Leaving Safe Harbors: Toward A New Progressivism In American Education And Public Life

Leaving Safe Harbors: Toward A New Progressivism In American Education And Public Life

To rise to the challenges of postmodern culture, Carlson argues, progressives will need to leave the safe harbors of what is familiar and comfortable. A new progressivism can only be forged of a fundamental re-thinking and re-mythologizing of democratic education. Drawing upon cultural studies perspectives, Carlson interrogates philosophy through popular culture for mythologies that might guide such a progressivism. Carlson uses Platonic, Hegelian, Nitzschean, and Heideggerian "mythologies" to elaborate a progressive model that provides powerful ways of "thinking" democratic education and public life.Review"In this brilliant volume, Dennis Carlson threads his way through guiding myths at the heart of modern culture, enticing us to become part of his journey as he weaves through the mythology associated with classical philosophers, modern-day educational theorists, and popular cultural forms. In plain language, Carlson takes us beyond "safe harbors," challenging our everyday beliefs about educational institutions at one and the same time as he urges us to work outside the reigning discourses associated with current educational practices. Rather than simply engage in a battle over myth, however, Carlson's work sets the stage for the construction of responsible counter myths and narratives--ones that lay the basis for a more just and humane society. Brilliantly argued, Leaving Safe Harbors is a tour de force." -- Lois Weis, author of The Unknown City: The Lives of Poor and Working-Class Young Adults"For over a decade, Dennis Carlson has been at the forefront of education