Who We Are

We are a multidisciplinary group of scholars studying an urgent set of ethical questions related to punishment in schools

Principal Investigators

JOhn Tillson

John Tillson is Senior Lecturer in philosophy of education at Liverpool Hope University, Department of Education Studies. He is the author of Children, Religion and the Ethics of Influence (July 2019). His publications to date have concerned curricula contents and aims, and due and undue influence in teaching, especially over pupils’ religious, political and ethical beliefs and attitudes. His research interests can be captured under the expression 'the ethics of influence'. Tillson's work has appeared in Educational Theory, The Journal of Philosophy of Education, Theory and Research in Education, Educational Philosophy and Theory, and Studies in Philosophy and Education.

Winston C. Thompson

Winston C. Thompson is Associate Professor of Philosophy of Education at The Ohio State University. He received his PhD (with distinction) in Philosophy and Education from Teachers College, Columbia University. Having held positions, at New York University, The University of New Hampshire, and Harvard University, Thompson's scholarship explores ethical/political dimensions of educational policy and practice. His work on justice and the role of education in a pluralistic, democratic society has appeared in Educational Theory, Philosophy of Education, Teachers College Record, The Journal of Philosophy of Education, Educational Philosophy and Theory, and Studies in Philosophy and Education.

Contributors

(Please also learn about our Respondents.)

Abigail J. Beneke

Abigail Beneke is a doctoral student in the Department of Educational Policy Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Using tools from the anthropology and sociology of policy, as well as critical sociocultural theories, she explores school discipline policies as they intersect with race, gender, and class. Her research traces policy implementation at multiple levels (e.g., classroom, district, state, national) using qualitative comparative case study methods. Before studying at UW-Madison, she taught first grade in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 

J.C. Blokhuis

J.C. Blokhuis holds a JD from the University of Ottawa and a PhD in Educational Thought and Policy from the University of Rochester. He is an associate professor in Social Development Studies at the University of Waterloo and a former Kluge Fellow at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC. He is co-author, most recently, of The Challenge of Children’s Rights for Canada, 2e with Katherine Covell and R. Brian Howe (Cape Breton University) and is currently working on a sixth edition of Education Law with Jonathan Feldman (Cornell University).

Randall Curren

Randall Curren is Professor and Chair of Philosophy and Professor of Education (secondary) at the University of Rochester, and an Honorary Senior Research Fellow at the Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues (JCCV) at the University of Birmingham (England). He was the Ginny and Robert Loughlin Founders’ Circle Member at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey for 2012-2013, and held concurrent research professorships at the JCCV and the Royal Institute of Philosophy (London) in 2013-2015. He is the author of 120 publications, including most recently Living Well Now and in the Future: Why Sustainability Matters, with Ellen Metzger (MIT Press, 2017), Why Character Education? (Wiley-Blackwell, 2017), and Patriotic Education in a Global Age, with Charles Dorn (University of Chicago Press, 2018). His work spans moral psychology, ethics, philosophy of education, social and political philosophy, and Ancient Greek philosophy.

Michael Hand

Michael Hand is Professor of Philosophy of Education at the University of Birmingham. He is vice-chair of the Philosophy of Education Society of Great Britain and deputy director of the Midlands Graduate School ESRC Doctoral Training Partnership. He edits the IMPACT pamphlet series and the Bloomsbury Philosophy of Education book series. His research interests are in the areas of moral, political, religious and philosophical education. His books include A Theory of Moral Education (Routledge, 2018), Education, Ethics and Experience: Essays in Honour of Richard Pring (Routledge, 2016), Patriotism in Schools (Wiley, 2011), Philosophy in Schools (Bloomsbury, 2008) and Is Religious Education Possible? (Bloomsbury, 2006).

George W. Holden

George W. Holden is Professor and Chair of the Psychology Department at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, TX. Holden’s research interests are in the area of social development, with a focus on parent-child relationships, discipline, corporal punishment, and positive parenting. Holden is a fellow of the American Psychological Society (APS). He was a member of the American Psychological Association’s Task Force on Corporal Punishment. Currently, he is President and a founding board member of the U.S. Alliance to End the Hitting of Children (www.endhitting.org). His twitter handle is @DrNoSpank. He is married and the father of three adult children.

Lily Lamboy

Lily Lamboy holds a PhD in Political Science from Stanford University, where she currently teaches in the Program in Writing and Rhetoric. Her work as a researcher and organizer focuses on achieving transformational social change in the face of ongoing structural oppression along lines of gender, race, class, ethnicity, and sexuality. Most recently, she has published work with Cambridge University Press on racial inequality as an obstacle to democracy and co-authored an article on the potential normative implications of metrics-driven performance in the journal Theory and Research in Education. Lamboy is the co-founder of the Stanford Diversity in Leadership Initiative and the recipient of the Walter J. Gores Award for Excellence in Teaching, Stanford’s highest honor recognizing pedagogical work. She is currently working on research concerning justice in evaluation, selection, and retention practices at the organizational level.

Garry S. Mitchell

Garry S. Mitchell is a doctoral student at Harvard Graduate School of Education. Previously, he worked as a middle school teacher in New York City. During his time in the classroom Garry became interested in issues of discipline and control within schools, particularly surveillance practices. He holds a bachelor’s in African and African American Studies from Stanford University. His commitment to educational justice is inextricably linked to his lifelong identity as an African-American and his burgeoning identity as an educational researcher.

Laura Oxley

As a current PhD student at the University of York, Laura Oxley is working towards a PhD in Education with the Psychology in Education Research Centre. Her research explores alternative approaches to behaviour management in schools, other than the interventionist approach of using rewards and sanctions. She is a Graduate Member of the British Psychological Society (BPS) and an Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (AFHEA). Prior to embarking on her PhD, she studied at the University of Cambridge and gained an MEd in Psychology in Education. In addition to her research, she works part-time in a professional role supporting schools to engage students with challenging behaviour.

Campbell F. Scribner

Campbell F. Scribner is a historian of education. He is the author of The Fight for Local Control: Schools, Suburbs, and American Democracy (Cornell University Press, 2016), as well as articles in the American Journal of Education, Educational Theory, and History of Education Quarterly. Forthcoming projects include a coauthored book on school discipline and a book about the history and philosophy of vandalism in American schools.

Ashley Taylor

Ashley Taylor is Assistant Professor of Educational Studies at Colgate University. She specializes in philosophy of education, disability studies, and inclusive education. At present, Taylor is interested in gendered and racialized meanings of able-mindedness as they inform epistemic practices in schooling. Broadly, she writes about the intersections of dis/ability, race, and gender in constructing belonging and participation, inclusive pedagogies and practices that challenge normalcy, and theories and frameworks of institutional inclusion and accessibility. Taylor’s background is in adult education and caregiving of people labeled with developmental disabilities. Taylor’s most recent work appears in Harvard Educational Review, Educational Theory, and Studies in Philosophy of Education. 

Bryan Warnick

Bryan Warnick is Professor of Philosophy of Education and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs in the College of Education and Human Ecology, Ohio State University. He is the author of Understanding Student Rights in Schools: Speech, Privacy, and Religion in Educational Contexts (Teachers College Press, 2012) and Imitation and Education: A Philosophical Inquiry into Learning by Example (SUNY Press, 2008), as well as numerous articles in journals such as Harvard Educational Review, Educational Theory, Educational Policy, The Journal of Teacher Education, and the Journal of Applied Philosophy. In 2015, he was named a senior fellow at the Center for Ethics and Education. His academic interests include student rights, parent rights, educational equality, religion and education, technology and education, and the educational significance of autonomy and pluralism.