This book is an examination of how the educational process perpetuates cultural myths contributing to the ecological crisis. In addressing the cultural and educational dimensions of the ecological crisis, the book illuminates educational issues associated with the hidden nature of culture, particularly how thought patterns formed in the past are reproduced through the metaphorical language used in the classroom. It examines why both conservative and liberal educational critics ignore the ecological crisis, and suggests that a more ecologically sustainable ideology is being formulated by such thinkers as Aldo Leopold, Wendell Berry, and Gregory Bateson.

C. A. Bowers teaches in the School of Education at Portland State University, and has written widely on education, modernity, and the ecological crisis. His most recent books include, Elements of a Post Liberal Theory of Education; The Cultural Dimensions of Education Computing: Understanding the Non-Neutrality of Technology; and (co-authored with David Flinders) Responsive Teaching: An Ecological Approach to Classroom Patterns of Language, Culture, and Thought.