Public+Education

Though most of us are familiar with the Public Education System (PES), in this class we will make it our project to interrogate other methods of public education, specifically methods of educating members of the public who are excluded from the PES or methods of conveying knowledge that is not recognized in the PES. This course will explore questions such as: How is education configured in our society? How do we as individuals fit into the larger system of education, in the broadest scope we can imagine? How does it constitute publics and counter-publics? Who controls access? Where and how can alternative ideas be taught? How do communities educate themselves? What is the relationship between education and democracy? How are each of us, as college-educated citizens, implicated in the ways that education functions in America?

We will use our new research skills to locate information and arguments about public education, and to compose a range of texts around related topics I (and ultimately you) propose. We will start the semester reading a collection of articles, identifying research topics and generating research questions for ourselves, and then writing an inquiry essay. We will also do brief presentations. Later in the course each of you will write an individual sustained research essay on a topic related to the course inquiry; in the final unit you will collaborate with several peers on a multi-media project in which you propose an education program. Throughout the semester we will practice and refine research strategies, analyze complex concepts, read information rhetorically, write informal and formal texts, work collaboratively, assess our writing, and keep a research portfolio.

None of you will be doing this work alone or in isolation. I will guide and prompt and assist you through every phase of the course, and your classmates will share their ideas and experiences and expertises as well.