Responses of Liberal Democratic Societies to Claims from Ethnic Minorities to Community Rights

Immigrants within European and North American countries, with their different religions and ways of life, pose many challenges to the receiving countries' liberal values and ways of life. These challenges express themselves in the form of cultural conflicts played out within the microcosm of the schools. The paper explores the place of minority rights within two liberal societies and examines how the societies' different procedures and ideology resulted in different outcomes for minority rights. These are examined in relation to two selected court cases involving cultural and religious expression through the wearing of religious or cultural attire in schools which attempted to ban these religious or cultural attire despite claims that these 'dress' or attire constituted a religious requirement or an intrinsic aspect of a way of life. The first case involves the wearing of headscarves (called foulards) by Muslim school girls in France, while the second case involves the wearing of a turban by a Sikh pupil. Attempts are made to discuss broader issues of cultural minority community rights within liberal democratic and human rights frameworks.     

STUDENT RIGHTS, CLARENCE THOMAS, AND THE REVOLUTIONARY VISION OF EDUCATION

A bstract .  In his concurring opinion to the 2007 U.S. Supreme Court decision, Morse v. Frederick , Justice Clarence Thomas argues that the Tinker decision, which granted students constitutional rights in public schools, should be overturned on originalist grounds. In this essay, Bryan Warnick, Bradley Rowe, and Sang Hyun Kim make the case that Thomas's originalist analysis is inconclusive. Instead of looking at court decisions relating to public education starting in the middle of the nineteenth century to establish original meaning, as Thomas does, they argue that a better strategy involves an analysis of educational ideas circulating closer to the time of constitutional ratification. Using this strategy, the authors show that many prominent educational writers (a) believed that it was important for students to learn to act independently and to value their constitutional rights, and (b) believed that students learn best by imitating civic examples. These two ideas work together in early American educational thought to imply that schools should exemplify the sort of respect for self-governance and individual rights that is present in the larger constitutional order. Thus, Warnick, Rowe, and Kim argue that there are originalist reasons for supporting student rights that Thomas ignores. In the end, this analysis not only highlights the limitations of originalist interpretative strategies, it also reminds us, more broadly, of a way to reconcile liberty and order in civic education.     

TRAGEDY AND THE MEANING OF SCHOOL SHOOTINGS

School shootings are traumatic events that cause a community to question itself, its values, and its educational systems. In this article Bryan Warnick, Benjamin Johnson, and Samuel Rocha explore the meanings of school shootings by examining three recent books on school violence. Topics that grow out of these books include (1) how school shootings might be seen as ceremonial rituals, (2) how schools come to be seen as appropriate places for shootings, and (3) how advice to educators relating to school shootings might change the practice of teaching. The authors present various ways of understanding school shootings that may eventually prove helpful, but they also highlight the problems, tensions, and contradictions associated with each position. In the end, the authors argue, the circumstances surrounding school shootings demonstrate the need for the “tragic sense” in education. This need for the tragic sense, while manifest in many different areas of schooling, is exemplified most clearly in targeted school shootings.     

The home–school interface in religious and moral formation: the Irish case

With the student body across Europe becoming more diverse, the issue of religious education in schools has come to receive greater attention. In the context of the specific historical and institutional context of the Irish primary educational system, this paper addresses aspects of the religious and moral formation of primary school children. The methodology employed in this study is qualitative: it is based on in-depth interviews with school principals, teachers and parents, and focus groups with students in five case-study schools. The paper examines the role of both home and school in the development of religious and secular beliefs. It also examines the way children are active agents in their own moral development, specifically how they mediate and interpret three sets of influences, namely formal school-based religious instruction, the broader school climate, and the implicit values and beliefs communicated by school, parents and the wider family.     

论美国公立中小学校与学生之间的责权关系——从处理学生伤害事故的视角

在教育教学活动中,学生因学校或教师未尽到职责而导致伤害或伤亡的,学校和教师要承担过失侵权责任。但在美国的教育法中,学校对学生究竟有什么样的责任和权利并无明确规定,只是在侵权责任的章节才略有涉及,而这个章节的内容都是通过阐述对学生伤害事故的处理展开的,故本文拟从这个视角出发去研究美国公立中小学校与学生之间是什么样的责权关系。     

Can digital badges strengthen religious ethnic-cultural identity in a religious education setting?

ABSTRACT

Through interviews with student participants and evidence submitted to earn digital badges, a number of indicators suggest that a religious school’s digital badges can provide opportunity to strengthen religious identity. In particular, student interviews and evidence supplied for the completion of learning objectives for digital badges indicate increases of religious salience (compared to secular practices), religious commitment within a community, and self-esteem based on religious identity. Recommendations are made for ongoing and future religious badge implementations on how to strengthen religious identity while meeting the requirements of authentic, quality assessments.     

Religiosity and the Impact of Religious Secondary Schooling

Using a nationally representative longitudinal survey and incorporating propensity score matching methods, we follow secondary school students post-graduation to determine how Catholic and private religious schooling impacts religiosity. There is an established literature examining the Catholic school impact on collegiate and labor market outcomes, although many families may choose Catholic or private religious schooling in efforts to instill religiosity. Our results show that Catholic and private religious secondary schooling exhibits relationships related to increasing religious participation shortly after high school graduation, although as time progresses these effects are less consistent. The largest and most robust finding is for male Catholic school attendees.     

Acculturation and religion in schools: the views of young people from minority belief backgrounds

This paper aims to explore the relationship between religious identity, acculturation strategies and perceptions of acculturation orientation in the school context amongst young people from minority belief backgrounds. Based on a qualitative study including interviews with 26 young people from religious minority belief backgrounds in Northern Ireland, it is argued that acculturation theory provides a useful lens for understanding how young people from religious minority belief backgrounds navigate majority religious school contexts. Using a qualitative approach to explore acculturation theory enables an in‐depth understanding of the inter‐relationship between minority belief youth's acculturation strategies and their respective school contexts. Similar to previous research, integrationist attitudes generally prevailed amongst minority belief young people in this study. The findings highlight how young people negotiate their religious identities in a complex web of inter‐relationships between their minority religious belief community and the mainstream school culture as represented through peer and staff attitudes, school ethos and practices and religious education. Young people demonstrated differentiated understandings of acculturation orientations within the school context, which they evaluated on the basis of complex perceptions of educational policy, interpersonal relationships and individuals' motivations. Findings are discussed in view of acculturation tensions, which arose particularly in relation to the religious education curriculum and their implications for opt‐out provision as stipulated by human rights law.     

Girls' and boys' reasoning on cultural and religious practices: a human rights education perspective

Human rights play a vital role in citizens' political, religious and cultural life (Wang 2002, 171). Due to the prominence of human rights in the everyday life of citizens, including those of South Africa, human rights education has been included in many school curricula. Human rights education aims to develop responsible citizens who inter alia foster an understanding of gender, ethnical, religious and cultural diversities. This, it is hoped will encourage and maintain peace, as outlined in the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Departing from a human rights position, a qualitative study commenced in 2009 to explore how girls and boys reason about the cultural and religious practices of girls in their communities and families. Narratives by girls and boys highlighted their views on girls' positioning in their specific communities. From the findings it became evident that the participants were aware of conforming to particular cultural and religious practices. However, some participants also challenged how they perceived these practices and the roles of girls in their communities. The article highlights the necessity of embarking on a gendered perspective towards human rights education.     

Student primary teachers and their experience of religious education in schools

This article is based on research into the way student primary teachers experience religious education when they train in schools. The research findings suggest that the experience and quality of training in many schools is not adequate and that this experience undermines student confidence in relation to religious education. The author argues that despite the increased reliance on school as an arena for the training of teachers, in the case of religious education many student teachers do not have the opportunities to observe or teach religious education even where the school or student is keen to do so.     

学生伤害事故法理分析

学生伤害事故是学校办学过程中难以避免的一种客观现实，也是困扰学校工作、影响教育教学秩序的严重问题。学生伤害事故一重预防，二重处理。要从法律角度正确界定学生伤害事故．明确各方在发生学生伤害事故之后的法律责任，并及时、妥善处理损害赔偿问题?切实维护学校、教师和学生的合法权益。     

Knowledge about Education for Sustainable Development: four case studies of student teachers in English secondary schools

Considerable activity has occurred in the recent past regarding policy‐making around Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in the school curriculum. Teaching about sustainable development involves complex and contested ethical and political issues. This case study research investigates how four student teachers taking part in a one‐year teacher education programme in a university in England (Post Graduate Certificate in Education or PGCE) translate their knowledge, experiences and beliefs about ESD into classroom practice in the context of the Geography National Curriculum and ESD policies in secondary schools. The researchers critically analyse curriculum materials used by three student teachers to explore the potential for ethical and political engagement with ESD knowledge. The research reveals some of the ethical and political dilemmas faced by student teachers who, as committed environmentalists, struggle to resolve the tensions between the constraints of policy, school culture, school teaching materials and their own values and enthusiasms.     

Key values of a Dutch cooperation school and the practice of religious education

This article presents the results of a single case study from a cooperation school in the Netherlands. A cooperation school is the result of a merger between a public and a denominational school. Pupils from secular and religious backgrounds meet in the classroom. This religious diversity in this school is explored by an empirical research study. The research question was how key values of the school and of its teachers are exerted in religious education. Content analysis of interviews and videos of the ‘moment of contemplation’ show that there is a discrepancy between the school values and the practice of this moment. Conclusions concerning a social and a substantive perspective are drawn in the light of theoretical insight concerning diversity in religious education.     

Teacher–student power relations as a reflection of multileveled intertwined interactions

This paper examines the factors shaping teacher–student power relations, based on observations, interviews and document analysis from a Hong Kong study. It identifies and examines six factors: China’s traditional culture of respect, examination-oriented teaching and religious culture were found to encourage imbalanced teacher–student power relations, whereas curriculum reform, values education and some school cultures facilitated relatively balanced teacher–student power relations. The paper depicts teacher–student power relations in Hong Kong as a reflection of multileveled intertwined interactions, and as affected by the interplay of various factors. It provides empirical evidence to supplement existing understandings of the nature of teacher–student power relations, especially in a non-western context with varied socio-cultural, educational, school and classroom levels.     

RETHINKING EDUCATION FOR AUTONOMY IN PLURALISTIC SOCIETIES

If we are to posit, as do many liberal theorists, that autonomy is an educational goal that the state should endorse across cultural difference, key questions remain: What type of autonomy should we strive for, exactly, and how should this goal be achieved? Many liberal philosophers of education have argued that autonomy should enable cultural choice and that the development of autonomy requires students to be exposed to different beliefs and traditions. Shelley Burtt has challenged this dominant position, however, insisting that autonomy (properly understood) can be developed within a “comprehensive education” that does not seek to sympathetically expose students to cultural difference. In this essay, Bryan Warnick responds that Burtt's arguments are inconsistent and lack cultural imagination, and that her underlying concept of autonomy is inadequate, primarily because it lacks a compelling picture of cultural self‐criticism. There is a lack of appreciation, he argues, for how frameworks of cultural comparison are necessary in the development of this self‐criticism. At the same time, Warnick argues that there is much to be learned from Burtt's analysis about the tough choices that need to be made as liberals seek to champion autonomy as an educational end across cultural difference.     

学校改进中的学生参与问题研究

学生参与学校改进具有重要的理论和实践意义,然而学生却往往成为学校改进的被动接受者.为了保证学生基本权利的实现,为了学校改进最终目标的达成,学生参与学校改进就成了不可忽视的问题.基于对学生参与学校改进原因的分析,本文探讨了学生参与学校改进的三种方式,即给学生赋权、在改进的不同阶段配合不同层次的学生参与、采用灵活多样的形式加强学生和成人之间的对话.     

A Meta-Analysis on the Effects and Contributions of Public,Public Charter,and Religious Schools on Student Outcomes

An extensive meta-analysis, including 90 studies, was undertaken on the effects of religious private schools, charter schools, and public schools. The study explores the relationship between each of these school types and student outcomes. Additional analyses were done to determine the strengths and weaknesses of these institutions in a broad sense. The results indicate that attending private religious schools is associated with the highest level of academic achievement among the three school types, even when sophisticated controls are used to adjust for socioeconomic status. Students from public charter schools, however, performed no better than their counterparts in other public schools. Supplementary analyses indicate several ways that educators from religious and public schools can learn from one another.     

A Continuing Dance

Religious educators who emphasize the public nature and mission of the religious congregation and advocates of national and community service have much in common. Both groups point to a need in the society of the United States to balance the language of individualism and individual rights with a renewed emphasis on communitarian social action. A constructive dialogue between community service‐oriented advocates of school reform and religious educators advocating the social and political nature of being religious addresses a crisis in American spirituality: how can we rouse citizens from our respective secular and religious confessional slumbers.     

Skilled Students and Effective Schools: Reading Achievement in Denmark,Sweden, and France

This study investigates how reading achievement relates to student and school characteristics in countries with different reading scores at the fourth grade level. Data comes from the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) 2011 for Denmark, Sweden, and France and the multilevel analysis includes two levels: student/home and schools. The school effectiveness and the home literacy models informed the selection of the independent variables. Results show that students’ early literacy skills, home literacy practices and resources, and reading behavior are associated with reading scores in all countries. Furthermore, across different countries there are student/home universals and school particulars that explain variation in reading achievement. Educational policies should address home and school literacy skills and practices, school climate, and school composition to improve students’ reading ability.