Democratic Communities and Business/Education “Partnerships” in Secondary Education

Democratic ideals of equality, freedom, and common problem-solving help ensure that schools are governed as communities, in Dewey's sense of the term, wherein all members share in defining the purposes and processes of the group. In this paper, qualitative case study data of a business–public school partnership is examined in order to describe, analyze, and evaluate this partnership based upon democratic criteria established by Deweyan pragmatism. The analysis of the business/education partnership enables educators to better understand the potential for, and inhibitors of, the kind of genuine social growth among school and corporate partners that can serve public agendas rather than private profits.     

“Their little wooden bricks”: a history of the material culture of kindergarten in the United States

This article explores the material culture of kindergarten in the United States in relation to the production and consumption of materials and kindergarten theory and pedagogy. The focus is on Friedrich Froebel’s building gifts as they were manufactured and sold by the Milton Bradley Company from 1869 to 1939. A review of trade catalogues over the 70‐year period found that the gifts were available along with larger blocks and materials supporting progressive pedagogies. The presence of items in the catalogues supporting different and conflicting ideas is explained as a reflection of the enduring popularity of a conservative kindergarten pedagogy aligned with Froebel’s original ideas.     

“Schoolrooms for Our Souls”. The Cult of the Martyrs: Homilies and Visual Representations as a Locus for Religious Education in Late Antiquity

Focusing on the role of the martyr as example, this article analyses the process of religious and spiritual education which took place in the context of the martyr cult in Cappadoda and Pontus in ca. 350‐400 AD. The message that the martyr embodied in an examplary way Christian values and hence was worthy of imitation, was conveyed in a double way: orally and visually. Orally this happened in the homilies, delivered during the annual feasts, held in the martyr's sanctuary; visually this message was conveyed via the wall‐paintings in this sanctuary. Given the strenghts and weaknesses of both ways of communication, it becomes clear that they formed valuable complements to one another.

     

“Handicap” and Education in the United States of the 1930s: Discursive Formations in the New York Times*

This article traces the discursive development of the concept of “handicap” in the United States, through an examination of one written medium, namely the New York Times The emergence, development and decline of the concept of handicap are situated over a span of about 75 years, beginning in 1905. The concept reflects a modern era that replaces a previous era, represented by the concept of “cripple”. The article focuses both on the impact of education and the strong impact of events in the 1930s in the formative stages of the concept. Overcoming barriers, mainly through vocational skills, is an overarching educational goal. The strong impact of public instead of charitable assistance is an important contribution in the formative stages of the 1930s.     

Immigration in the United States and the Golden Years of Education: Was Ravitch Right?

In this article I address some assertions made by one of the most outstanding educational historians, Diane Ravitch, regarding the relation between immigration rates and academic achievement among children in the United States. In her book The Great School Wars Ravitch asserted that low immigration levels during the 1920s to early 1960s period played a large role in producing a golden age of education in New York and probably in the United States. The research undertaken for this article does confirm some of Ravitch's assertions but questions whether other claims of hers may be overly simplistic. Among her assertions that the research supports are that academic achievement rose among New York City elementary and secondary students during this "golden age," children from most immigrant groups did perform poorly compared to children born in the United States, and that the increased volume of enrollment and language factors did exert added pressure on the school system. Nevertheless, other factors lead one to believe that Ravitch's claim, although possessing merit, may be overly simplistic. For example, certain immigrant groups performed very well academically after coming to the United States. This fact supports the notion that the makeup of the immigrant population may be as important as the immigration volume. In addition, the decline in American student academic achievement in the 1960s and 1970s began well before the United States fully liberalized its immigration policy. One would not expect this, if immigration has the level of impact that Ravitch claims.     

Narrating Lives,Narrating Faith: “Organic Hybridity” for Contemporary Christian Religious Education

This article proposes that Christian Religious Education (CRE) today requires the practice of “organic hybridity” in fluid and shifting “diasporic spaces,” the prerequisite for which is the recognition that “hybrid subjectivities” is characteristic of our current postmodern, postcolonial, transnational, globalized world. Toward this aim, CRE must strive to understand how contemporary hybrid subjects negotiate identities and faith in the way they narrate situationally, improvisationally, and organically about the inter-activity between human and Divine for everyday living.     

Community colleges in the United States: are they a model for Britain?

The article examines US community colleges from a comparative public policy perspective and asks: are they a model for Britain? The introduction provides the context for this question, stating that, while systems of education and training are recognized as vital to a nation's economic and social development, there has been a long standing lack of confidence in the effectiveness of that in Britain, especially in the intermediate post-school sector. A brief section on comparative education and public policy, is followed by a series of questions and answers aimed at providing an answer to the central question, are US community colleges a model for Britain? There follows a comprehensive review of their history, ideology, patterns of development and effectiveness. The conclusion is that, despite criticisms and shortcomings, the ‘multiple mission’ of the community colleges and their service to millions of ordinary citizens, make them a useful guide for British further education colleges.     

Heritage Language Education Without Inheriting Hegemonic Ideologies: Shifting Perspectives on “Korea” in a Weekend Japanese-Language School in the United States

ABSTRACT

Learning a heritage language can be celebrated to enhance marginalized groups’ self-esteem, but a heritage can also encompass ideologies prevalent in the groups’ original homeland. Based on ethnographic fieldwork (2007–2011) at a weekend Japanese-language school in the United States, this article investigates how ideologies on race politics within a heritage language community’s homeland are reproduced or subverted through heritage language education. We analyze treatment of Korea–Japan power relations at school by focusing on the practice of guiding students (not) to shift their perspectives in three cases involving (a) discrimination against Resident Koreans in Japan, (b) gender-specific abortion in South Korea, and (c) South Korea and Japan’s dispute over possession of Tokdo/Takeshima. While social analyses of heritage language education tend to focus on a minority group’s place in mainstream society, this article suggests investigating the reproduction of ideologies from its homeland via heritage language education.     

Children’s Perspectives on Their Everyday Lives in Child Care in Two Cultures: Denmark and the United States

The purpose of this study was to investigate young children’s perspectives related to their experiences in child care. Researchers used individual interviews and drawings in an early childhood program in Denmark and one in the United States as the basis for examining children’s perspectives on their everyday lives in child care. Observations documented the everyday cultural practices for the children in the two child care centers and provided a foundation for interpreting the interviews and the drawings. The information collected was analyzed to determine what aspects of child care young children like best and least, as well as their thoughts on the adults and peers in their center.     

“Lo que yo en realidad quería hacer”: Rationales of Latina/o DACA Recipients for Pursuing Careers as Teachers

The Urban Review - The decision to rescind Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) will have major repercussions amongst beneficiaries, especially in terms of employment. One of the sectors...     

Being “in a Limbo”: Perceptions of Immigration,Identity and Adaptation of Immigrant Students in South Africa and the United States

Much research is available that details student experiences of immigration and adaptation to receiving countries and schools, but few studies analyze the metaphors used by immigrant students (IS) when talking about the immigration experience, or offer a comparative lens through which to view identity negotiation in two very different contexts. The present paper aims to address these gaps by conducting a comparative linguistic analysis of 20 interviews conducted with IS at universities in South Africa and the United States in order to gain a greater understanding of immigration and the types of identity negotiation processes learners undergo in these very different countries. Findings reveal interesting similarities between metaphorical conceptions of immigration across different cultural contexts and a remarkable resilience in the use of adaptation strategies and identity development that leads to salient pedagogical implications for teachers of higher education who face increasingly international classrooms.     

“Higher” Education: A Perspective from a Christian University Foundation in Contemporary England

The relation between Christian education and the secularized public square, based on how state and church relations are typically portrayed, has been described chiefly in terms of conflict. However, in the case of church-founded schools and universities in Britain, the relationship, in practice, is more ambiguous than polarized. Arguably, there is growing antipathy to direct institutional identity with faith or religion; at the same time, however, there is growing confidence among others that institutions informed by faith bring something indispensable to education. This essay investigates this issue via the existential experience of Liverpool Hope University, the only ecumenical university in Europe. Although Liverpool Hope University is an ecumenical institution, it is also a part of the British State university system. The argument is made that the “way of ambiguity” is not unlike the “way of Incarnation,” which steers between the certainty of public recognition that has often led to forms of triumphalism and the dwindling public confidence that leads inadvertently to the dumbing down of Christian identity in public service. The church's long service to education is essential to its contribution to the common good and is indispensable for the sustainability of humane societies.     

Cultivating Our “Musical Bumps” while Fighting the “Progress of Popery”: The Rise of Art and Music Education in the Mid-Nineteenth Century United States

This article seeks to understand the social and cultural factors that led to the introduction of music and art education in public schools, a process that began in the middle decades of the nineteenth century. Based on archival material, including institutional catalogues, school board reports, magazine articles, and tracts, I demonstrate that music and art held varied meanings in this period, one of the most important of which was denominational competition. One major element in a nationwide promotion of the arts in the mid-nineteenth century was the revitalized Protestant contest for religious adherents in the wake of Catholic immigration. A second important, and often overlooked, aspect of music and art education was its vocational implications. Although some historians have relegated women's study of music and art to the reproduction of elite status, a significant aspect of these studies was vocational. In a world in which limited occupations were open to women, skill in music and art expanded women's options and, for some, made financial independence possible. In addition, although many of the factors involved in the rise of music and art education—such as nationalism, refinement, and health—were nongendered and applied to both women and men, the repercussions of these programs were quite gendered and may add to our understanding of the process by which the teaching force was feminized.     

“Attraction,Attention, and Desire”: Consumer Culture as Pedagogical Paradigm in Museums in the United States, 1900-1930

Urged on by a young generation of reform-minded professionals, museums in the United States adopted the premises and practices of consumer culture in the early twentieth century. This article argues that this turn towards consumer culture resulted from a new institutional commitment to public education and a radical re-conception of visual pedagogy. In doing so, the article opens dialogue between two bodies of scholarship that rarely inform one another: the history of education and the history of early twentieth-century consumer culture. Focusing on natural history museums, the article explores how and why museum reformers gradually came to accept the psychological principles underlying advertising and salesmanship and to believe these principles could be employed on behalf of education. It chronicles how museum staff increasingly emphasised visual pleasure as a pedagogical tool, and constructed displays to arouse attention, attraction and desire for knowledge. Finally, it describes how these new pedagogical ventures did not always have the effect that reformers anticipated.     

Searching for “Home” in Dixie: Identity and Education in the New Latin@ South

This study explores how 3 Latino male college students who attended rural, K–12 North Carolina schools use their conceptions of home to fight against oppressive forces in the southern United States. Specifically, through the use of life history data, I unpack both the challenges that they face and the agency-laden decisions that they make to navigate various tensions related to their Latin@ identities. This work extends current literature on men of color in schools, which largely omits the experiences of Latino male students that come of age in rural, southeastern, US settings.     

When the “Other” Is the Teacher: Implications of Teacher Diversity in Higher Education

The Urban Review - Using qualitative methods, I explore these questions: What is it like for women of color to teach in predominantly white universities? What happens in the classroom of a...