Democratic classroom communities

Studies in Philosophy and Education

Volumn 15, Issue 4, 1996, Pages 333-351

  Thayer Bacon, Barbara J ^a  

^a BOWLING GREEN STATE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

Caring; Community; Democrary; Democratic classroom communities; Dewey; Montessori; Summerhill

Indexed keywords

EID: 15244360135     PISSN: 00393746     EISSN: 1573191X     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1007/BF00368491     Document Type: Article

References (36)

1. Habermas, Jürgen. (1982). "Reply to Critics," in J. Thompson, D. Held, eds. Habermas: Critical Debates. London, p. 22.
2. Stone, Lynda. (1992). "Disavowing Community," Philosophy of Education: Proceedings of the 48th Annual Meeting of the Philosophy of Education Society, ed. H.A. Alexander. Urbana, IL: Philosophy of Education Society. 93-101, 93.
3. Young, Iris Marion. (1990). "The Ideal of Community and the Politics of Difference," Feminism/ Postmodernism, ed. L. Nicholson. New York and London: Routledge. 300-323, 300.
4. Stout, Maureen. (1992). "Response to 'Disavowing Community'," Philosophy of Education: Proceedings of the 48th Annual Meeting of the Philosophy of Education Society, ed. H.A. Alexander. Urbana, IL: Philosophy of Education Society. 102-104, 103-104.
5. Stone, "Disavowing Community," 93. Her definition is from Fox-Oenovese, Elizabeth.
6. (1991). Feminism Without Illusions. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press. 33.
7. Morris, William, editor. (1969, 1970) The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language. Boston, NY, Atlanta, Geneva, Illinos, Dallas, Palo Alto: American Heritage Publishing Co., Inc., and Houghton Mifflin Co.
8. Dewey, John. (1916, 1944). Democracy and Education. NY: The Free Press, MacMillan. 82.
9. See Jane Roland Martin's The Schoolhome (1992) for an excellent discussion on this.
10. Martin, Jane Roland. (1992). The Schoolhome: Rethinking Schools for Changing Families. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press.
11. Sizer, Theodore. (1984, 1985, 1992). Horace's Compromise: the dilemma of the American High School. Boston, Mass: Houghton Mifflin Co.
12. _ (1992). Horace's School: Redesigning the American High School. Boston, Mass: Houghton Mifflin Co.
13. Dewey, Democracy and Education, 99.
14. Neill, A.S. (1960). Summerhill: A radical approach to child rearing. New York City: Hart Publishing Co.
15. Maria Montessori never actually wrote a detailed guide for how to design a classroom like the one's she designed. Her books are general and broad, and express much of her philosophical and religious beliefs, but a person had to attend one of Montessori's teacher training programs in order to learn how to successfully establish a Montessori classroom. I have attended such a program, and was an elementary Montessori teacher for many years, so what I describe as a typical experience comes directly from my own experience in three American Montessori schools. My four children have attended Montessori schools for a combined total of 24 years, the youngest child being just in his third year as a Montessori preschooler. Sources for information on the Montessori method:
16. Montessori, Maria. (1967). The Discovery of the Child, translated by M. Josephy Costelloe, S. J. New York: Ballantine Books.
17. _ (1948, 1973). To Educate the Human Potential. Thiruvanmiyur, India: Kalakshetra Publications.
18. _ (1917, 1973). The Montessori Elementary Material. New York: Schocken Books.
19. _ (1966). The Secret of Childhood, translated by M. Josephy Costelloe, S.J. New York: Ballantine Books.
20. Dewey, Democracy and Education, 99.
21. Thayer-Bacon, Barbara. (1993). "Caring and its Relationship to Critical Thinking," Educational Theory, 43, (3), summer.
22. Burbules, Nicholas C. and Rice, Suzanne. (1992). "Communicative Virtue and Educational Relations" Philosophy of Education.
23. _ (1991). "Dialogue Across Diferences: Continuing the Conversation," Harvard Educational Review, 61 (4).
24. Noddings, Nel. (1984). Caring: A Feminine Approach to Ethics and Moral Education. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
25. _ (1992). The Challenge to Care in Schools: An alternative approach to education. New York and London: Teachers College Press. Other sources on the notion of caring include:
26. Keller, Catherine. (1986). From a broken web: Separation, sexism, and self. Boston: Beacon Press.
27. Flanagan, Owen and Jackson, Kathryn. "Justice, Care, and Gender: The Kohlberg-Gilliigan Debate Revisited," Ethics, 97 (3), 622-637.
28. Offen, Karen. "Denning Feminism: A Comparative Historical Approach," Signs, 14 (91), 119-157.
29. Ruddick, Sara. (1989). Maternal Thinking: Toward a Politics of Peace. Boston: Beacon Press.
30. Tronto, Joan. "Beyond Gender Difference to a Theory of Care," Signs, 12 (4), 644-663.
31. It is very difficult to find examples of Montessori secondary schools, at least in America. When I went through my training program in 1981-82 there were five secondary schools in the United States. A current listing could be obtained by contacting the American Montessori Society or the Association of Montessori International. In the few secondary schools that do exist, the example of mixed ages continues.
32. Burbules and Rice, "Communicative Virtue and Educational Relations," 1991,
33. and Burbules and Rice, "Dialogue Across Differences: Continuing the Conversation," 1992.
34. Johnson, David W., Johnson, Roger T., and Hoiubec, Edith J. "Cooperative Learning - A Tool for Integrating Students with Special Needs into the Regular Classroom," in NEA Report. (May, 1992). A Report from Education Policy and Professional Practice, "The Integration of Students with Special Needs into Regular Classrooms: Policies and Practices that Work."
35. Martin, The Schoolhome, 1992, and
36. Noddings, The Challenge to Care in Schools, 1992.