Educational Studies 272
Spring 2007
Ruthanne Kurth-Schai
Willis 106 (507-646-5187) rkurth@carleton.edu
Office Hours: TTh 3:30-5:00; W 9:30-11:30
“Education policy must be contextualized both nationally and globally as a transformative discourse that can have real social effects in response to contemporary crises of survival and sustainability.”
Mark Olssen, John Codd, Anne-Marie O’Neill
The complex phenomenon of globalization affects the quality of learning and life worldwide. In the United States and abroad; across dimensions of philosophy, policy, and practice; educators, government officials, policy makers, public intellectuals, and citizens struggle with the implications of globalization for public education and civic life. The purpose of this course is to join in that struggle. We will explore interdisciplinary scholarship and policy design that integrates civic, environmental, moral, and multicultural education for the purpose of mitigating the negative consequences of cultural and economic globalization.
Social Inquiry
Conversational Reading - Required texts include: Education in a Globalized
World: The Connectivity of Economic Power, Technology, and Knowledge, Nelly P.
Stromquist; Globalizing Education: Policies, Pedagogies, & Politics, edited by Michael

W. Apple, Jane Kenway, and Michael Singh; Rethinking Globalization: Teaching for
Justice in and Unjust World, edited by Bill Bigelow & Bob Peterson; and Alternative
Conceptions of Civil Society, edited by Simone Chambers & Will Kymlicka.
Required texts will be supplemented by relevant print, on-line, and other media resources. Each student will also complete a series of readings relevant to the topic of their term project, public intellectual essay.
Throughout the course we will adopt a social and exploratory approach to reading—a conversational approach that entails reading in a manner that is
resonant, recursive, and responsible.
To read resonantly involves attending to aspects of your personal knowledge, values, feelings, and experiences most strongly affected by the texts.
Through on-line (Course Forum) and student led (Peer Teaching) class conversations, you will also have opportunities to acknowledge and constructively respond to issues that resonate most strongly with others.
To read recursively entails reconsidering the same piece of writing at different stages of inquiry and deliberation, and conversing with others in ways that do not foreclose revisiting assumptions as contexts change.
To read responsibly assumes that reading for one’s self—to advance personal skills and understandings, or to support one’s initial position—is not sufficient. To read responsibly means to be ever mindful of the question: "What does the author say that is not only meaningful to me, but also important to share with
others and relevant to broader civic aspirations?"
Reflective Exam – Drawing from the conversational reading activities engaged in relation to the primary course texts, we will challenge and support each other in responding to a midterm essay exam synthesizing personal reflections on theory, policy and priorities relevant to the future of public education and civil society within the challenging context of globalization.
Design Project - Working in small groups, we will draw from varied philosophic, ethical, and pragmatic perspectives to develop curricular and policy initiatives aimed at strengthening the experience and evolution of ‘civil society’ via public education.
“Knowledge emerges only through invention, and reinvention, through the restless, impatient, continuing, hopeful inquiry human beings pursue
in the world, with the world, and with each other.”

Paulo Freire
Public Scholarship
Public Intellectual Essays - Throughout the term we will also work to challenge and support each other’s efforts to develop a significant piece of public
scholarship. Public intellectual essays—informative, accessible, distinctive, and compelling interpretations of theory, research, public policy/opinion/priorities accompanied by recommendations for social advocacy and action—are written explicitly to engage public reflection and participation.
Each essay should be formatted in a manner appropriate for Internet
posting, and incorporate at least one alternative mode of representation (visual aides, poetry, music, information sheets, tutorial, PowerPoint, etc.) to reinforce thoughts communicated through the traditional written format.
Each essay should conclude with a collection of carefully selected and annotated resources including those most influential in shaping the author’s understanding and those judged to be most useful to the essay’s intended audience.
Education Reform Website - Throughout the term, we will also contribute to an education reform website that is developed and maintained as a community resource (display of interview summaries, public intellectual essays, annotated print and on-line resources, etc.) http://www.macalester.edu/educationreform
This course is structured to encourage all students to demonstrate a high quality of performance. Self, peer, and faculty evaluation are incorporated. Late assignments will not be evaluated unless arrangements are made with the instructor or peer reviewers in advance. Final grades are assigned upon completion of all course
components and based upon the following guidelines:

Social Inquiry
Course Forum
Conversational Reading
50%
15%
Peer Teaching
Design Project
Reflective Exam
Public Scholarship
Public Intellectual Essay
Website contribution
10%
25%
50%
45%
5%
Week One 3/27 & 3/29
Introductions
Course Forum/Peer Teaching
Education in a Globalized World (Chapters 1 & 2)
Globalizing Education (Chapter 1)
Week Two 4/3 & 4/5
Peer Teaching Session I: Market Centered Educational Reforms
Education in a Globalized World (Chapters 3 & 5)
Globalizing Education (Chapters 12 & 13)
Rethinking Globalization (Part I)
Week Three 4/10 & 4/12
Peer Teaching Session II: The Global Economy:
Educational Implications of Neo-colonialism
Rethinking Globalization (Part III)
Week Four 4/17 & 4/19
Peer Teaching Session III: The Knowledge Society:
Media, Technology & Education

Education in a Globalized World (Chapter 4)
Globalizing Education (Chapter 2 or 11, 3 & 10)
Week Five 4/24 & 4/26
Peer Teaching Session IV: Culture, Consumption & the Environment
Rethinking Globalization (Part IV)
Reflective Exam
Midterm Break
Week Six 5/1 & 5/3
Public Intellectual Essay Workshop
Education in a Globalized World (Chapters 8 & 9)
Globalizing Education (Chapters 7, 15 & 16)
Public Intellectual Essay Abstracts Due (5/1)
Week Seven 5/8 & 5/10
Design Project
Alternative Conceptions of Civil Society (Chapters 1-3 & 11)
Week Eight 5/15 & 5/17
Design Project
Peer Review
Alternative Conceptions of Civil Society (Chapters 4-6 & 8-10)
Public Intellectual Essay Drafts Due
Week Nine 5/22 & 5/24

Design Project Presentations
Week Ten 5/29
Review of Public Intellectual Essays
Public Intellectual Essays Due (5/29)
If we are ever to move from our inegalitarian order to a diverse, egalitarian and democratic one, we must speak and listen in a way that sustains and extends the possibility of actively making sense together.
Susan Bickford