THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES
MED 606
Spring 2008
Professor: Joyce Sibbett
Office phone: 832-2487; Email: jsibbett@westminstercollege.edu
Office: Malouf 119; office hours as posted or by appointment
Course Objectives:
This course is designed to introduce students to basic theories (with an emphasis on social
transformational theories) that provide frameworks for educational scholarship and practice. The
readings will guide students toward understanding a critical perspective on the sociology of schooling.
As participants in this course, students will do the following:
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Consider the theoretical contexts that guide the purposes for which schools were organized;
Examine the scholarship of some leading critical theorists;
Consider the principles that govern the organization of schools and the politics of school
governance;
Contemplate internal and external structures that exert influence on ethnicity, race, class, and
gender;
Analyze how students’ personal educational philosophies mesh or conflict with the beliefs
espoused by critical theorists.
Course expectations:
Professionalism
Students will be expected to attend class regularly and be ready to begin on time. They should be
prepared to participate in discussions based upon readings for each class session, be willing to make
thoughtful contributions, and be conscientious about handing in assignments on the dates they are due.
Because class discussion is critical to the format of this class, more than one absence will be considered
excessive and will negatively affect this section of students’ grades.
Quality work
Students will be evaluated on weekly preparation for participating in thoughtful discussions. Each of the
writing assignments will be evaluated according to how thoughtfully they have been prepared, the
relevance of ideas to the teaching profession, the critical level of thought, the organization and
readability of the paper, and the precision in using correct grammar, punctuation, and spelling.
Grades
Professionalism
15%
Reaction papers
40%
Midterm–applicationto-practice paper
15%
Final–research paper 30%
Reaction papers–Students will write 4 reaction papers, worth 10 points each. These papers should be
approximately 3 pages in length. In the papers, students should 1) summarize primary issues raised in
the assigned reading; 2) discuss ways in which the issues and ideas impact the teaching profession; and
3) comment on their personal perceptions of the pedagogical value of the ideas.
Midterm paper, application to practice–Students will write an 8-page paper that focuses on 10 key
concepts from the reading that they would like to support or reject. They may draw upon theorists as
well as their personal classroom experiences to support their position. They may also engage in
discussions and/ or interview colleagues in the teaching profession to provide insight that could support
their ideas.
Final paper, research–Students will write an 8 to 10-page paper for which they will provide research
from at least 10 sources. In this paper, students will select a theoretical concept related to course content
that they believe provides important insight for reflective practitioners. As students relate the research,
they should identify how and why key points have pedagogical significance. Students’ papers must
conform to APA standards.
Texts:
DeMarrais & LeCompte, The Way Schools Work
Delpit, Other People’s Children
Theoretical Perspectives in Education
MED 606
Tentative Schedule
Monday
January 7
Intro to class
Overview of Theoretical Perspectives
Randall V. Bass, “The Purpose of Education,” The Educational Forum. Winter, 1997
Monday
January 14
Tuesday
January 22
(Academic Monday)
Martin Luther King Day—college is closed
Monday
January 28
Monday
February 4
Monday
February 11
Bennett deMarrais & Margaret LeCompte, Chapter 1 “Theory and Its Influences on
the Purposes of Schooling” The Way Schools Work.
*Reaction paper 1 due
deMarrais & LeCompte, Chapter 2 “The Social Organization of Schooling.”
deMarrais & LeCompte, Chapter 4 “The Labor Force in Education: Teachers,
Counselors, Administrators, and Ancillary Staff.”
Readings: Maria Villegas, “Culturally Responsive Teaching” Educational Testing
Services.
Readings–Michael Apple, Chapter 4 “Curricular History and Social Control,” Ideology
and Curriculum Routledge, 1990.
Readings–“Explaining the Achievement Gap; Conventional and Alternative
Explanation,” Black American Students in an Affluent Suburb, Ogbu, 2003.
*Reaction paper 2 due
deMarrais & LeCompte, Chapter 5 “Social Class and Its Relationship to Education.”
Readings–Paulo Freire, Chapter 3 Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Herder and Herder,
1968.
Readings–Paulo Freire, Chapter 6 “The Adult Literacy Process as Cultural Action for
Freedom,” The Politics of Education, Bergin & Garvey, 1985.
Monday
February 18
Monday
February 25
Monday
March 3
Monday
President’s Day holiday—college is closed
Semester Break
Readings–Duane Campbell, Chapter 5 “How Society and Schools Shortchange Girls
and Boys,” Choosing Democracy, Merrill, an imprint of Prentice Hall, New Jersey,
2000.
Readings–“U.S. History CD-Rom Stirs Up Storm,” Pushing the Envelope, Ornstein,
2003.
*Midterm paper due
deMarrais & LeCompte, Chapter 3 “Youth Culture and the Student Peer Group.”
March 10
Monday
March 17
Readings–Cameron McCarthy, Alida Rodriguex, Shuaib Meecham, Stephen David,
Carrie Wilson-Brown, Heriberto Godina, K.E. Supryia, and Ed Buendia, “Race,
Suburban Resentment, and the Representation of the Inner City in Contemporary Film
and Television, Off White, Fine, 2004.
Readings—An De Vaney, “Reading Film and Television in the Classroom: African
American Representations in Popular Culture,” Campus and Classroom, Grant &
Gomez, 2001.
Monday
March 24
*Reaction paper 3 due
deMarrais & LeCompte, Chapter 6 “What is Taught in Schools: Curriculum and the
Stratification of Knowledge”
Monday
March 31
Readings–Duane Campbell, Chapter 4 “With Liberty and Justice for Some: Class
Relations and Schools,” Choosing Democracy, Merrill, an imprint of Prentice Hall,
New Jersey, 2000.
deMarrais & LeCompte, Chapter 7 “Ethnic Minorities: Equality of Educational
Opportunity”
Readings--Paulo Freire, Chapter 5 Pedagogy of Hope, Continuum, 1994.
Monday
April 7
Readings--Amy Stuart Wells & Irene Serna, “The Politics of Culture: Understanding
Local Political Resistance to detracking in Racially Mixed Schools,” Harvard
Educational Review, Spring 1996.
Lisa Delpit, Part 1 “Controversies Revisited,” pp. 11-69, Other People’s Children,
1995.
Monday
April 14
April 21
Monday
April 28
*Reaction paper 4 due
(Alternative Philosophy of Education paper)
Lisa Delpit, Part 2 “Lessons from Home and Abroad,” pp. 77-134, Other People’s
Children, 1995.
Lisa Delpit, Part 3 “Looking to the Future,” pp. 135-183, Other People’s Children,
1995.
Wrap Up
*Final paper due
Paper presentations