Kathleen Knight Abowitz

Contemporary Discourses of Citizenship

Meanings of “citizenship,” a concept that has informed teaching practices since nation-states first institutionalized schooling, are shaped over time and through cultural struggles. This article presents a conceptual framework for the discourses that currently construct the meanings of citizenship in contemporary Western cultures, particularly the United States. Using discourse analysis, the authors examine texts related to citizenship and citizenship education from 1990 through 2003, identifying seven distinct but overlapping frameworks that ascribe meaning to citizenship. The “civic republican” and “liberal” frameworks are the most influential in shaping current citizenship education; five others are the most active in contesting the terrain of citizenship practices in lived political arenas. The “transnational” and “critical” discourses have yet to significantly challenge the dominant discourses that shape citizenship education in schools. This article questions the view of political life in Western democracies that is promoted by the dominant discourses of citizenship in K–12 schooling.

A Pragmatist Revisioning of Resistance Theory

Resistance theorists in education urge educators to evaluate the moral and political potential of opposition in schools. The scholarship of resistance calls us to examine oppositional acts of students in school settings as moral and political expressions of oppression. Resistance theorizing over the past several decades has not, however, adequately explored the idea that resistance is communication; that is, a means of signaling and constructing new meanings, and of building a discourse around particular problems of exclusion or inequality. In this paper, I use pragmatist theories of inquiry and communication to interpret and critique resistance theories in education. Using Dewey and Bentleys notion of transactionalism (1946), I present a theoretical framework for future inquiry into school opposition. Interpreting resistance theory through a pragmatist lens leads to a more relational reading of resistance, and can promote school-based inquiry (rather than simple avoidance or punishment) directed toward acts of resistance in schools.

Democratic Communities and Business/ Education "Partnerships" in Secondary Education

Democratic ideals of equality, freedom, and common problem-solving help ensure that schools are governed as communities, in Deweys sense of the term, wherein all members share in defining the purposes and processes of the group. In this paper, qualitative case study data of a business–public school partnership is examined in order to describe, analyze, and evaluate this partnership based upon democratic criteria established by Deweyan pragmatism. The analysis of the business/education partnership enables educators to better understand the potential for, and inhibitors of, the kind of genuine social growth among school and corporate partners that can serve public agendas rather than private profits.

Charter Schooling and Democratic Justice

As the mixed achievements of charter schools come under more intense political inspection, the conceptual underpinnings of current charter school reform remain largely unexamined. This article focuses on one moral-political concept centrally related to school reform and policy, the concept of justice. Using examples from the state of Ohio, the authors sketch two contrary concepts of justice, tracing their logical trajectory to varied empirical consequences as these relate to charter schooling policy. They contrast these two theories of justice as “libertarian justice” and “democratic justice.” There is ample evidence to suggest that a libertarian sense of justice has pervasively shaped charter policies and minimal evidence to suggest the influence of a democratic sense of justice, based on principles of both recognition and redistribution. The full democratic potential of charter schooling reform cannot be achieved without a democratic conception of justice driving its policies and goals.