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CHAPTER 6: Philosophical Roots of Education
deconstruction Critical examination
and dissection of texts or canons to determine the power relationships embedded in their creation and use. Often used by educators who follow postmodernist philosophy.
for the elites who hold power and want to use it over others, especially the poor, minorities, and women.28 In their analysis of education, postmodernists use the concepts of subordination (a powerful elite’s control of disempowered groups and classes) and marginalization (the social, political, economic, and educational process of pushing powerless groups to the edges of society). An example of subordination occurs when politically powerful groups mandate certain educational requirements, such as a core curriculum and standardized testing of prescribed subjects, for other less powerful groups. For example, postmodernists would likely see the Common Core State Standards as a top-down imposition on schools and teachers by powerful elite groups. Marginalization takes place when schools teach an official history that focuses on the achievement of white males of the dominant group and either ignores or reduces the histories of women and minorities as a minor supplement to the story. Claiming that knowledge as a human construction is expressed by language, Derrida developed deconstruction as a method to trace the origin and the meaning of texts or canons.29 (A canon is a work, typically a book, prized as having authoritative knowledge.) A text is often a book, but it might also be a movie, a play, or another type of cultural representation. In education, a text is often a curriculum guide, a DVD, or a digital or print book, including a textbook, such as the one you are reading. The purpose of deconstruction is to show that texts, rather than reflecting metaphysical truths or objective knowledge, are biased historical and cultural constructions that involve political power relationships. For example, you can deconstruct this book or any textbook by answering such questions as the following: Who are the authors? Why did they write the book? What were their motives? Does the text endorse a particular ideology? Does that ideology support some people, groups, or classes over others? Proponents of the Great Books curriculum, discussed later in this chapter, elevate certain books of Western culture to a high status, claiming that they provide highly valuable insights into life and society. However, some postmodernists criticize these texts for emphasizing Western culture while marginalizing Asian and African cultures. Postmodernists would say that texts such as Plato’s Republic and Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, though exalted as having an enduring universal moral authority, are mere historical pieces that can be deconstructed to determine how they were and are used as rationales for the domination of one group over another.30 In deconstructing a canon or text, postmodernists ask the following questions: (1) What people, events, and situations at a particular time gave prominence to the canon? (2) Who gives a canon a privileged status in a culture or society, and who benefits from its acceptance as an authority? (3) Does the canon exclude underrepresented and marginalized individuals and groups? The answers to these questions point to those who hold actual social, economic, political, and educational power in a particular culture and society. Postmodernists raise questions about who sets the standards for education and determines the skills and subjects found in the curriculum. For example, postmodernists would encourage the deconstruction of the Common Core State Standards by asking the following: Who set the standards and determined the curriculum? What skills and experiences do the standards include or exclude? Do the standards establish official knowledge and set power relationships among groups? (For an affirmation of these standards, see the section on essentialism later in this chapter.)
For Foucault and education, see Gail McNicol Jardine, Foucault & Education (New York: Peter Lang, 2005); and Mark Olssen, Michel Foucault: Materialism and Education (Boulder, CO: Paradigm Publishers, 2006). 29 Gert J. J. Biesta, Derrida and Education (New York: Routledge, 2011); and Peter P. Trifonas and Michael Peters, Derrida, Deconstruction, and Education: Ethics of Pedagogy and Research (Oxford, UK: Blackwell, 2004). 30 David E. Cooper, “Postmodernism,” in Randall Curren, ed., A Companion to the Philosophy of Education (Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing, 2006), pp. 206–217. 28
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