Chapter 8: The Ontological Problem of Contemporary U.S. Education: A Non-linear, Sensuous Critique

These are but three examples of the material consequences for the onto-logical problem that is contemporary education in the United States. This is not simply a case of sublimating ways of being for ways of knowing, although such sublimation is certainly often the case in American educational theory and practice. Nor is this only a call for a return to considering a person not solely in terms of her cognition in educational interactions such as teaching and learning, while this is also certainly a point of no small importance. Put bluntly, a lack of attention and action to processes of educational ontology has created an orientation towards curriculum, pedagogy, and studenting that is harmful for all students and continues a tradition of unequal educational opportunities in a systematic and consistent manner (cf. Cooper, 1892; Brown & Brown, 2010; Valenzuela, 2005; Watkins, 2011; Winfield, 2007; Woodson, 1933). Although such an argument may seem like hyperbole, as I articulate here, this may in fact be an understatement.