Bounds of democracy: epistemological access in higher education

Abstract

Spanning pivotal years in the historic democratisation of South Africa, the essays collected in Bounds of Democracy provide a trenchant reflection on Higher Education in transition.

Arguably South Africa's foremost philosopher of education, Wally Morrow grapples with very real concerns in higher education policy-making and practice, from stakeholder politics to institutional cultures; from curriculum transformation to an interrogation of the function of higher education institutions in modern societies. Exposing the tensions between egalitarian principles and the nature of higher knowledge, the essays raise questions to which there are no easy answers. With characteristic rigour, Morrow probes the assumptions underlying much of the thinking about these questions, concluding that a failure to sharpen our thinking around Higher Education (distinguished from post-secondary education) is a failure to recognise the epistemic value of academic practice in a developing democracy.

Policy-makers, academics and higher education students will find this an enlightening and constructive read.