Democratic Crises and the Political Weaponization of Public Education: Rural Educational Leadership Sensemaking during Times of Social Upheaval
Restricted (Penn State Only)
Author:
Maselli, Annie
Graduate Program:
Educational Leadership
Degree:
Doctor of Philosophy
Document Type:
Dissertation
Date of Defense:
August 16, 2023
Committee Members:
Kevin Kinser, Program Head/Chair Matthew Kelly, Major Field Member Karen Eppley, Outside Field Member Ashley Patterson, Outside Unit Member Kai Schafft, Chair & Dissertation Advisor
Keywords:
rural education politics of education education policy educational leadership superintendent school boards spatial polarization democracy COVID-19
Abstract:
Around the world, political polarization has increasingly developed spatial dimensions as political leaders espousing nationalistic, anti-democratic positions rally bases of support across rural areas. U.S. rural educational leadership was already facing pronounced challenges amidst ongoing rural economic dislocation, racialized conflict, and the COVID-19 pandemic, but spatialized political divisions have exacerbated and created new dilemmas. In this context, public education has been weaponized, spurred by conflicts around critical social issues coupled with the spread of mis/disinformation and distrust in expert knowledge. While public schools have frequently been part of political conversations, the current era of polarized partisanship, by contrast, has seen widening rifts between the two main political parties, with some of the largest divisions centered on public education. These dynamics have drawn rural educational leaders into heated local policy contention, functioning as stand-ins for larger (inter)national debates and divisions. In this dissertation, I first emplace the politicization of public education in the national moment. I then investigate what these circumstances mean for educational leadership at a time in which nearly all education policy decisions come with an assumed political stance and when decisions can have life-or-death consequences for individuals served by rural schools.
