Courage in a New Key

• In Event: 69.048 - Education in a Minor Key

Abstract

The major key for effective teaching (especially in urban settings) highlights the heroic teacher who courageously battles the odds (and the effects of poverty) alone. Here I explore the theme of courage in a (politically) minor key, playing philosophical and pedagogical notes that constitute courage in a different pattern relative to its contemporary major. I conclude with a call for switching keys when it comes to educators’ conceptions of courage understanding that the positive and affirming key for courage in education is one I outline here, one that can only arise in the context of caring interaction and shared responsibility.

Author

• Barbara S. Stengel, Vanderbilt University