Seeing classes: toward a broadened research agenda for critical qualitative researchers

This paper proposes a research agenda that foregrounds social class in US public schooling. The author suggests that the relative invisibility of social class in academic discourse on schooling limits the value of research in at least three ways: (1) middle‐class academics’ propensity to speak on behalf of the poor and working class limits analysis of class and schooling; (2) the class and gender constraints on the work of teachers has been inadequately theorized, while simultaneously the work of teachers ha been invoked as proxy for deeper social and structural inequalities; and (3) researchers have declined to ‘study up’ power structures within which the work of schools is embedded, limiting our understanding of relationships between schooling and the economy. It is suggested that researchers’ work will make deeper contributions to the reform of schools to the extent that they acknowledge how norms of scholarship sustain their own middle‐class privilege.     

Forecasting: Exercises to Enhance Learning from Business Simulations

Forecasting the outputs of dynamic systems develops a richer understanding of relevant inputs and their interrelationships than merely observing them ex post. Academic business simulations foster students’ development of this critical competency, but learning outcomes can be significantly augmented with relatively simple, complementary exercises in forecasting. We introduce an in‐class forecasting exercise that is easily added to simulations or in any course where students gain from untangling the determinants of quantitative outcomes. The exercise also enhances opportunities for team‐building and spirited competition. Implementation details, evidence of effectiveness, and implications are discussed.     

Racial attitudes: Words versus deeds

After an acrimonious and unsuccessful strike attempting to unionize the steel industry in 1919, the Senate's Labor Committee held hearings to ascertain the causes. Elbert H. Gary, chief executive officer of the United States Steel Corporation, refused repeatedly to give the Senators an adequate explanation of his position on the open shop controversy. His testimony provides an example of the rhetorical strategy of “stonewalling.”