Benhabib (2002:134) maintains that, in order for individuals to become democratic citizens they need to be exposed to at least three inter-related elements: collective identity, privileges of membership, and social rights and benefits. Through exposure to these three inter-related items it is hoped that, by means of the teaching and learning of…

In my remarks about elitist knowledge production, I firstly try to adjust the perspective from which the university could be analysed; I specifically explore the functions of the university in relation to Habermas's categorisation of knowledge. Secondly, with reference to Derrida's reflections on the university, I reformulate a conception of the…

There is an abundance of literature on citizenship education. This essay is an attempt to show how deliberation is used in university classroom pedagogy, to engender in students a commitment to becoming responsible citizens of a post-apartheid South Africa. Firstly, I show that controversy can be attended to through deliberation, with specific…

Today, higher education has become a commodity in the global education market aiming to serve the knowledge society through "the production, transmission and dissemination of high-quality knowledge" (Simons, 2006, 33). One cannot dispute the economic importance of higher education, but to see the university as performing only this economic…

In this response I argue that smart thinking would not necessarily engender democratic justice in our South African society. I contend that we need to cultivate responsible thinkers and that universities are favourably positioned to do so.

In this conversation, triggered by display of a poster in the workplace, the author discusses migration of certified teachers away from South Africa, and cites a belief that a personal choice to seek employment in a foreign country seems inconsistent with the premise of communitarianism. Waghid argues that such teacher loss may exacerbate…

Education in South Africa primarily focuses on educating learners to be responsible citizens. The "Values in Education" initiative of the Department of Education (2001) aims in the first instance at cultivating in learners the capacity to deliberate respectfully with one another in order to become responsible citizens. This article argues that…