Abstract

In this essay, we examine the complete published speeches of Arne Duncan from his seven years (2009–2015) as Barack Obama’s secretary of education, to understand how his language both defined problems and promoted solutions for our nation’s schools. By looking at Duncan’s rhetoric through close readings and computer-aided textual analyses, we find that his discourse contained paradoxes, particularly through a notion of schooling as a means of achieving both social justice and economic growth, by framing education as both a private and public good, and through assertions about the need for government both to centralize authority over schooling and promote a global educational marketplace. In essence, Duncan used a both/and approach to these purposes, adding to our understandings of the character and functions of educational rhetoric and showing how critical it is for scholars to recognize that such tensions exist in language about what education policy should do. Ultimately, we conclude that Duncan’s rhetoric obscures historic tensions in the purpose of education and highlights the way that policy rhetoric may saddle public education with responsibilities beyond its capacities.

Journal
Rhetoric & Public Affairs
Published
2020-01-01
DOI
10.14321/rhetpublaffa.23.4.0637
CompPile
Search in CompPile ↗
Open Access
Closed
Topics
Export

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (0)

No articles in this index cite this work.

References (109) · 5 in this index

  1. 1. Lora Cohen-Vogel and Hyland Hunt, “Governing Quality in Teacher Education: Deconstructing Federal Text and…
  2. 2. Holly G. McIntush, “Defining Education: The Rhetorical Enactment of Ideology in A Nation at Risk,” Rhetori…
  3. Rhetoric & Public Affairs
  4. 4. Rebecca A. Kuehl, “The Rhetorical Presidency and ‘Accountability’ in Education Reform: Comparing the Presi…
  5. 5. See Rob Asen and Deb Gurke, “The Research on Education, Deliberation, and Decision-Making (REDD) Project,”…
Show all 109 →
  1. 6. Rick Hess, "Mr. Duncan's Sad Legacy," Education Week, April 21, 2016, http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/rick_…
  2. Pauline Lipman, "Urban Education Policy under Obama," Journal of Urban Affairs 37 (2016): 57-61
  3. Patrick McGuinn, "From No Child Left Behind to the Every Student Succeeds Act: Federalism and the Education L…
  4. Diane Ravitch, "Don't like Betsy DeVos? Blame the Democrats," New Republic, May 23, 2017, https://newrepublic…
  5. Patrick Shannon, "School Reform in the United States: Frames and Representations, Reading Research Quarterly …
  6. 7. See Zoë Carpenter, “The Legacy of Arne Duncan, ‘A Hero in the Education Business,‘” Nation, October 2015, …
  7. 8. Jim Ridolfo and William Hart-Davidson, ed., Rhetoric and the Digital Humanities (Chicago, IL: University o…
  8. 9. These speeches were previously available at www.ed.gov/news/speeches, and are currently archived at the sa…
  9. 10. In addition to the rhetorical studies already referenced, some education scholarship focusing this joint …
  10. 11. McGuinn, “From No Child Left Behind.”
  11. 12. Giroux and Saltman, “Obama’s Betrayal of Public Education?”
  12. 13. Li Zhou, “Obama’s New College Scorecard Flips the Focus of Rankings,” Atlantic, September 15, 2015, https…
  13. 14. Lipman, “Urban Education Policy under Obama,” 57.
  14. 15. Lipman, “Urban Education Policy under Obama,” 57.
  15. 16. Maria M. Lewis, Liliana M. Garces, and Erica Frankenberg, “A Comprehensive and Practical Approach to Poli…
  16. 17. Sonia Foss, Rhetorical Criticism: Exploration and Practice (Long Grove, IL: Waveland, 2018), 413.
  17. 18. Dan F. Hahn, Political Communication: Rhetoric, Government, and Citizens, 2nd ed. (State College, PA: Str…
  18. 19. Laura K. Nelson, “Computational Grounded Theory: A Methodological Framework,” Sociological Methods & Rese…
  19. 20. Roderick P. Hart, Verbal Style and the Presidency: A Computer-Based Analysis (New York: Academic Press, 1984)
  20. Roderick P. Hart, "Redeveloping DICTION: Theoretical Considerations," in Theory, Method, and Practice of Comp…
  21. David Hoffman and Don J. Waisanen, "At the Digital Frontier of Rhetoric Studies: An Overview of Tools and Met…
  22. 21. Terms are matched in each dictionary so that, for example, the “optimism” score increases with each word …
  23. 22. Roderick P. Hart, “The People’s Voice during the 2016 Presidential Campaign,” American Behavioral Scienti…
  24. 23. Roderick P. Hart and Colene J. Lind, "The Blended Language of Partisanship in the 2012 Presidential Campa…
  25. Roderick P. Hart and Craig Carroll, "Help Manual," Diction 7.0., 2014, www.dictionsoftware.com/download.php?f…
  26. Don J. Waisanen, "Satirical Visions with Public Consequence? Dennis Miller's Ranting Rhetorical Persona," Ame…
  27. 24. Hart and Carroll, “Help Manual,” 10.
  28. 25. Roderick P. Hart, Campaign Talk (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2000), 66.
  29. 26. For studies that have used LIWC with political discourse, see Richard B. Slatcher, Cindy K. Chung, James …
  30. James W. Pennebaker and Thomas C. Lay, "Language Use and Personality during Crises: Analyses of Mayor Rudolph…
  31. Kayla N. Jordan, James W. Pennebaker, and Chase Ehrig, "The 2016 US Presidential Candidates and How People Tw…
  32. 27. James W. Pennebaker, Cindy K. Chung, Molly Ireland, Amy Gonzales, and Roger J. Booth, “The Development an…
  33. 28. James W. Pennebaker, Roger J. Booth, Ryan L. Boyd, and Martha E. Francis, “Linguistic Inquiry and Word Co…
  34. 29. Different than DICTION, the LIWC dictionaries are used to increment the number of words in each text in e…
  35. 30. We excluded from our results DICTION and LIWC variables having to do with ambivalence, certainty, clout, …
  36. 31. Labaree, “Public Goods.”
  37. 32. David K. Cohen and Barbara Neufeld, “The Failure of High Schools and the Progress of Education,” Daedalus…
  38. 33. Kantor and Lowe, “The Price of Human Capital.”
  39. 34. Kantor and Lowe, “The Price of Human Capital,” 76.
  40. 35. Arne Duncan, “The New CTE: Secretary Duncan’s Remarks on Career and Technical Education,” U.S. Department…
  41. 36. Arne Duncan, “Secretary Arne Duncan speaks at the 91st Annual Meeting of the American Council on Educatio…
  42. 37. Duncan, “Secretary Arne Duncan speaks,” pars. 67-68.
  43. 38. Hart and Carroll, “Help Manual,” 10.
  44. 39. Arne Duncan, “Remarks of U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan to the Congressional Caucus Hispanic Ins…
  45. 40. Duncan, “Remarks of U.S.,” par. 37.
  46. 41. Sharon Subreenduth, “Theorizing Social Justice Ambiguities in an Era of Neoliberalism: The Case of Postap…
  47. Rhetoric Review
  48. 43. Robert Asen, “Neoliberalism, The Public Sphere, and a Public Good,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 103 (2017…
  49. 44. Arne Duncan, “Secretary Arne Duncan’s remarks at Kenmore Middle School in Arlington, Virginia,” U.S. Depa…
  50. 45. Duncan, “Secretary Arne Duncan Speaks at the 91st.”
  51. 46. One caveat here: an additional 309 references to “race” across the speeches were for the “Race to the Top…
  52. 47. Duncan, “Secretary Arne Duncan Speaks at the 91st.”
  53. 48. Arne Duncan, “The Promise of Promise Neighborhoods: Beyond Good Intentions,” U. S. Department of Educatio…
  54. 49. Arne Duncan, “Equity and Education Reform: Secretary Arne Duncan’s Remarks at the Annual Meeting of the N…
  55. 50. Arne Duncan, “A Call to Teaching,” U.S. Department of Education, October 9, 2009, www.ed.gov/news/speeche…
  56. 51. Au and Ferrare, Mapping Corporate; Lipman, The New Political Economy; Christopher Lubienski, “School Choi…
  57. 52. Arne Duncan, “The Obama Record in Education,” U.S. Department of Education, April 30, 2012, www.ed.gov/ne…
  58. 53. Duncan, “The Obama,” par. 55.
  59. 54. Kelly P. Vaughan and Rhoda Rae Gutierrez, “Desire for Democracy: Perspectives of Parents Impacted by 2013…
  60. 55. Hart and Carroll, “Help Manual,” 10.
  61. 56. McIntush, “Defining Education,” 429.
  62. 57. Arne Duncan, “Remarks of U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan to the Closing Plenary of the U.S.-India…
  63. 58. Arne Duncan, “Secretary Duncan Challenges National Education Association to Accelerate School Reforms,” U…
  64. 59. Arne Duncan, “Opening Remarks of Arne Duncan at Indiana Town Hall with Governor Mitch Daniels,” U.S. Depa…
  65. 60. Tatiana Suspitsyna, “Accountability in American Education as a Rhetoric and a Technology of Governmentali…
  66. 61. Arne Duncan, “Secretary Arne Duncan’s Testimony before the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions …
  67. 62. Arne Duncan, “Secretary Arne Duncan’s Testimony before the House Appropriations Committee on the Presiden…
  68. 63. Duncan, “Education and Equity Reform,” pars. 65, 90.
  69. 64. Arne Duncan, “Iowa’s Wake-Up Call,” U.S. Department of Education, July 25, 2011, www.ed.gov/news/speeches…
  70. 65. Duncan, “Iowa’s Wake-Up Call,” pars. 47; 65-66.
  71. 66. Bruce Fuller, “Education Policy under Cultural Pluralism,” Educational Researcher 32 (2003): 15.
  72. 67. Several people who were involved in the early stages of the Common Core State Standard’s development have…
  73. Rhetoric & Public Affairs
  74. 69. Arne Duncan, “Moving Forward, Staying Focused,” U.S. Department of Education, October 2, 2012, www.ed.gov…
  75. 70. Duncan, “Moving Forward,” par. 44.
  76. 71. Arne Duncan, “Technology in Education: Privacy and Progress,” U.S. Department of Education, February 24, …
  77. 72. Abby Phillip, “Obama: Education Key to Economy,” Politico, February 19, 2011, www.politico.com/story/2011…
  78. 73. Duncan, “The Obama Record,” par. 26.
  79. 74. Arne Duncan, “Secretary Arne Duncan’s Remarks at Kenmore Middle School in Arlington, Virginia,” U.S. Depa…
  80. 75. McGuinn, “From No Child.”
  81. 76. Hart and Carroll, “Help Manual,” 10, 7, 6.
  82. 77. Kenneth Burke, A Rhetoric of Motives (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1969) xiv.
  83. 78. Hart and Carroll, “Help Manual,” 9.
  84. 79. Pennebaker et al, “Linguistic Inquiry,” 22. Note that the “Analytic” and “Authentic” variables are the on…
  85. 80. Arne Duncan, “Fulfilling the Promise of IDEA: Remarks on the 35th Anniversary of the Individuals with Dis…
  86. 81. McIntush, “Defining Education,” 432.
  87. 82. Lewis, Garces, and Frankenberg, “A Comprehensive and Practical Approach to Policy Guidance.”
  88. 83. Julie Rowlands and Shaun Rawolle, “Neoliberalism is not a Theory of Everything: A Bourdieuian Analysis of…
  89. 84. Christopher Lubienski, “Neoliberalism, Resistance, and Self-Limiting Language,” Education Policy Analysis…
  90. 85. Jackson Lears, “Technocratic Vistas: The Long Con of Neoliberalism,” Hedgehog Review 19 (2017): 2. https:…
  91. 86. Leigh Claire La Berge and Quinn Slobodian, “Reading for Neoliberalism, Reading like Neoliberals,” America…
  92. Rhetoric Society Quarterly
  93. 88. Casey Ryan Kelly, "Chastity for Democracy: Surplus Repression and the Rhetoric of Sex Education," Quarter…
  94. Don J. Waisanen, "Bordering Populism in Immigration Activism: Outlaw-Civic Discourse in a (Counter) public," …
  95. 89. Garahan, “The Public Work,” 66.
  96. 90. Richard Rothstein, “Why Children from Lower Socioeconomic Classes, On Average, have Lower Academic Achiev…
  97. 91. David B. Tyack and Larry Cuban, Tinkering toward Utopia (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1995), 3.
  98. 92. Mark Hlavacik, Assigning Blame: The Rhetoric of Education Reform (Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press,…
  99. 93. Tyack and Cuban, Tinkering, 42.
  100. Rhetoric & Public Affairs
  101. 95. Winslow, “The Undeserving Professor,” 201.
  102. 96. Steudeman, “The Guardian Genius of Democracy,” 477.
  103. 97. Shawn Batt, “Keeping Company in Controversy: Education Reform, Spheres of Argument, and Ethical Criticism…
  104. 98. Pennebaker, Boyd, Jordan, and Blackburn, “The Development and Psychometric Properties of LIWC2015,” 12.