Life in Schools An Introduction to Critical Pedagogy in the Foundations of Education

Foreword by Tom Wilson and Suzanne SooHoo, Chapman University Foreword to the Third Edition by Leonardo Boff, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Preface Part I Class Dismissed Critical Education and Pedagogy Revolutionary Critical Pedagogy The Retreat of Democracy The Five Faces of Oppression The Crisis of Illiterate America The Corporate Assault on Education Bringing Theory into the Streets Part II Cries from the Corridor The Corridor Kids Chapter 1 The Frontiers of Despair Epilogue Chapter 2 The Invisible Epidemic Epilogue Chapter 3 "The Suburbs Was Supposed to Be a Nice Place ..." Summer Vacation Afterword In Memoriam: Jim Montgomerie ("Fred"), 1930-1985 Part III Critical Pedagogy: An Overview Critical Pedagogy and the Egalitarian Dream Chapter 4 The Emergence of Critical Pedagogy Foundational Principles Public Pedagogy Theories of Interest and Experience Chapter 5 Critical Pedagogy The Importance of Theory Critical Pedagogy and the Social Construction of Knowledge Critical Pedagogy and the Power/Knowledge Relation Critical Pedagogy and the Curriculum Social Reproduction: A Critical Perspective Questions for Discussion Part IV Analysis Chapter 6 Race, Class, and Gender The Black Underclass: Racial Stratification and the Politics of Culture Resistance and the Reproduction of Class Relations Bein' Tough: Bein' Female Psychologizing Student Failure Chapter 7 New and Old Myths in Education Technologizing Learning Neoconservatism and the Myth of Democratic Schooling The False Ideology of the Normal Curve Chapter 8 Teachers and Students The Primacy of Student Experience The Primacy of Voice Beyond Conversations with the "Other" Chapter 9 Conclusion to Parts III and IV The Teacher as Social and Moral Agent Part V Looking Back, Looking Forwards Racialized Practices in the Age of Obama and the Politics of Whiteness Chapter 10 Unthinking Whiteness, Rethinking Cultural Contact as Interculturality The Invisibility of the Obvious The Color of History The Birth of the White Race The Concept of Whiteness Reflections on Class Exploitation in the Context of Other Antagonisms Critical Race Theory Needs a Class Analysis Decolonial Pedagogy Toward a Revolutionary Multiculturalism/Interculturality/Decoloniality Chapter 11 Hope and the Struggle Ahead A Pedagogy for Life Toward a Revolutionary Socialist Pedagogy: A Bolivarian Example Working for a Concrete Utopia Critical Pedagogy for a Better Society Educators as Philosophers of Praxis Chapter 12 Conclusion to Part V Epilogue: Reflections on Twenty-Five Years of Life in Schools Appendix: Interview with Peter McLaren

Biography

Peter McLaren

“Life in Schools is (among other things) a sprawling, many-sided, and brilliant manual of theory, history, and practice for teachers, teachers-in-training, and current and future education professors ready to enlist in that “war of position…” It is loaded with deeply informed radical perspectives that should [also] interest progressive thinkers and activists in all spheres of life under contemporary capitalism.”
—Paul Street in Truthout

“There is only one reason to become an educator: to change the world! Life in Schools 6th edition offers the best foundational knowledge and strategies for doing just that. This timeless work has been required reading for my future teachers since 2007 and I know of no comparable replacement.”
—Catherine Beaunae

Praise for Previous Editions:

“. . . brilliantly combines theory and practice . . .”
—Joel Spring

“There’s been nothing like this in a long while. . . . I have admired McLaren’s work for many years.”
—Jonathan Kozol

“Students need not agree with McLaren but they must engage with him.”
—Christine Sleeter

“With this book, Peter McLaren shows himself as a comrade in the path of reclaiming and constructing what is most excellent and mysterious in human beings: their ability to protect against a world of oppressions, their will for creation, and their determination to seek those paths that nurture the new.”
—Leonardo Boff

“McLaren’s work is a passionate challenge to all forms of education that limit rather than enhance the project of human emancipation. Life in Schools testifies to the need for schools to play a major role in the struggle for democracy and liberation, and offers an important direction for those who wish to be part of that struggle. It is a book that should be read by all.”
—Paulo Freire

“There really is no second choice. I don’t see any book on the market that gets at the issues McLaren does. I have used this text since it first came out and will continue to use it.”
—Sandy M. Grande, Connecticut College