Time for a major re-think

I am on the last few pages of John Ralston Saul's "A Fair Country - Telling truths about Canada" and have come to the conclusion that I need to do a major re-think of my notions of a political basis for child-raising. This conclusion comes from the convergence of two experiences - first being persuaded by Ralston Saul that it makes sense to learn to see ourselves more in line with our Canadian roots, and second, meeting cousins galore linked with the Grant Clan gathering in Winnipeg July, 2012. So the challenge I am setting myself is two-fold - first, to expand my sense of the Aboriginal, anglo and franco roots of my Canadian citizenry, and second, re-think my notions of the political basis of child-raising by grounding these notions in the Canadian context rather than in the Rawlsian and Nozickian context I used in my masters thesis. I am going to use this blog as a place to track this process - it would be wonderful if it also became a place for conversation with others that are interested in any aspect of this project.

Stepping back a bit

Based on some feedback I received from some colleagues on my thinking about the 'political basis for child-raising' I found it necessary to try to step back and look at this topic in a broader context. My present concern is the notion of a 'political basis' for any dimension of our society. Specifically, is my characterization of Nozick and Rawls thoughts on politics still useful? Is there more contemporary thought I need to consider to address the 'political basis of child-raising' in a meaningful way? I'm looking...

Getting a handle on 'political positions'

To consider child-raising from a political perspective, it is first necessary to get a handle on 'political positions'. I have been persuaded by Robert Ennis' analysis in "Equality of Educational Opportunity" (Educational Theory. 1976) where he sets out the differences in the Conservative and Liberal positions. As I understand Ennis, those in the Conservative position contend that most power for changing an individual is a function of the personal factor, where the personal factor consists of such things as beliefs, goals, motivation and traits (Ennis, 1976, p.9). According to Ennis those in the Liberal position consider external, environmental factors as being more important. By extending this distinction between Conservative and Liberal positions it is possible to describe characteristics of the political philosophies of each position as they apply to child-raising in a society. 

Thinking about child-raising

I am intrigued by the notion of child-raising - not the 'how-to' or 'why', but the 'how-come'. What has struck me is that political philosophies appear to ignore 'child-raising' as an important social enterprise within a society. In this blog I muse about the political basis for child-raising. I hope others will join the conversation.