Languages of Education: Protestant Legacies, National Identities, and Global Aspirations [Paperback]

In this landmark contribution to the study of the formation of the modern school, Daniel Tr?hler applies one of the most recognized methods of historical research to an analysis of the language of the academic discipline of education. Arguing the value of looking at languages rather than arguments--langues rather than paroles--this method of historical research is used to examine the background of different philosophies, theories, or arguments of education, specifically republicanism and Protestantism. Tr?hlers argument is that such analysis is essential to tracing back educational arguments to the ideological core of their concerns, and thus to understanding in international perspective the historical development of education systems and organizations and to evaluating their different theoretical and political approaches and claims. Elegantly written, with the historians attention to archival material, this book enables the reader to understand the complex and different social, cultural, religious, and political context factors embedded in the thought of schooling and its objects of scrutiny--its notions of the child and teacher. Languages of Education is essential reading for scholars and students across the fields of history and philosophy of education, curriculum studies, and comparative education.

Table of Contents:

A: Introduction: Languages and History of Education

1. Languages as Contexts of Education

2. Philosophical Arguments, Historical Contexts, and Theory of Education

3. Perceptions as Performances, National Semantics, and Transnational Languages, or: Visions of Influence and Practices of Reception

B: Protestantism and Education

4. The 'Kingdom of God on Earth' and Early Chicago Pragmatism