Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2019, Educational Studies

Enriching teacher-student relationships is timely considering the increase in school violence, the changing demographics in schools, and the fact that educational aims focused on high-stakes testing often ignore relationships. When applying philosophy to teacher-student relationships, we must ask both whose voices are missing from our current conversation and how we can apply their insights to improve education. While philosophers such as John Dewey, Paulo Freire, and Nel Noddings have all contributed to that conversation, William James's philosophy and pedagogy provide a unique perspective on teacher-student relationships that is largely absent within the field of philosophy of education. In this dissertation, I explore the relationship between the philosophy of James, his personality, and the productive relationships he had with students. I suggest that there is a link between his pragmatism, pluralism, and psychology, and the way he interacted with students. His philosophy can be evaluated from its actual effects in the world and by how it changes us as individuals. I suggest that the cash value, or impact in real life, of James's philosophy in the context of education, plays out in particular forms of relationships of openness, experimentation, curiosity about others, spontaneity, and communication.

Committee: Bryan Warnick (Advisor); Jackie Blount (Committee Member); Antoinette Errante (Committee Member) Subjects: Education; Education History; Education Philosophy

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2021, Educational Studies

The roots of the close link between politics and education, recognized by numer-ous modern philosophers as well as contemporary scholars, can be found in ancient Western philosophy. This period of human history witnessed the emergence of philo-sophical movements which had more or less coherent political, educational, and meta-physical ideas, which used education as their main form of political activity, and which hoped to shape the system of education through politics. Examining and understanding these different ancient approaches is critical for making sense of the link between poli-tics and education today. Nevertheless, there has been little research exploring this link at its ancient roots. This study focuses on the Pythagorean, Socratic, Platonic, Cynic and Stoic movements. The politics of these movements are mainly explored through their views on gender, slavery, and socioeconomic systems, and categorized on a spectrum of con-servatives on one side and radicals on the other. The pedagogies of these movements are mainly categorized as teacher-centered or student-centered, and their curricula, educa-tional theories, practices and preferred student profiles are examined. This study aims to show that the political and educational approaches of these movements were in line with each other even if whether a movement is conservative or radical did not directly de-termine their pedagogy, which was rather determined by its political function according to the needs of the movement, and that education is necessary but insufficient for caus-ing social and political change. This study concludes with lessons drawn from the expe-rience of ancient philosophy for those who want to make a difference through education.

Committee: Bryan Warnick (Advisor); Jackie Blount (Committee Member); Winston Thompson (Committee Member) Subjects: Education Philosophy

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2010, EDU Policy and Leadership

In the strictest sense, this dissertation is not theoretical. It is methodological and descriptive. Methodologically, I am concerned with how to seek, sense, and see—to know as opposed to merely knowing-about. Attempting to know in this ontological way, my analysis begins (in Chapter One) with some categories and metaphysical discussions that offer a “trinitarian lens” from which we might begin to seek, sense, and see things. This lens serves as the reference point for the descriptive project: to describe education (in Chapter Two), study (in Chapter Three), and the person (in Chapter Four) in ways that are potent enough to endure and accompany us. Finally (in Chapter Five) I offer some reflections on the merit of these descriptions and their overall purpose and motivation. In the end, my purpose is to describe things in a way that is faithful to the reality present through the trinitarian lens and provide room for the reader to exercise in practices of seeking, sensing, and seeing. There are also practical suggestions for curriculum and teacher education. Namely, that phenomenological method—understood as way of imagining the real—and ontological descriptions should be a part of teacher preparation, curriculum development, and the practice of teaching in and out of schools. These suggestions might offer resources to teachers that could withstand the loss of the school itself.

Committee: Philip Smith PhD (Committee Chair); Bryan Warnick PhD (Committee Member); William Taylor PhD (Committee Member); Patti Lather PhD (Committee Member); Timothy Leonard PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Education; Philosophy

EDD, Kent State University, 2024, College of Education, Health and Human Services / School of Foundations, Leadership and Administration

The purpose of this Dissertation in Practice is to explore my professional ethos as an educator. As a nomadic scholar-educator, without a permanent organizational or institutional framework within which to operate, I had no ready-made code of professional ethics or corporate ladder, no outside structure to guide my work. That is, until I embarked on this journey into philosophies of education and found that the post-critical approach to education has provided me with a way to talk about and frame my professional purpose. My study foregrounds/ explores some key characteristics of a post-critical definition of education and being-a-teacher to demonstrate their applicability to my understanding of myself as an educator. By viewing a number of positions and projects with a post-critical eye, I have identified features of my work, like the teacher's love of a subject, a sense of educational hope, and a focus on affirming the good in the world that can be passed on to the next generation. I have been able to weave together a myriad of experiences that I had not known how they were connected until I looked at them educationally. In this way, I have taken on a unique problem of practice—developing my professional ethos as a nomadic, post-critical educator.

Committee: Natasha Levinson (Advisor); Jennifer Martin (Committee Member); Mary Parr (Other); Astrid Sambolin Morales (Committee Member); Elizabeth Perkins (Committee Member) Subjects: Education Philosophy; Educational Theory; Pedagogy; Teaching

Doctor of Philosophy, University of Toledo, 2023, Foundations of Education

Software powered by artificial intelligence (AI) is used widely in the United States in education as a tool for teaching, administration, student assessment, and other purposes. Curriculum delivery, tutoring, support for students with disabilities and resource allocations are some of the applications of the technology. The normative, ideological, and logistical concerns with AI's use in schools are equal to the benefits. Disparities are introduced, mechanisms to scale up poor pedagogical practices are provided, the agency of students and educators is impeded, and democracy is threatened by AI in education at all levels. The data generated through students' interaction with AI applications introduces ethical issues regarding student privacy and surveillance, data ownership, the deepening enmeshment of corporations in education, and insufficient legal protections for citizens and students (Couldry & Mejias, 2019, p. 3; Prinsloo et. al, 2022, p. 878-879; Richards, 2022, p. 3; Stockman & Nottingham, 2022, p. 4; Williamson et al., 2020, p. 334-335). A clear path for AI's integration is elusive for practitioners, decision-makers and administrators. No holistic manual to guide the ethical application of AI in education (AIEd) has been devised. There is a vitally important need for an ethical framework governing AIEd that is comprehensible and comprehensive, applicable, and aspirational for practitioners. This research identified the components of an ethical framework for AIEd that capitalized on the advantages of the technology's use while mitigating harms and inequities to students, educators, and society. The principles of Stoic philosophy and the cardinal virtues of the doctrine are generalizable across populations and provided a theoretical lens with which to guide the investigation.

Committee: Edward Janak (Committee Chair); Dale Snauwaert (Committee Member); Tonia Dousay (Committee Member); Berhane Teclehaimanot (Committee Member) Subjects: Education; Education Philosophy; Educational Technology

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2023, Educational Studies

This dissertation explores the role that shame plays in schools in the United States, both historically and today. Through utilizing the Scholarly Personal Narrative (SPN) arts-based inquiry method, I consider my own encounters with shame both as a student and teacher, and position these stories as a jumping-off point to further investigate the relationship between shame and school. I argue that, contrary to traditional Western perceptions, shame is a risky and unpredictable experience, which does not reliably lead toward moral improvement. Shame is deeply embedded into American educational institutions, and thrives in schools through three primary pathways: through overt shaming practices and methodologies; though a model of deficit-based thinking systematically applied to students; and through a perpetuation and magnification of the pre-existing shame that students bring to school with them from their lives outside of the classroom. In order to teach students to push back against unhealthy experiences of shame, I argue that teachers should seek to induct students into a “mindset of enoughness” as well as seek opportunities to practice what Simone Weil calls “attention,” a practice of open-minded suspension of active thought that allows for the world to enter an individual. Practicing enoughness and attention in the classroom can support students in developing their skills of listening, connection, and imagination, which can help students move away from the isolated conditions that foster shame. Ultimately, all educational stakeholders should be educated in the complexities of shame, its potential consequences, and possible methods of subverting shame in educational spaces.

Committee: Bryan Warnick (Advisor); Jackie Blount (Committee Member); Antoinette Errante (Committee Member); Winston Thompson (Committee Member) Subjects: Education; Education Philosophy; Philosophy

Doctor of Philosophy, Miami University, 2021, Educational Leadership

Cosmopolitanism is a normative philosophy that suggests a global community of responsibility. This study further develops cosmopolitanism in conflict-related education settings through a historical examination of the United States' imperial expansion into the Philippines, the subsequent Philippine-American War, and the accompanying American education restructuring efforts in the Philippines at the turn of the 20th century. This conflict serves as a delimited historical site for research in which a cosmopolitanism-based framework is used to evaluate conflict-related education as an instrument of foreign policy. Employing the methodologies of historical research and critical policy analysis (CPA), this study draws widely from the literature on cosmopolitanism as well as primary and secondary sources related to the history of the Philippine-American conflict. President William McKinley's so-called benevolent assimilation proclamation of 1898 serves as the foundational historical policy document for this study. A top-level federal policy document, McKinley's proclamation provides a springboard for critically examining its associated history, politics, philosophy, rhetoric, and educational implications. This study argues that cosmopolitanism ethics consists of three essential elements: respect, responsibility, and rootedness. Respect recognizes that social justice and moral flourishing can be promoted by traditions and cultures other than one's own. Responsibility recognizes that one is obliged to take actions to promote social justice and human flourishing beyond their own tribal boundaries. Rootedness, meanwhile, promotes social justice and human flourishing within one's own culture. It is only when all three components are present that cosmopolitanism ethics are realized. By prioritizing economic profit, by favoring the American White-settler lived experience, and by actively repressing the history, political will, and agency of the Filipino people, (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Kate Rousmaniere (Committee Chair); Kathleen Knight Abowitz (Committee Member); Michael Evans (Committee Member); Thomas Misco (Committee Member) Subjects: Education; Education History; Education Philosophy; Education Policy; Educational Leadership; Ethics; History; Military History; Philosophy

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2019, EDU Policy and Leadership

Many believe that farmers were originally supportive of the land-grant colleges because of the focus on agricultural science as part of the land-grant curriculum. Although land-grant colleges and farmers are generally aligned in their interests and efforts today, the farmers of the 1850s-early 1900s actually challenged the land-grant colleges for control of governance and funding. Often these challenges occurred between farmers and colleges in Congress and state legislatures. Meanwhile, the alumni were a disorganized group prior to the 1910s that often challenged the university administration's authority and control of the college. Yet, in order to compete with the farmers, the land-grant colleges needed to identify a group of advocates who would lobby legislatures on the land-grant colleges behalf. My research focuses on how one institution, the Ohio State University, used its alumni to parry the attacks of farmers in the early 1910s. Research has been limited on the relationship between the land-grant universities' administration, farmers, and the alumni. Even more limited is the literature that exists about alumni relations during the formative years of the profession (1890-1920). My research identifies how the Ohio State University established authority over the disparate alumni groups in order to use the alumni as advocates in Congress and the state legislature to combat the farmers.

Committee: Bruce Kimball (Advisor); David Staley (Committee Member); Tatiana Suspitsyna (Committee Member); Bryan Warnick (Committee Member) Subjects: Higher Education; Higher Education Administration; History

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2018, Educational Studies

What is the role of higher knowledge and education in molding the individual and in creating certain attributes of the individual? The attributes of the individual in question are derived from Marx and they signify an individual who is autonomous, free and capable to determine her own future and discover and actualize her own kinds of needs in the process of human development. I have labeled these attributes as the Marxian attributes of the individual. This study explores various components of the philosophy of education from Classical Marxism to Early Soviet Marxism and to Enver Hoxha. By analyzing the role of the revolution, praxis, and social structures that foster education such as the state, the party, the school, and the family in Hoxha's Veprat, this research provides a rich understanding of the philosophy of education, and the Marxian attributes of the individual within it. An analysis of Hoxha's writings has demonstrated that Hoxha undertook a revolution and constructed an idea of education to thwart the Marxian attributes of the individual which he found threatening. However, his idealistic idea/goal of revolution and education which had a planned outcome was incapable to eliminate these attributes. I have argued this to be justifiable because higher education and higher knowledge foster and develop the Marxian attributes of the individual which stand in contrast to a form of education and revolution that has an end in mind, and hence it undermined Hoxha's revolution. Hoxha's experience warns that higher learning cannot co-exist with a form/idea of education that has a determined end in mind, because, by definition, it will undermine it.

Committee: Bryan Warnick (Advisor) Subjects: East European Studies; Education; Education History; Education Philosophy; Education Policy; Educational Psychology; Educational Theory; Ethics; European History; Higher Education; Pedagogy; Philosophy; Political Science; Science Education

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2018, Educational Studies

In this dissertation, I critique STEM education as the educational apotheosis of neoliberal governmentality and reconceptualize it for an egalitarian democracy. Part and parcel of this analysis is considering Wendy Brown's (2015) contention that the contemporary subject is interpolated by the prevailing norms of neoliberalism as a governing form of political rationality and thus expresses itself not as a political subject, or “homo politicus”, but as a self-investing and economized subject, or “homo oeconomicus”. I hypothesize that students as emergent homo oeconomicus seek out STEM education as the best means for survival within a technocratic marketplace. In this sense, STEM literacy is rendered the paradigmatic form of symbolic capital within the capitalist state. The thrust of my critical response to this milieu figures left-libertarian or social-anarchist thought as the diametrically opposed and thus apposite ideological rejoinder to the right-authoritarian status quo, not only for political activism writ large, but also for educational reform proposals and even the preparation of preservice teachers. In the end, my research is an attempt to explore how students' narratives can assist critical educators with leveraging pedagogy into a potent means for cultivating within educational systems the social imaginaries and political subjects needed to eschew the aims of a right-authoritarian status quo and embrace the aims of an egalitarian, left-libertarian society-to-be.

Committee: Bryan Warnick Ph.D. (Advisor); Michael Glassman Ph.D. (Committee Member); Bruce Kimball Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Curricula; Education; Education Philosophy; Education Policy; Educational Sociology; Educational Theory; Ethics; Pedagogy; Philosophy; Political Science; Social Research; Social Structure; Sociology; Teacher Education; Teaching

PHD, Kent State University, 2017, College of Education, Health and Human Services / School of Foundations, Leadership and Administration

The purpose of this study was to explore the conceptual strength and consistency of the term 'relational learning' in describing the principles, practices and purposes of the Classical Confucian learning paradigm as put forth by Confucius in the Analects (Lunyu). With a critical synthesis of Classical Chinese, Mandarin Chinese, as well as numerous English language translations of the Analects and related scholarly discourse, several insights about learning in the Analects are put forward. First of all, Confucius' language concerning Heaven (Tian) and filial piety (xiao) root Confucian learning in a sincere yet unavoidably hierarchical relational dynamic that molds and influences the learning process. Second, the daily practice of ritualization (li) situates the learner as a constant observer, actor and performer of propriety as a coping strategy in situ, with further learning and cultivation being contingent on the successful recognition and integration of concepts embedded within relational settings. Third, and finally, Confucius suggests that the ultimate outcomes of learning rely upon the relational capacity of the mind/heart nurtured within a given learning relationship or community. This means higher learning is a synergistic experience involving two or more entities and contingent on the emergence of 'dual-minded' respect (ren) toward the inevitable differences and misunderstandings that arise. In this light, we move beyond the term 'self cultivation' and obtain a more nuanced view of Confucius as a teacher and a learner; ready to point out major areas of concern as well as potential coping strategies, but without turning into a path of learning managed or oriented solely by the self or the other.

Committee: Natasha Levinson Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Averil McClelland Ph.D. (Committee Member); Jeffrey Wattles Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Adult Education; Education; Education History; Education Philosophy

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2017, Educational Studies

It has become commonplace within the educational research community to invoke the transformative power of education. Calls to adopt a “transformative” approach to teaching, learning, pedagogy, assessment and professional education can be heard across the disciplines of educational research today—in fields as different as adult education and school leadership, and as estranged as social justice education and educational psychology. Parallel to this discussion is the increasing usage of the language of transformation by administrators, informational brochures, official websites, and student affairs personnel in higher education. Beyond the English-speaking world, the German fields of educational theory and qualitative educational research have recently seen a flurry of activity on the topic of "transformatorische Bildungsprozesse" (transformative ed-ucational processes). The first aim of this dissertation is to examine some of the common philosophical assumptions that lie behind these various invocations of transformation. What does it mean to undergo a transformative experience? What pedagogical methods are required to bring them about? Where has the idea of a transformative education come from, and what anthropological premises does it assume? These questions are addressed in the first two chapters, which conclude that the various usages of the idea of transformation in education today fall into four different “paradigms” of transformative experience: conversion, overcoming, discovery and initiation. In the third chapter, I explore some of the ethical problems that accompany each of the paradigmatic approaches to transformative education. The central result of this analysis is that only the “initiation paradigm” possesses the necessary resources for addressing the characteristic ethical problems of transformative education, and I therefore defend a revised version of transformative initiation in the fourth chapter. Within the initiation paradigm, educational transfo (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Bryan Warnick Ph. D. (Advisor); Bruce Kimball Ph. D. (Committee Member); Jackie Blount Ph. D. (Committee Member); Mark Conroy Ph. D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Education; Philosophy

Doctor of Philosophy, Miami University, 2017, Educational Leadership

The widespread use of digital technology has had a remarkable effect on almost every domain of human life. Advanced digital technologies are used for communicating with friends and colleagues; engaging in social media; holding down jobs; paying bills; purchasing tickets for events; listening to music; watching films and making videos; and many other daily activities (Pegrum, 2011). This technological change has caused governments, educational departments, and non-governmental organizations (NGO's) to recognize the need to develop educational plans that would support the social and the cultural changes that have occurred with the ubiquitous permeation of digital technology into our everyday lives. The purpose of this research was to examine several socio-cultural aspects related to the integration of digital technology and education. Specifically, this study aimed to explore how teachers' understanding of digital technology and the practices used in the classrooms advance or constrain democratic citizenship. This dissertation aimed to bridge theory and practice by developing a philosophical investigation through empirical research. The importance of utilizing empirical research in a philosophy follows Arcilla's (2002) claim that one needs to reconsider how philosophy can become relevant to educators. Through employing critical, qualitative research methodology, this study provides a comparative examination of teachers' understanding of digital technologies for education, as expressed by teachers in Israel and teachers in the United States. Conducting a comparative examination helped to reveal the meta-ideological aspects of utilizing digital technology in schools. The heart of this study dealt with the promise of digital technology to transform education in the age of globalization, under the neoliberal apparatus. The analysis chapters examine several assumptions regarding digital technology and education, through critical exploration of educational policies, (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Kathleen Knight Abowitz (Advisor); Richard Quantz (Committee Co-Chair); Lisa Weems (Committee Member); Thomas Poetter (Committee Member); Jason Palmeri (Committee Member) Subjects: Education; Education Philosophy; Educational Sociology; Educational Technology; Educational Theory

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 1982, Graduate School

Committee: Not Provided (Other) Subjects: Education

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 1981, Graduate School

Committee: Not Provided (Other) Subjects: Education

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 1971, Graduate School

Committee: Not Provided (Other) Subjects: Education

Doctor of Education, Ashland University, 2014, College of Education

A growing amount of research and literature supports a relationship between student success at the college level and the implementation of student-centered learning. Millennial students report higher levels of persistence and satisfaction in institutions that understand and try to adapt to their unique learning style, which is unlike the learning styles of their Boomer and Generation X faculty and administration (Debard, 2004; Noel & Levitz, 2009; Oblinger, 2003). What are institutional members of organizations such as the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU) and the Association for Biblical Higher Education (ABHE) doing to understand and adapt to the change in generational trends and attitudes toward learning? Recent literature consistently indicates Millennial students have certain expectations about learning. Organizations must address these expectations so Christian higher education institutional effectiveness does not experience negative consequences in our changing global society.

Committee: Ann Shelly PhD (Committee Chair); Carla Edlefson PhD (Committee Member); Dan Lawson PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Education; Higher Education; Religious Education; Technology

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2013, EDU Policy and Leadership

The purpose of this research is to provide an understanding of the financial strategy and shortcomings of The Ohio State University (OSU) in the early 1900s. It focuses on key moments in educational philanthropy, particularly endowment building, at OSU, with comparisons to the University of Michigan (U-M), and occasionally Harvard University. Located in the center of the midwestern state of Ohio, OSU might be considered a quintessential public university, facing challenges comparable to other colleges and universities. This dissertation draws on extensive original source material from OSU's archives to show the dynamic interplay of university leaders in making key financial decisions. A variety of other primary and secondary sources from both OSU and U-M are also used. The chronological narrative presents the slow and halting journey of OSU toward private fundraising, endowment building, and the creation of the OSU Development Fund. To provide background, discussions on the land grant movement and the founding of OSU are included, as well as a description of the Ohio economy in the early 1900s. Key findings in this research are as follows. In the 1920s, Ohio State University was in a prime position to make great strides in fundraising and in building its endowment. Ohio was a relatively wealthy state, and several other universities had previously and prominently demonstrated how to begin and conduct fundraising campaigns, including annual alumni campaigns at Harvard and Yale. OSU had merely to keep pace with its contemporaries, such as the University of Michigan, to reach prosperity. But despite the factors working in its favor, OSU actually fell rapidly behind in fundraising and endowment building during the period from 1920 to 1940. Notwithstanding the difficult economic climate of the Great Depression, other universities forged ahead in fundraising through this period. OSU's alumni leaders pushed heavily for progress in fundraising for over a decade before signif (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Bruce Kimball Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Bryan Warnick Ph.D. (Committee Member); Ann Allen Ph.D. (Committee Member); Robert Lawson Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Adult Education; Comparative; Economic History; Economics; Education; Education Finance; Education History; Education Philosophy; Education Policy; Educational Leadership; Higher Education; Higher Education Administration; History

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2012, EDU Policy and Leadership

Chief among the goals of American education is the cultivation of democratic citizens. Contrary to State catechism delivered through our schools, America was not born a democracy; rather it emerged as a republic with a distinct bias against democracy. Nonetheless we inherit a great demotic heritage. Abolition, the labor struggle, women's suffrage, and Civil Rights, for example, struck mighty blows against the established political and economic power of the State. State political economies, whether capitalist, socialist, or communist, each express characteristics of a slave society. All feature oppression, exploitation, starvation, and destitution as constitutive elements. In order to survive in our capitalist society, the average person must sell the contents of her life in exchange for a wage. Fundamentally, I challenge the equation of State schooling with public and/or democratic education. Our schools have not historically belonged to a democratic public. Rather, they have been created, funded, and managed by an elite class wielding local, state, and federal government as its executive arms. Schools are economic institutions, serving a division of labor in the reproduction of the larger economy. Rather than the school, our workplaces are the chief educational institutions of our lives. Here we spend the bulk of our time and efforts. Our jobs constitute our deepest point of political impact upon society. As Adam Smith and Karl Marx both recognized, people are formed by their ordinary employments; our daily habits and modes of association determine who we are. Thus the character of our workplaces, whether democratic, autocratic, or theocratic, serves as the best barometer for the character of our culture. Since the late-19th century, capitalist industry has sought to transform the worker into the beast of burden whose primary life function is to labor for the enlargement of capital. Hence the education of daily working life, subservience to those who control our ac (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Bryan Warnick PhD (Advisor); Phil Smith PhD (Committee Member); Ann Allen PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Economics; Education Philosophy

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2005, Educational Administration (Education)

This study lies at the intersection of contemporary research on leadership and concerns for the performance of recent African leaders and theme of participation. It utilizes qualitative approaches to examine the issue of leadership and stakeholder participation in the role of Asante traditional leadership and the process of educational change in Ghana during the last quarter of the twentieth and the beginning of the twenty-first centuries and the representations that such participation holds for the rest of the country and Africa in the quest for relevant education systems, leadership functions and expectations of stakeholders. The call of the Asantehene (King of Asante), Otumfuo Osei Tutu II at his installation that improved and quality formal education should be a criterion of assessment for his reign; the subsequent establishment of the Otumfuo Education Fund and Offinsoman Education Trust Fund provided the background to formulate the study. Individual and focus group in-depth recorded interviews, life stories of participants, documents and text examination from primary official and secondary sources in the field constituted the mode for structuring the study. The results were revealing in the heights of expectation placed on Asante traditional leaders, the mobilization of external and local fiscal, manpower and material resources, networking possibilities and the reach of societal philosophies to catalyze the change agendas while reinventing their ages old legitimacies in a modern state. The involvement of Asante and other traditional leaders in the process of education change as role models, conflict mediators, gender advocators, agents of development, grantors of land, benefactors and providers of governance services in the schooling process from the local to the national levels were the norms of expectations and not the exceptions in these complementary but increasingly devise and important roles. The reality beyond perception of traditional leaders' interest (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: William Howard (Advisor) Subjects: Education, Administration