In this Book
- The Enigmatic Academy: Class, Bureaucracy, and Religion in American Education
- Book
- 2011
- Published by: Temple University Press
The Enigmatic Academy is a provocative look at the purpose and practice of education in America. Authors Christian Churchill and Gerald Levy use three case studies—a liberal arts college, a boarding school, and a Job Corps center—to illustrate how class, bureaucratic, and secular-religious dimensions of education prepare youth for participation in American foreign and domestic policy at all levels.
The authors describe how schools contribute to the formation of a bureaucratic character; how middle and upper class students are trained for leadership positions in corporations, government, and the military; and how the education of lower class students often serves more powerful classes and institutions.
Exploring how youth and their educators encounter the complexities of ideology and bureaucracy in school, The Enigmatic Academy deepens our understanding of the flawed redemptive relationship between education and society in the United States. Paradoxically, these three studied schools all prepare students to participate in a society whose values they oppose.
Table of Contents
- Introduction
- pp. 1-12
- Part I. Plufort College
- pp. 13-19
- The Regional Atmosphere
- pp. 19-22
- The Developmental Thrust
- pp. 22-28
- The Symbiotic Community
- pp. 28-34
- The Academic Trajectory
- pp. 34-43
- The Sociopolitical Whirlpool
- pp. 43-49
- The Socially Ironic Reality Screen
- pp. 49-55
- The Public Relations Panorama
- pp. 55-61
- The Competitive Strain
- pp. 61-64
- Conclusion: The Bureaucratic Grip
- pp. 64-69
- Part II. Mountainview School
- pp. 71-77
- The Brahmin Tone
- pp. 77-84
- The Civil Service Intrusion
- pp. 84-88
- The Embattled Entitlement Path
- pp. 88-94
- The Clubbable Induction
- pp. 94-97
- The Currency of Behavior
- pp. 97-105
- The Leisured Deviance Realm
- pp. 105-110
- Part III. Landover Job Corps Center
- pp. 121-127
- Approaching Landover
- pp. 139-142
- The River to the Job
- pp. 142-152
- Responses to Institutionalized Failure
- pp. 152-158
- Students: “It’s a Risky Place”
- pp. 158-171
- Conclusion: The Veil of Ennui
- pp. 171-180
- Conclusion
- pp. 181-191
- Bibliography
- pp. 203-213
Additional Information
Copyright
2012