An Emancipatory Authority?

Abstract

In this paper, I argue that the main political perspectives on politics and education in North America inadequately deal with the problem that authority poses for education, particularly in a democratic context. To briefly demonstrate the limitations of the main political perspectives, the first half of the paper focuses on three exemplary authors from each of the central political camps: from the liberal, Amy Gutmann, from the conservative, Allan Bloom, and from the radical, Henry Giroux. Then, in second half of the paper, I turn to the work of Jacques Ranciere to suggest that he may provide a way to think the problem of authority in education that does not encounter the same limitations as the main political perspectives. In particular, this section examines Ranciere’s exploration of the nineteenth century pedagogue, Joseph Jacotot, in his book The Ignorant Schoolmaster: five lessons in intellectual emancipation. I argue that Ranciere’s presentation of Jacotot highlights a practice of education in which the authority involved in this practice directly promotes freedom, but not because it adopts either a conservative or dogmatic vision. Thus, Ranciere’s exploration of Jacotot could help us not only to understand the role of authority in education differently, but also to imagine an educational practice that is more democratic.