Abstract
This chapter sets out our intention to articulate a specifically pedagogical understanding of upbringing. To lay the way for what follows, in which we put forward what we call an affirmative account of upbringing, we provide an overview of the rendering of upbringing in the current discourse of parenting. Drawing on an illustrative example, we do so specifically in relation to the phenomena of psychologisation, the positioning of parents as in need of education, and how particular behaviours are seen to evidence (correct) child development. This is then contrasted by an account of upbringing as an intergenerational relationship, drawing on the Continental educational philosophical tradition, represented here by figures such as Schleiermacher, Mollenhauer, and Arendt. Drawing on Wittgenstein and Cavell, we set out why the account we articulate here is expressed in terms of the grammar of upbringing, before relating this more specifically to the use of film in our investigation.
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Notes
- 1.
This critical literature is growing rapidly, in line with the surge of literature and policy interventions aimed at parents. We cannot do justice to the extent and detail of this literature here, but indicative key works include: Furedi (2008), Furedi and Bristow (2008), Lee et al. (2014), Faircloth et al. (2013), MacVarish (2016), Richter and Andresen (2012), Hens et al. (2017), De Vos (2012), Cigman (2018), Edwards et al. (2017), Hendrick (2016), Ramaekers and Suissa (2012), Daly (2013), Van den Berge (2017), and Knijn and Hopman (2015). The work of these authors as well as other research forms part of the background against which we are writing. See also Ramaekers (2018) and ‘Living ancestors’ in Laboratory for Education and Society (2018) for a more elaborated account for how issues surrounding the parent–child relationship and upbringing , in particular, have recently been taken up in philosophy of education .
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- 4.
It is interesting to note the huge increase in the number of peer-reviewed articles addressing parenting in one way or another over the last few decades. Web of Science, e.g., shows an increase over four decades (1978–1987; 1988–1997; 1998–2007; 2008–2017) from 185, over 573, over 1467, to 4475 articles. (Search conducted 2018–02–20; (TI = parenting) AND LANGUAGE: (English) AND DOCUMENT TYPES: (Article); Indexes = SCI-EXPANDED, SSCI, A&HCI.)
- 5.
In Dutch the four G’s refer to: gedachten (thoughts), gevoelens (feelings ), gedrag (behavior), and gebeurtenis (event).
- 6.
The blogs ‘Slummy Mummy’ and ‘Hurrah for Gin’ are two examples.
- 7.
For further critical philosophical analysis of positive psychology and its use in education , see, e.g., Nussbaum (2012) and Suissa (2008). For a further philosophical critique of the impact of neuroscience in the social sciences and the humanities, see De Vos and Pluth (2016), and of the neurologisation of education , see De Vos (2015). See also Vandenbroeck (2017) for a critical analysis of neuroscience in early childhood education . For a critical sociological analysis of ‘neuroparenting’, see Macvarish (2016).
- 8.
The countless articles entitled, ‘The Secret to …’ happy children , smart children, etc. attest to this. The ‘secret’ is generally scientifically validated claims for the causal relationship between parental behaviour and learning outcomes. See e.g. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-secret-to-raising-smart-kids1/ or https://www.parents.com/toddlers-preschoolers/development/fear/raising-happy-children/.
- 9.
See the UK Department for Education report ‘Developing character skills in schools’ https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/634710/Developing_Character_skills-synthesis_report.pdf. ‘Resilience ’, ‘grit’, and ‘growth mindset’ are traits that have gained particular attention , popularised in the work of, among others, Angela Lee Duckworth and Carol Dweck.
- 10.
See Ramaekers (2018) for a clarification of these concepts.
- 11.
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Hodgson, N., Ramaekers, S. (2019). Parenting, Upbringing, and Educational Philosophy. In: Philosophical Presentations of Raising Children. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-12540-0_1
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