The Irony of Self-Expression

By placing familiar American early childhood educational practices such as sharing time and process writing alongside unfamiliar approaches used in Japan, this article attempts to deconstruct the pedagogy of self-expression. The article argues that the pedagogy of self-expression is (1) conceptually confused and internally inconsistent, (2) insensitive to class and cultural differences within American society, and (3) a symptom of the malady of postmodern emptiness.