The Social Foundations Reader is meant for undergraduate and graduate
students in introductory foundations of education classes. No other
contemporary reader provides such a broad and yet critical view of the
issues typically addressed in an introductory foundations course.
Instead, most provide a generic and typically conservative perspective
on schools and classrooms and do little to encourage students to
consider the important roles of critical theory and social justice in
the creation of school environments that are responsive to issues of
equity and diversity. This book provides a different lens through which
students can view what happens in twenty-first-century schools while
also considering the perspectives of multiple constituencies: parents,
teachers, students and communities. The reader of this text is exposed
to a wide range of scholarship in the foundations of education; essays
range from the more traditional work of John Dewey to the controversial
ideas of Henry Giroux. Contested topics associated with teaching,
learning and leading in contemporary public schools are considered
within a context where grappling with the answers to fundamental
questions that will ultimately guide meaningful school reform is an
essential part of becoming an educator. Each of the five sections in the
book is accompanied by an introduction and summary/reflection questions
to both guide reading and challenge students to think critically about
how to synthesize and apply the ideas being presented.
