EDU 506 : Democratic Theory and Organizational Change

EDU 506 examines movements of democratic change, historical as well as contemporary, that have resulted over time in new institutional and organizational forms that in turn contribute to shaping the educational process. Political democracy describes a tension between individual rights and community responsibilities, between freedom and equality – and the resolution of those tensions through peaceful, democratic means. Students study the process of organizational change under conditions of democratic rule, in which in theory decision-making is a transaction among and between competing group, institutional, and individual interests. The course introduces students to the work of such early and contemporary democratic theorists as Walt Whitman, John Dewey, Jurgen Habermas, Chantal Mouffe, Archon Fung and Erik Olin, Lawrence Goodwyn, and Christopher Lasch. Course topics include the role and function of teacher unions; setting academic standards in a democracy; the limits and possibilities of classroom and workplace democracy; excellence and inclusion; school choice; problems of democratic elitism; and building a democratic movement culture in our schools.