Notes From the North Country

It’s strange.  For something that is becoming so ubiquitous, it’s remarkably hard to find clear descriptions and analyses of this thing that is called Critical Theory.  As I wrote in a previous post, I’m starting to think that understanding CT is vital to understanding our culture and to understanding many of the influential ideas circulating in education.  

There are so many neologisms people are writing and speaking that are based in critical theory — “systemic racism,” “lived experience,” “intersectionality,” and on and on.  Suddenly everyone’s talking this way, it all comes out of this thing called CT, and yet nobody’s really explaining or analyzing CT — where it comes from, what its goals are, and whether it is a good approach to use.  

Continue reading “Liberalism: The Worst System — Except for all of Those Other Ones”

Yesterday I went kayaking for the first time in a while, and I am reminded of something I had forgotten.  One of my favorite things about kayaking is the feeling you get on the day after the adventure.

You wake up and your muscles are sore.  Your arms are tired from 12 miles of paddling, but it’s a good tired — your biceps and your abs feel more defined.  Your legs are sore from that long uphill bike ride, but you feel so tough for riding all that way in the rain.  Your body is crying out for protein. You went to bed early last night and still need a nap by noon today.

Continue reading “On the Day After an Adventure”

One question that has been percolating in my brain for a few years — and which yesterday’s blog post brought back to me — is a basic question:  What’s the difference between critical thinking and critical theory?

As I wrote yesterday, I believe that understanding critical theory is starting to seem incredibly important to understanding many of the forces at work in our culture, at least on the left.  This seems to me particularly important for those of us in education, where these same forces also seem to be at work, defining much of the forward-looking work in our field.

Continue reading “Critical . . . of What?”

Last week’s New York Times had a fascinating profile of Robin DiAngelo.  Now that her work is so ubiquitous, it’s interesting to see some reviewers and readers giving her work much closer scrutiny. When I read her book “White Fragility” last year, I had not read many books in the critical theory tradition, so I was quite taken aback by some of the claims she made and new definitions she proposed. I thought some of her ideas were extremely promising and some deeply questionable. Yet it was difficult to find much substantive discussion of it online or in the press.

But just a year later, DiAngelo is in the news so much, we’re starting to see people writing about her and discussing her work more carefully.  This NYT profile was a good example: it’s pretty balanced, and a few times the author, Daniel Bergner, probes deeper to get at some of the more latent issues.  I thought there were some really interesting things to think about — particularly for those of us who work in schools.

Continue reading “Radical Pluralism”

This winter, as I began reading more about the history of progressive education in the US, it seemed to me that some of the most interesting critics were the ones the textbook I was reading called “The Romantic Critics” (Herbert Kohl, Jonathan Kozol, et al.) because of their indebtedness to Romantic forefather Jean Jacques Rousseau.  I told myself then that I had to go back and revisit Rousseau’s seminal work on education, Emile.  When I saw this book on a list of the thirty best ed books, coming from a blogger and author whose opinion I respect, I ordered the book.

Continue reading “Emile”

This has been an incredible time for free speech debate in the United States.  Like all true free speech advocates, I love it when people air divergent views — even about the importance of free speech itself.  I say this because, deep down, I continue to feel optimistic about our ability to arrive at truth through reason and argumentation.  I really do believe in the notion that through a clash of viewpoints in the marketplace of ideas comes the closest thing we can get to truth and consensus.

Continue reading “The Criticisms of Free Speech”

The last month has seen unprecedented social activism and debate that cuts to the very core of who we are as a country.  While much of the advocacy has focused on police reform or political reform, some, inevitably, has focused on educational reform.  

In fact — a fun side note — the NBA is allowing its players to choose various social justice slogans to put on their jerseys this year.  Examples include, Black Lives Matter; Say Their Names; Vote; I Can’t Breathe; Justice; Peace; Equality; or Freedom.

One of the choices is “Education Reform.” 

Continue reading “Reform”