Problematizing Diversity Initiatives: Japanese American Youth Identities and the Politics of Representation With/In School Spaces

This article reports on a case study that investigated how six Japanese American youth interpreted the effectiveness and relevance of extra-curricular diversity initiatives at their Midwestern middle and secondary public schools. These initiatives were intended to raise cultural awareness, but ultimately promoted cultural fetishism and racially derogatory understandings of “differences.” The findings suggest that the diversity-related extra-curricular initiatives produced a range of gendered, racialized, and sexualized stereotypes with/in school spaces that defined the participants and their peers of color in misleading and problematic ways. Recommendations call for more collaborative, critical, and integrated approaches to learning about “differences” with/in school spaces.     

Crossing Borders and Changing Pedagogies: From Giroux and Freire to feminist theories of education

ABSTRACT We are living in times of change and uncertainty, where many groups are challenging existing structures. Challenges to education have come from postmodernists and poststructuralists, calling into question previously held beliefs and ideologies, and from people from a variety of cultural and ethnic groups, examining the relationship of the oppressed and the exploited to educational structures. Through consideration of the work of Henry Giroux and Paulo Freire, considered to be liberatory and radical, I will consider ways in which their work might inform feminist theory, but also consider how feminists in turn have built on their work, considering new levels of insight. I will call for feminist perspectives to be interwoven with the already rich and valuable ideas of educationists such as Paulo Freire and Henry Giroux to enable us all-women and men-to move towards a feminist pedagogy of change.     

Cultural Competence Development,Critical Service Learning,and Latino/a Youth Empowerment: A Qualitative Case Study

As universities create service-learning programs, educators are experimenting with pedagogical approaches that enhance learning outcomes while benefiting communities. We present a qualitative case study of a radio-based, service-learning program, grounded in a Freirean foundation and aimed at developing the cultural competence and sense of citizenship of undergraduate students while empowering working-class high school Latino/a students. Undergraduate students benefited the most from the program; they enhanced their cultural competence skills, awareness of social issues, and sense of civic responsibility. Latino/a high school students who stayed in the program for at least a year developed self-confidence, self-esteem, and a sense of self-efficacy.     

Education of Roma Youth in Hungary: Schools,Identities and Belonging

Historically, schools have been homogenizing institutions that often disadvantaged people of color and ethnic and religious minorities. In this article I examine Roma education in Hungary, focusing on (re)production of racial identities and the negotiation of ethnic labels. I distinguish two models of education as they relate to ideas of integration, and assess the evolving ethnic labels: “bad Gypsies” and “good Roma.” These labels reflect different philosophies of education, and both contain different tensions and challenges.     

The Spatialization of Racial Inequity and Educational Opportunity:Rethinking the Rural/Urban Divide

This analysis recounts and examines the history of American public education, focusing on the experiences of poor urban and rural students of color. Using the lens of critical race theory, it suggests that educational inequity is not just raced and classed but also spatialized—that is, embedded in and maintained through geography. The mechanisms of this spatialization similarly disadvantage rural and urban schools serving poor children of color, and educational reforms have failed to dismantle the relationship between inequity and geography. Offering a clearer understanding of today's inequities, this analysis shows that these schools should be seen less as opposites than as allies with a shared interest in expanding educational opportunity across geographies.     

Pathways to Achievement: Career and Educational Aspirations and Expectations of Latina/o Immigrant Parents and Early Adolescents

Drawing on sociocultural and related theories, 4 questions examined career and educational aspirations and expectations among 24 immigrant Latina/o early adolescents and their parents as predictors of students’ grades. First, adolescents’ career aspirations and expectations were correlated, and both parents and adolescents held educational aspirations that exceeded their expectations. Second, most adolescents and parents held congruent educational aspirations. Third, congruence between students’ career and educational aspirations was uncommon. Fourth, parents’ educational aspirations and adolescents’ career–education congruence predicted students’ grades. Discussion highlights students’ ongoing reconciliation between aspirations and academic skills and multiple ways immigrant Latino parents contribute to their adolescents’ future.     

That Child Is a Yellow: New Immigrant Children's Conceptions of English Language,Literacy, and Learners' Identities in the NCLB Era

In this article, we utilize the concepts of conceptual metaphors, cultural models, and master myths to discuss the ways by which three new immigrant children, native speakers of Spanish, were developing conceptions of English language, literacy, and learner's identities. Our findings point to 3 main metaphors that were often implicit in the school environment: (a) writing as procedures, (b) English as success, and (c) learners as test scoring categories. These metaphorical conceptualizations appear to be a reflection of the discourse around No Child Left Behind (NCLB) policies that permeate American school contexts. We argue that this discourse can serve to promote reduced conceptions of literacy (and writing in particular), to essentialize learners' identities, and to preserve the hegemony of English. We suggest that a focus on meaning during literacy instruction can be helpful in providing opportunities to counteract these conceptions and to foster the development of more robust ones.     

Adaptation During a Great Economic Recession: A Cohort Study of Greek and Immigrant Youth

This study examined how Greek and immigrant youth adapted to school life during the economic recession in Greece. Two cohorts of adolescents (M_age = 12.6 years) were compared, one assessed before the crisis and the other during the crisis (N = 1,057 and 1,052, respectively). Cohort findings were disaggregated by immigrant status, generation, and ethnic group. Crisis‐cohort youth experienced more economic problems, displayed worse conduct, higher levels of absenteeism, and lower self‐efficacy than precrisis youth. The cohorts did not differ in well‐being, school engagement, and academic achievement. Most crisis‐cohort groups showed a pervasive increase in conduct problems compared to the precrisis cohort. However, some of these groups also showed an increase in academic achievement.     

Building Global Learning Experiences: A Case Study of a Hungarian,Ukrainian, and American Educational Partnership

Conceptions of education that fragment content and process and that compartmentalize learning may not produce globally conscious citizens. Thus, educational policies that attend to both content and process, as well as to the local and global, are more likely to foster citizens who are able to function successfully in a world characterized by complex global challenges. Multidimensional citizenship developed through an international partnership among Hungarian, Ukrainian, and American educators offers a case in point of how higher education can embrace a global dimension and expand professionalism in this new century.     

Perceptions of Community and Experiences in School: Understanding the Opportunities, Resources, and Education Within one Neighborhood

The purpose of this study is to consider how mothers of kindergartners navigate their families’ experiences within a community and how their children’s school experiences affect their interactions and investment in a place. The questions this research asks is: How do mothers define and describe their neighborhood? What role does the school play as mothers navigate their children’s experiences in the community? Findings indicate that the way that families conceptualize and manage their context indicates that their values, needs, and life aspirations, which are clearly connected to their experiences and perceptions of the school.     

Community College Student Perceptions of Their Experiences Related to Global Learning: Understanding the Impact of Family,Faculty, and the Curriculum

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this mixed-method research study was to better understand community college students’ engagement in global learning. The study, supported by the Florida Consortium for International Education, was conducted during the 2015–2016 academic year in Florida across nine community colleges drawing from a 55-question survey with an 11% response rate (n = 175). Both qualitative and quantitative methods were used, with data analysis conducted using NVivo and SPSS software. An electronic survey was piloted with one institution, and a refined version was sent to select professors across nine community colleges in the state for distribution to students in the fall semester of 2015. A total of 175 students completed the survey. The majority of students responding were interested in global learning; however, they reported that this interest stemmed primarily from family encouragement and personal experiences rather than from their academic experiences. Students did report that professors were promoting global learning in their classes, although the results were not statistically significant. Students who did not express an interest in global learning felt as though it was not important because it was unrelated to their daily lives. It is the hope that this study will inform community college administrators and faculty to better understand how and why students become interested in global learning to more effectively promote their engagement both on and off campus.     

信任危机、卧底崇拜与权力魔术——《西游记》的教育政治学审读

作为四大名著之一,《西游记》决不只是中国古典文学中的一个经典读本,它早已成为淬炼和熔铸国人性格的一种精神食粮和文化基因。任何读过这本书或者看过同名电视剧的人,想必都会为作者在其中向读者精彩演绎的诸多曲折离奇的"取经故事"感到震撼。不过,任何一个文本都可以并且应当得到多个视角的审视。与文学视角所通常关注的"人物性格"或"人物命运"颇为不同的是,一种教育政治学的视角,旨在对那些通常隐藏在"人物命运"背后的"权力关系""价值逻辑"和"人性问题"加以考察。本文认为,后者才是《西游记》之所以能够发挥淬炼和熔铸国人性格作用的教育学密码。与此同时,这种教育政治学视角的分析,将为我们当下的"法治社会建设"和"公民教育实践"提供一些重要的思想资鉴。