Defending Public Education
When Partisanship, Anarchic Dissent, and Universal Singularity Attack
Published on 16. April 2024
Book
Hardback
202 pages
978-1-4758-7381-8 (ISBN)
Description
Traditional public education is at a pivotal juncture in history. A structural divide generated by partisanship creates two major perspectives about America's schooling. This book takes the reader to the brink of the chasm that divides America's schooling. One perspective equips students with the capabilities for navigating precarious-balance, the other adheres to static-balance. These dynamically opposed iterations of balance are the origin of a battle to determine which perspective will control education, and, as a result, control citizenship, government, and individual rights. Throughout this discussion, the tactics and intentions of the foes of public schools are called-out for their devastating impact on teaching, learning, and social reality. This book is a clarion call to defend traditional public schools and their role as the launching pad for the intellectual autonomy and open futures that all US students deserve.
Reviews / Votes
Public education has never faced so many threats and attacks. Under the guise of "parental rights" and "reform," the enemies of public education seek to defund, demoralize, and destroy our most important public institution. Senior scholar and former public school administrator Dr. Jeff Swensson explains the full scope of these assaults and provides an insightful path forward. If you seek to fully understand what is at stake in the battle for quality, inclusive public education, Defending Public Education is a must-read. -- Daphne Elliot, Brookside Middle School teacher International Baccalaureate Program, Sarasota, Florida In Defending Public Education, Jeff Swensson offers a crystallizing lens on the latest ideologically motivated attacks against traditional public education. Whereas the aim of "traditional" public education in a pluralistic society is to equip students for civic engagement in a diverse and uncertain world that demands of them agility and openness, this increasingly strident partisan movement seeks to manufacture the illusion of stability at the cost of truth, intellect, and inclusion-mainly by constraining what students are exposed to and how they are asked to think or not think about it. Swensson compellingly articulates this ideological divide, decodes the partisan rhetoric, and shows how profound the stakes of this struggle are for the future of our democracy. -- Diane Shane Fruchtman, PhD, associate professor of religion, Rutgers University In Defending Public Education, Jeff Swensson firmly establishes himself as one of the great educational thought leaders of the 21st century and champion for traditional public education. Throughout his prior books, and achieving a triumphant denouement in this one, Swensson demonstrates that the purpose of education is to teach students not what-to-think but rather how to think on behalf of the common good. In so doing, Swensson debunks the popular antagonistic voices that claim authenticity simply because they speak loudly and at great length. A "must read" for all who believe in public education. -- Michael Shaffer, associate professor of Educational Leadership - Clinical, Ball State University, Indiana Jeff Swensson shares the purpose of public education that reveals the intention to create a level playing field for all students in this country who will be leaders and innovative contributors in our society. Dr. Swensson exposes the groups who are trying to undermine public education using falsehoods and myths. This book exposes the truth behind the veil of "parental rights" and discusses how this smokescreen creates a scenario in which adults win and students lose. Defending Public Education engages the reader with the dangers inherent in the attack on our public schools and explains why the defense of public education is critical to the open futures and intellectual autonomy that all students deserve. -- Anne Duff, Ft. Wayne Community Schools Board of Trustees, member; Indiana Coalition for Public Education, secretaryMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
United States
Publishing group
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 236 mm
Width: 158 mm
Thickness: 21 mm
Weight
499 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4758-7381-8 (9781475873818)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Jeff Swensson
Defending Public Education
When Partisanship, Anarchic Dissent, and Universal Singularity Attack
E-Book
03/2024
1st Edition
Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
€33.49
Available for download
Person
Jeff Swensson is a veteran educator who has served in public schools throughout the Midwest. He is the co-author or author of six books that focus on instruction, curriculum, leadership, finance, student learning, and contemporary issues in traditional public education.
Content
Dedication
Acknowledgements
Table of Contents
Prologue
Introduction: Just Look Inside This Book and You Will See...
Section One-Balance?
Chapter 1: About Teeter-Totters and Educational Choice
The History of US Education Is its Topography
Parents and Caregivers
A Small Piece of Democracy
Chapter 2: The Common Good
The Rule of Law
About Free Market Education
About-Face in the Marketplace
Chapter 3: The Best Interests of...
Informal and Formal Education
Who Knows Better What Are Best Interests?
Closely-Held Beliefs Know Best Interests
Networks Know Best Interests
Partisanship Knows Best Interests
US Education Knows Best Interests
Following a Long Arc to Best Interests
Disrupting the Arc
It's Not Education, It's Shopping!
Buying Best Interests: Boutique-Ideology
Chapter 4: Partisanship
The Way Things Were Is the Way They're Supposed to Be
When Enough Is Enough
The Fly in the Ointment for Partisanship: Learning
Where Learning Thrives
Partisanship Can't Function
Repairing Function: One-Faith Education
Repairing Function: Push-Back Against the Arc
The CRT Straw Man
Adult-Centric Education
Partisans Recoil
For Partisans, the Present Is Downright Scary
Certainty About What There Is to Fear
Partisans Can See Clearly Now
Chapter 5: I See These Threats Looking at Me
Intellectual Autonomy
Compelling State Interest
The Outside-World
Partisanship Accommodations
Down a Fear-Filled Rabbit Hole
To Restore Partisanship in US Education
Chapter 6: Revolt of the Likeminded
No Likeminded Parent Left Behind
Limiting the Universe of Discourse
Rejecting How to Think and the Common Good
The Art of the Straw Man
Orthodoxy Trumps Majority Rule
Section Two-Deus Ex Machina in the Script for Partisanship
Chapter 7: Preemptive Censorship
Oh Where, Oh Where Has Thinking Gone?
Discriminatory Thinking, Anyone?
What If Preemption Doesn't Work?
Chapter 8: Anarchic Dissent
Anarchic Dissent Is as Partisanship Does
The Ideological Foundation of Anarchic Dissent
Public Dissonance
Public Dissonance on Behalf of Parental Rights
Anarchic Dissent: Ideological "Demo-Day"
A Six-Pound Partisan Sledge Hammer
A Twelve-Pound Partisan Sledge Hammer
The Granddaddy of All Partisan Sledge Hammers
The Anarchic Dissonance of "Liberty"
Saving Public Education by Destroying It
Chapter 9: Rights and US Education
The Exclusive Rights of Partisanship
The Right to Perpetual Winning
Standardized Testing: Brass Knuckles in Partisan Boxing Gloves
The Right to Determine Losers
The Right to Defund Losers
The Right to What-to-Think
The Right to Dumb-Down Learning
A Circular Bill of Rights: Partisanship's Gift to Education
Section Three-The Foes of Traditional Public Education
Chapter 10: Partisan Education
More to Ideology than Meets the Eye
Partisan Education: A Transactional Relationship
Transactional Relationships Are Exclusionary
A Pox on the House of Intellectual Autonomy
The Ethos of Partisan Education
Partisan Education: What Is Right and What Is True
Orthodoxy: Limitless or Limited?
Weaponizing Partisan Education
A Retreat from Conscience
Commitment to Preemption
Retreating Is "Winning"
Money: The Partisanship Weapon for Choice
Just How Much Does All This Cost?
Section Four-Religion, Courts, the Feds, and Public School
Chapter 11: Evolution-The Faithful Sound the Alarm
Faithful Partisanship, Evolution, and Learning
What Science Says
Alarming Court Decisions
Whose Faith for Public Education?
Putting Faith in the Courts
Chapter 12: Schools and Rights-Burdens, Exposure, and Compulsory Conduct
A Two-Prong Test
When Public Education Meets the US Constitution
The US Supreme Court and US Education
The First Amendment
Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier
Board of Education v. Pico
The Third Amendment
The Fourteenth Amendment
Chapter 13: To Reform or Not to Reform?
The Destination Is Reform. Are We There Yet?
I'm Free to Be Me and You're Free to Be Me
Partisans Are the public
Partisan Things Are Not Public Things
When Reform Is Not Partisan
The Amish and Reform
In the Aftermath of Yoder
Hasidic Communities and Reform
In the Aftermath of Yeshiva Education
The Compelling Interests of Partisanship
SEL: A Fear-Inducing Bogeyman
The Unheralded Resource for Partisanship
A Comeuppance for Partisanship
Section Five-US Education: Journey or Destination?
Chapter 14: The Compass Rose: Purpose
The Journey of Constitutional Democracy
The Journey of Civic Respect
The Journey of Citizenship Education
The Effects of Citizenship Education
Necessary Neutrality
Balance-as-Equity
The Journey of Open Futures
The Journey of "We" in the Common Good
Chapter 15: To Defend Public Education-Good Dissent
Good Dissent and Public Things
The Role of Good Dissent Is the Role of Public Education
Section Six-Across the Great Divide
Chapter 16: The Chasm
"Self" Government...or...Self-Government
Static-Balance...or...Precarious-Balance
Universal Singularity...or...Government that Works
Chapter 17: Critical Questions
Question #1: Is Social Reality Fixed or Unfixed?
Question #2: Is Liberty Constraint or Coercion?
Constraint and Coercion in Partisan Education
Constraint and Coercion in Traditional Public Education
Question #3: Does Education Assume a Value of Justice?
Epilogue
Acknowledgements
Table of Contents
Prologue
Introduction: Just Look Inside This Book and You Will See...
Section One-Balance?
Chapter 1: About Teeter-Totters and Educational Choice
The History of US Education Is its Topography
Parents and Caregivers
A Small Piece of Democracy
Chapter 2: The Common Good
The Rule of Law
About Free Market Education
About-Face in the Marketplace
Chapter 3: The Best Interests of...
Informal and Formal Education
Who Knows Better What Are Best Interests?
Closely-Held Beliefs Know Best Interests
Networks Know Best Interests
Partisanship Knows Best Interests
US Education Knows Best Interests
Following a Long Arc to Best Interests
Disrupting the Arc
It's Not Education, It's Shopping!
Buying Best Interests: Boutique-Ideology
Chapter 4: Partisanship
The Way Things Were Is the Way They're Supposed to Be
When Enough Is Enough
The Fly in the Ointment for Partisanship: Learning
Where Learning Thrives
Partisanship Can't Function
Repairing Function: One-Faith Education
Repairing Function: Push-Back Against the Arc
The CRT Straw Man
Adult-Centric Education
Partisans Recoil
For Partisans, the Present Is Downright Scary
Certainty About What There Is to Fear
Partisans Can See Clearly Now
Chapter 5: I See These Threats Looking at Me
Intellectual Autonomy
Compelling State Interest
The Outside-World
Partisanship Accommodations
Down a Fear-Filled Rabbit Hole
To Restore Partisanship in US Education
Chapter 6: Revolt of the Likeminded
No Likeminded Parent Left Behind
Limiting the Universe of Discourse
Rejecting How to Think and the Common Good
The Art of the Straw Man
Orthodoxy Trumps Majority Rule
Section Two-Deus Ex Machina in the Script for Partisanship
Chapter 7: Preemptive Censorship
Oh Where, Oh Where Has Thinking Gone?
Discriminatory Thinking, Anyone?
What If Preemption Doesn't Work?
Chapter 8: Anarchic Dissent
Anarchic Dissent Is as Partisanship Does
The Ideological Foundation of Anarchic Dissent
Public Dissonance
Public Dissonance on Behalf of Parental Rights
Anarchic Dissent: Ideological "Demo-Day"
A Six-Pound Partisan Sledge Hammer
A Twelve-Pound Partisan Sledge Hammer
The Granddaddy of All Partisan Sledge Hammers
The Anarchic Dissonance of "Liberty"
Saving Public Education by Destroying It
Chapter 9: Rights and US Education
The Exclusive Rights of Partisanship
The Right to Perpetual Winning
Standardized Testing: Brass Knuckles in Partisan Boxing Gloves
The Right to Determine Losers
The Right to Defund Losers
The Right to What-to-Think
The Right to Dumb-Down Learning
A Circular Bill of Rights: Partisanship's Gift to Education
Section Three-The Foes of Traditional Public Education
Chapter 10: Partisan Education
More to Ideology than Meets the Eye
Partisan Education: A Transactional Relationship
Transactional Relationships Are Exclusionary
A Pox on the House of Intellectual Autonomy
The Ethos of Partisan Education
Partisan Education: What Is Right and What Is True
Orthodoxy: Limitless or Limited?
Weaponizing Partisan Education
A Retreat from Conscience
Commitment to Preemption
Retreating Is "Winning"
Money: The Partisanship Weapon for Choice
Just How Much Does All This Cost?
Section Four-Religion, Courts, the Feds, and Public School
Chapter 11: Evolution-The Faithful Sound the Alarm
Faithful Partisanship, Evolution, and Learning
What Science Says
Alarming Court Decisions
Whose Faith for Public Education?
Putting Faith in the Courts
Chapter 12: Schools and Rights-Burdens, Exposure, and Compulsory Conduct
A Two-Prong Test
When Public Education Meets the US Constitution
The US Supreme Court and US Education
The First Amendment
Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier
Board of Education v. Pico
The Third Amendment
The Fourteenth Amendment
Chapter 13: To Reform or Not to Reform?
The Destination Is Reform. Are We There Yet?
I'm Free to Be Me and You're Free to Be Me
Partisans Are the public
Partisan Things Are Not Public Things
When Reform Is Not Partisan
The Amish and Reform
In the Aftermath of Yoder
Hasidic Communities and Reform
In the Aftermath of Yeshiva Education
The Compelling Interests of Partisanship
SEL: A Fear-Inducing Bogeyman
The Unheralded Resource for Partisanship
A Comeuppance for Partisanship
Section Five-US Education: Journey or Destination?
Chapter 14: The Compass Rose: Purpose
The Journey of Constitutional Democracy
The Journey of Civic Respect
The Journey of Citizenship Education
The Effects of Citizenship Education
Necessary Neutrality
Balance-as-Equity
The Journey of Open Futures
The Journey of "We" in the Common Good
Chapter 15: To Defend Public Education-Good Dissent
Good Dissent and Public Things
The Role of Good Dissent Is the Role of Public Education
Section Six-Across the Great Divide
Chapter 16: The Chasm
"Self" Government...or...Self-Government
Static-Balance...or...Precarious-Balance
Universal Singularity...or...Government that Works
Chapter 17: Critical Questions
Question #1: Is Social Reality Fixed or Unfixed?
Question #2: Is Liberty Constraint or Coercion?
Constraint and Coercion in Partisan Education
Constraint and Coercion in Traditional Public Education
Question #3: Does Education Assume a Value of Justice?
Epilogue