Dissection of a truth regime: the narrowing effects on the public good of neoliberal discourse in the Virginia performance-based funding policy

A major role of all public higher education institutions is to foster the public good. In democratic societies, the public good emphasizes the more collective activities and benefits and how resources are accessible to all in a society. Institutions of higher education create new knowledge, promote cultural tolerance, increase civic activity, and have lasting intergenerational effects among other things which all serve to enhance the collective activities of a polity. Since public higher education institutions promote the public good, and since public higher education institutions are governed by policy, educational policy becomes a crucial determiner of the public good. Moreover, policies are constructed with language or discourse. Thus, the discourse of policy, which has the power to structure the actions, speech, and thoughts of those affected by the policy, has a direct impact on the public good. In light of this importance, this paper critically examines the discourse of educational policy.     

Responding to misrecognition from a (post)/colonial university

This article addresses the challenge of reclaiming higher education (HE) as a public good for building effective democracies. We use Bernstein’s model of pedagogic rights and Fraser’s model of social justice to develop a normative framework for discussing how universities in unequal societies might mitigate social injustice. Referring to recent student protests in South Africa, we show the extent of student anger and frustration at the misrecognition they experience due to the reproduction of colonial hierarchies at postcolonial universities. The article is an attempt to respond to students’ calls about ‘black pain’, ‘black debt’ and for the ‘decolonisation’ of South African universities. In particular, we focus on theories of recognition and how these are being played out in the current South African HE context. Our aim is not to critique student politics, but to understand the position and heed the cry of the subaltern student. We deliberate on what an adequate response, framed within a model of pedagogic rights, might be from those who teach in and manage universities. We note some impediments to implementing this response and conclude by asserting the importance of working with a politics of recognition and representation as well as redistribution.     

Neoliberal competition in higher education today: research,accountability and impact

Drawing on Foucault’s elaboration of neoliberalism as a positive form of state power, the ascendancy of neoliberalism in higher education in Britain is examined in terms of the displacement of public good models of governance, and their replacement with individualised incentives and performance targets, heralding new and more stringent conceptions of accountability and monitoring across the higher education sector. After surveying the defeat of the public good models, the article seeks to better understand the deployment of neoliberal strategies of accountability and then assess the role that these changes entail for the university sector in general. Impact assessment, I claim, represents a new, more sinister phase of neoliberal control. In the concluding section it is suggested that such accountability models are not incompatible with the idea of the public good and, as a consequence, a meaningful notion of accountability can be accepted and yet prized apart from its neoliberal rationale.     

A Politically Liberal Conception of Formal Education in a Developing Democracy

As discussed by John Rawls, in a well-ordered society, a public political culture’s wide educational role bears the primary responsibility for developing reasonable individuals for the stability of a politically liberal society. Rawlsian scholars have also focused on the stability and enhancement of developed liberal democratic societies by means of those societies’ education systems. In this sense, one thing that is common to Rawlsian scholars’ and Rawls’s own understanding of the role of education appears to be a concern over the stability of a politically liberal society since it is highly dependent on the character of its citizens. Also, it is usually believed that a politically liberal account of education can be implemented in a developed politically liberal society. In contrast, this study discusses the possibility of implementing a politically liberal account of education in a developing liberal society that may become a developed liberal democracy under an overlapping consensus.     

网络民主视域下的公共政策合法性探析

从当前网络民主在中国发展的现状分析入手,论述了当前公共政策合法性危机的三大表现形式及其原因,揭示出网络民主对公共政策合法性提升的三大作用。     

Understanding the contexts in which we work

Open and distance learning is experiencing rapid growth throughout the world. China in particular is undergoing a massive expansion of its distance EFL programmes. This global phenomenon challenges all those involved in delivering distance learning materials to examine current practice and the assumptions and expectations that underlie it, with particular regard to the factors influencing approaches to learning, not least the extent of the effect of differing cultural backgrounds. The cross‐cultural study which forms the subject of this paper investigates foreign language students in two very different open and distance learning cultures, The Open University, United Kingdom and the Shantou Radio and TV University, China. It seeks to investigate different attitudes to the distance teaching of languages as spelt out in the two groups’ answers to questions relating to beliefs, difficulties and learning strategies.     

“Only one child in the world”: Notes from a doting grandma

Mimi Brodsky Chenfeld is a teacher, author, national consultant, and new grandmother. She is on the editorial boards ofDay Care and Early Education, Columbus Parent, and the National Association for the Education of Young Children. Her booksTeaching Language Arts Creatively andCreative Activities for Young Children are widely used.     

高等教育公益性的现实理性

本文认为研究高等教育公益性应充分考虑高等教育所置身的现实复杂环境,而不能孤立地从理论上进行推演.本文从高等教育公益性内涵、现实价值、面临挑战与实现方式等几个方面对高等教育公益性的现实理性进行了讨论.     

论在我国建立经济公益诉讼制度的根据

经济公益诉讼制度尚未在我国建立，为了保护国家经济利益和社会经济秩序，为了经济实体法正确实施，需要有与之相适应的诉讼法，文章从诉公法的作用，产生的历史渊源，理论依据和实践情况等方面，阐述了我国经济公益诉讼制度产生的根据。     

Literacy inequalities,mediation and the public good: a case study of physical proximity and social distance in Nepal

Literacy is considered to be a public good – one that benefits not only literate people, but also others in society through mechanisms of sharing and mediation. But to what extent do the benefits of literacy extend to socially distant groups? This paper applies the sociological concept of social distance to examine how social stratification impacts on the way that literacy is distributed and ‘shared' through mediated practice within and across caste-based groups. The paper presents a case study of physical proximity and social distance in Nepal to examine how literacy is shared in a context where inequalities of literacy and schooling are heavily influenced by gender and caste membership. The findings demonstrate that mediation takes place across caste groups, but less extensively than within caste groups. We conclude that assumptions about how literacy operates as a public good need to be tempered by consideration of the implications of social distance.     

论我国公众参与的实践与发展

公众参与作为一个舶来品,在中国的发展实践时间不长,但近年来它已经成为我国行政管理领域的热门话题,并逐渐成为我国行政管理体制改革的方向。公众参与在我国经历了理论萌芽、实践起步、范围扩大和蓬勃发展四个阶段,并形成了以深厚的宪政基础为支撑、政府主导型推动下被动式发展的特点。从目前状况看,我国公众参与还面临着参与范围不够广、制度化水平低、公众参与能力有限、有效性不足等困境。在加快民主政治进程大背景下,进一步引导、规范和发展在中国逐渐成长起来的公众参与,需要进一步培育公众参与的民主意识,解决意识层面的内在阻碍,激发公众参与的内在发展动力;加强公众参与的制度保障,通过制度建设赋予不同群体实现平等表达利益的机会和参与管理国家事务的权利;提升公众参与的能力,通过发挥行业协会、社会中介、各类民间团体等社会组织的作用,提高社会公众参与的组织化程度。     

Community universities in the South of Brazil: prospects and challenges of a model of non-state public higher education

In recent years, higher education institutions have been encouraged to engage more strongly with their local communities, and address their historically weak links with their surrounding populations. In the latter part of the twentieth century, a number of community universities were established in the South of Brazil, characterised by democratic local community involvement, expansion of access in non-metropolitan regions, and close ties with local industry. This article analyses these innovative institutions in relation to the complex demands of the so-called knowledge economy and multifaceted relationships between public and private, exploring the ways in which the public good role of universities manifests itself in relation to the local. Given their hybrid nature – independent from the state but with a public good mission – these institutions can be seen to represent a new model of non-state public higher education. Implications are drawn out for the potential role of these institutions in the current policy context of Brazil, and internationally, in light of their context-specificity and the significant challenges from the highly commercialised for-profit sector.     

(Re)igniting a sociological imagination in adult education: the continuing relevance of classical theory

This article argues that sociology has been a foundational discipline for the field of adult education, but it has been largely implicit, until recently. This article contextualizes classical theories of sociology within contemporary critiques, reviews the historical roots of sociology and then briefly introduces the classical theories illustrating the continual presence of sociological thinking in the adult education field. Finally, it periodizes the lineage of the sociology of adult education, highlighting recent contributions. With 30 years of neoliberalism, social justice is eroding, authoritarianism is increasing and democracy—as the idea of a self-governing people deliberating issues of mutual concern in the public sphere—is further subordinated to the idea of society as an economy for exchanging goods and services. It is time to (re)ignite a sociological imagination among adult educators/learners, building on familiarity with both classical and contemporary sociology theories, more robust sociological analysis of the field and a (re)commitment to the historical principles of social justice and deep democracy. While international in focus, Canadian exemplars will be used.     

论征收中的公共利益——基于宪法的视角

在征收中,应当明确政府职责和权限。在立法机关规定的原则范围内,应由人大代表而不是由行政长官来界定＂公共利益＂;公民参与补偿,保证被征收者获得＂公正补偿＂;中立评估及司法的制度保障,从程序等角度构建相应的公共利益认定制度。     

经济思想史:探讨高教改革中政府行为的一种角度

文章梳理了西方经济学中两大思潮的演进史,通过将经济学史运用于高等教育的合理性论证,提出经济自由主义与国家干预主义的演进对我国高等教育改革中政府行为转换的几点启示：政府对高等教育不是要减少管理,而是要转变管理的方式；政府的行为要适应一定的历史条件；政府要抓紧培育高教市场、社会中介机构,形成高等教育的多元治理格局。     

Reading in able and disabled readers from around the world: same or different? An illustration from a study of reading‐related processes in a Swahili sample of siblings

Erratum . Journal of Research in Reading 29:2, 252 In this article, we discuss two characteristics of the majority of current behaviour‐ and molecular‐genetic studies of reading ability and disability, specifically, the ascertainment strategies and the populations from which samples are selected. In the context of this discussion, we present data that we collected on a sample of Swahili‐speaking siblings from Tanzania. With this sample, we (1) explore the efficiency and practicality of the single proband sibpair design and (2) provide data on the predictability of reading and spelling performance using reading‐related componential measures in a novel Swahili‐speaking sample. Specifically, we present the selection criteria, discuss the pattern of behavioural and behaviour‐genetic results obtained on the sample and compare these results with those available in the literature. We report behavioural and behaviour‐genetic correlations in this sample that are comparable with other studied samples in other languages, and discuss the similarities and differences. Thus, we demonstrate the suitability and effectiveness of the single sib ascertainment method for genetic analyses of reading ability and disability in novel samples in previously unstudied languages.     

论活体器官移植中的被害人承诺--从刑法的视角

活体器官移植的正当化根据是被害人承诺，进一步讲，是医生行为具有排除结果无价值和行为无价值的社会相当性。供体作为被害人，其承诺的生效要件是：承诺具有处分器官的权利；供体的承诺出于真实意愿；供体的承诺是符合法定程序的意思表示；目的和手段的正当性；合理的法益权衡；不可再生器官移植中，还要求供体与受体间具有特定关系。供体承诺的对象不仅包括行为还包括结果；双生儿之间器官移植应予肯定，其法理是紧急避险，而非被害人承诺。     

新农村建设中基层民主自治问题的探讨

基层民主的巩固与完善是新农村建设的重要内容。通过对精英治理的局限性与社会层化、公共服务供给不足、农村人口流动加速和民主文化发展滞后等制约当前农村民主发展的主要问题进行剖析,文章提出：在法制健全和全民参与的前提下完善精英治理模式;发展非政府组织,拓宽民主参与和公共服务供给渠道;创新村民自治制度,保障流动村民的民主权利;重塑基层民主文化,为民主建设提供良好的文化氛围。     

亲日乎弃日乎--从1927年蒋介石访日事件看蒋日关系

第一次下野后,蒋介石选择出游日本,其主要目的是想走东京路线,其次是为了宋美龄的婚事.在研究蒋介石出游日本这一事件中,有两个因素应该考虑其一,当时的蒋介石为亲日派分子;其二,这次出游事件发生在东方会议召开后不久,中日关系正日趋紧张.在出游日本的整个过程中,蒋介石在订亲、培植友谊等方面都比较顺利,但在访日的重头戏--田中会谈上,蒋介石没有得到他所想要的东西--日本应支持他北伐,统一全国.因此,可认为,这次出游日本是失败的.在此之后蒋介石的亲日态度发生了变化.