School and Society Through Science Fiction

by Joseph D. Olander (Editor), Martin H. Greenberg (Editor), Patricia S. Warrick (Editor)

Originally published by Rand McNally in 1974, this volume investigates the applicability of science fiction to the study of social foundations of education and its problems. The editors argue that science fiction is an ideal tool for analyzing the problems because it does not possess limitations on the nature of problematic inquiry; its boundary of inquiry is subject only to that of the human imagination. Science fiction offers the student of school and society a methodological tool by which man and his relationships) actual and possible) may be studied. The possibility of ideas simply reinforces their probability, and the link between the present and the future becomes the human imagination.

Genres: Science Fiction

404 pages, Hardcover

First published November 20, 1974

Reviews

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

The stories are well chosen; some are thought-provoking (Zenna Henderson, "Pottage"), amusing (John Thomas, "Publish and Perish"), or both (R. A. Lafferty, "The Primary Education of the Camiroi"). The introductions to the stories, however, are written in education jargon and I gained little insight from them. Read the stories, don't bother with the rest.