Is There Room for a Progressive Christian Critique of Public Education?
The problem is not that public schools do not work well, but that they do. There is no neutral education. Education is either for domestication or for freedom. (Kozol, 1975)
There is general consensus within large segments of the academic community that educational practice is never a neutral enterprise. My interest lies mainly in the area of educational psychology, specifically critical educational psychology, which involves looking at (and sensitizing students to) the ways that psychology serves decidedly non-neutral ends.
Stephen Vassallo (2017) wrote:
Development is inseparable from culture, ideology, power, politics, and history. There is no such thing as a neutral and value-free developmental idea, but rather, viewing students developmentally is a political, cultural, ideological, and historical act. Forgetting is necessary for a science of psychology.
And …
If one forgets the context of the emergence of psychological concepts, which are used to construct students’ psychological profiles, then representations of students might seem like objective depictions.
Individual and institutional perspectives and world views inform professional practice in all areas, including the educational sphere. The writings of Martin Buber (1988), Michel Foucault (1994), Paulo Freire (1998), Henry Giroux (2015), and Joel Spring (2018), among others, have also emphasized the central role of positionality as foundational to – and determinative of – professional insight. In varied but similar ways, each of these writers asserts that educators’ decisions and actions are driven by the individual and/or communal perspectives brought to each pedagogical situation. In other words, none of us operates in a neutral vacuum. As such, we cannot help but conduct our professional lives with reference to specific systems of belief. To communicate these beliefs, we necessarily make statements of commitment, statements whose validity is reliant on an internally consistent system of beliefs. Also, during the processes of professional thinking, decision-making, and action, certain ideas are accepted or believed as foundational, as they form the basis for all that follows from the source, which is the individual professional’s perspective or world view.
Perspective, by its very nature, provides foundational guidance and influences the decisions and actions of the person who has adopted a particular perspective. Biblical Christianity, as a world view, also provides perspective, as do other world views generally defined as “religious” in nature (Judaism, Islam, and Buddhism, for example) and those not generally classified as religious (pragmatism, postmodernism, constructivism).
Discussions of Christian perspectives in the public sphere are problematic for a number of reasons, but two reasons seem prominent: (1) the tradition of church-state separation in the United States is widely perceived as precluding such discussions; (2) the current image of Christianity in the United States is – justifiably – one of conservatism, intolerance, privilege, and narrow-mindedness. With reference to the second point, it is important for the academic world to recognize that there are alternative progressive Christian positions relevant to education and pedagogy, perspectives that emphasize Biblically-based commitments to, for example, compassion, tolerance, social responsibility, and environmental stewardship. The main tenets of a such perspectives (see Brueggemann & Brueggemann, 2017; Hauerwas, 2007; Wallis, 2016) would include the following assertions relevant to issues in public education:
1. The way we behave towards one another is the fullest expression of what we believe. Also Kuhn, Spring, Freire.
2. The search for understanding is sacred; there is value in questioning, a form of moral action. Also Giroux, Vassallo.
3. A true community is inclusive of all people, including but not limited to religious believers, questioning skeptics, agnostics, women and men, those of all sexual orientations and gender identities, and those of all classes and abilities. Also Spring.
4. We should commit to a path of life-long learning, compassion, and selfless love. (Not afraid to use the word should here.) Also Buber.
5. We should strive for peace and justice among all people and strive to protect and restore the integrity of our planet. Also Spring.
These five tenets, while not necessarily unique to a Christian world view, are relevant to discussions of public school goals and commitments. And, for progressive Christians, the tenets rest upon a faith commitment that ought to be acknowledged in these discussions. A central question, then, is: Is there a place for progressive Christian views in the public debate about education in the United States? Or, stated another way: Is there room for a progressive Christian perspective – alongside others – in public education? Should Christians – or those of any other faith background, for that matter – be free to express not just their views but also the foundational source for those views? Or, are there words that – a priori – cannot be spoken in the public sphere?
Six related principles to consider (from Reclaiming Jesus), stated in more explicitly Christian terms, with specific applications to education:
1. Each human being is made in God’s image and likeness (Genesis 1:26).
2. We are one body. In Christ, there is to be no oppression based on race, gender, identity, or class (Galatians 3:28).
3. How we treat the hungry, the thirsty, the naked, the stranger, the sick, and the prisoner is how we treat Christ himself (Matthew 25: 31-46).
4. Truth is morally central to our personal and public lives.
5. The correct (and effective) way of leadership is servanthood, not domination (Matthew 20:25-26).
6. Nations and their institutions are part of an international community whose interests surpass national boundaries (Matthew 28:18).
In conclusion, some key questions to be raised in the public sphere by progressive Christians are:
1. What is the role of individual beliefs and convictions in the professional lives of teachers?
2. In the public sphere, is it appropriate – or even possible – to embrace only those perspectives that can be portrayed as value-free or non-religious?
3. How do the tenets of a progressive Christianity correspond with the perspectives of other traditions and world views and where can common ground be embraced in the public sphere?
References
Brueggemann, J. & Brueggemann, W. (2017). Rebuilding the foundations. Louisville, KY: WJK Press.
Buber, M. (1988). The knowledge of man. Amherst, NY: Humanity Books.
Foucault, M. (1994). Power. NY: New Press.
Friere, P. (1998). Pedagogy of freedom: Ethics, democracy, and civic courage. Lanham, MD: Rowan & Littlefield.
Giroux, H. (2015). Dangerous thinking in the new age of authoritarianism. NY: Routledge.
Hauerwas, S. (2007). The state of the university. Malden, MA: Blackwell.
Kozol, J. (1975). The night is dark and I am far from home. NY: Houghton-Mifflin.
Kuhn, T. S. (1970). The structure of scientific revolutions (2nd ed.). Chicage: University of Chicago Press.
Sojourners (2019). Reclaiming Jesus.
Spring, J. (2018). The American school. NY: Routledge.
Vassallo, S. (2017). Critical educational psychology. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Wallis, J. (2016). America’s original sin. Ada, MI: Baker.