Teaching as the Practice of Wisdom

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In the spirit of Paulo Freire, this inspiring book deconstructs many of the 'gods' that define contemporary life, then offers hope through sources of traditional wisdom. It addresses important contemporary discourses in the political and social sciences in ways that are relevant to the personal and professional lives of teachers at all levels of educational practice. David G. Smith discusses the impacts on teachers' lives of neoconservativism, neoliberalism, the New Marxism, the emerging paradigm of Deep Politics, global Wisdom traditions, and more - and he reveals how teachers can creatively stand with or against these streams of influence. By clearly relating larger theoretical discussions in the social sciences to the policies and practices of teaching, Smith builds upon Freire's legacy. He also reaches beyond debates in Western scholarship, and accesses new theory from the global "South", from Buddhist and NeoConfucian traditions as well as the new African Renaissance stream known as Unhu/Ubuntu. This is a powerful work of educational theory and philosophy that contains useful advice for educators wishing to push back against conformity.

Author Bio

David Geoffrey Smith is Professor of Education at the University of Alberta, Canada. His essays have won awards from the Canadian Association of Curriculum Studies, and the Canadian Association for Foundations in Education. In 2005, he was awarded the McCalla Research Professorship for Outstanding Contribution to Research and Scholarship at the University of Alberta, Canada. In 2011, he was named recipient of the prestigious Ted. T. Aoki Award for Distinguished Service in Canadian Curriculum Studies. Previous collections of essays are in Pedagon: Interdisciplinary Essays in the Human Sciences, Pedagogy and Culture (1999) and Trying to Teach in a Season of Great Untruth: Globalization, Empire and the Crises of Pedagogy (2006).