From Studyplace

THE 3RD RADICAL PHILOSOPHIES AND EDUCATION ANNUAL SEMINAR

COURSE PROFESSOR

DR. JOHN BALDACCHINO

COURSE T.A.

GUILLERMO MARINI

Rationale

This course completes the ‘Radical Philosophies’ cycle that is offered to TC through two other courses: Radical Philosophies and Education, and Radical Aesthetics and Education. This is the third annual seminar. The first seminar was held in Spring, 2007 and focused on the work of Ernesto Laclau, and in Spring 2008, we held the 3rd Annual Seminar featuring Jacques Rancière. On both occasions, professors Laclau and Rancière gava a public lecture in which the students attending the course and the larger TC Columbia community had the opportunity to make questions and discuss aspects of their work.

The Radical Philosophies rationale is mainly prompted by the need to address education from a course of discussion and thinking that lies outside the debate between ‘conservative’, ‘liberal’ and ‘progressive’ trinity. Radical thought, especially in its contemporary engagement with Pragmatic, Deconstructionist and Post-Marxist discourses, is proving to be more than a political brawl on the fringe. Rather, students are coming with experiences of marginalized populations that could only be addressed outside the spheres by which education has traditional taken its reassurances.

In the specific TC context, this course also reinforces and works on the strands of interests generated by Philosophy, Cultural Studies, Gender, Race and Trans-Cultural Studies, as professed by many colleagues, whose work generally congregates around broad notions of pedagogy in its transformative and critical contexts. A serious study of Radical Philosophy with respect to Education is also intended to address a general gap in the discipline of education, where often literature remains concentrated on philosophies that directly address education from within.

Radical Philosophies

The 3rd Radical Philosophies & Education Annual Seminar: MAXINE GREENE

Maxine Greene has inspired generations of educators within and beyond Teachers College. This Annual Seminar is an opportunity to read closely and rigorously two of her major works: The Dialectic of Freedom and Releasing the Imagination. In these works Greene reaffirms her central argument that learning is a radical catalyst for possibility as this emerges through our understanding of the self and the imaginary. Such an understanding begins to indicate a viable and tangible route for liberation where learning becomes a potent political force of change.

The goal of this seminar is to understand the political, philosophical and aesthetic roots of Maxine Greene’s work. We will pay particular attention to radical philosophers and authors who have influenced her, particularly the work of John Dewey, Hannah Arendt, Jean Paul Sartre, Albert Camus and Maurice Merleau-Ponty as well as Virginia Woolf, Toni Morrison, and Ralph Ellison.

This class is led by John Baldacchino, whose newly published book Education Beyond Education: Self and the Imaginary in Maxine Greene’s Philosophy lays specific focus on the radical philosophical aspects of Greene’s work.

The class can also speak with Professor Greene during a Q & A session led by Professor John Baldacchino and at an informal gathering which follows the event.

Course Objectives

This course is intended to:

• Study in depth a contemporary text of radical philosophy.
• Discuss and understand the positioning of this text with regards to other texts written by the same author
• Assess this work with regards to its relevance to the educational field.
• Offer student-participants the opportunity to meet the author her/himself who will give a lecture and who will answer a number of questions that emerge from the seminar programme.

Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of this course, students will be expected to achieve a number of Learning Outcomes against which their work will be assessed. As this course stands, it is expected that upon its completion, students would have:

• Familiarized themselves with the text that is being studied and discussed
• Assessed their own position vis-à-vis the basic tenets of the particular theorist studied
• Recognized and engaged with content in view of the educational field.
• Developed an appropriate set of ideas and reflections that would provide an effective platform for the further development of their research and interests.

Organization

Professor: Dr John Baldacchino, Associate Professor of Art Education.
Office: 444C Macy Hall; E-Mail: jb2445@col....edu; Telephone: 212 678 3461
Teaching Assistant: Guillermo Marini, PhD student, Philosophy of Education Program.
E-Mail: gjm2119@col....edu

Delivery of the Course

It is expected that this Course will be delivered through active student involvement.

Course delivery will be a mix of:

• Readings-Seminars where students will read and discuss one chosen text in dept.
• The text will be read and discussed in view of other texts written by the same author.
• Also background to the author’s own position will be provided and put to discussion. The need to focus on one text is dictated by the rigour by which students are expected to familiarise themselves with it.

Inquiry-Based Group Work.

During these sessions students may work in groups where a number of questions will be set to enable them de-and re-construct their own research interests. The idea is that through peer discussion, students will have the opportunities to have their research questioned and thereby put at the centre of a dialogue. This also offers the opportunity to students to ‘defend’ their position.

Guest Speaker’s Lecture and Question & Answer session.

The author of the text that is discussed will be invited to give a lecture and to participate in a Q&A session. This will be the major feature of this course, where it is expected that the discussion will move from the general arguments of the chosen text to a more focused discussion of how the work relates to education.

Day, Time and Place

Seminars: Friday & Saturday, February 20 & 21 and 27 & 28, 9am-5pm.
Maxine Greene Lecture: March 3, 5-8pm.
Where: Zankel 418

Services for Students with Disabilities

The College will make reasonable accommodations for persons with documented disabilities. Students are encouraged to contact the Office of Access and Services for Individuals with Disabilities for information about registration (166 Thorndike Hall). Services are available only to students who are registered and submit appropriate documentation.

Religious Observance

It is the policy of Teachers College to respect faculty and student observance of their major religious holidays. Where academic scheduling conflicts prove unavoidable, no student will be penalized for absence due to religious reasons, and alternative means will be sought for satisfying the academic requirements involved. Every effort is made in this course to provide course content in several forms that supplement the delivery of the lectures. Consequently information is posted as files that can be downloaded on Classweb, all articles referenced are available as downloadable files, and the required texts are on reserve. Office Hours are held each week to assist with any follow-up needed on an individual basis.

If you are aware that you will miss a class it is your responsibility to notify the instructor and if necessary make alternative arrangements to access the information. As noted above, most of the lecture content is available on-line, however, there may be other resources available that can be made available. Liaising with the instructor well before the class to be missed is essential.

Class Schedule

Friday, 20th February 2009

Sessions 1 and 2: INTRODUCTION

GREENE’S WORK: A JUNCTURE BETWEEN ANGLO-AMERICAN AND CONTINENTAL PHILOSOPHIES

This session will give an overview of Greene’s philosophical foundations: what has influenced her work, and where does it come from in terms of the questions that have attracted her attention at the beginning of her career, but also which issues and problems she continues to find relevant and central to her own philosophical position with regards to the question of learning and education. From this general context, we will move to focus on the political questions that are raised in her work, and whether the notion of the political in education is carried from a specific positioning; and more specifically whether Greene’s political stance cuts across the conventional assumptions made by terms like pragmatism, liberalism, socialism, progressivism, etc. Could one argue that Maxine Greene falls within the ranks of critical pedagogy? Is she a Deweyan? Is Peter McLaren right when he regards Greene as a “Left-liberal”? Or could one align her existentialist position as pertinent to what could be identified as a form of radical democratic position?

Main Reading

Supplementary Reading

Sessions 3 and 4: Self and the Imaginary

Saturday 21st February 2009

In the context of how Greene develops her philosophy, one must never forget that her point of departure is the situatedness of the self. As Greene argues, to learn is to be situated. In terms of the political implication of this act, one could see that learning is not just a question of gaining knowledge, but about how the self comes to know itself by being itself. This is achieved when knowledge emerges from one’s recognition of the limit of what one could know. Through the limits of one’s existential situation, one becomes conscious of the interpretive responsibility that we all have. In terms of understanding Greene’s work, this is crucial, especially when it comes to appreciate the existentialist roots of her philosophy. Equally one would appreciate how Greene’s work takes us through a further reading of phenomenology, where situatedness is understood through the subjective appreciation of one’s lived body. In this respect we come to realize that interpretive abilities of women and men to engage with the world is not only limited to what we read or write, but more so with what we see and feel. This is where hermeneutics (as a philosophy of interpretation) gains central position in how we learn. The power of knowing one’s limits by which one could then imagine a world of possibilities beyond such limits, is strongly backed by Greene’s engagement with literature and the arts. Here, the imagination gains a central position both as a means of being and knowing, as well as a form of imagining and acting on and with the world. It is in how this human ability becomes a horizon for an understanding of human possibility that we would look at the radical realms of human learning. In these sessions we will be looking at how Greene develops a philosophy of the self and in turn how this is contextualized in the act of the imagination. This is also where we can recognize and savour the radical positions that her philosophy portends when it comes to learning in general and aesthetic education in particular.

Main Reading

Greene, Maxine (1995). Releasing the Imagination. Essays on Education, the Arts and Social Change (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass)

Supplementary Reading

Greene, Maxine (1986). ‘The Spaces of Aesthetic Education’ Journal of Aesthetic Education, Vol. 20, No. 4, 20th Anniversary Issue (Winter, 1986), pp. 56-62. (Accessed through JSTOR)

Session 4 and 5: Freedom and Learning

Friday, 27th February 2009

Here we come to the fundamental political underpinning of notions of freedom and learning. Reading Greene one cannot forget or indeed ignore the American political traditions, as these emerge from major historical events, which have, more than anything characterized what ensues in terms of how American civil society and its political classes view issues of democracy, education and freedom. A quick glance at American history one cannot miss the Revolution, the Civil War and The Cold War. Without these contexts it is impossible to understand the questions that arise around civil rights, social class and equality, race and emancipation, sexuality and procreation … not to mention the issue of faith, freedom of conscience, religion and politics, the secular state … Any reading of Greene’s work, and more so her work The Dialectic of Freedom cannot ignore the fact that when it comes to education freedom and democracy, history remains key. What is it key to? One may ask. The answer is as quick as much as it remains complex: History is key to understand how freedom and responsibility are tied to each other to the extent that one notion of liberty is never like another; that faith and its role in the making of the United States is rooted in an equal consideration of a freedom of conscience, where one religious conviction is never privileged over another, let alone over a state of affairs where there is none; that indeed the assumption of learning is not simply tied to the right to schooling — which in itself becomes hollow unless one qualifies what a right is and what schooling implies. Here we begin to see how Greene’s work approaches this — not only through the great traditions bequeathed to us by the intellectual paragons of this country — such as Jefferson, Thoreau, Emerson, James, Dewey, just to mention a notable few — but also in how the continental traditions come into play, where notions of freedom, education and democracy may share similar histories, but which are equally rooted in radically different contexts as well.

Main Reading

Greene, Maxine (1988). The Dialectic of Freedom (New York: Teachers College Press)

Supplementary Reading

Sessions 5 and 6

Saturday, 28th February, 2009

Student Presentations

Conversation with Maxine Greene & Q&A

3rd March, 2009, 6-8pm, Grace Dodge 179 (on Teachers College campus)

Assessment/Class Assignment

Students will be assessed by way of an Academic Essay

• Nature of the Essay: In this course, an essay implies an in dept analysis of a chapter

or passages from one of Greene’s texts (cross referenced with other relevant texts and sources) where the student is expected to show an ability to sum up the main argument, understand the context of the chosen text, and find (or create for it) the implication/s that it holds for radical philosophy and education.

• The Format of the Essay is mainly text-based although other forms of rendition (such

as a visual/other response or even an electronic interactive format) are welcome upon prior discussion with the course professor.

• Standardisation: Whatever the format, the Essay should include full referencing and

bibliography — and it must follow the standards stipulated by Teachers College. This programme follows APA Guidelines as described in The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (latest edition).

• Length of Essay: 2500 to 3000 words (for 1 Credit point); 3500 to 4000 words (2

Credits) [THIS IS JUST FOR YOUR GUIDANCE: Please read this in a very broad sense — we don’t want students to get too anxious over length]

• Submission Date: By no later than a week before the end of Semester

Definition of Grades At Teachers College

Note: Below you will find Teachers College’s Definition of Grades as cited verbatim from the Office of the Registrar (source: http://www.tc.columbia.edu/registrar/grades.htm)

Grades are defined as follows:

• A+ Rare performance. Reserved for highly exceptional, rare achievement
• A Excellent. Outstanding achievement.
• A- Excellent work, but not quite outstanding.
• B+ Very good. Solid achievement expected of most graduate students.
• B Good. Acceptable achievement.
• B-Acceptable achievement, but below what is generally expected of graduate students.
• C+ Fair achievement, above minimally acceptable level.
• C Fair achievement, but only minimally acceptable.
• C-Very low performance. The records of students receiving such grades are subject to review. The result of this review could be denial of permission to register for further study at Teachers College. No more than three points of C-may be credited toward any degree or diploma. Students completing requirements for more than one degree or diploma may count three points of C-toward only one such award. A student who accumulates eight points or more in C-or lower grades will not be permitted to continue study at the College and will not be awarded a degree or diploma.
• F Failure. The records of students receiving such grades are subject to review. The result of this review could be denial of permission to register for further study at Teachers College. A course usually may not be repeated unless it is a required course. When the course is

required, the student will reregister and obtain a satisfactory grade. The previous grade remains on the transcript.

• P Passed. Some courses are graded only on a pass/fail basis for the instances in which greater evaluation specificity is neither required nor desirable and is used to indicate passing performances when only dichotomous evaluation is used. At no time will the transcript carry any other grade nor will supplementary statements be issued. Application for the Pass/Fail option is to made during the first three class sessions with the approval of the course instructor. Applications are available in the Office of the Registrar, 150 Horace Mann. Once the option is approved, it may not be changed.
• DP Doctoral pass credit. The grade of DP may be assigned only to a certified doctoral candidate in a Teachers College course, having successfully completed all requirements prescribed by the instructor. The candidate must request DP credit before two-thirds of the class sessions have met. Eligibility is determined upon presentation of the doctoral identification card, and a record of the request for a DP grade is made by completing a form obtainable from the Office of the Registrar. DP credit is available to doctoral students only in terms subsequent to the terms in which the student is certified. DP credit may not be used toward M.A. or M.S. degree requirements. A maximum of 6 points of DP credit
• WD, YC, R, YC may be used toward Ed.M. degree requirements.
• Withdrawn. Withdrawal occurring subsequent to the close of the change-of-program period during the term. See section on withdrawal from courses.
• Year Course. The symbol "YC is assigned for the first half of a year course (courses with a "z suffix). At the end of the second half, the grade is entered on the transcript denoting the instructor's evaluation.

• Attendance Credit.

Students desiring R credit for any course must request permission, in writing, to the instructor, before two-thirds of the class sessions have met. The instructor may approve or deny the request. If approval is granted, the instructor may stipulate requirements to be met in addition to regular attendance. Forms are available in the Office of the Registrar to be used for obtaining approval. Mathematics majors in the department of Mathematics and Science Education must have their applications cosigned by the program coordinator. The applicability of R credit in meeting degree program requirements is noted as follows: For Master of Arts and Master of Science degrees, no R credit is permissible. For Master of Education degree programs, a maximum of six semester hours of attendance credit is acceptable in meeting the point requirement, but may not be used to satisfy the three-course out-of-department requirement. For doctoral programs, a maximum of nine semester hours of attendance credit is permitted toward the minimum point requirement for the degree, provided they are not used to fulfill the minimum distribution requirements.

Incompletes

IN Incomplete. The grade of Incomplete is to be assigned only when the course attendance requirement has been met but, for reasons satisfactory to the instructor, the granting of a final grade has been postponed because certain course assignments are outstanding. If the outstanding assignments are completed within one calendar year from the date of the close of term in which the grade of Incomplete was received and a final grade submitted, the final grade will be recorded on the permanent transcript, replacing the grade of Incomplete, with a transcript notation indicating the date that the grade of Incomplete was replaced by a final grade. As of the Autumn Term 2004, the Faculty has approved the following change in the policy on Incomplete grades. If the outstanding work is not completed within one calendar year from the date of the close of term in which the grade of Incomplete was received, the grade will remain as a permanent Incomplete on the transcript. In such instances, if the course is a required course or part of an approved program of study, students will be required to re-enroll in the course including repayment of all tuition and fee charges for the new registration and satisfactorily complete all course requirements. If the required course is not offered in subsequent terms, the student should speak with the faculty advisor or Program Coordinator about their options for fulfilling the degree requirement. Doctoral students with six or more credits with grades of Incomplete included on their program of study will not be allowed to sit for the certification exam.

13. Attendance Policy

Students are expected to attend all classes for which they are registered and are responsible for absences incurred by late enrolment.

John Baldacchino Teachers College Columbia University Monday, 2 February 2009