Behind the Pedagogy: Classroom discourse and the construction of the self

Source: Teaching Education, Volume 18, Issue 1 March 2007 , pages 1 - 14.

This paper critically examines contemporary American classroom discourses and tries to understand the effects of the larger social and cultural meanings that have penetrated the discourses.

The central question of this article is why the seemingly justified, admirable, and inspiring ideas of child-centeredness and democratic education often result in poor educational outcomes. The author suggests that the unique American construction of the self has helped generate the type of classroom practices that render the educational outcomes inconsistent with their intent.