PHILOSOPHY of EDUCATION SOCIETY

July 2008 Update

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Call for Dues and Elections - Jeff Milligan

Welcome to the first Update of my tenure as the new Executive Director of PES! It has been a rather steep learning curve, but Sasha Sidorkin has been generous in his support and advice so I am reasonably confident the transition will be smooth. If you encounter any difficulties here please let me know and I will do my best to correct them.

I would like to take this opportunity to remind you to pay your 2008-2009 dues if you have not already done so.To pay your dues, please login to our secure payment system. It does have the forgotten password feature. Please pay with a credit card - Amex, Visa or Master Card; check payments are also available, but use the on-line system nevertheless. If you have forgotten whether you paid or not, log in and check under the Membership tab. Take this time to update your address.

Please also vote for 7 members of the Elections Committee by September 1. To vote click on the following link. You should have received the password in the e-mail message I sent announcing the posting of the July 2008 Update. If you did not receive it or have forgotten, let me know and I'll send it again.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=hm0Gz8zwvKsmjDnFOKc3rw_3d_3d

Thanks to all members who agreed to stand for this election!

Message from the President - David Hansen

Greetings colleagues and I hope all finds you well in summer days (or in winter times if you’re in the southern hemisphere as you read this).  In this brief note I’d like to call your attention to some important Society matters.

* I hope you are beginning to think about submitting a proposal for next year’s annual meeting.  It will be held March 20-23, 2009, in Montreal.  Those of us involved in the planning are anticipating a terrific conference that can build on the outstanding experience so many of us had at the recent Boston meeting thanks to the leadership of Michael Katz and Ron Glass.  We are hoping that the compelling, historic city of Montreal will attract an international presence to enrich our work.  We are delighted that Professor Paul Taylor of Temple University will serve as our George F. Kneller Lecturer.  You will find in this newsletter important information from our 2009 Program Chair, Debby Kerdeman.  Also, the conference will convene in an excellent, central location in the city; please see the information below from our 2009 Hospitality Chair, Kevin McDonough.

À nos collègues francophones à Québec et d’ailleurs: nous voudrions vous inviter à notre congrès annuel, 20-23 Mars 2009 à Montréal.  La langue officielle du congrès sera anglais mais la langue de la philosophie de l’éducation est universelle.  Nous encourageons nos collègues et leurs étudiants de cycle doctoral à nous faire parvenir au plus tôt une proposition de communication, et à organiser leur séjour afin de nous rejoindre et prendre part à ce qui sera un événement intellectuel mémorable.

* Legacy Fund: I strongly encourage everyone to keep the Legacy Fund in mind and to continue making regular donations annually when renewing your membership.  Proceeds from this Fund enable PES to support graduate students to attend the annual meetings.  For example, the Society currently awards $100 to graduate students who have their papers accepted on the program, and also provides subsidized rooms.  It is truly vital to do all we can to support the next generation of philosophers of education to participate in and contribute to our work.

* I’m pleased to announce two projects colleagues are working on now for the Society, and I’d like to invite your input to their proceedings.  One is a Focus Group looking into ways in which interested members of the Society might bring the resources of philosophy of education to bear on public educational issues.  The other is a Sub-Committee to the focus group examining what might be done to reconstruct the Society’s website so that it takes on an “external” face in addition to its current “internal” face (i.e. at the moment its information and design are for the most part directed to members).

Background: Michael Katz, immediate past-president of the Society, convened an informal meeting of executive board members at the AERA conference in NewYork this past March.  Present were Michael, Nick Burbules, Ron Glass, Kathy Hytten, and me.  A central impetus for the meeting was a reflective memo to the executive board from Nick in which he recommended that the Society examine the various roles it might play in the larger public arena.  The meeting generated many ideas and considerable energy.  We discussed the fact that the topic of engagement with public issues has been raised over the years, as well as the fact that some members have long been involved in public-oriented projects.  As incoming president I agreed that the timing was right to initiate a formal process that would address the topic, and this was approved by the executive board at the recent PES meeting in Boston.  This process takes its point of departure from Michael’s timely leadership, Nick’s generative memo, and Ron and Kathy’s input, and I thank them on behalf of the Society.

Focus Group:  The group’s charge is to examine how PES and its members might seek greater influence in the public educational arena.  The group will create a set of recommendations for the Society to consider and act upon in one way or another.  Colleagues who have agreed to serve on the group are Robert Floden (Chair), Harry Brighouse, John Covaleskie, Ken Howe, Kathleen Knight-Abowitz, Meira Levinson, Michele Moses, and Stephen Norris.

Sub-Committee on PES Website:  This sub-committee’s charge is to generate a set of options for the Society to consider regarding a reconstruction of its website.  The group will report its suggestions, and associated costs to the Society, to the Focus Group which will embed them in its final report.  Colleagues who have agreed to serve here are Craig Cunningham (Chair), Megan Boler, Barry Bull, Liz Jackson, Jim Lang, Sasha Sidorkin, and Kurt Stemhagen.

On behalf of the Society I thank these colleagues for giving generously of their time and energy.  A special, additional thanks to Bob and Craig for their willingness to chair these endeavors.

I have asked both groups to complete their work, if possible, by next year’s annual meeting.  Meanwhile I invite all members with an interest in these topics to share your thoughts, suggestions, and ideas with Bob, Craig, and colleagues.  As indicated above, their respective charges are not to make policy or decisions for the Society, but rather to take advantage of these concrete opportunities to put together our best thinking about the kinds of things members could do.  In due course we will all have opportunities to comment on what they generate.

Once again, my best wishes to all and I hope you’ll make plans for Montreal in March 2009.

David Hansen
President

Call for Papers - Deborah Kerdeman

I am delighted to announce the first Call for Papers and Proposals for the 65th Annual Meeting of the Philosophy of Education Society (PES) to be held March 20-23, 2009 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in beautiful Montreal.

• Call for Papers and Proposals: Please click on the link to find specific information regarding papers and alternative session proposals, including instructions for submitting your paper or proposal electronically on the Open Journal System (OJS).  The deadline for receipt of all submissions is November 1, 2008.  Because of the early conference date, we will adhere tightly to the November 1 deadline.  OJS will be available to receive submissions beginning September 15, 2008.  Please forward this information to all interested, especially those who are new to the Society.

Papers and proposals that bring the resources of educational philosophy to bear on contemporary educational questions and problems are particularly welcome. 

• 2009 Kneller Lecture: Professor Paul Taylor of Temple University has accepted President David Hansen’s invitation to serve as our 2009 George F. Kneller lecturer.  Professor Taylor works in the areas of aesthetics, philosophy of culture, Africana philosophy, philosophy of race, social and political philosophy, and pragmatism.  His current project connects John Dewey’s aesthetic theory to Africana political philosophy.  Professor Taylor has a deep and abiding interest in educational philosophy and practice.  We are thrilled that he will be joining us in Montreal. 

• 2009 Program Committee: An outstanding international group of colleagues has agreed to serve on the 2009 Program Committee.  I look forward to working with them and would like to thank them on behalf of PES for their service.  This year’s Program Committee members are: Barbara Applebaum (Syracuse University), Ann Chinnery (Simon Fraser University), Andrea English (Mount St. Vincent University), Paul Farber (Western Michigan University), Bob Floden (Michigan State University), Diane Gereluk (Roehampton University), David Granger (SUNY Geneseo), Chris Higgins (University of Illinois), Rob Kunzman (Indiana University), Anne Newman (Washington University), Stephen Norris (University of Alberta), Emily Robertson (Syracuse University), Denis Simard (Université de Laval), Kurt Stemhagen (Virginia Commonwealth University), and Alain Vergnioux (Université de Caen Basse-Normandie).   

I look forward to seeing you in Montreal!

Deborah Kerdeman, 2009 Program Chair and Yearbook Editor

Hospitality Committee - Kevin McDonough

Next year the annual meeting of PES will be held in Montreal for the first time in more than 20 years.  There is much to look forward to!

The site of the meeting will be the Hyatt Regency Montreal.  For comprehensive information about the hotel itself, you can check out its website -- http://montreal.hyatt.com/hyatt/hotels/index.jsp.   For the conference itself, basic room rates will be a very reasonable $149.00, while upgraded “Regency Club” rates will be $205.00.  Free internet service included!  More detailed information about reservations, including a special link to accommodate online reservations, will be forthcoming in future PES updates.  In the meantime, here I thought it might be helpful to say a bit more about the city itself in order to whet the appetites of next year’s attendees.

Montreal, designated in 2006 by UNESCO as a “City of Design”, is characterized by its ethnic and linguistic diversity.  And, because Montrealers have a singular commitment to living their daily lives on the street, visitors have immediate access to this cultural and linguistic vitality.  Upon landing in Montreal, one is quickly drawn into the streets and neighbourhoods and it is from this vantage point that one can appreciate the way in which the city of Montreal is unique within North America.  

It is said that Montreal was built on a human scale, and this seems an especially apt observation.  As a result, venturing into and experiencing cultural communities via their cuisine, art, music, politics or theatre is commonplace.  Significantly, Montreal is the only completely bilingual city in North America.  However, besides the two founding French and English cultural communities, 150 diverse communities make up 34% of Montreal’s population.  As a result, it is not unusual for conversations in Montreal’s urban landscape to be conducted in at least two and very often three languages.  Montrealers are accustomed to this, and welcome the way in which multiculturalism and multilingualism afford Montreal a richly textured cosmopolitanism. 

From an intellectual and educational perspective, Montreal has the highest concentration of post-secondary students of all major cities in North America, followed by Boston.  There are two English-language universities in the city – McGill University, a large research university and Concordia University, a smaller yet highly regarded liberal arts university.  There are also two French-language universities in Montreal:  The Université du Quebec a Montreal (UQÀM), which is the largest French-language university in the world, and the Université de Montreal, another important research institution.   Notably, students, researchers, and professors from both the English and French university systems frequently collaborate, which adds an interesting layer to Montreal’s academic  and intellectual life that, once again, serves to set Montreal apart from many of her sister cities in North America.
Not surprisingly, Montreal nourishes a lively and complex – and bilingual – arts scene.  Montrealers express their marked joie de vivre through a series of festivals: jazz, dance, film and theatre, not to mention by supportinglocal theatre, museums, contemporary dance companies, film and world-renowned orchestras.  In fact, just across the street from the Hyatt Regency, where PES 2009 will be held, is the heart of Montreal’s ‘high-culture’ scene – the Place des Arts.  This is the venue for many of Montreal’s summer festivals, including its famous Jazz festival, and it also is home to the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, the Opéra de Montreal, and Le Grands Ballet Canadiens.  It is also where Montreal’s contemporary dance movement, characterized by dance troupes such as La La La Human Steps and O Vertigo, was first conceived and nurtured by an appreciative Montreal audience.

As noted above, a public theatre of sorts takes place every day on Montreal’s lively streets.  Really, it is the streets and the neighbourhoods of Montreal that have become the city’s thriving “sociomatrix”.  Streets such as Mont-Royal, Saint-Laurent, Saint-Denis, De la Montagne, Sherbrooke and Sainte-Catherine bustle with life.  Notably, the Hyatt Regency is situated on Sainte-Catherine, Montreal’s main downtown shopping artery, and it is not far from Boulevard Saint-Laurent and Saint-Denis – two primary destinations for one-of-a-kind boutique shopping and people watching.   Importantly, the hotel is also situated very close to the cobble-stoned streets of Old Montreal, where Montreal’s financial district is located, along with more shopping and sight-seeing along the historic banks of the famed St. Lawrence River.  Significantly, both McGill University and Concordia are located in downtown Montreal and are therefore well within walking distance from the hotel. 

In addition to being centrally and ideally situated in Montreal, the Hyatt is one of Montreal’s most luxurious hotels, offering all the high-end services and amenities one might expect from such an establishment.  It is also positioned above of one of Montreal’s downtown malls, Complexe Desjardins, that serves as a portal to Montreal’s “Underground City” where more than 30 kilometers of passageways link the stations of Montreal's  subway system and contains (at last count) 1,600 boutiques, 200 restaurants, 34 cinemas and 1,600 apartments. Some 500,000 people use it every day!  So, if the weather is chilly, the Underground City – easily accessed from our hotel – allows easy access throughout Montreal’s downtown core.  

Clearly, we could not be happier that PES 2009 is going to be in Montreal, a city we believe the PES participants will thoroughly enjoy! 

Announcements, Calls for Papers, and New Books by PES Members

CALLS FOR PAPERS

  • The conference of the Philosophy of Education Society of Australasia will be held December 4-7, 2008 on the Queensland University of Technology Gardens Point Campus in Brisbane. Full details of the programme and tourism opportunities are on the Society's website: http://www.pesa.org.au
  • The Society of Philosophy and History of Education will hold its annual meeting September 25-27, 2008 at the historic Menger Hotel in San Antonio, Texas. For conference details and proposal guidelines contact David Snelgrove, 2008 Program Chair, at dcsnelgrove@aol.com
  • The tenth biennia international conference of the International History, Philosophy and Science Teaching Group will take place at Notre Dame University, South Bend, Indiana, June 24-28, 2009. It will be hosted by the University of Notre Dame's HPS Graduate Program and Reilly Center for Science, Technology and Values. The conference will continue the IHPST tradition of sustained and serious research being presented and discussed in a collegial and convivial atmosphere. As many of the pressing issues in science education are foundational ones, philosophers of education are especially encouraged to contribute. Information can be obtained from the conference chair, Don Howard (dhoward1@nd.edu) or the president of the IHPST Group, Michael Matthews (m.matthews@unsw.edu.au).
  • The Philosophical Studies in Education SIG of the American Educational Research Association is soliciting proposals for its meeting, in conjunction with AERA, April 13-17, 2009 in San Diego, California. We welcome papers on any topic in education, provided that the primary disciplinary lense or frame can be considered philosophical. The program chair is especially interested in papers that bring philosophical inquiry to bear on matters of broad educational interest. Papers that offer new perspectives on educational questions that speak to an interdisciplinary audience will be prioritized. The general AERA call for proposals can be found at http://aera.net/meetings/Default.aspx?menu_id=386&id=5316 and the deadline for proposals is August 1, 2008. All proposals must be submitted electronically at http://www.aera.net through the AERA Online Proposal Submission System. Proposals submitted by fax, mail, or e-mail will not be accepted. Also, please consider serving as a paper reviewer. Sign up through the AERA Online Submissions System. Contact Doris A. Santoro, dsantoro@bowdoin.edu, for questions regarding submitting a proposal or serving as a reviewer.

NEW BOOKS BY PES MEMBERS

  • G.H. Mead (2008). The Philosophy of Education. Edited and introduced by Gert Biesta and Daniel Trohler. London: Paradigm Publishers.
  • Barbara Thayer-Bacon, Beyond Liberal Democracy in Schools: The Power of Pluralism. New York: Teachers College Press, 2008. http://www.tcpress.com
  • Bill Proefriedt, High Expectations: The Cultural Roots of Standards Reform in American Education. New York: Teachers College Press. http://store.tcpress.com/0807748749.shtml
  • Susan Laird, Mary Wollstonecraft: Philosophical Mother of Coeducation (Continuum Library of Educational Thought, Vol. 15), London: Continuum, 2008.
  • D.G. Mulcahy, The Educated Person: Toward a New Paradigm for Liberal Education. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2008.
  • Deron Boyles, ed., The Corporate Assault on Youth: Commercialism, Exploitation, and the End of Innocence. New York: Peter Lang, 2008.
  • Jana Noel, Ed., Classic Edition Sources: Multicultural Education (2nd Ed.), New York: McGraw-Hill, 2008 and Developing Multicultural Educators (2nd Ed.), Long Grove, IL: Waveland Press.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

  • Green Theory & Praxis: The Journal of Ecopedagogy (Vol. 4, No. 1) would like to announce publication of its June issue and a general CFP for future issues. This peer-reviewed journal is dedicated to interdisciplinary research at the transformative nexus of ecological politics and culture, critical theory/pedagogy, ecocriticism and sustainability education. Send questions to Richard Kahn, richard.kahn@und.edu. The current issue is online at http://greentheoryandpraxis.ecopedagogy.org/index.php/journal/issue/current
  • The Journal of Educational Controversy announces the "Talking with Authors" video series. Starting this summer, interviews with authors whose articles are published in the journal will be webstreamed within the journal itself. The Winter 2009 issue, dedicated to Maxine Greene, on the theme, "Art, Social Imagination and Democratic Education," has been extended to September 1, 2008. http://www.wce.wwu.edu/eJournal/

 

CONTACT: PES Executive Cris Mayo
217-333-3673; cmayo@illinois.edu