The Nature of Conflict

Abstract

The problem of conflict abstinence in the curriculum was at the center of the debate among scholars who were situated in different progressive political perspectives. These groups of scholars were engaged in powerful analyses that addressed both the dominant and counterdominant perspectives. They were challenging the culture of positivism (Giroux, 1981a), which was fundamentally concerned “with controlling and dominating the natural and human environment” (Wexler, 1976, p. 8), thus fostering cognitive passivity (Kincheloe, 1993). These scholars saw the urgent need, as Wexler (1976) puts it, to “turn from science as the single standard of knowledge in favor of a plurality of equally ways of knowing” (p. 8). Learning, Giroux (1983) claims, “takes place in a variety of public spheres outside of the schools” (p. xxviii).