Classroom Discipline in American Schools

<p><b>Breaks the silence regarding modes of classroom control bringing contemporary political moral and democratic perspectives to bear on the issues.</b></p><p><b><i>CHOICE </i></b><b>1997 Outstanding Academic Books</b></p><p>For both teachers and the public school discipline and classroom management are acute problems in contemporary schools often taking precedence over issues of curriculum and pedagogy. Yet surprisingly discipline and management have escaped sustained critical analysis. This book is a unique heuristic effort to break the silence regarding modes of classroom control explicitly bringing democratic moral and political perspectives to bear on the issues. It analyzes classroom relationships in terms of ethical and political considerations arguing that current behaviorist and teacher-tricks approaches to classroom control fundamentally contradict expectations of moral development and democratic ends.</p><p>Classroom Discipline in American Schools rekindles a debate that has atrophied in the last several decades. It invites teachers and scholars in many fields to examine the moral stances and politics that are enacted daily through the implicit curriculum of mainstream modes of control and to create new frameworks more consonant with the aspirations and ideals of democratic life.</p>