Document Type
Article
Publication Date
Summer 2006
Abstract
This paper extends the question “What should we be doing and what kinds of activities would we be engaged in during the time we take off to craft and assert ourselves as public intellectuals?” Kathleen Kesson and Jim Henderson provided us with historical background (and a delightful song parody) while Kent den Heyer challenges us to take two years off from the academy and engage in research that would better enable us to communicate with and influence those in positions of power. For the purpose of this paper, we wish to join with Kesson, Henderson, and den Heyer, if only momentarily, in crafting new ways to comprehend public intellectualism. To wit, what forms of immigration and infiltration can we imagine and craft to better position ourselves as part of the larger conversations concerning schools and society? We use the term “immigration” specifically to highlight the changing demographics and potentially changing nature of U.S. society in 2005. By sheer numbers, change occurs. In the most unlikely of places in rural Georgia, for example, “se habla Español” regularly appears on store fronts. Beyond sheer numbers, however, infiltration also means doing the grunt work of making our way into otherwise exclusive or elusive conversations where important decisions are made concerning schools and society. To immigrate and infiltrate effectively, however, will require imagination.
Recommended Citation
Boyles, Deron R. and Kovacs, Philip, "Intellectualism, Infiltration, and the Imaginary: The Challenge of Conservative Think Tanks in Developing Coherent Democratic Community" (2006). Educational Policy Studies Faculty Publications. 6.
https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/eps_facpub/6
Comments
Published in Journal of Curriculum and Pedagogy, vol. 3 no. 1 (2006), pp. 49-53.