2008 BOOK TOUR
for
The Seduction of Common Sense:
How the Right Has Framed the Debate on America's Schools
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Schedule | Book Description and Reviews | Weblink
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Spring 2008 Schedule
(This schedule is regularly updated; last updated on 6/22/08)
March 12
Chicago, Illinois
* Book Launch *
University of Illinois at Chicago
Jane Addams Hull-House Museum (800 S. Halsted)
6:00-8:00pm
March 17-20
Northern California
March 17
Dominican University of California, School of Education
Caleruega Hall, Creekside Room
6:30-8:30pm
March 18
Modern Times Bookstore
888 Valencia Avenue, San Francisco
Co-Sponsored by Teachers 4 Social Justice
7:00-8:00pm
March 19
University of California at Berkeley, Graduate School of Education
Tolman Hall, Room 2515
12:00-1:00pm
March 19
City College of San Francisco, Ocean Campus
Cafeteria (outside Women's Resource Center)
2:30-3:30pm
March 19
San Francisco State University, Department of Asian American Studies
Gymnasium, Room 116
7:30-9:30pm
March 20
Sonoma State University, School of Education
Stevenson Hall, Room 3072
Co-Sponsored by the Northern California Chapter of the National Association for Multicultural Education
7:00-8:30pm
March 27-April 3
New York/Pennsylvania/New Jersey
March 27
American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting
Teachers College Press Exhibit Booth, Hilton Hotel, New York City
10:00-10:30am
March 31
University of Pennsylvania, Graduate School of Education
GSE Building, Room 322 (3700 Walnut Street)
12:00-1:00pm
March 31
Temple University, College of Education
Ritter Hall, Room 726 (1301 Cecil B. Moore Avenue)
4:00-5:00pm
March 31
Swarthmore College, Department of Education
Kohlberg Hall, Scheuer Room
7:30-9:00pm
April 1
Teachers College, Columbia University
Gottesman Libraries, Room 305 (525 W. 120th Street)
4:00-6:00pm
April 1
Bluestockings Bookstore
172 Allen Street, New York City
7:00-8:00pm
April 2
New York University, Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development
19 University Place, First Floor, Great Hall Room
12:00-2:00pm
April 2
CUNY Graduate Center, Department of Urban Education
365 5th Avenue, Room C202/C203
Co-Sponsored by NYCoRE (New York Collective of Radical Educators)
6:30-8:30pm
April 3
Rutgers University, Graduate School of Education
GSE Lecture Hall (10 Seminary Place)
1:00-2:00pm
April 8-10
Southern California
April 8
University of California at Irvine
Cross-Cultural Center, Ring Room
1:00-2:30pm
April 8
University of California at Riverside, Graduate School of Education
University Extension, Room E
7:00-8:30pm
April 9
Saddleback College
Village Classrooms 14-01
12:00-1:00pm
April 9
Chapman University, School of Education
Spring Research Forum, Argyros Forum, Room 201
4:00-7:00pm
April 10
California State University at Fullerton, College of Education
Education Classroom, Room 605
11:30am-12:45pm
April 10
Pacific Oaks College
Department of Human Development (55 Eureka St, Room 39, Pasadena)
5:00-6:30pm
April 17
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
April 17
University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee, School of Education
Enderis Hall, Room 597
12:00-1:30pm
April 24-26
Seattle, Washington
April 25
Seattle University, College of Education
Schaefer Auditorium
5:30-6:30pm
April 26
Washington Education Association
Minority Leadership Training Program
8:30-9:00am
April 26
Elliott Bay Book Company
101 S. Main, Seattle
2:00-3:00pm
April 28-30
Boston, Massachusetts
April 28
Simmons College, Department of Education
Dining Room, 300 The Fenway
6:00-7:00pm
April 29
Wellesley University, Department of Education
Pendleton East 225
12:30-1:30pm
April 29
Tufts University, Department of Education
Paige Hall, Crane Room (12 Upper Campus Road)
Co-sponsored by Massachusetts Asian American Educators Association, Political Research Associates, and Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service
6:15-9:00pm
April 30
TERC
2067 Massachusetts Avenue
12:00-1:00pm
April 30
University of Massachusetts at Boston, Graduate College of Education
4:00-5:00pm
May 29
Orlando, Florida
May 29
National Conference on Race and Ethnicity in American Higher Education
10:00am-12:00pm
June 7-8
Chicago, Illinois
June 7
5th International Conference on Teacher Education and Social Justice
June 26
Washington, DC
June 26
National Council of Urban Education Associations Summer Conference
6:00-8:00pm
September 26-27
St. Louis, Missouri
September 26
University of Missouri at St. Louis
September 27
Educating For Change Curriculum Fair
October 16-18
Dayton, Ohio
October 16-18
Bergamo Conference on Curriculum Theory and Classroom Practice
October 31-November 1
Wisconsin
November 1
University of Wisconsin at Oshkosh
November 14-16
New Orleans, Louisiana
November 14-16
National Association for Multicultural Education Annual Conference
* * * * *
THE SEDUCTION OF COMMON SENSE:
How the Right Has Framed the Debate on America's Schools
By Kevin K. Kumashiro
Forewords by Herbert Kohl and William Ayers
Teachers College Press, March 2008, ISBN 0807748684
Just in time for the 2008 elections, The Seduction of Common Sense offers a powerful examination of current education policy initiatives as framed by the rhetoric of the political Right and the political Left. Critical of both sides, Kumashiro first provides a searching look at the Right and shows why it has succeeded so well in winning the debate about the purposes and possibilities of education. Here he brilliantly illuminates how the Right uses particular "frames"--appeals to conservative notions of the traditional family, free enterprise, goodness, and fear--to shape the public's common sense ideas about schooling and build support for its attacks on public education and social justice reforms.
Turning then to the Left he shows how it has failed to win support for its initiatives and goals, especially regarding racial disparities in schools. More importantly, he argues that the Left must "reframe" common sense about education to embrace a commitment to human rights, a belief in equality, and quality education for all of our children. This is must reading for anyone concerned about the future of public education, especially right now.
Advance Reviews
"This is one of the most thoughtful books on education I have ever read. Kevin Kumashiro condemns fear as a hallmark in our conversations about schools, and promotes instead a spirit of freedom and democracy."
-Studs Terkel, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Good War
"A brilliant and concise guide to Right-wing trends and their impact in the classroom, as well as much-needed map for a broad Left to reframe its approach to teaching and social change by connecting-the-dots between race, sexual orientation, ethnicity, and other systems of oppression. Everyone who cares about teaching and our common future must read this book!"
-Helen Zia, author of Asian American Dreams: The Emergence of an American People
"The Seduction of Common Sense rattles. It shakes those rickety old frames that produce the congenital boredom of the classroom; students tune off as a form of resistance to tired old logics that reproduce social cruelty. They want more. So does Kevin Kumashiro. His book is a little gesture toward a new classroom, toward the vitality of our students' imaginations."
-Vijay Prashad, author of The Darker Nations: A People's History of the Third World
"In the No Child Left Behind era, it's clear the Right has seized control of the discussion on education. Kevin Kumashiro shows how the Right has created 'conventional wisdom' on issues such as school safety and the achievement gap that prevent the possibility of real progress for real students. The Seduction of Common Sense is a bold, intellectually ranging, and inspiring challenge to educators, parents, and activists to reframe the debate and reshape the agenda."
-Jeff Chang, author of Can't Stop Won't Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation
"Full of heart and hope and energy.... Kevin Kumashiro's straightforward, simple-sounding questions become gently echoing depth charges lobbed into our hitherto comfortable streams of consciousness.... This book is a vital resource as we trudge toward freedom."
-From the Series Foreword, by William Ayers, author of Teaching Toward Freedom
"Kevin Kumashiro's book is a bold and very interesting attempt to develop a theory that can account for the right wing stealing the educational agenda.... This book is important as we figure out how to fight back and reaffirm the value of child life and the importance of creative and humane education."
-From the Foreword, by Herbert Kohl, author of 36 Children
Author
Kevin K. Kumashiro, Ph.D., is an associate professor of education and the coordinator of Asian American Studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and the founding director of the Center for Anti-Oppressive Education. His previous books include Against Common Sense: Teaching and Learning toward Social Justice, and Troubling Education, which received the 2003 Gustavus Myers Outstanding Book Award.
More information available here or at www.tcpress.com.