Nancy Lesko
Letter Grade option
This course will look at school knowledges, conceptions of the knower (learner), and conceptions of the process of coming to know (learning). We will think about knowledge, knowers, and the process of coming to know by considering numerous aspects of what often goes unnoticed or unremarked in schooling. We will try to consider dimensions of education and of schooling that have been "unthinkable," such as the ways masculinities shape school life, the emotionality of learning, and the seeming absence of sexuality in education. While schools appear to teach "neutral, "sanitized students to become rational and self-disciplining, we can gain important insights into education and into our own assumptions and practices by looking awry, or inquiring differently, into our ideas of neutrality, rationality, and asexuality. By entering curriculum and teaching issues through a kind of "backdoor," the course materials and discussions will help us interrogate our own beliefs and assumptions about knowledge, knowers, and knowing.
Please read the introduction and a few chapters in Masculinities at school before the course begins. The course will emphasize reading, discussion of the readings, and frequent writing assignments.
Lesko, N. (Ed.). (2000). Masculinities at school. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.