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School Authority, Parents’ Rights: Rita Koganzon on Early Modern Education

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Americans have always had mixed emotions about schooling: in popular literature and television, teachers are often depicted as tyrannical authorities, even as in classroom settings they often try to style themselves as "friends." Dr. Rita Koganzon, professor of political science at the University of Houston, discusses the history of the idea of authority in education, dwelling on Enlightenment thinkers like Locke, Rousseau, and Bodin. Along the way, she covers contemporary issues like homeschooling and parents' rights, and how attitudes towards those concepts have changed from the Early Modern period to the present.

More on Dr. Koganzon, https://uh.edu/class/political-science/faculty-and-staff/professors/koganzon/

Her book, "Liberal States, Authoritarian Families: Childhood and Education in Early Modern Thought," https://global.oup.com/academic/product/liberal-states-authoritarian-families-9780197568804?cc=us&lang=en&

Her recent article "There Is No Such Thing as a Banned Book: Censorship, Authority, and the School Book Controversies of the 1970s," https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/723442

Host:
Annika Nordquist
Guest:
RKRita Koganzon