The future of public education and democracy is at risk. Powerful forces
are eroding commitment to public schools and weakening democratic
resolve. Yet even in deeply troubling times, it is possible to broaden
social imagination and empower effective advocacy for systemic
progressive reform. Re-envisioning Education and Democracy explores
challenges and opportunities for restructuring public education to
establish and sustain more broadly inclusive, deeply democratic, and
effectively transforming approaches to social inquiry and civic
participation. Re-envisioning Education and Democracy adopts a
non-traditional format to extend social awareness and imagination.
Within each chapter, one episode of an evolving strategic narrative
traces the life cycle of a systemic reform initiative. This is followed
by an exploratory essay that draws from theory, research, criticism, and
practice to prompt consideration of focal issues. Woven through each
chapter is a poetically framed meditative stream informed by varied
historical and cultural conceptions of oracles. A developmental sequence
of social learning strategies (exploratory democratic practices),
accompanied by thematic bibliographic references, are included to model
democratic teaching and learning applicable in classroom and community
settings.
