Given the growing environmental awareness, educators - especially in science and environmental education - need to avoid embracing a "critical pedagogy of place". Why conflating critical pedagogy with place-based education is an oxymoron, and why it perpetuates the thinking and silences that undermine both the diversity of the world's cultures and…

Examines how modern ideals of individualism and critical reflection contribute to beliefs associated with nihilism. Argues that emancipatory views of education foster self-directing individualism and critical thought that contribute to nihilism problem. Concludes that emancipatory approaches should be based on the idea of the individual as a…