CTSJ 273 Schooling for Conformity/Learning as Cultural Critique

What purposes have been served by schooling and learning in past and contemporary societies? In the United States, state models of schooling have long been connected, overtly and covertly, to economic imperatives. This course examines the complex relationships between schooling, economy, and cultural politics through ethnographic documentations of American Schools. Schooling has been used both to support and supplant fundamental American values in the U.S. Critical examination will include: attention to early 19th century activism on behalf of working class children, Native American Schools, schooling in prison, and the No Child Left Behind Act. This course requires enrollment in a CBL lab and satisfies the experiential learning requirement for the Critical Theory and Social Justice major.