Teaching for Social Justice: A Democracy and Education Reader [Paperback]

William Ayers (Editor), Jean Ann Hunt (Editor), Therese Quinn (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 15, 1998

A mix of hands-on, historical and inspirational writings from the "Democracy and Education" journal, this text covers topics such as education through social action, writing and community building, and adult literacy. A "teacher file" surveys teaching tools from curricula to Web sites.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Most accessible but not limited to graduate students and faculty, this is a wide-ranging anthology of articles/readings originally published in the education serial Democracy and Education. It is an enlightening book whose topics include community building, adult literacy, empowerment, diversity education, responsibility, social action education, and writing. "Teaching for social justice" is teaching what one believes ought to be in terms of material arrangements for people in all spheres of society, i.e., reflective experiential responses leading to action. Writers represented are Michael Apple, Jonathan Kozol, Herbert Kohl, Henry Giroux, and 42 others. An extensive bibliography and a list of organizations, periodicals, web sites, and Popular Education institutes round out the text. Editors Ayers (Univ. of Illinois), Jean Anne Hunt (editor, Democracy and Education), and Therese Quinn (doctoral candidate, Univ. of Illinois) have put together a useful resource for academic collections.?Scott R. Johnson, Meridian Community Coll. Lib., MS
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Paperback: 326 pages
• Publisher: New Press, The (August 15, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1565844203
• ISBN-13: 978-1565844209
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #530,613 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

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1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars From a Future Educator's Perspective, December 14, 2010

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Ohso - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Teaching for Social Justice: A Democracy and Education Reader (Paperback)

I know, I know--trust me I know: it's unpopular to support anything with the name 'Ayers' on it, or within proxy. If you disagree with Ayers and the Weather Underground, ask yourself this: Were they wrong to rebel against a war that used a staged attack (Gulf of Tonkin) for propaganda purposes? Who killed more innocent people, the Weather Underground, or American forces? Sorry, but this has to be said because I know what others are going to say...

This is a fantastic book. It is really challenging. The great thing about this book is it's a collection of tons of different teachers. And this fits in with the motif of expanding students' worldview.

Conservatives will argue that this book is for leftists and "bleeding heart liberals," but the only conservatives I could imagine reading this would be education majors. Perhaps Glenn Beck or his "researchers" might "read" this book to cite--never out of context, of course! Perhaps, even, fans of Beck might read this to try to find something "incriminating" or something tangible to connect to some sort of progressive agenda hell-bent on destroying America and indoctrinating/dumbing-down children; and they will be sadly disappointed.

But, this book's not that easy to pin down. As I said, it's challenging. The whole point of the book is to talk about how to teach Social justice properly. Never does the book advocate indoctrination. In fact, the book details the PEA and George Counts; Counts had a consequentialist viewpoint, and thought it was a good thing to indoctrinate in order to reach the desired effect. But the book doesn't advocate that. And surprisingly, this book talks about being as objective as possible, because let's face it, one side of the political spectrum in America is almost totally unconcerned about social issues. And the book repeatedly discusses how Social Justice cannot be forced. It has to be voluntary.

I like every article in here, but among my favorites are "The Human Lives Behind the Labels--The Global Sweatshop, Nike, and the Race to the Bottom," "History of My Subversive Teaching," "Teaching for Change," and the articles by both Bill and Rick Ayers (I wish I could meet them). I must admit that I am biased towards certain beliefs. But I must also state that I am honest, and there is nothing above the truth in my heart. Buy this book, I'm sure you won't be disappointed if you're concerned with Social Justice.

--Ohso