ERIC Number: ED525868
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2010
Pages: 192
Abstractor: As Provided
Reference Count: 0
ISBN: ISBN-978-1-1244-0136-2
ISSN: N/A
Niebuhr, Dewey, and the Ethics of a Christian Pragmatist Public Elementary School Teacher
Mackey, David R.
ProQuest LLC, Ph.D. Dissertation, Miami University
This conceptual study asks how a Christian public elementary school teacher might go about teaching in a classroom in ways that reflect or draw upon said teacher's personal Christian beliefs while also maintaining the secular character required of a public school classroom in a pluralistic democracy. In other words, I ask how a Christian educator can teach in a public school classroom in a manner that honestly maintains that classroom's secular nature without pretending to be an atheist. This study positions three social texts (Ohio HB 184, a teacher training workbook by Margaret A. Searle, and vignettes describing my own techniques for establishing classroom order) as foils for my argument, standing as exemplars of situations that I encounter every day in the classroom. I argue vis-a-vis these texts using critique, interpretation, and reasoned analysis in order to show how I, as a Christian teacher, might respond to situations in classrooms that I have judged to be immoral. How do I determine if classroom situations are immoral? In what ways do I analyze these situations and morally reason out a response? Since my conceptual language must avoid dependence on absolute truths and totalizing narratives that are incompatible with my desire to protect the pluralistic nature of my classroom, I use pragmatist philosophy to guide my argument. When articulating my privately held Christian moral stance as it applies to classroom situations, I rely heavily on the theological pragmatism of Reinhold Niebuhr. When attempting to translate my privately held Niebuhrian Christian convictions into moral constructs that are appropriate to share in public space, I rely on the pragmatism of John Dewey, a pragmatism that thoroughly avoids reliance on exclusive, dogmatic, or supernatural foundations for morality, instead offering a morality wedded to an inclusive notion of democracy. My attempt to merge the pragmatisms of Niebuhr and Dewey yields intriguing, yet imperfect results, but from this effort comes a reasoned moral argument based on theological pragmatist notions of irony, democracy, love, and hope. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]
Descriptors: Public Schools, Elementary School Teachers, Christianity, Participation, Role of Religion, State Church Separation, Moral Issues, Moral Values, Democracy, Figurative Language, Cultural Pluralism, Ethics, Persuasive Discourse, Adjustment (to Environment)
ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway, P.O. Box 1346, Ann Arbor, MI 48106. Tel: 800-521-0600; Web site: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml
Publication Type: Dissertations/Theses - Doctoral Dissertations
Education Level: Elementary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers: Ohio

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