(Mis)Understanding Human Beings: Theory, Value, and Progress in Education Research

Culturally Responsive Teaching as an Ethics- and Care-Based Approach to Urban Education

“…Detachment in classroom management stems from its emphasis on control (Allen, 2010; see also Bondy et al, 2007) that many teachers internalize from their own educational and family backgrounds, preservice training, in-service peer culture, and which political pressure to increase student achievement on standardized tests reinforces. Education research paradigms based on the “gold standard” of experimental design (Hostetler, 2010; Lather, 2006) exacerbate the emphasis on detachment and control by equating classroom management with behavioral modification (e.g., Canter & Canter, 2001) in which teachers become clinicians administering treatment to dysfunctional subject-clients.…”

“…However, experience has shown that the narrow focus on academic achievement, “highly qualified” teachers, and our inability to discuss ethics has not improved urban education in the United States. Instead, as Hostetler (2010) stated, it inundated us with “how” and “what” recommendations that do little to help either teachers or students.…”

“…As we reviewed search results for “culturally responsive teaching,” compiling strategies and techniques that could be incorporated into teacher preparation curricula, we discovered that we had no single, accessible theoretical work to guide faculty and student discussions. We gained insight into the missing “why” in Hostetler (2010), who identified an “obsession for method, technique, and progress ” (p. 413) in current education research paradigms, leading to a narrow focus on what education “is” at the expense of considering what it means. Without these considerations, according to Hostetler, findings lack coherence, unification, and the basis to evaluate them as appropriate means to a desired end.…”

“…Without these considerations, according to Hostetler, findings lack coherence, unification, and the basis to evaluate them as appropriate means to a desired end. More important, teachers who adopt “best practices” at face value without understanding theoretical and ethical issues involved become mere functionaries: unable to reflect deeply on why they do what they do, shortchanged in their ability to figure out how to do it better and, given this truncated improvement, prey to a loss of professional respect (Hostetler, 2010, p. 406). The tacit point in Hostetler’s argument was that findings shorn of theory, such as our compiled list of strategies and techniques, are more likely to reproduce status quo problems in education than to solve them.…”

Assessing Schools for Generation R (Responsibility)

“…However, if we become too consumed with questions of relevancy and applicability, then our understanding of human education and its purposes is severely lacking (Hostetler 2010 ). For better or worse, short-term solutions frequently take priority over long-term reform.…”