Mr. Floyd S. Muckey on voice

Books reviewed

THE DIALECTICAL IMAGINATION: A HISTORY OF THE FRANKFURT SCHOOL AND THE INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL RESEARCH 1923–1950. By Martin Jay. Boston: Little, Brown, 1973; pp. xvii+382. $12.50.

ORIGIN AND SIGNIFICANCE OF THE FRANKFURT SCHOOL: A MARXIST PERSPECTIVE. By Phil Slater. London: Routledge &; Kegan Paul, 1977; pp. xvii+185. $13.75.

THE ORIGIN OF NEGATIVE DIALECTICS: THEODOR W. ADORNO, WALTER BENJAMIN, AND THE FRANKFURT INSTITUTE. By Susan Buck‐Morss. New York: The Free Press, 1977; pp. xv+335. $15.95.

CRITICAL THEORY: SELECTED ESSAYS. By Max Horkheimer. Trans. Matthew J. O'Connell, et al. New York: Seabury Press, 1972; pp. xxi+290. Paper $4.95.

THE ORIGIN OF GERMAN TRAGIC DRAMA. By Walter Benjamin. Trans. John Osborne. New York: Schocken Books, 1977; pp. 1+256. $17.25.

ILLUMINATIONS. By Walter Benjamin. Trans. Harry Zohn. New York: Schocken Books, 1969; pp. 1+278. Paper $4.75.

UNDERSTANDING BRECHT. By Walter Benjamin. Trans. Anna Bostock. New York: Schocken Books, 1973; pp. xix+124. $7.95.

REFLECTIONS. By Walter Benjamin. Trans. Edmund Jephcott. New York and London: Harcourt Brace Jovariovich, 1978; pp. xliii+ 348. $12.95.

DIALECTIC OF ENLIGHTENMENT. By Max Horkheimer and Theodor W. Adorno. Trans. John Cumming. New York: Seabury Press, 1972; pp. xvii+258. Paper $4.95.

DAWN &; DECLINE: NOTES 1926–1931 &; 1950–1969. By Max Horkheimer. Trans. Michael Shaw. New York: Seabury Press, 1978; pp. 1+252. $12.95.

MINIMA MORALIA: REFLECTIONS FROM DAMAGED LIFE. By Theodor W. Adorno. Trans. E. F. N. Jephcott. New York: Schocken Books, 1978; pp. 1+250. $11.95.

THE AESTHETIC DIMENSION. By Herbert Marcuse. Boston: Beacon Press, 1977; pp. xiii+ 88. $6.95.     

Children's perceptions of plants following their visit to the Eden Project

The study described is part of a larger research programme designed to investigate primary aged children's learning during a visit to the Eden Project. Children from eight primary schools were interviewed approximately four weeks after a one‐day, teacher‐led visit to the Eden Project (EP) in Cornwall. Their responses revealed that the children enjoyed their visit to the EP and were affected by the sensory experience of being immersed in such a profusion of plants from around the world. The children showed interest in the plants that were relevant to their lives but were often unsure of the relationship between plants, people and resources. The analysis highlights the need for teachers to integrate a visit to the EP within their school's curriculum, particularly in respect of prior preparation and mediation, in order to capitalize effectively on the children's experiences during their visit to the Eden Project.     

School ethos and personal,social, health education

This paper will discuss research undertaken within a London borough in 2009 that aimed to examine how Personal, Social, Health and Economic education (PSHE) was perceived and delivered. The ethos of schools was incorporated into the enquiry as a key determinate of both perception and delivery of PSHE. The findings are presented with particular reference to three areas: school ethos, participation and evaluation. The overall conclusion of the study is that staff value PSHE, but with some reservations. Staff believe that PSHE has a positive impact on pupil behaviour. The value placed by schools on PSHE, and how it interrelates with the existing ethos of schools, remains a crucial factor in its provision.     

Re-engineering the University

Re-engineering the university describes an attempt to introduce network-based learning on an institution-wide scale in a UK university. It covers the background leading up to the high level, strategic decision to develop an e-Campus, the rationale for this initiative, the development methodology and the outcomes. It goes on to review the lessons learned, with recommendations for practical implementation of such projects by others.     

“Burke's perspective on perspectives: Grounding dramatism in the representative anecdote”

Rhetorical scholars have taken Burke's discussions of the “representative anecdote” in A Grammar of Motives, and have devised from them a systematic procedure for use in criticism. However, I believe that we can read the representative anecdote in a different way‐by examining the work the term does for Burke himself. I suggest that Burke is not offering a method as much as justifying dramatism dramatistically. Ultimately, based upon my reading of the Grammar, I argue that the representative anecdote‐taken in conjunction with the pentad‐supports Burke's claim to provide the most adequate vocabulary for the study of motives.     

Prisoners of Conscience: Moral Vernaculars of Political Agency

COMMUNICATING EMOTION: SOCIAL, MORAL, AND CULTURAL PROCESSES by Sally Planalp. New York: Cambridge University Press 1999. $59.95 cloth; $24.95 paper.

THE ATOMIC WEST. Edited by Bruce Hevly and John M. Findlay. Seattle: University of Washington Press. 1998; pp. x + 286. $35.00 cloth; $19.95 paper.     

THE RELATION OF WEEK‐DAY RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION TO THE SUNDAY SCHOOL

This article seeks to demonstrate that in the burgeoning spiritual memoir literature of those leaving Ultra-Orthodoxy, scant attention is paid to the negative impact of schooling, yet it may be a significant contributing factor to the decision to leave traditional practice and community. Differing educational expectations for girls and boys—an amplified focus on modesty for females and scholarship for males—can become constricting and, ultimately, oppressive. Highlighting these inequities in other similar parochial systems or traditional but more progressive schools may shed light on how specific messaging may work counter to desired educational outcomes.     

Mindfulness and Intelligence: A Comparison

The theory of mindfulness (Langer, 1989a) shares with some current theories of intelligence an emphasis on the importance of cognitive flexibility. The mindfulness approach to cognitive flexibility differs from the intelligence approach in its conception of the relation between individuals and their environment. Intelligence theory employs a criterion of optimal fit between individual and environment. Mindfulness theory emphasizes that individuals may always define their relation to their environment in several ways. We examine the historical background of this difference between mindfulness and intelligence and find that (a) the concept of intelligence is embedded in a theory of correspondence that has been inherited from the 19th century; (b) current intelligence theories continue to focus on thought as adaptively corresponding to external reality; (c) despite apparent differences between unidimensional and multidimensional approaches to intelligence, common reliance on a criterion of optimal fit engenders more similarity than difference; (d) this similarity prolongs the detrimental effects of intelligence theories on self-perception, perception of others, and the educational process. Mindfulness theory rejects an evaluative standard that is external to the individual's capacity to give meaning to experience. We examine mindful enhancement of personal control and the educational process, and contrast this with the limitations of an intelligence approach.