On Beauty and Justice in the School Curriculum

• In Event: The Arts and Creation of Beauty

Abstract

This paper explores the implications of three orientations of aesthetics, specifically beauty, to curriculum theory and practice in the United States. Taking the position that most K-12 schools either neglect beauty altogether or provide little conceptual underpinnings to its practice, we focus on ideas about beauty and justice from three major writers in the humanities: bell hooks, Milan Kundera, and Elaine Scarry. We argue that these writers’ works, which conjoin beauty with matters of social justice, deserve attention, analysis, and imagination to its usage in schools and classrooms, particularly through the lens of Eisner’s ecology of schooling.

Authors

• Bruce Uhrmacher, University of Denver

• Jodie Lynn Wilson, University of Denver