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2021 - Volume 5 - Number 1

Education and Resentment

Daniel J. Anderson * danieljohnanderson@hotmail.com * ORCID: 0000-0002-5205-0902
University of Toronto, OISE (Education), CANADA

Susan T. Gardner * sgardner@capilanou.ca * ORCID: 0000-0001-6740-8105
Capilano University, Philosophy Department, Vancouver, CANADA

Open Journal for Studies in Philosophy, 2021, 5(1), 19-32 * https://doi.org/10.32591/coas.ojsp.0501.02019a
Received: 27 January 2021 ▪ Accepted: 5 April 2021 ▪ Published Online: 1 May 2021

LICENCE: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

ARTICLE (Full Text - PDF)

ABSTRACT:

That the world is awash with resentment poses a genuine question for educators. Here, we will suggest that resentment can be better harnessed for good if we stop focusing on people and tribes and, instead, focus on systems: those invisible norms that often produce locked-in structures of social interaction. A “systems lens” is vast, so fixes will have to be an iterative process of reflection, and revision toward a more just system. Nonetheless, resentment toward the status quo may be an important element in keeping that otherwise tedious process going, with the caveat that resentment is only productive when it is combined with reason, and that, therefore, educators, rather than privileging participant reactive attitudes, ought, instead, to promote participant reactive reasoning, as the latter can be a genuine force for both personal and interpersonal growth, while the former might very well do the reverse.

KEY WORDS: resentment in the classroom, tribalism, shaming, systemic lens, participant reactive attitudes, participant reactive reasoning.

CORRESPONDING AUTHOR:
Susan T. Gardner, Capilano University, Philosophy Department, Vancouver, CANADA. E-mail: sgardner@capilanou.ca

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