A preeminent philosopher of education in the United States, Jane Roland Martin challenges conventional wisdom that education consists of small, incremental changes. Using case studies of personal transformations, or metamorphoses, Martin examines Malcolm X, Shaw's Eliza Doolittle, Victor of Aveyron and others to demonstrate how education is a fundamental determinant of the human condition.

Jane Roland Martin, Ph.D. is Professor of Philosophy Emerita at the University of Massachusetts, Boston. She is a recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and has been awarded honorary degrees in the United States and Sweden for her work in educational philosophy and theory. She is the author of seven other books, including Reclaiming a Conversation, The Schoolhome, and Cultural Miseducation, and over 75 articles and chapters in edited collections.

0 Introduction Chapter 1 Rereading the Pygmalion Myth Chapter 2 The Journey from Nature to Culture Chapter 3 Life as a Chronology of Identity Changes Chapter 4 Educational Metamorphoses as Culture Crossings Chapter 5 Varieties of Metamorphoses Chapter 6 Circulating the Gift of Education 7 Conclusion