Retrodictive Curriculum Reform, or, Imagination is Silly; It Makes You Go ’Round Willy Nilly'

Abstract

Imagine we all wake up tomorrow and education is very different from what it is today. In fact, what is happening in and out of schools is pretty much what we would hope for, for our own children and the children of others. Many of us who once found the purpose of our professional life as critics of common practices, cajolers of innovation, advocates of “best practices,” “critical pedagogies,” “accountability,” “border pedagogies,” “equity,” “excellence,” “social justice,” “exceeding standards,” and so on, now find our work welcomed and embraced as facilitating and supporting a highly valued and respected amalgam of social institutions.