Re-visioning education: American education through the mythological and depth psychological perspective.

摘要

James Hillman wrote Re-Visioning Psychology (1975) with the intention of shifting the "monomania or monotheism of Self' that dominated psychological thought during the decades of the 1960s and 1970s (xiii). Hillman's new vision for psychology was based upon the mythological and depth psychological perspective. Over three decades later, a similar monism has beset public education in the United States. As No Child Left Behind (NCLB) clearly illustrates, the American public education system is singularly governed by a standardized, intellectual mimesis. Following Hillman, this dissertation endeavors to re-vision American education using the mythological and depth psychological perspective.;This dissertation is not a linear argument supporting one central thesis, but a thematic collection of papers examining qualitative aspects of the American education system from the viewpoint of the humanities. Education is envisioned as mythic, using Joseph Campbell's four functions of myth to consider the implicit assumptions and sensibilities imparted through collateral learning. Applying Hillman's ideas of psychologizing and pathologizing, the historical trajectory of the American education system is seen as an entrainment with a mythic archetype, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is viewed as a symptomatic expression of a repressed archetypal energy. School violence, disruptive classroom behavior, and reality formation are perceived mythically, identifying both the archetypal resemblances and the mythic dynamics within each to offer American education a new approach to these educational occurrences.;This dissertation utilizes the mythological and depth psychological perspective to: envision NCLB as a misguided application of the sacred American narrative; see the archetypal Apollo as the monotheistic perspective underlying the intellectual mimesis of American education; view ADHD as a symptomatic, soul-full expression of the repressed archetypal Dionysus; and perceive the archetypal images of Ares, Poseidon, Persephone, and Zeus as a suggestion for a more pluralistic pedagogy that encourages individualistic creativity and personal growth through mentor-like relationships. This dissertation, however, is not meant to prescribe definitive answers but to offer American education a different perspective. The hope is to initiate poesis and to help re-vision American education anew.