Editor's Note

Greetings, readers, and welcome to the spring 2019 issue of Education & Culture. This latest edition of the journal features four articles and two book reviews, and it should come as no surprise to anyone familiar with recent scholarship on Dewey that all of the contributors speak in some way to contemporary issues and problems related to the prospects for democracy and/in diversity.

We begin with Kathy Hytten's "Cultivating Democratic Hope in Dark Times: Strategies for Action." In her contribution, Hytten explores the necessity for a democratic conception of hope that might help us more effectively counter the many social, political, and educational challenges we face today. In doing so, she appeals to possibilities for "storying our present" as a means of cultivating such hope, along with strategies utilizing creativity, mindfulness, and community building. All of these agencies of hope, Hytten argues in Deweyan spirit, might be effectively cultivated in schools. Shane Ralston pursues a similar interest in democratic means for achieving democratic ends in "Dewey's Political Technology from an Anthropological Perspective." Here, Ralston argues that Dewey's relative silence regarding the development and implementation of political technology to pursue democratic ends is understandable when this technology is viewed from an anthropological perspective. Utilizing such a perspective, he argues, helps us to see and appreciate the "myriad social and cultural conditions" reflected in human experience, and thus why Dewey was likely worried that specifying explicit means for intelligent action in political matters might ultimately "stymie the organic development of political practice." This explains why Dewey often appealed very generally to "the means of education and growth" while intentionally leaving "the task of specifying exact political technology (or which democratic means are best suited to achieve democratic ends) unfinished."

In "Bordentown: Where Dewey's 'Learning to Earn' Met Du Boisian Educational Priorities," Connie Goddard begins by reminding readers that both Dewey and Du Bois were strong critics of the narrow focus and concomitant limitations of traditional forms of vocational education. However, she proceeds to demonstrate how a careful review of the mission and accomplishments of the Bordentown Manual Training and Industrial School for Colored Youth (1886–1955) reveals that it largely managed to avoid these pitfalls. Unfortunately, Goddard notes, the school's legacy has been mostly ignored by historians, while Dewey and Du Bois apparently never had (or took) the opportunity to discuss substantively their intersecting views regarding vocational education or the Bordentown school. Our final article likewise looks to the application of Dewey's ideas at the school level. Sabrina Goldberg's "Dewey's Ideas in Action! Continuing Professional Development in an International Community of Practice" details the authors' experiences providing field-based teacher education and professional development during the 2017 EdTech Summit in South Africa. Goldberg's reflections make clear that communities of practice are no longer necessarily constrained by geographical locations and boundaries, but that information technology resources and training are necessary to reap the full benefits of long-distance communities. Addressing these issues effectively, she argues, often calls for Deweyan collaboration across differences and creative problem solving, especially in places where up-to-date information technologies and user skill sets currently are limited.

Two book reviews bring this issue of the journal to a close. The first is Catherine Willoughby's review of Charles F. Howlett and Audrey Cohan's compellingly argued John Dewey, America's Peace-Minded Educator. Our second book, Joseph Grange's wide-ranging Comparative Assessment in John Dewey, Confucius, and Global Philosophy, is thoughtfully reviewed by Holly Walker-Coté.

Enjoy!