Benign Violence: Education in and beyond the Age of Reason [electronic resource] /
Allen, Ansgar.author.
Education is a violent act, yet this violence is concealed by its good intent. Education presents itself as a distinctly improving, enabling practice. Even its most radical critics assume that education is, at core, an incontestable social good. Setting education in its political context, this book, now in paperback, offers a history of good intentions, ranging from the birth of modern schooling and modern examination, to the rise (and fall) of meritocracy. In challenging all that is well-intentioned in education, it reveals how our educational commitments are always underwritten by violence. Our highest ideals have the lowest origins. Seeking to unsettle a settled conscience, Benign Violence: Education in and beyond the Age of Reason is designed to disturb the reader. Education constitutes us as subjects; we owe our existence to its violent inscriptions. Those who refuse or rebel against our educational present must begin by objecting to the subjects we have become.
Description based upon print version of record.
Cover; Title; Copyright; Frontispiece; Contents; List of Figures; Acknowledgements; Preface; I Bodies; On Progress; Modern Examination; Educated Bodies; A Child's Interior; II Populations; On Forgetting; The Violence of Power; Make Live and Let Die; Improving the Breed; III Meritocracies; Our Eugenic Religion; The Occasional Hero; Lives Redistributed; After Fairness; Notes; Index
Education is a violent act, yet this violence is concealed by its good intent. Education presents itself as a distinctly improving, enabling practice. Even its most radical critics assume that education is, at core, an incontestable social good. Setting education in its political context, this book, now in paperback, offers a history of good intentions, ranging from the birth of modern schooling and modern examination, to the rise (and fall) of meritocracy. In challenging all that is well-intentioned in education, it reveals how our educational commitments are always underwritten by violence. Our highest ideals have the lowest origins. Seeking to unsettle a settled conscience, Benign Violence: Education in and beyond the Age of Reason is designed to disturb the reader. Education constitutes us as subjects; we owe our existence to its violent inscriptions. Those who refuse or rebel against our educational present must begin by objecting to the subjects we have become.
Education—Philosophy.
Educational sociology .
Education and sociology.
Educational sociology.
Education—History.
Philosophy and social sciences.
School management and organization.
School administration.
Educational Philosophy.
Sociology of Education.
Sociology of Education.
History of Education.
Philosophy of Education.
Administration, Organization and Leadership.