Complicated Conversation The Edges of Education

Extending upon the key ideas from Professor Robert's previous volume, Happiness, Hope and Despair (2016), this book introduces new literary figures and fresh approaches to exploring the inner territories at the Edges of Education. In education, as in other areas of human endeavour, we often strive for what is easiest, least troubling and most certain. We want clear, definitive answers to our questions. Ambiguity and complexity may be viewed as impediments to our progress as learners, and doubt will sometimes be portrayed as a sign of weakness. This book pushes back against these tendencies. Informed by the work of Giacomo Leopardi, Arthur Schopenhauer, Simone Weil, Maxine Greene, Miguel de Unamuno, and Simone de Beauvoir, it explores some of the uncomfortable, unsettling, less frequently visited ‘edges’ of education. These conceptual and lived spaces often blur the boundaries between the possible and the impossible, setting limits while also opening up unexpected opportunities for teaching and learning. They are there for us all to experience, if only we can open our eyes to see them and muster the courage to investigate them.