계몽의 재개념화에 기초한 공교육 담론

Abstract

Public education was based on metanarratives of enlightenment that was to develop rationality in all by overcoming ignorance and superstition with the guidance of reason. Based on enlightenment discourse, aim of education was supposed to produce a rational human. The contemporary crisis of public education is, however, attributed mainly to the decline of metanarratives, instrumental use of reason, and overly dependence on logic of capital. In "postmodern era" we need to generate a public education discourse counted on contextual rationality by transgressing the 'self-evident' logics based on scientific method and knowledge, Also, we should make a distinction between a theory of enlightenment as an outline of a transcendental project and a critical enlightenment attitude. The concept that sees enlightenment as a attitude enables us to reconceptualize enlightenment and encourages us to include a variety of discourses into a school curriculum. This "permanent reactivation" project contributes to reconstruct public education discourse in terms of not a universal consensus but a historic research. In addition, we need normative criteria such as justice and freedom to give the oppressed voices a various opportunity to present their experiences and stories in the educational context. In conclusion, public education in postmodern era, I hope, is one that welcomes various discourses and knowledges at school, considering enlightenment not a mode or an era but a critical attitude.