Social Reconstruction & Education
Social reconstruction is a philosophy focused on achieving social change. As a practice, it strives to achieve social justice and equity by altering the various social systems upon which society rests. It is based upon two major understandings; first, that society tends to develop systems that marginalize and oppress others and thus need to change, and second, that achieving this change requires both creating a system that serves as a change agent and is open to changing it's own purposes and structures as the social contexts in which it exists naturally evolve.
Since we live in a world of seemingly endless and diverse challenges, and since educational systems and schools are one of the primary means by which we develop understanding and skills related to functioning in society, social reconstruction requires that social reform serve as the primary goal of every student's education. As an educational philosophy, educational institutions at all levels are viewed as the main means by which students are prepared to reconstruct the systems through which inequality and the oppression and marginalization of other people occur. Educational reconstruction purposefully and explicitly requires that our schools function as change agents, empowering students to question the very systems in which they live and work, and to create a society that is more equitable and just.
As an "educational social movement" guided by critical pedagogy, social reconstructionism rests upon the idea that schools need to actively assist students in changing the world that they are a part of; it directly prompts the recognition that human beings tend to adopt authoritarian systems which can become controlling, manipulative and which perpetuate the status quo and thus lie in opposition to ideas of free will, equity and social progress. Reconstructionist educators connect knowledge directly to power and acknowledge that often the very systems that we as a society create to both understand and help us manage the world tend to end up working against the very people they were designed to assist.
This entry provides an overview of social reconstruction, outlines its development and places it in context. It also briefly describes the ways that social reconstruction has been understood in education in the United States and examines criticisms of social reconstruction.
Overview
Social reconstruction emerged in the first half of the 20th century, and is viewed as a reaction to the conservative societal conditions of that time; it was believed that, particularly in educational settings, there was a lack of connection between what students understood about the world through what they were taught, and how the world actually works. Ignorant of understandings about these connections, social reconstructionists assert that people become open to influence, manipulation, and ultimately oppression. In schools, for example, it is believed that what students are taught has not and is not preparing them to function in a rapidly changing and diverse world; each student's education is not believed to be reflective of the conditions and problems inherent in the society in which they are a part, and thus students exit the educational system unequipped to deal with problems inherent in the "real world", and unable to prompt or manifest social change. Instead of producing agents of change, as reconstructionists believe should be the goal of education, traditional educational systems produce "self-fulfilling prophecies"; students are not taught how to, nor are encouraged to, think critically and holistically, but to instead simply take all of the information presented to them at face value and ultimately assume a place in society that is deemed "appropriate" by the very social system that educated them. This educational structure is overtly controlling, and is intended to produce two outcomes; first, the system assures it's continuing existence and domination by reproducing itself, and, secondly, the system maintains its power to control others by teaching them only what it deems is necessary for them to know.
To progressive educators, those who feel that governance, for example, should evolve as those being governed evolves and that education should be based on "real-life" interactive experiences, schools are seen as simply reproducing the systems that support the status quo, systems which were and are increasingly able to be characterized as oppressive and discriminatory, instead of systems which adapt to and advance social change and support emerging social conditions. Given society's tendency to view and understand the status quo as representing what is "normal", anyone or anything classified as lying outside of this socially constructed label is understood as "different", and can thus be easily discounted, manipulated, marginalized and oppressed.
For social reconstructionist educators, who both historically and currently believe that education is mass produced, educational curricula should not focus primarily on knowledge acquisition, but instead on student experience, critical thinking and the taking of action on very real social problems, like hunger, discrimination, poverty, violence and war. Reconstructionists firmly assert that people can individually and collectively bring about social change, and feel that this empowerment begins in our schools. Restructuring educational systems so that students emerge better prepared to both recognize and deal with the issues, ideologies, problems and values they will have to contend with as adults and citizens is of primary importance. A sense of individual and collective activism becomes both vital and necessary to achieving social justice and equity in society and calls upon educational systems, educators and students themselves to become agents of change.
Development of Social Reconstructionist Philosophy
Utilizing an empowering and progressive educational philosophy that prompts critical thinking and prioritizes the solving of complex social problems, reconstructionist educators focus on developing and implementing educational programs that prompt students to explicitly pursue social reform, and that provide them with the skills necessary to manifest meaningful and lasting societal change. Preferred strategies when educating for empowerment include building at least a foundational awareness of various major social issues, facilitating student inquiry and questioning, and engaging in meaningful dialogue; community based learning and outside-the-classroom experiences are not only encouraged, but are deemed necessary to the educational experience, especially as they are linked to self-development and to realizing a humanizing understanding of others.
The American philosopher and educator Theodore Brameld (1904-1987) is generally seen as the founder of the reconstructionist philosophy of education. Brameld, as a result of the violence of World War II, felt that, as a society, we had two distinct choices; either evolve and work to create a more socially just world, or submit to potential societal and global destruction as a consequence of oppression and war. Influenced by philosophers and educational reformists like Horace Mann (1795-1859), John Dewey (1859-1952) and George Counts (1889-1974) who all believed that schools and educational systems should improve our way of life and create an aware and active citizenry, Brameld explicitly believed that schools should become direct forces of social change, and advocated for the radical redesign of educational systems so that social change and student empowerment stood at the forefront of educational theory and practice.
Social Reconstruction and Education in the United States
Although a complex philosophical movement, social reconstructionism holds to four somewhat broad ideas, anchored by a belief in centralization: it attacks laissez-faire economics and calls for centralized economic systems; it calls for a nationalized, and centralized, educational system; it calls on American teachers to proactively organize; and it seeks to break the power that elite classes (primarily wealthy and white) have traditionally often held in educational systems and schools. Almost all social reconstructionists want to replace the popular idea of "individualism" found within American education with a much more community-oriented framework.
Social reconstruction in American education was popularization the 1st half of the 20th Century, during the depths of the Great Depression, can be seen as continuing with calls for the deconstruction of the standardized curriculum that schools in the United States currently teach, which, though controversial for decades, became more of the focus of educational reform in the 1980's, remaining an issue today due to such legislation as the No Child Left Behind Act, which was signed into law in 2002. Under such mandated, controlled and structured educational frameworks, what students are thought to need to learn is often rote, bland, and one-dimensional; students are not prompted to adopt a critical mindset nor taught to actually analyze and look beyond what it is they are learning. Education of the "whole person" is not seen as important, and students are told what they need to know as well as what it means and how it should be applied.
Social reconstructionists assert that under the standardized frameworks currently seen in the United States, students are simply required to digest information as it is provided to them, and are neither encouraged nor given the opportunity to examine, challenge or actively engage the material; this only perpetuates an often oppressive status quo. Additionally, students are not allowed the opportunity to actually relate what they are learning to their own lives and to a contemporary, diverse and constantly evolving world. For example, all schools that receive federal funding in the Unites States must teach students about the U.S. Constitution, a requirement that, at least on the surface, appears logical given the role of this document in the history of the country. Social reconstructionism would ask, however, that educators do much more than simply teach students the facts surrounding this important piece of the American story. Under a reconstructionist philosophy and educational framework, educators would be responsible for actively seeking to teach students about the Constitution in a way that was personally meaningful to them and that prompted reflection, and that involved critique and consisted of a thorough analysis of both the context and subtext of the document as a historical event. For instance, students might be asked to think about the implications of the fact that the word "woman" does not appear anywhere in the whole document, and then be guided in questioning the rationales, intentions and implications surrounding such an omission.
Criticisms of Social Reconstruction
Social reconstruction has been opposed by both non-progressive and progressive educators, most of whom have believed that schools should be run like businesses, and some took offense to what was seen as the social reconstructionist's attack on traditional ways of educating; instead or preparing student's to enter the workforce, they were being prompted to address social issues and create change. Many critics have derided reconstructionists for being "idealists", "romantics" or "utopians", asserting that their ideas can never work in actual practice.
Occasionally opponents of social reconstructionism have actually found agreement with their criticisms coming from other social reconstructionists. John Dewey, himself an educational reformist, repeatedly criticized the philosophies of those who took an overly optimistic view of child-centered education. To educators like Dewey, a child's natural curiosity and willingness to learn was generally unfocused; students needed guidance and direction from teachers to actually learn in a way that was meaningful. Dewey and some other social reconstructionist educators were also opposed to politicizing the classroom. However, a few reconstructionists, including George Counts, believed that all teaching was a form of indoctrination by it's very nature; reconstructionist educators were simply making a practice that had always been implicit in education explicit and transparent.
Jeffrey D. Zacko-Smith
State University of New York College at Buffalo
See also Critical Pedagogy, Critical Theory, Critical Multiculturalism and Education, Postmodernism, Social Justice Education.
Further Readings
Brameld, T. (1965). Education as power. San Francisco: Caddo Gap Press.
Brameld, T. (1976). The teacher as world citizen: A scenario of the 21st Century. Palm Springs, CA: ETC Press.
Counts, G.S. (1932). Dare the school build a new social order? New York: The John Day Company.
Cremin, L.A. (1977). Traditions of American education. New York: Basic Books.
Shimahara, N. (Ed.). (1973). Educational reconstruction: Promise and challenge. Columbus, OH: Charles E. Merrill Publishing Company.
Shimahara, N., & Conrad, D.R. (1991). Theodore Brameld's culturological vision: Profile of a reconstructionist. Qualitative Studies in Education, 4, 247-259.
Smith, P.L. (1980). Sources of progressive thought in American education. Washington, D.C.: University Press of America.
