Description
Book SynopsisA Language of Freedom and Teacher's Authority: Case Comparisons from Turkey and the United States explores dimensions of authority that are deeply embedded in the profession of teaching. It examines critical dimensions of the foundations of Turkish and U.S. public education, both of which are under new pressures due to changes in the relationship between public schooling and current reforms in education. The contributors reflect on varied dimensions of authority, of which ideals are shifting under political and economic pressures. In both Turkey and the U.S, public education reflects the early influence of secular equalitarianism, revolutionary democratic developments, and an Enlightenment-based sense of the human right to education. Against this, we see the opposing dialectic where state control and curricular censorship and constriction appear too often.
Trade ReviewComing together for what may seem an unlikely collaboration of scholars from Turkey and the United States, each of these teachers of conscience (hocam) grapple with authentic inquiry into forms of teacher authority to ground effective and sustained struggle for freedom. They work within and against the naked instrumentalism of global neoliberalism that seeks to annihilate citizen agency as it transforms all levels of schooling into preparation for a new world order of alternative facts, exponential economic exploitation, and unfettered ravaging of the planet. As these progressive colleagues bear witness, the fire of their passion and the courage of their action inspire a profound sense of urgency that compels readers to take new action. -- Carolyne J. White, Rutgers University-Newark
Can teachers save nations? Has democracy really slipped into the abyss in the teaching profession in Turkey and also in the United States? This courageous book, the brainchild of Mızıkacı and Senese, ushers a brave clarion call in essays for all of us who revere and respect the teaching profession, democratic academic process and the treasured ultimate outcome: enlightened, caring students. Truly a collection to ponder and use as a basis of action to calibrate the profession. -- Frankie Hutton, NJ State Amistad Commissioner
A Language of Freedom and Teachers Authority: Teacher’s Authority: Case Comparisons from Turkey and the United States seems to be a product of big efforts especially in its focus on the topics rarely discussed in Turkey. I believe this reading inspires teachers and academics to withstand in defiance of their freedom in the classroom even though they have to teach in a hegemonic system. In this regard this book is a big contribution to the field as it addresses to practitioners particularly. -- Rıfat Okçabol, Boğaziçi University
Table of ContentsContents Foreword Corrine Glesne Editors’ Preface: Public Education, the Social Contract and a Teacher’s Conscience Fatma Mızıkacı and Guy Senese Acknowledgments Introduction Fatma Mızıkacı and Guy Senese Prologue Peter McLaren Part One Power, Authority and Authoritarianism in a Neoliberal Era Chapter 1: Room 5: The Teacher’s Authority: Conscience and the Challenge to Educate Guy Senese Chapter 2: Being a Teacher in Turkey: Formation, Shift, Disintegration and Resistance Ayhan Ural; Translated by Dilara Clarkson Chapter 3: Authority and Power in the Classroom Mustafa Sever and Birol Algan Chapter 4: Colleges of Education and the Making of the Neoliberal University Joseph C. Wegwert and Jean Ann Foley Chapter 5: Exotic Pedagogy and the Critical Authority of Love Jim Manley Part Two Undermined Authority and the Endangered Teacher-Intellectual Chapter 6: Ideological Proletarianization of Teacher Educators in Turkey Yasemin Tezgiden Cakcak Chapter 7: The Trouble with Technicians: False Standards and the Collapse of Teacher Autonomy Brian Andrew Stone Chapter 8: Teacher Authority, Autonomy and Authoritarianism in Turkish Vocational High School Hasan Hüseyin Aksoy and Ebru Eren Deniz; Translated by Suna Karakaş Chapter 9: Seek and Hide: Teach For America’s Strategies of Education Reform Barbara Torre Veltri Chapter 10: Reclaiming Academic Freedom and Shared Governance: Comparative Reflections from Kenya and USA Ishmael Munene with Guy Senese Part Three Critical Impacts in Social Justice and Diversity Chapter 11: Curriculum and State Control: The Case of Arizona’s Mexican-American Studies Program Frances Julia Riemer Chapter 12: A Tale of Teacher Induction in a Culturally Diverse Setting: Challenges in Southeastern Turkey Mustafa Öztürk Chapter 13: Fostering Indigenous Teacher Voice and Autonomy Gretchen McAllister with Damien Jones Chapter 14: Indigenous Community Belief and Contested Dimensions of Student’s Rights and the Teacher’s Authority Gerald K. Wood and Christine K. Lemley with Anaheed Hill Chapter 15: Students’ Freedom and the Authority of Regulation: The Real and the Ideal Pelin Taşkın Chapter 16: Recovering Inclusion for Democracy and Special Education in an Era of Reform Karen Sealander, Christopher Lanterman, Michelle Novelli, Laura Sujo-Montes and Adam Lockwood Bibliography About the Contributors
