In this essay, the author argues that inquiry and engagement in the social foundations of education is fundamental to cultivating professionalism in education. As many commentators on the subject have noted, teaching does not meet many of the criteria of a profession derived from the sociological study of fields of work. As Joseph Newman observes,…

Nearly forty years ago, Jonathan Kozol wrote on the perennial question posed by children: "Why do I have to go to school?" Rightfully, in David Gabbard and Lori Flint's view, he admonishes those who would "act as though it were a foolish question." The authors of this article take issue, however, with his characterization…

Although education has seen trends of progressive ideologies that promote student and teacher empowerment (Ayers, 2011; Lyons, Catallozzi, & Benson, 1998; Spring, 2008), the dominant educational discourse mirrors a business model of efficiency expressed by the social economist Lester Frank Ward (1872). Evidence of contemporary education…

When defending educational foundations, Isabel Nunez and Pamela Konkol sometimes find themselves responding to the question of "why?"-often phrased, "But WHYYYYY do we have to take a class on this stuff??? (We want to take more methods!)." As distressing as this can be for teacher educators whose own work reveals rather a…

In their recent landmark study of undergraduate education in America, "Academically Adrift," Richard Arum and Josipa Roksa question whether colleges and universities are really able to justify their traditionally exalted reputations. The study paints a rather dismal portrait of how little learning may actually be taking place on our…

Kathleen deMarrais, professor in the Department of Lifelong Education, Administration and Policy at the University of Georgia, was honored to be invited to contribute to this special issue of "Critical Questions in Education." deMarrais addressed college/university deans to review the role of social foundations in teacher education and…

In this article, the author, after reviewing current educational trends, suggests that what really needs to happen is to "abandon education altogether." He contends that the worst problems of our times result from education, or, at least, what passes for education. The contemporary world's most intractable, most destructive, most…

In this article, the authors describe the process of "peer debriefing": exposing oneself to a disinterested peer in a manner paralleling an analytic session and for the purpose of exploring aspects of the inquiry that might otherwise remain only implicit within the inquirer's mind. The authors wanted to know if former graduate…

In this article, the author describes his attempt to define conversation in the context of teaching, and to explain why it is a vital focus, both theoretically and practically. This article illustrates how educators currently do not pursue the systematic teaching of conversation in teacher education. Harman then presents a few existing ideas that…