A Thirst for Justice in the Arid Southwest: The Role of Epistemology and Place in Higher Education

How is the university connected to the pressing social and environmental problems that confront citizens in its region? What sorts of communities will students build in this changing cultural and environmental landscape as a result of their experiences in education? In this article I explore how an ethnobotany seminar uses critical pedagogy of place to engage students in the social, economic, and ecological relationships beyond the university campus. I describe how ethnobotany, the study of plants used by human cultures, is one way for students to explore the epistemology of Western science and traditional ecological knowledge. In this course, I encouraged students to ask, What counts as science? Whose knowledge is valued? What knowledge can sustain our communities? In our ethnobotany seminar, the topic of access and quality of water in the Southwest became a focal point for understanding the relation between place, epistemology, and ecojustice.     

论高校贫困大学生经济援助中的正义观

对贫困生的教育援助是一个关乎社会正义、和谐的问题。要健全和、完善我国高校贫困,大学生资助体系,实现教育公平,就必须将正义观贯穿经济援助的始终,通过调节相应的社会制度,从个人、高校、国家三个层面体现对贫困大学生经济援助的正义。     

于无声处听惊雷──读《吴宓先生给邹名璋侄的信》

本文分析了《吴宓先生给邹名璋侄的信》的内容及吴宓写这封信时的心情和时代背景。     

The Place of the Good in a Justice Reasoning Approach to Moral Education

Abstract

Relying on developmental studies of reasoning about the good life, a model of moral education that integrates the good and the right is put forth. It is claimed that while Kohlberg's justice reasoning provides a justifiable aim for such curricula, how individuals attribute value will also significantly affect their moral actions. The notion of a ‘critical period’ for moral education during adolescence is also presented.     

Domestic Violence Among the Black Poor: Intersectionality and Social Justice

There are striking gender, race, and class variations in rates of domestic violence. Some leading family theorists called for an intersectional analysis of how gender, race and class systems interact to improve domestic violence theory. This article improves domestic violence theory by: 1) using the discourse, or language, of intersectionality; 2) developing a metadisciplinary ecological model of the intersectionality of gender, race and class to investigate domestic violence in lower-class Black communities; and 3) listing implications for counselors that are derived from the perspectives of intersectionality and social justice. These implications are applicable throughout those regions where, historically, colonialist enterprises established racial hierarchies, with enslaved Africans at the bottom.     

Making Space for Place: Mapping Tools and Practices to Teach for Spatial Justice

This article presents a set of spatial tools for classroom learning about spatial justice. As part of a larger team, we designed a curriculum that engaged 10 learners with 3 spatial tools: (a) an oversized floor map, (b) interactive geographic information systems (GIS) maps, and (c) participatory mapping. We analyze how these tools supported learning using notions of politicization. The floor map fed conceptual understandings of the map as a representational text and served as the terrain for an embodied activity to support proportional reasoning about inequitable distributions of resources. The data-rich GIS maps and their zoomability allowed for coordinating across multiple variables to connect patterns in inequities to other social processes. The participatory mapping enabled learners to make discoveries about, connect, and share beyond the individual classroom counterstories from people in the lived streets of their neighborhood. In aggregate, this set of spatial tools produced a complex, hybrid view of the city’s space, which contributed to learners’ political formation.     

Recreation for the Rich and Poor: A Contrast

Although professionals frequently neglect problem-setting because of their preoccupation with problem-solving, there are serious consequences of doing so. The products of problem-setting (missions, goals, objectives) are central to the process of professionalization and determine the extent to which a profession's activity is dynamic, not static. Problem-setting proceeds by the complementary processes of framing and naming. It involves the competing values of individuals and groups and results in a form of social editing. Professionals should become more reflective and reflexive in their approaches to problem-setting, while rejecting the assumption that today's problems are necessarily tomorrow's.     

A Place for Stupidity: Investigating Democratic Learning Spaces in the Diorama

This article explores the possibilities of the diorama medium as a method to investigate educational realities and ideals. Contemporary artistic examples of dioramas deconstruct traditional associations of the diorama as a form of explanatory storytelling and critically contest the problematic reproduction of existing hierarchies, which seem to occur when dioramas are used in museums and schools. In contemporary dioramas, the gaze of the spectator is instead invited to engage and contribute to multiple interpretations of spatial creations. The article explains how dioramas have been employed in a doctoral research project on artist teachers and democratic pedagogy and how making dioramas as a research method in arts‐based educational research has been adopted to engage in a dialogue with visitors to a contemporary gallery to collaboratively investigate the spatiality of democratic learning spaces.     

Philosophy: A Special Place in the Liberal Arts

Abstract

A comprehensive model of the dynamics of one-on-one teaching is described. Adoption of specific teaching styles is influenced by the learning styles of students; the interest in faculty to build interpersonal relationships with learners; teacher need to control the task; the capability of students; and situational constraints. In clinical settings, thesis work, and other areas, faculty preferred the use of Personal Model, Facilitator, and Delegator teaching styles. Relative to classroom teaching, these styles were used more frequently and the Expert and Formal Authority Styles were less prominent. This is consistent with the goals of one-on-one teaching to develop the ability of learners to work independently.     

“土改”叙事中的道义问题——就《太阳照在桑干河上》、《暴风骤雨》的评价与刘再复等先生商榷

作为实质上的＂除霸复仇＂故事,《暴风骤雨》第一部和《太阳照在桑干河上》所写农民报复性的情感与行为不应受到指责,因为他们报复的对象韩老六或钱文贵主要是被作为＂恶霸＂而非普通地主形象来塑造的。而且《太阳照在桑干河上》对非＂恶霸＂的地主还有隐约的同情,对农民干部内部的霸道行为也有所批判。真正涉及道义问题的是《暴风骤雨》第二部。＂除霸复仇＂的情节模式使文本具有了叙事张力,而失去这种张力的《暴风骤雨》第二部也在某种程度上失去了艺术吸引力。     

构建反思的正义——论弗雷泽全球化世界中的正义观

弗雷泽认为正义涉及经济、文化和政治诸领域,由此提出与之相对应的三个正义原则:再分配、承认与代表权,三者都需要符合参与平等原则。她认为在全球化背景下,对正义的探究需要突破传统正义的边界,架构政治便成为讨论主题,需要遵循所有人受影响的原则。正义理论受制于协商民主的决策程序,以元民主制度化形式实现。通过解释正义的"什么",正义的"谁"和正义的"怎样",弗雷泽构建了一套适合全球化世界的"反思的正义"体系。     

A Place for Shame in Religious Education

An 18th-century parable based on the Adam story offers a model of moral education rooted in communitarianism. Individual conscience arises from social norms, with a vital role for shame and pride. Emphasizing the nobility of being created in the divine image, this model overcomes shortcomings of rationalist, Enlightenment education. Moreover, the parable reads the political setting of Exodus as an antidote to the individualist failings of Genesis. The social framework enables mechanisms like conscience and cognitive dissonance to function. The model challenges some current conceptions of moral education, seeing empathy as the result, rather than the cause, of moral behavior.     

政治的正义性与正义的统治——构建正义国家的价值前提

正义理论是政治学理论的重要组成部分,因为只要存在由于冲突而产生的统治,就有存在正义理论的必要性。政治未必是正义的化身,但正义的统治必然是正义的体现,问题就在于如何体现,当然这只是具体操作的问题,而不是问题的关键。现有正义理论通常是以国家的存在为前提来探讨政治正义问题,但政治正义能代表正义吗?似乎是个疑问,因为实现正义的形态有许多种而非一定是政治的统治。从现有国家来看,是不可能实现罗尔斯的所谓的在民主条件下作为公平的正义,即使我们认为罗尔斯的两个正义原则是存在的,在目前只能存在差别的正义,差别原则始终优先于公平的机会平等。     

Advanced Phonics: Teaching Strategies for Poor Readers at Key Stage 2

Poor readers at Key Stage 2 need ongoing support for their reading development. They are frequently weak in the metacognitive skills that enable good readers to make their own progress and they require a repetition of much phonics material from Key Stage 1. Beyond that, they have a need for the further complexities of English to be taught to them as phonics, not as spelling strategies/investigations. Additionally, they have difficulty in tackling polysyllabic words and must be taught appropriate decoding strategies. There is a dearth of teaching materials in this area and little research evidence as to how such material might best be taught. This paper charts the development of a phonics booster programme for poor readers in Year 5.     

Ironies and Limitations of Educational Leadership for Social Justice: A Call to Social Justice Educators

In this article that reviews this special issue, we identify 5 ironies and limitations of educational leadership for social justice: (a) the meaning of inclusive practice, (b) the intersection of identity and difference, (c) the emphasis given to student achievement, (d) the lack of policy and practice coherence, and (e) the separation of superheroes from critical collaborative leadership. Although we discuss each issue separately, these conceptions are interrelated and intersecting. We conclude with a call to educators for social justice to change their work in several fundamental ways.     

Implications of a Learning Organisation for Social Justice in Poverty Stricken Communities: A Theoretical Perspective

Abstract

The term “social justice” cuts across disciplines and theoretical orientations. Critical theory underpinned the study reported on in this article. Many South African schools, particularly in poverty stricken communities, still experience insurmountable economic and social injustices despite progress since the apartheid regime. The injustices manifest in poverty, inequalities and unequal distribution of educational resources, impacting on the achievement gap. While social justice is a concern in the literature, South African literature has little on how to apply the concept of a learning organisation to reclaim a commitment to social justice. The article argues that schools perceived as learning organisations are sites of social and political struggle that can promote and encourage human rights to fundamental freedoms for all, without discrimination. This requires progressive teachers and critical thinking by students to transform dehumanising social milieus into communities of participation embodying the values of progress and human emancipation.     

Reading Intervention for Poor Readers at the Transition to Secondary School

This study evaluated two 20-week reading interventions for pupils entering secondary school with reading difficulties. The interventions were delivered by trained teaching assistants (three 35-min sessions per week). 287 pupils (ages 11–13) from 27 schools were randomly allocated to three groups: reading intervention (targeting word recognition and decoding skills), reading intervention plus comprehension, or a waiting list control group. Neither intervention produced statistically significant gains in word reading but the reading intervention plus comprehension intervention produced significant gains in reading comprehension (d = 0.29) and vocabulary (d = 0.34). Further evaluations of methods to improve word reading in this population are needed.     

Poor Performance at TVET Colleges: Conceptualising a Distributed Instructional Leadership Approach as a Solution

In South Africa the challenges facing the post-school vocational education system are daunting. There is a lack of coherence, resulting in fragmentation of the system. A Training Needs Assessment Study commissioned in 2014 revealed several major academic challenges facing college leadership. The most pressing issues were poor leadership and management skills and challenges facing lecturers in various aspects of teaching and learning, amongst which were blatant shortcomings in their capabilities to meet the competencies required for effective lecturing. This realisation led the researchers to hypothesise that ineffective and fragmented leadership and management practices may be to blame for this state of affairs. The researchers wondered whether an integrated and focused leadership model aimed at distributing ownership for student achievement should be implemented to produce better results. The overarching research question was: What are the main stumbling blocks in improving National Certificate: Vocational (NC(V)) students’ performance at technical and vocational education and training (TVET) colleges; and how can a distributed instructional leadership approach be conceptualised to address the problems at institutional level? A qualitative research approach was used, which was mainly inductive, providing a clear understanding of the participants’ views and capturing their perceptions in their own words. A phenomenological design was used as strategy of inquiry. The findings created an awareness for considering collaboration and the distribution of powers and capabilities to bring about a shared leadership vision in the quest for challenging poor performance at institutional level in a sector that is in dire need of positive outcomes.