Dismantling a Herrenvolk Tendency in Terminal-Degree Foundations Courses: A Content Analysis

• In Event: Navigating Unjust Institutions: Visions of Educational Justice

Abstract

This employs content analysis to examine the oft-ignored decontextualized, white-washed social contract theories analyzed in education foundations considering the argument in The Racial Contract by Charles W. Mills (1999). Hartlep & Portillo (2015) establish that among the five main objectives of educational foundations is the mandate to connect the disciplinary foundations of education to the lived experience of people and communities. This paper reports the results of a content analysis of terminal-degree education foundations courses in the 13 research one institutions that comprise the South Eastern Conference. This paper provokes debate on how the traditional canon has mispresented the tenets of the social contract – the role, the parties, the agreement, the object, and what of the agreement – in Western educational programs.

Author

• Jean Swindle, East Tennessee State University