Date of Award

1995

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Curriculum, Instruction, and Media Technology

Abstract

The hermeneutic analysis conducted for this study suggests that five theories about AmericanEducation may be found in Willa Cather's work. First, she believed that the needs of the individual, not the society, should be the primary concerns of educators. Second, she shows us that the family and the community may play an important role in a learner's development, but cautions that the learner should not be seen as limited to the values and attitudes of the family and community. Third, she believed that Americans had developed a warped view ofEducation, confusing the memorization of facts about art, literature or philosophy with the knowledge that arose from studying those things directly. In keeping with this belief, her fourth theory suggests that schooling andEducation are not the same thing, and that schools could in fact squelch learning by boring students with rote learning, excessive memorization, and an unwillingness to provide a rationale for the material learned. Finally, Cather shows us that she regarded teaching, as it was practiced in colleges and universities while she was a student and then a teacher, as a career that stifled those who had talent, provided a safe haven for those persons without talent who were unwilling to work, and left female teachers especially exposed to community scrutiny and criticism. This study and these findings may be of use to researchers looking for new ways of exploring AmericanEducation at the turn of the century. It is also hoped that the process through which Cather's life and work were examined may serve as a model for researchers wishing to engage in similar analyses of other American writers.

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