Chapter 12: Conclusion: Teaching (and Learning) Through Despair With Philosophy and Love as Hope

Now, we return to the quandary that inspired this project. That is, in light of scholarly critiques of schooling and the evidence regarding the inequities of capitalism, we are left with the question, “Where’s the hope?” Well, the first thing a disheartened student or reader might consider is that there is a distinct difference between schooling and education or, as John Dewey might say, those processes which are mis-educative and educative. In Experience and Education, he says the following: “Any experience is mis-educative that has the effect of arresting or distorting the growth of further experience.”¹ Said simply, schooling processes are mis-educative in that they confine individuals and their abilities to think, grow, and interact in increasingly humane ways. Unfortunately, readers are likely familiar with both schooling and mis-educative practices because many things people often despised about their own K–12 experiences happen to fall into these categories: expected conformity through controlling behavioral mechanisms; memorization without conceptual understanding; responses from adults like, “Because I said so” or “That question is irrelevant”; simplistic curricula that fails to explore or acknowledge an array of perspectives; the cycle of cramming, testing, and purging; and the feeling that one is meaninglessly jumping through hoops. These most certainly are all ways of learning. But, are these the types of lessons that benefit students, communities, and society? If not, then should they be driving the work of the teacher?