Colby's Education Program is guided by John Dewey's distinction between "education as a function of society," where the function of education is to prepare the minds of the young to maintain and uphold the basic principles of society, and "society as a function of education," where the function of education is to remake or reform society, because the principles and directives that govern society, and support the status quo, are by and large unreasonable or unjust. We firmly embrace the latter perspective, and thus our program is explicitly committed to promoting social justice, both in schools and in society at large.
Courses in the program explore the impact of cultural assumptions, societal norms, and institutional policies and practices on both individuals and groups. Students and faculty work together to examine the operation of power as it relates to the preservation of privilege and the construction of knowledge. In so doing, students are encouraged to analyze and critique the intended and unintended privileges and oppressions resulting from specific educational and institutional practices by (1) considering the values and politics that pervade educational institutions, as well as the more pragmatic issues of teaching and organizing schools; (2) asking critical questions about how taken-for-granted assumptions about conventional thinking and practice came to be, and who in society benefits from such assumptions; (3) attending to differences in gender, race, social class, sexual orientation, and ability, that result in political, social, economic, and educational advantage, disadvantage, and inequality, particularly for children and youth; and (4) examining the connections among white privilege, male privilege, social class privilege, heterosexism, and other forms of privilege as they relate to environmental and ecological concerns; and (5) investigating how schooling plays a crucial role in the development of attitudes and behaviors toward "nature" and the environment.
Students are also encouraged to move beyond critique and to theorize about the creation and implementation of educational and institutional practices that promote greater social justice and equity in society as a whole. To these ends students in the program participate in a variety of
civic engagement, practicum, internship, and activism experiences.
