Chapter 15: Critical Science Literacy in Rural Northeastern New Mexico

These Rubén Blades lyrics were cited and used by permission (p. 161) in a book written by Marc Pruyn (1999). These lyrics speak to education and the family I grew up in:

It seems that nearly everything that has to do with real learning is prohibited or merely neglected in public schools these days. I have been reflecting on my current studies, present work, and early life over the past several months. Of particular interest to me has been the course, Education for a Democratic Society, offered at New Mexico State University as a requirement for the PhD. I began to think about what it meant for me to continue my struggle for a higher education in a democratic society. How was I to define these terms, “education,” “democratic,” “for,” and “society” in such a way that they made sense to me? What exactly is an education? Who exactly defines the term? Is education broadly the curriculum (Kliebard, 1995; Pinar, 2004), or is it the sum total of every moment of my life as I work to find answers to the questions, “Who am I? Why am I here? What does it matter how I live? What do I do that makes a difference to anyone?” Or, is “education” the job I am expected to do while pushing the “standards curriculum” as a Science Instructional Specialist for a large urban school district (NRC, 1996)? Could education include what I learned from my grandparents? What is the meaning of “democratic”? And what is the role of “society”? And “whose knowledge is it” (Harding, 1991, p. 312)?