Democracy in education: a philosophical analysis and ethnographic case study

A philosophical and historical review of the evolving and growing definition of democratic education through the writings of John Dewey, Nel Noddings, and Joyce Rothschild was accomplished in a literature review that included commentaries from the works of Jesse Goodman, John Goodlad, Amy Gutmann, Hugh Sockett, Kenneth Strike, and Maxine Greene, and others. The review of literature leads up the to the ethnographic case study of an alternative school that has been in existence for twenty-two years and is a member of the National Coalition of Alternative Community Schools. As an ethnographic work, I "write the culture" as I find it at Connectionist School with a special interest in the systemic, organic differences between their democratic organization and traditional bureaucratic public and private schools. The study is a contribution to school reform efforts that are directed toward transformation of schools (Goodlad, 1990; Strike, 1993; Sockett, 1993) and emphasizes the need for a pervasive ethic of care (Noddings, 1984, 1992).

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Education

Level thesis:degree_level

doctoral

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Curriculum and Instruction

Department dc:contributor.department

Curriculum and Instruction

Grantor dc:publisher

Virginia Tech

Year dc:date.issued

1993

Author dc:creator

• Smith, Barbara S.

Chair dc:contributor.committeechair

• Lalik, Rosary V.

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Nespor, Jan K.
• Kelly, Patricia P.
• Garrison, James W.
• Rothschild, Joyce

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Language dc:language.iso

en

Dc Identifier Other

etd-07102007-142520

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/38751