It can be argued that education was rather late in adopting and responding to postmodernism. A reason for education to engage with postmodernism can be related to the educational project which was closely connected to some of the central ideas of modernity and a central element of modernism and modernization. For some, postmodernism implies…

Comparing teachers to Don Quixote, the author describes how the profession is caught between modernism and postmodernism. She offers action research and collegiality as ways to break the bounds of the entrenched, hierarchical system of education and its associated cultural values. (SK)

Attempts to provide an introduction to postmodernism for health care workers that spans postmodernist and modernist discourses. Discusses metanarratives, authority, discourse, deconstruction, textuality, and difference. (Contains 42 references.) (SK)

This paper argues that, while Kenneth Burke may be placed by some writers squarely in either the modern or the postmodern tradition, Burke participates in both but is marginal to each, and thus "beyond" them. The first section briefly traces the outline of Burke's philosophy of rhetoric. With that framework as a backdrop, the second…

Notes the self-conscious reflection that emerges in the fifth edition of the "Handbook of Child Psychology." Identifies several dichotomies in developmental psychology, such as change as variational or transformational, and sees these dichotomies in the context of modernist and postmodernist attitudes. Suggests that developmental…

Tenets of postmodernism are the interpretive nature of perception and the cultural contingency of belief. Postmodernist adult education would be reflexively contextualized, indeterminate, expressive, participative, heterodox, and critical. Strongly postmodernist practice would lack any common vision, goals, principles, or procedural values needed…

Makes a case for using postmodern concepts in the reflection stage of action research. Offers ways for a dialog between action research and postmodernism: common critique of knowledge and power, the notion of discontinuity, narrative as a form of discourse, and Foucault's analysis of power. (SK)

The relevance of postmodernism for formulating educational policy is discussed, emphasizing the postmodern critique of computerization. Postmodernists suggest that the computer in education may not be as productive as was originally thought because it will bring to fruition the theories of modernism that separate truth from context. (JL)

Detailed discourse analysis is presented for two articles that suggest that postmodernism has little to offer comparative education and should be resisted. The two texts, focusing on postmodernism as the antithesis of comparative education and on the "lost promise" of postmodernism, demonstrate the use of language to convey messages that limit or…

Argues for a less rigid conception of leisure. Describes how leisure has been socially constructed and how the concept is changing in postmodern consumer culture. Suggests that adult education discourse neglects consumer culture and leisure, thus ignoring part of adults' everyday existence. (SK)

Considers educational technology in the context of the political and ethical nature of schooling, including the official discourse of schooling, social justice, and community; the contradictions and uncertainties of schooling based on postmodernism and modernist thinking; and a sociocultural perspective of schooling. (Contains 11 references.) (LRW)

Identifies elements of science education that are conducive to environmental awareness and congruent with reconstructive or revisionary postmodernism. Discusses the nature of and criticisms of modernism and the role of modern science in the environmental crisis. Identifies developments in postmodern science that supersede modern science.…

Teachers of composition are modernists because the teaching of composition has been, and continues to be, a modernist enterprise in American colleges and universities. The question explored in this paper is, why? Why do practitioners of composition remain mired in the modern? Since the 1980s writing teachers have had a sense as a profession that…

The author acknowledges the value of postmodernist thought in opening up a new understanding of the educational process, but finds that postmodernism raises difficulties when one attempts to deal with the differences and interactions between cultures. He argues that the comparative studies should be based on a balance between relativism and…

Discussion of the relationship between libraries and culture focuses on elements of language and discourse associated with cultural conditions and their implications for librarianship. The conflict between modern and postmodern cultural conditions and thought is examined in a number of library and information science texts. (LRW)