment
is integrating English and mathematics. Although she would prefer not to use
formal assessment methods, school authorities and parents require that it be done.
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Assessing Students lists, in an easy-to-understand manner, the skills required
to carry out these tasks. The many benefits to doing careful assessments are
clearly presented, and practical methods are provided for carrying out assessment
computations. The book contains a list of authentic assessment materials available from provincial ministries of education. It also reproduces “Principles for
Fair Student Assessment Practices for Education in Canada.” Assessing Students
should be read by anyone involved in educating our children.
Proposition II: Assessing Students reflects what is worst about current educational practice.
This book will raise the ire of traditional educators and parent reform groups
across Canada. It uncritically assumes that traditional subject-based formal
assessment is misguided (except perhaps in high school). It advocates outcomesbased education, a fad that is gaining respectability in Ontario. Assessing Students advances a number of principles that reflect the excesses of progressive
education. Education is now focussed on integrated outcomes, rather than on
clear, precise objectives. Traditional classroom resources such as books are being
replaced by clippings from magazines and newspapers. Teachers are now managers of learning environments rather than sources of expertise and knowledge.
Tests and examinations of common learnings are giving way to assessments of
individual growth and development.
Although the book’s references include useful sources on such technical
aspects of assessment as developing items and calculating scores, many standard
volumes on assessment, such as Popham’s Educational Evaluation, Gronlund and
Linn’s Measurement and Evaluation in Teaching, or Ebel’s Educational Measurement, are not listed. Anyone worried about the direction of Canadian education must read Assessing Students. Know thine enemy.
Proposition III: Assessing Students makes the best of a difficult situation.
Assessing Students raises fundamental questions concerning the nature and
value of assessment. For the past two decades, many faculties of education have
been turning out graduates steeped in the child-centred, non-assessment-oriented
theories associated with progressive education. This phenomenon is most apparent in Ontario, where province-wide assessments were not held for two decades.
(It is no coincidence that recent international assessments found Ontario students
ranked last among those from all Canadian provinces in mathematics achievement.) Elementary school teachers, the very group to which Assessing Students
is directed, are especially resistant to reform.
The book is written in an easy-to-read, user-friendly format. Wilson attempts,
through gentle persuasion, to show the value of assessment for improving educational practice and making educators more accountable to the public and to
parents. Kathy returns to her elementary school having learned many lessons on
the value of more formal methods of assessment, although she is still primarily
concerned with promoting individual student development.
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Assessing Students should serve as an initial dose of theory and practice for
teachers who may be resistant to formal assessment. Once introduced to and
convinced of the potential benefits of the process, teachers can be moved along
to more advanced resources and materials.
La gestion en éducation, une affaire d’hommes ou de femmes?
Par Claudine Baudoux
Cap-Rouge: Les Presses Inter Universitaires, 1994. 557 pages.
ISBN 2-89441-007-7
RECENSÉ PAR MARLAINE CACOUAULT-BITAUD, UNIVERSITÉ DE BOURGOGNE,
IREDU-CNRS, DIJON
L’ouvrage traite de la participation des femmes à la gestion des établissements
d’éducation au Québec, depuis les années cinquante jusqu’à l’époque actuelle.
Cette dimension d’une histoire récente constitue un aspect essentiel de la
recherche car l’auteure s’appuie sur un premier constat: au cours des trente
dernières années, le nombre des femmes a diminué au sein du personnel nommé
à la tête des écoles primaires et secondaires, ou des CEGEP, le phénomène
devenant particulièrement net après 1975.
L’exploitation de données statistiques sur le personnel de direction, féminin
ou masculin, religieux ou laïc, permet de dresser un bilan objectif et nuancé de
cette évolution, d’étayer des hypothèses, et de les vérifier. On constate, en effet,
que la moindre représentation des femmes chez les cadres en éducation n’est pas
liée à une masculinisation du personnel enseignant qui réduirait le nombre des
candidates potentielles à une fonction de direction. En revanche, l’étatisation du
système d’enseignement dans les années soixante, et le mouvement de laïcisation
du personnel, apparaît comme un facteur à prendre en compte. La proportion des
religieuses parmi les personnels de direction diminue dans le secteur public entre
1965 et 1971, les femmes étant relativement plus nombreuses dans le secteur
privé. Ce secteur leur reste, par la suite, plus accessible, même si le pourcentage
de directrices connaît une baisse générale. Cet état de chose serait lié à l’existence de collèges féminins, l’extension de la mixité s’accompagnant au contraire
d’une augmentation des effectifs des directeurs. La même tendance a été observée en France, toutes différences gardées, puisque l’histoire de l’école et les
processus de recrutement des chefs d’établissement présentent des caractéristiques
originales si on les rapporte à la situation québécoise.
Pourquoi la laïcisation a-t-elle “profité” aux hommes, soit aux directeurs laïcs?
Comment expliquer la persistance du phénomène de masculinisation des postes?
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Claudine Baudoux, pour répondre à ces questions, s’est livrée à une enquête par
questionnaire et par entretiens, utilisant de manière articulée des données quantitatives et des matériaux de type qualitatif. Il s’agit de considérer à la fois les
processus et les conditions du recrutement (qui pourraient faire obstacle au maintien et à l’arrivée des femmes) et les représentations fournies par les candidat-es
virtuel-les (enseignantes et enseignants) et par celles ou ceux qui ont été choisis.
Ces déterminations jouent comme des éléments dynamiques sur l’accès aux
postes: ces derniers doivent être demandés pour être obtenus, ils doivent être
perçus comme accessibles par les interessé-es et leur entourage.
Une réflexion menée dans cette optique conduit à poser le problème de la
“nature” même des postes, des fonctions, des tâches et des rapports sociaux qui
les définissent: la gestion a-t-elle un sexe, serait-elle tendanciellement “masculine,” surtout aux niveaux les plus élevés du système scolaire, secondaire et
collégial? Cette activité exige-t-elle des femmes un travail sur soi particulier étant
donné la socialisation différencielle et les rôles proposés aux hommes et aux
femmes depuis l’enfance, et tout au long de la vie professionnelle et personnelle?
L’étude postule que la dynamique des rapports sociaux entre les sexes
explique, en dernière instance, la faible représentation des directrices dans
l’administration scolaire, et la variété des styles de direction qui peuvent être
classés du côté du “féminin” ou du “masculin,” socialement construits. Comme
le montre l’exploitation des entretiens, des directrices sont amenées à intérioriser
les impératifs de la gestion masculine (exercice de l’autorité, attention à ne pas
manifester ses sentiments, séparation entre le public et le privé, sens de la
hiérarchie), pendant que d’autres adoptent une conduite qui renvoie aux rôles
traditionnels de la mère qui protège sa couvée, de la spécialiste des relations
“humaines” qui gère “en douceur” les conflits, voire de la séductrice. Néanmoins,
il semble que les commissions scolaires, et les partenaires de la communauté
éducative, considèrent les hommes comme plus légitimes a priori que leurs
collègues femmes. L’auteure rejoint des conclusions présentées par des sociologues des organisations analysant la situation des femmes cadres dans les
entreprises privées. Ce préjugé induit chez les enseignantes qui visent un poste
à responsabilités et chez les directrices, une tendance à “en faire plus,” à prouver
sans cesse leurs capacités. Une minorité de directrices, toutefois, essaie de
promouvoir une gestion “féminine” plus coopérative et de valoriser la collaboration entre femmes plutôt que de reconstituer le couple parental directrice/
adjoint ou directeur/adjointe.
Il est impossible de rendre compte en quelques lignes d’un travail très riche
et des nuances introduites par Claudine Baudoux au fil de ses analyses. Pour une
lectrice française, la lecture est un peu ardue au départ, et dépaysante, car les
modes de recrutement des principaux de collèges et des proviseurs de lycées en
France ainsi que la définition officielle de la fonction, diffèrent des pratiques en
vigueur dans le contexte québécois. En France, il suffisait jusqu’à une date
récente, pour un professeur bien noté sur le plan administratif et pédagogique,
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de s’inscrire sur une liste d’aptitude; aujourd’hui, la direction d’établissement
secondaire s’obtient par concours. Ce système mettrait en principe les femmes
et les hommes sur un pied d’égalité en “dépersonnalisant” en quelque sorte les
postulant-es. Il existe toutefois une phase d’entretien individuel. Nonobstant, le
taux de féminisation du personnel de direction ne dépasse pas 25% alors qu’il
s’élève à 55% chez les enseignants. La réflexion poursuivie au Québec pose donc
à la France des questions largement occultées: les voies d’accès à la fonction et
son exercice au quotidien sont-ils aussi “neutres” que le principe du concours le
laisserait supposer? On se trouve, en outre, dans une période d’évolution, les
relations avec les pouvoirs locaux sont devenues plus fréquentes dans le cadre
de la décentralisation, le rôle pédagogique du proviseur (le féminin n’existe pas)
est accru lorsque des mesures de compensation dans les Zones d’Éducation
Prioritaire sont mises en oeuvre. Les tâches de “représentation” et les occasions
de conflits, avec les enseignants notamment et les parents d’élèves, se voient
donc multipliées. Cette évolution favorise-t-elle le recrutement des hommes en
France également? Ce n’est pas le moindre intérêt du livre évoqué que d’indiquer
des pistes de recherche dans une perspective de comparaison internationale.
Children, Teachers and Schools in the History of British Columbia
Edited by Jean Barman, Neil Sutherland, & J. Donald Wilson
Calgary: Detselig, 1995. xiii + 426 pages. ISBN 1-55059-103-7 (pbk.)
REVIEWED BY PATRICIA T. ROOKE, UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA
Of the 21 chapters in this book, 14 have been published previously, and 5 of the
remaining 7 are written by the editors themselves. All the chapters are divided
into three sections, “Childhood and Pupilhood” (a gratingly awkward term),
“Becoming and Being a Teacher,” and “Organizing and Reorganizing Schools.”
Although the introductory chapter provides a competent overview, the editors
have not provided adequate transitions from one section to the next. Such
relationships are left for the reader to make.
Within the book’s overall theme, the range of topics is sufficiently varied to
attract both specialized and generalist readers (particularly those interested in
multiculturalism). Moreover, the experiences of Vancouver and Victoria are not
the standard by which the rest of province is measured; the Okanagan Valley and
rural interior are given equal attention. There appears to be something for
everyone; that is, if one is not Roman Catholic. It is disappointing that such a
provincially distinctive school experience is overlooked (apart from a perfunctory
nod by Barman in the chapter “The Emergence of Educational Structures in
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Nineteenth Century British Columbia”). In this instance, as so often, history
reflects as much the ideological interests of the present as the reconstruction of
past events. Here, various imposition theories of multicultural histories are
deemed significant; orthodox religious experience in parochial schools is not.
Given the editors’ sympathy towards “multiple voices” and the “politics of
inclusiveness,” religion just does not compete with gender, race, or ethnicity. In
this feature, this book is, of course, not exceptional.
Barman’s “‘Schooled for Inequality’: The Education of British Columbian
Aboriginal Children” (pp. 57–80) contains few surprises. There is almost no
attempt to use some counter-evidence apart from the work of Thomas A. Lascelles (1990). Moreover, it is surprising that many of the oral testimonies have
so little chronological context that a reader cannot tell in which year or even in
which decade the reported events occurred. I wonder, too, why the painstakingly
scrupulous archival mining evident in the work of Robert Carney was overlooked.
Another chapter of interest is John P. S. Mclaren’s “‘New Canadians’ or
‘Slaves of Satan’: The Law and the Education of Doukhobor Children, 1911–
1930.” This study overlaps with Barman’s because both discuss the state’s efforts
at acculturation, describe the sites of contestation between law and culture, and
examine various forms of resistance to institutionalized coercion. Both are studies
of “the deployment of law to produce social or cultural homogeneity” in a
depreciation of those cultures that resist the value of utility and formal institutional processes of culture (p. 147). Both seem to pose a rhetorical question as
to whether “the education [could have] been played to another, less acrimonious
script” (p. 155). Neither answer this question, but given the historical moment
both describe, one cannot be sanguine that the answer could be anything but
negative. Cultural and ethnic diversity was not exactly a democratic presumption
in a polity that was at once intent on “Canadianization” and at the same time
acting out the imperialist vision so ably described by Timothy J. Stanley in
“White Supremacy and the Rhetoric of Educational Indoctrination: A Canadian
Case Study” (pp. 39–56). Although it has become a commonplace to castigate
the past because it failed to be like the present, it was not until the 1960s that a
multicultural and human rights ethos emerged out of a new and dynamic pluralism. Such is the course of history, with all its sins of omission. It is, after all, a
cliché grounded in the magic of hindsight to conclude that “the result of this sad
story has not been the crushing of a culture but a great deal of social dysfunction
and individual and group unhappiness” (p. 156).
J. D. Wilson’s work is always engaging and lively. His chapter is yet another
example of history as interpretation, methodology, and narrative, although in “‘I
Am Ready to be of Assistance When I Can’: Lottie Bowron and Rural Women
Teachers in British Columbia” (pp. 285–306), he does not detour from the
prescribed script that describes a rigid cultural hegemony imposed through
bureaucracy and pedagogy. This chapter complements nicely another, co-authored
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with Paul J. Stortz, “May the Lord Have Mercy on You: The Rural School
Problem in British Columbia in the 1920s” (pp. 209–234).
Other new contributions include the history of Canadian childhood by Neil Sutherland (who is continuing his sustained and sympathetic work in this area), an
examination of children during the Second World War by Emilie L. Montgomery, and two cameos on the “trials and tribulations” of rural teachers and rural
schooling by Penelope Stephenson, and by Thomas Fleming and Carolyn Smyly.
Both students and historians will welcome this book, the former because of
the diversity of its topics, the latter because of the variety of its evidence and
methodologies.
Equal Educational Opportunity for Students with Disabilities: Legislative Action
in Canada
By W. J. Smith
Montreal: McGill University, Office of Research on Educational Policy, 1994.
177 pages
REVIEWED BY W. ROD DOLMAGE, UNIVERSITY OF REGINA
In any other civilized country, data on the educational rights of disabled students would be readily available from a single source. In Canada’s fractured
(fractious?) federalism, however, 12 independent educational jurisdictions address
the educational rights of disabled students, each in its own way. Each jurisdiction
also uses a unique combination of vehicles to define the educational rights of this
population. A particular right might arise from the “Education” or “School(s)”
Act of one province, the Human Rights Code of another, the regulations under
an act in a third, a Ministerial/Departmental memorandum or directive in a
fourth, and so on. Overarching all such acts and regulations is, of course, the
Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which in section 15(1) guarantees
equal protection and equal benefit of the law without discrimination based on
physical or mental disability, among other characteristics. Nothing is ever simple
in Canada.
Because the provinces and territories do not follow any common structure in
defining (or not defining) the rights of special needs students, there exists no
conceptual framework to help educators and parents discuss and compare the
situations of disabled students in different jurisdictions. Smith develops such a
framework, first by defining the rights of disabled students under the umbrella
of “equal educational opportunity,” and then by grouping legislative provisions
under five categories of rights, derived from the literature. These rights he labels
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“analytical themes”: “non-discrimination,” “access to schooling,” “identification
and placement,” “service delivery,” and “parental participation.” A chapter of the
book is devoted to each theme.
Each theme is further divided into “sub-themes.” In Chapter 2, “Access to
Schooling,” the author discusses “right to public schooling,” “compulsory attendance,” “expulsion,” and “other support.” In each case, the sub-theme is further
divided into “items” that correspond to specific questions for which Smith sought
answers not only in the legislation of each jurisdiction but also from discussion
with representatives of the Ministry or Department of Education in each jurisdiction. For example, under the “right to public schooling” sub-theme, Smith asks:
(1) Is there such a right and, if so, to whom does this right apply (i.e., are there
exceptions)?; (2) What are the lower and upper age limits for the general right
to free public schooling?; (3) Is there a right to early education for disabled
students (i.e., earlier than that guaranteed to non-disabled students)?; (4) What
is the lower age limit for the right to early education for disabled students?; (5)
Is there a right to extended schooling for disabled students (i.e., beyond that
guaranteed to non-disabled students)?; and (6) What is the upper age limit for the
right to extended schooling for disabled students? Each of the chapters’ subthemes is discussed in light of the data obtained from its associated items.
Because answers to a common set of questions were sought, Smith is able to
discuss provision for special needs students in each of Canada’s twelve jurisdictions using the common nomenclature created by his items, sub-themes,
themes, and overall analytical construct. This allows not only for description of
programs and services, but also for comparisons across jurisdictions.
Smith’s study has its (openly acknowledged) limitations. He points out, for
example, that his study addresses “the state of the law” in each jurisdiction and
not the “state of the art.” Thus, whereas jurisdiction “A” requires that new school
buildings meet the “barrier-free” guidelines of the National Building Code, and
jurisdiction “B” does not, this does not necessarily mean that new schools in “A”
will be barrier-free, and those in “B” will not; in fact, the opposite is entirely
possible, legislation notwithstanding. Law, compliance, and enforcement may be
normatively related, but are not necessarily related in fact.
Rather than stating his comparisons in qualitative terms, Smith quantifies his
findings to create “converted scores” related to particular themes, sub-themes,
and items. Item scores in each chapter rank the items associated with the
chapter’s theme, based on a composite score (measuring the degree to which the
concern related to a particular item has been addressed in law) derived across
jurisdictions. Similarly, jurisdictions are ranked, relative to each other, on the
basis of a composite score assigned to each; each composite score, in turn, being
based on the jurisdiction’s scores on the items related to the chapter theme. The
final chapter provides the same kind of analysis at the thematic level.
Smith goes to considerable lengths to verify the reliability of his methodology and the validity of his conclusions. Although I doubt neither, I find the
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quantification of the data methodologically questionable. For example, to rank
jurisdictions on the basis of the theme “access to schooling,” Smith had to assign
a numerical score to whether or not a particular jurisdiction required new schools
to be built according to the barrier-free standards of the National Building Code.
This score is then added to, or subtracted from, a score assigned to the jurisdiction based on whether its legislation provides for the possibility of early
schooling for disabled students; this latter score varies, of course, according to
whether such early entry is required or only permitted, and the age at which such
early entry is provided, if at all. To this equation is added, or subtracted, a score
assigned to the jurisdiction based on whether its legislation provides for extended
programs or services for disabled students. This score also varies, depending
upon whether such extended programs and services are required or only permitted, and the upper age to which such extensions are provided. Scores are
assigned to other items in a similar fashion. This this degree of abstraction is
coupled with the following: (1) The study addresses not whether new schools are
built to barrier-free standards, only whether legislation in the jurisdiction says
they are supposed to be (what is supposed to be built, and what is actually built,
may be entirely different things). (2) School boards permitted by statute to have
early or extended program may or may not have them. The quality of the program, if it is provided, may be excellent or terrible. (3) Even school boards
required to offer early or extended programs can easily find ways to make such
programs very difficult to access. Again, there is no guarantee of quality.
Nevertheless, scores are assigned to jurisdictions based on the state of their
legislation. But given the difficulties listed above, how defensible is it to rank
Ontario ahead of the Yukon or Saskatchewan on the “access to schooling”
dimension?
I hasten to add that Smith has provided perfect transparency in his study. The
methodology, the instrument, and the data are all included in appendices. Folks
like me who want to debate methodology can conduct their own analysis (i.e.,
put up or shut up). I suspect we’d reach exactly the same conclusions.
The End of Education: Redefining the Value of School
By Neil Postman
New York: Knopf, 1995. xi + 209 pages. ISBN 0-679-43006-7 (hc.)
REVIEWED BY JAMES T. SANDERS, THE UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN ONTARIO
Sometime during the decade of the 1970s, Postman appeared to reverse himself by arguing that public education ought to be a conserving, rather than a
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subversive, activity — as he had once urged (Postman, 1979; Postman & Weingartner, 1969). Postman’s (1979) explanation for his seeming intellectual aboutface was that he now conceived the function of education to be essentially
thermostatic or countercyclical.
From this point of view, and stated far too grossly, education tries to conserve tradition
when the rest of the environment is innovative. Or it is innovative when the rest of
society is tradition-bound. (p. 19)
Postman went on to characterize this educational outlook as “ecological” rather
than “teleological.” By this, he meant that the societal function of education was
“to correct our imbalances” rather than espouse “purposes that must be achieved”
(p. 20).
In his latest book, The End of Education, Postman could perhaps be accused
of reversing himself yet again. Despite the intentional title pun, The End of Education is for the most part a meditation on the purpose, rather than the demise,
of U.S. public education. As such, it suggests that Postman has doubled back to
a “teleological,” rather than an “ecological,” view of education. In focussing
upon the end of education, however, Postman does claim (consistently?) to be
correcting an imbalance by redressing what he regards as education’s lopsided
pre-occupation with the means or techniques for engineering school learning.
Most earnest discussions of the aims of education unfortunately resemble
commencement speeches — often with similarly soporific effects. It is nearly
impossible to talk about the transcendent aims of Education (with a capital “E”)
without lapsing into either clichés or vacuous abstractions. Postman, however,
deftly avoids this pitfall by framing his discussion of the aims of education (or
more accurately, U.S. public schooling) in terms of a handful of comprehensive
cultural narratives instead of the usual static list of vague goals. Nowadays, of
course, the term “narrative” smacks of postmodern cant. Fortunately, Postman
means by it
a story — not any kind of story, but one that tells of origins and envisions a future, a story
that constructs ideals, prescribes rules of conduct, provides a source of authority, and,
above all, gives a sense of continuity and purpose. (p. 6)
These narratives are not very different from what others have called “myths” or
“ideologies.” More often, Postman prefers to call these stories “gods” (with a
small “g”) so as to underscore their scope, transcendence, and symbolic power.
The basic claim in The End of Education is that
public education depends absolutely on the existence of shared narratives and the exclusion of narratives that lead to alienation and divisiveness. What makes public schools
public is not so much that the schools have common goals but that the students have
common gods. (p. 18)
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RECENSIONS
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BOOK REVIEWS
For too long, Postman reminds us, American public education has placed the
gods of Economic Utility and Consumership before all others. These old familiar,
twin narratives, in various and countless ways, have served to teach generations
of students that “you are what you do for a living” or “you are what you accumulate.” More recently, education has come to worship two new (and in Postman’s view) equally false gods: Technology and Multiculturalism. Readers
familiar with Postman’s earlier book Technopoly (1992) can anticipate his
worries about the tyranny of tools and technology. But what Postman finds even
more worrisome is the new “god of Tribalism or Separatism” or “in its most
fervently articulated form, the god of Multiculturalism.” Unlike the other failed
gods, Multiculturalism does not merely distort the idea of public education; it
leads to the end of education in the fatal sense of Postman’s title.
This path not only leads to the privatizing of schooling but a privatizing of the mind, and
it makes the creation of a public mind quite impossible. The theme of schooling would
be divisiveness, not sameness, and would inevitably engender hate. (pp. 57–58)
In his admittedly “presumptuous” effort to redefine the purposes of schooling,
Postman offers five alternative grand narratives or gods that, “singly and in
concert, contain sufficient resonance and power to be taken seriously as reasons
for schooling” (p. 61). The book’s dust-jacket blurb (trust me!) gives perhaps the
most succinct version of Postman’s counter-narratives. They are:
the Spaceship Earth (preserving the earth as a unifying theme), the Fallen Angel (learning
driven not by absolute answers but by an understanding that our knowledge is imperfect), the American Experiment (emphasizing the successes and failures of our evolving
nation), the Law of Diversity (exposure to all cultures in their strengths and weaknesses),
and Word Weavers (the fundamental importance of language in forging our common
humanity).
The second half (Part 2) of The End of Education consists in exegetical commentary on these five narrative themes while providing more specific examples
of “how one might bring these ideas to life.” Given their rarefied level of abstraction, Postman, in trying to bring these gods down to earth, faces a daunting
expositional task. And in the end, readers may be forgiven for still wondering
exactly how these grand narratives might alter the course of public schooling.
Nevertheless, as a wise, witty, and passionate provocation to seek sound reasons
for public schooling, The End of Education is a rousing success.
REFERENCES
Postman, N., & Weingartner, C. (1969). Teaching as a subversive activity. New York: Delacorte.
Postman, N. (1979). Teaching as a conserving activity. New York: Delacorte.
Postman, N. (1992). Technopoly: The surrender of culture to technology. New York: Knopf.