Editor's Introduction: In Search of the Common Good

Abstract

While teaching a certification course entitled Issues and Reforms in American Secondary Schools, I sought to contextualize some of our country's current schooling issues with the help of the Public Broadcasting System's popular video The Merrow Report: In Schools We Trust. At the heart of John Merrow's historical documentary are two questions: What is the purpose of public schools? And who determines their direction? While Merrow's documentary discusses a broad array of cultural and political influences within the 150 or so years that communities within the United States have provided public schooling, one influence remains as a pervasively felt presence throughout the report. At times it is presented as the dominant educational stance within a particular era, while at other times it appears to have been almost eclipsed by a call to move back to the basics or towards an emphasis on increased economic security. However, this felt presence is a reality--that in spite of often concentrated efforts to do so--is difficult to ignore. No matter what various politicians or citizen groups have argued should be the purpose of the public schools, the fact remains that our educational systems operate within a country that claims a democratic form of government; the very nature of which indicates the necessity of providing educational opportunities for all. To divorce the purposes of our public schools from our political identity is a dangerous thing. To ignore the connections between the public schools and democracy is to make those schools expendable--to ignore the common good. Therefore, rather than argue about whether or not schools should inculcate students with democratic values, we should focus on exploring the ways in which our schools and society might move beyond narrowly individualistic perceptions of what contributing to a democracy can mean. Although it would be a mistake to reduce this issue's authors' meaning-making solely to an exploration of democracy, their writings do contribute to an increased understanding of what educating towards and contributing to the common good can mean. Among others, this issue grapples with democracy-related questions such as: What does it mean to implement effective instruction that honors the needs of all individuals within science classrooms? What are some of the ways, in which we can equip students to act as effective citizens in an era of globalization? What can educational researchers, teachers, and administrators learn about the common good from groups who have left public schools for other educational options? And in what ways do the ethical considerations that contribute to American perceptions of work, tell us something about the place of community in relation to individual interests and economic production within our society? Although diverse in content, each incorporates a felt presence that is uniquely democratic; a concern for the common good is pervasive. Five of this issue's eight articles deal directly with educational theory and practice in ways that also connect to life and growth within a democratic society. In Critical Constructivism for Teaching and Learning in a Democratic Society, Michael Bentley, Stephen C. Fleury, and Jim Garrison point out that the version of constructivism that has been most widely accepted among mainstream teacher educators has been trivialized, in that it is often devoid of reflection, social consciousness, and democratic citizenship. The authors caution that when constructivism is decontextualized in this way, the danger exists that pre-service teachers will view constructivism as just one more teaching technique; which, in turn, will put them at risk of fail[ing] to become aware of the political consequences of particular pedagogical decisions. Although careful to explain that recipe approaches to teaching a critical constructivism do not exist, the authors describe process-oriented frameworks that often lead pre-service science and social studies teachers towards a critical understanding of constructivism and its potentially positive role in educating for the common good. …