Democracy, global transitions, and education : using speculative fictions as thought experiments in anticipatory critical inquiry

The purpose of a thought experiment, as the term was used by quantum and relativity physicists in the early part of the twentieth century, was not prediction (as is the goal of classical experimental science), but more defensible representations of present 'realities'. Indeed, one of the best-known examples of a thought experiment ('Schrodinger's cat') demonstrates the impossibility of prediction at the quantum level. Speculative fictions, from Mary Shelley's Frankenstein to the Star Wars saga, can be read as socio-technical thought experiments that can help us to apprehend and comprehend present 'realities' and uncertainties, and to anticipate and critique possible futures. In this paper I will demonstrate how two examples of popular speculative fictions, Frank Herbert's Dune (1965) and Ursula Le Guin's The Telling (2000), can be read as thought experiments that describe problematic aspects of contemporary social and cultural transformations. I will argue that critical and deconstructive readings of these novels can help us to produce anticipatory critiques of possible ways in which democratic institutions are being transformed by globalisation. I will conclude by considering the implications of such anticipatory critiques for generating questions, problems and issues in educational inquiry and for choosing appropriate methodologies for investigating them.

"So that's when I thought to myself : 'my life is just horrible'" : everyday judgements of life satisfaction

Objectives : The study was designed to investigate life satisfaction (l.s.) judgments as they occur spontaneously in everyday life, rather than being constructed in response to a researcher's question.
Methods : A convenience sample of 50 adults from Melbourne, Australia, was employed.
Half had at least some university education; the other half did not. In an in-depth, structured interview, participants were asked to recall – if they could do so – an occasion when they had spontaneously made a judgment about their l.s. The circumstances in which the judgment had been made and the thoughts that had entered into it were elicited.
Results : Main findings included :
(a) All participants were able to recall an occasion when they had spontaneously made a l.s.
judgment.
(b) Judgments that life was good and that life was bad were equally common.
(c) Judgments invariably involved comparisons with various standards (e.g., what one had versus
what one wanted, what one had versus what one deserved, what one had versus what one
expected to have).
(d) However, upward and downward social comparisons were relatively rare.
(e) Judgments were commonly based on events relating to just one or two areas of life, rather
than a review of many different areas.
(f) The areas of life involved were invariably those impacting very directly on participants.
(g) While the thoughts entering into the judgment generally went beyond consideration just of a
specific situation, they usually did not encompass large sweeps of time.
(h) There was very little to distinguish judgments of more- and less-educated participants.
Conclusions : Findings are compared and contrasted with those typically obtained using the more standard approach of asking participants to rate their 1.s.

Thought processes associated with reluctance in gay men to be tested for HIV

This study explored the thought processes that are associated with reluctance in gay men to be tested for HIV antibodies. The sample comprised 97 men who had not been tested for at least four years; 69 had never been tested. They were asked to imagine that someone had suggested that they be tested very soon and to identify, from the list provided, any negative thoughts prompted by this suggestion. The most commonly reported thoughts were that testing was unnecessary because risks had not been taken, that it was unnecessary because there were no symptoms, and that there was no urgency to be tested. Data were explored by means of factor analysis and comparisons across subgroups differing in risk level. The results are interpreted as indicating the use of rationalizations to buttress a decision not to be tested, the powerful influence on HIV decision-making exerted by salient perceptible features, and the ‘status quo bias’. Techniques that could be used to encourage testing in gay men are discussed.

Bridging thought worlds of an academic CoP and IT support

This paper reports a case study of a Community of Practice (CoP) of tertiary educators in information technology (IT), who seek ways to obtain adequate IT support to match their particular work environment. A facilitated workshop sought to bring members of the CoP and a key representative of the central IT department together with the aim of creating common ground for improved communication and collaboration. Subsequent individual interviews explored perceptions, boundaries and potential boundary spanning opportunities. While literature argues that shared domain knowledge and associated language should alleviate boundary issues, we found that in some circumstances it might intensify them.

Is neoliberalism a Liberalism, or a strange kind of bird? On Hayek and our discontents

This paper examines the theoretical ideas of Friedrich von Hayek, arguably the key progenitor of the global economic orthodoxy of the past two decades. It assesses Hayek's thought as he presents it: namely as a form of liberalism. Section I argues that Hayek's thought, if liberal, is hostile to participatory democracy. Section II then argues the more radical thesis that neoliberalism is also in truth an illiberal doctrine. Founded not in any social contract doctrine, but a form of constructivism, neoliberal thought at its base accepts the paradoxical need to "discipline subjects for freedom", however this might contravene peoples' natural, social inclinations. The argument is framed by reference to Aristophanes' great comedy, The Birds, whose off shore borderless empire ironically prefigures the dream of neoliberal social engineers, and their corporate supporters.

Constructing inclusive education in a neo-liberal context : promoting inclusion of Arab-Australian students in an Australian context

School systems are a major social change agent capable of challenging social inequalities and economic disadvantages. Yet, while schools in Australia are being confronted with increasingly culturally diverse populations as well as an increasing focus on student retention, this transformative role is increasingly being played out in a broader educational context that has been found to replicate rather than challenge patterns of social inequality. Successive governments in Australia have responded to this context with a raft of policy initiatives. This paper, based on three-year longitudinal research undertaken in the city of Melbourne, outlines this policy context and introduces the theoretical approach that underpins its innovative approach to managing cultural diversity in educational institutions. It argues for, and presents, a multidimensional model for managing cultural diversity in schools, one that provides the tools for transformative practices to be undertaken to effect positive change in school environments for the benefit of all students.

Contentless thought : case study in the meaninglessness of all views

To defeat the heirs of the enlightenment with their own weapon i.e. reason itself. To reduce all philosophy all science all views to irrational meaningless babble using their own epistemic conditions of truth. To confound the products of reason by reason itself. To show that the rational in fact collapses into the irrational. By reason itself all products of human reason reduce to intellectual chaos. To shatter the categories of thought, to rob all views and ideas of any epistemic worth by using reason to show that they end in stultification foolishness, or absurdity. Reason confounds reason and convicts reason by it's own standard to unintelligibility, babble, stultification, incoherence foolishness and absurdity, or meaninglessness. Reasons critique of reason shows that there is no consistency in ally product of reason, no order , no coherence only chaos and absurdity, or meaninglessness. The life-jacket, or anchor reason gives in the void of meaninglessness is broken by reason itself. Into the void of nothing reason drops us. Cut adrift in meaninglessness we are free to acquire other insights other realizations by transcending reason. Meaning can be reduced to absurdity. Meaninglessness can be reduced to absurdity but for those who hold meaninglessness as a view, or meaning there is no hope.

Social justice in education in 'new times'

This thesis considers social justice in education in ‘new times’. To facilitate the investigation a number of research questions were pursued. These questions were: • What is meant by the label ‘social justice’? • How is social justice to be understood in contemporary terms? • Are there tensions between traditional and contemporary views of social justice? • How effective are policy developments in delivering social justice via education? • What difference do such policies make at the local level? To answer these questions a critical case analysis of a country community and one of its primary schools was carried out. Data were gathered using a variety of methods. As a researcher who was also a teacher in the school I kept a personal professional journal during 1993 and 1994. During this period I was the teacher in the school with responsibility for curriculum development related to issues of social justice. In 1994 I conducted interviews with twenty students, parents and teachers at the school in relation to social justice issues. I also interviewed the CEO of the town’s Council. A number of relevant Federal and State Government and school policy documents were consulted and an archival search of the local newspaper from 1956 to 1994 was undertaken. Statistical information from the Australian Bureau of Statistics as well as from school records was used. A number of local history books were consulted as well as the minutes of relevant school committee meetings. Contemporary social theory, more specifically the work of Anthony Giddens, provided the major methodological tool. Giddens structuration theory was selected as it provided a way of interpreting society from both macro and micro perspectives, it provided a way of studying the interconnectedness of the individual and society. In addition to this, a metaphor was used as a way of developing an understanding of the data. The river was chosen as the metaphor as it has significance to the case study community and it also provides a way of understanding interconnectedness. At an interpretive level, both social theory and moral philosophy were drawn on, including the work of Geoffrey Sharp, Anthony Giddens and Alisdair MacIntyre. A review of selected literature indicated three main areas of concern in relation to this thesis. We live in a time of constant and ongoing change, understanding how this change impacts on the lives of individuals and society is important. Such an understanding relates directly to issues of ontology. In addition it was necessary to consider schools in these ‘new times’. The literature revealed that the changes occurring in the wider society were related to the changes currently being seen in schools. Specifically this related to the increasing emphasis on economics and on individualism, emphases also reflected in the findings of this thesis. Finally the literature related to social justice was discussed, the focus here was on distributive theories of justice and the way these are reflected in programs such as the DSP. The data, as expressed in the metaphor of the flowing river, revealed dominant and marginal currents in social justice in education in ‘new times’. The dominant social group are the intellectually trained and the dominant issues were related to technology, globalisation and economic and bureaucratic rationalism. In the marginal currents we find the under-employed and the unemployed and marginal issues relating to housing, the black economy, poverty and the survival of rural communities. The data also revealed a marginal tributary running into the river. This tributary shows that social cohesion is still a part of life in ‘new times’, albeit a marginalised part. The dominant and marginal currents in social justice in ‘new times’ reveal changes at a deep cultural level. Social justice in ‘new times’ is set within the limits provided by economic rationalism. Such a position is closely linked to the rise of liberal democracy as a political ideology. A rise which has been on a global scale. This valorizes the individual as compared with the group, and the family as compared to the social whole, within the context of expanded economic groupings and markets. Such an ideological position sees the role of the state as providing the ‘legitimising muscle’ to advance the cause of individuals and their families as compared to larger social groupings. These perceptions were applied in Australia, even under a Labor Government. In this sense social justice policies in ‘new times’ are ideological, they act as a political lever to legitimate economic restructuring. They are policies designed to carry disparate groups forward and together on a common wave of economic reform. They are used to ‘sell’ economic reform as being ‘good’ for all of society. Against the backdrop of economic rationalism and liberal democratic ideals there emerges a language geared to the production of an economically viable self, self image, self identity, self esteem and self confidence. As a result, the sense of identity as ‘social’ is lost from view. This thesis argues that what is needed is a new way of looking at social justice in education. A way that reaches beyond the solutions forwarded by the political Left and the Right. It is about the development of an understanding of the way in which an assimilation of the hyper individual and the social group can result in the emergence of the socially responsible individual. This is a cultural shift that sees the individual/society dualism presented in a new way. The categories enter into a new relationship where the balance shifts away from the individual towards society. A shift to a culture where the individual’s rights and responsibilities are respected within a social whole. Such a cultural shift would result in a curriculum which would build social identity, promoted socially responsible independent thought and make space for creativity and the aesthetic. A ‘curriculum for social responsibility’ would be a socially just curriculum.

Mathematics as a second language : looking for a bridge between mathematical language and the language of thought

Our thoughts are in one language, and mathematical results are expressed in a language foreign to the way we think. Mathematics is a unique foreign language with all the components of a language; it has its own grammar, vocabulary, conventions, synonyms, sentence structure, and paragraph structure. Students need to learn these components to partake in a thorough discussion of how to read, write, speak and think mathematics. Beginning with the students natural language and expanding that language to include symbolism and logic is the key. Providing lessons in concrete, pictorial, written and verbal terms allows the instructor to create a translation bridge between the grammar of the mother language and the grammar of mathematics. This papers presents methods to create the translation bridge for students so that they become articulate members of the mathematics community. The students "mother" language, expanded to include the symbols of mathematics and logic, is the the key to both the learning of mathematics and its effective application to problem situations. The use of appropriate language is the key to making mathematics understandable.