Term of Award

Fall 2012

Degree Name

Doctor of Education in Curriculum Studies (Ed.D.)

Document Type and Release Option

Dissertation (open access)

Copyright Statement / License for Reuse

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Department

Department of Curriculum, Foundations, and Reading

Committee Chair

Marla Morris

Committee Member 1

Daniel Chapman

Committee Member 2

John A. Weaver

Committee Member 3

Mary Aswell Doll

Abstract

This dissertation examines a subset of Children of Alcoholics, whom I call Geographic Cure Children, who cope with both fermented parenting (as I have termed it) AND transient schooling. Viewed by schools and school systems simply as “highly mobile” students, their frequent school changes tell only part of the story. Geographic Cure Children arrive at their newest classrooms bearing the heavy burdens of emotional trauma and dark secrets about the Life Erratic. However, due to frequent mobility, their access to help or support is sketchy at best. Through currere, I employ autobiographical and psychoanalytic lenses to explore the intersection of curriculum theory and the Geographic Cure. I first discuss the effects of parental alcoholism, then examine the impact of frequent family moves upon school-aged children in general. What follows is my assertion that the chaotic melding of those two conditions – fermented parenting and high mobility – results in the singular experience of the Geographic Cure Child. I then describe my own (cancer-fueled) cure-seeking journey. Lastly, I examine the Geographic Cure writ large, where I contend that the incessant quest for a “cure” monopolizes education. I compare policy-makers in education to cure-seekers who chronically chase after the Next Better Plan.

Research Data and Supplementary Material

No

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