Abstract

ABSTRACT Could public education as a cultural institution promote the commonwealth? This paper argues proper education enfranchises the young through proper relationships to place, past and present, culture and creation, life, and work. Wendell Berry is the principal guide and standard in describing and considering proper relationships in the commonwealth and their consequences. Other major authors include Wes Jackson, Gustavo Esteva, Vine Deloria, Alan Watts, Matthew Crawford, Roger Scruton, Nablan and Trimble, Alison Gopnik. Proper relationships, defined essentially in terms of proper scale, play, and learning, preserve the means of co-creation between human culture and creation. They are measured by health, durability, beauty, harmony, resilience, fecundity, and wellbeing.