Education : Arendt against the Politicization of the University

Arendt against the Politicization of the University Peter Baehr True to her vocation, Hannah Arendt approached the world of teaching and learning from the standpoint of politics. But that very stance harbored a paradox. It was a mistake, Arendt believed, to politicize education because politics and education are contrasting realms of human action. For Arendt, education is a sphere created to protect children from the demands of the adult world while incrementally introducing them to it. Moreover, the education of children requires something more than teaching prowess and a mastery of the subjects taught. It requires authority: the responsibility of adults to instruct the young, establishing limits and formulating guidelines that will enable them to grow securely into the world. Politics, by contrast, is a sphere of freedom, risk, and uncertainty fit only for adults. It requires not authority but rather the equality of citizens to be seen and heard...