Earth Juts into World: An Earth Ethics for Ecologizing Philosophy of Education

Philosophers of education often focus their critique on issues such as neoliberalism, consumerism, pluralism, and so on, and they typically turn for solutions to what we might call the political: democracy, the public, cosmopolitanism, dissent. These critiques and solutions remain firmly connected to what Heidegger calls “the world,” and this worldly analysis seemingly hovers above earthly issues of the environment and ecology. In this article, Clarence Joldersma employs Martin Heidegger's distinction between earth and world, drawing on Kelly Oliver's interpretation of it, to “ecologize” philosophy of education by arguing that that earth “juts” into the world. Philosophy of education needs a Derridean supplement, something that makes up for a lack, but that, in filling the lack, simultaneously supplants it. Joldersma invites philosophy of education to supplement its worldly principles (dissent, democracy, and the like) with an “earth ethics” that is characterized by three features. First, this ethics lets the earth and earthlings be, recognizing their continuing mystery as beings. Second, it acknowledges gratefulness toward the earth, an indebtedness to the earth for the reliable support it provides to our worldly projects and concerns. Third, it recognizes earth's fundamental fragility, that its seeming worldly dependability conceals an earthly vulnerability. Joldersma concludes that these three features, in tandem, give rise to an earthly ethics of responsibility. Philosophy of education needs an earth ethics to supplement, if not supplant, its worldly principles.     

WISC,WISC-R,S-B L&M,WRAT: Relationships and trends among children ages six to ten referred for psychological evaluation

Thirty children ages 6-10 were selected who had been referred for psychological evaluation from the public schools. WISC-R was significantly lower than WISC FS IQs and similar to S-B L&M IQs (1972). Each scale predicts reading, spelling, and achievement in a significant manner. The use of the WISC-R over the WISC will rosult in greater numbers of children being classified as retarded.     

Rorschach variables and their relationship to WISC-R IQ among children referred

Eighty-eight children ages six to seventeen referred for psychological evaluation had been administered the Rorschach test (Exner system) and the WISC-R, among other tests, for diagnostic purposes. The data were analyzed in order to determine relationships between Rorschach variables and WISC-R IQ levels. Significant relationships were found between groups for the variables FM + m and ep, after which prediction formulas were developed for estimates and use of verbal terminology associated with IQ levels.     

From Learning Beliefs to Achievement Among Chinese Immigrant and European American Preschool Children

Little research exists on how immigrant children develop their beliefs about school learning (BASLs) in their home and host cultures. We examined the BASLs and achievement children of Chinese immigrants’ (CCI) and European American (EA) children. We followed longitudinally 120 middle-class children from age 4 to 5, balanced for gender. Children heard two story beginnings depicting a child eager to attend school and another not. Children completed the stories and were tested for math and literacy achievement. We found seven BASLs. CCIs and EAs showed similar BASLs. Awareness of parental involvement and intellectual benefit consistently explained their achievement, with CCIs showing greater achievement. CCIs’ (but not EAs’) valuation of learning explained their net academic growth. Implications on CCIs’ development are discussed.     

Profiling learners’ achievement goals when completing academic essays

This study explored adult learners’ goal profiles in relation to the completion of a compulsory academic essay. Based on learners’ scores on items assessing mastery, performance‐approach, and work‐avoidance goals, cluster analyses produced three distinct categories of learners: performance‐focused, work‐avoidant, and multiple‐goal learners. These three groups of learners differed in terms of perceptions about the academic essay, self‐belief in completing it, use of strategies, responses to marker feedback, and, most importantly, level of achievement. The results attest to the importance of endorsing multiple goals for completing compulsory academic essays at the tertiary level.     

Examining the self-congruent engagement hypothesis: the link between academic self-schemas,motivational goals,learning approaches and achievement within an academic year

Academic self-schemas are important cognitive frames capable of guiding students’ learning engagement. Using a cohort of Year 10 Australian students, this longitudinal study examined the self-congruence engagement hypothesis which maintains that there is a close relationship among academic self-schemas, achievement goals, learning approaches, learning attitudes and achievement levels in learning mathematics. Students completed a survey and attempted an achievement test at the beginning and close to the end of the academic year. Two hypotheses in relation to the notion of self-engagement congruence were examined. The first hypothesis assumes that students holding a specific academic self-schema will maintain a pattern of engagement and achievement congruent with their specific self-conception over time. The second hypothesis postulates that a change in academic self-schemas will be associated with a corresponding shift in students’ engagement and achievement patterns. Cluster analyses provided clear evidence supporting these two hypotheses.     

Relationships between writing motives,writing self-efficacy and time on writing among Chinese students: path models and cluster analyses

Reading and Writing - Motives for writing is a new research area in the field of writing motivation. Recent studies have identified important motives for students’ writing. Adding to this...     

Beyond Rational Autonomy: Levinas and the Incomparable Worth of the Student as Singular Other

This article explores the question: Why are students of worth? Educationally, an answer often involves a Kantian response: They are of worth because they are always ends and never means. This response is usually connected to a notion of autonomy interpreted as individual, rational self-determination. The article argues for a different answer. The essay begins with a recent educational example of construing worth as rational autonomy. Meira Levinson, in her book The Demands of Liberal Education (1999), argues for a version of rational autonomy which is taken in the essay as a Kantian response to the question. The essay then turns to Kant’s own understanding of intrinsic human worth as ends. Although the essay agrees in general with the notion of end, it criticizes Kant’s version of rational autonomy. Instead, it argues for a notion of worth as irreplaceable singularity. Both the critique of the Kantian answer and theessay’salternative are shaped by the philosophy of Emmanuel Levinas. Here technical notions of “the other,” proximity and singularity are brought to bear on the question of human worth. The Levinasian alternative, so the essay argues, better answers the question of student worth by highlighting the incomparability of the student as a singular other.     

Undergraduate students' experiences of using information at the career fair: A phenomenographic study conducted by the libraries and career center

Information literacy is vital to students seeking employment following their undergraduate education. Yet little is known about how students approach using information as part of their career search. This phenomenographic study examined how students experience using information as part of a career fair, or on-campus job expo. Researchers interviewed undergraduate students after a major campus career fair. The findings suggest that students may experience using information in a career fair context as: 1) navigators completing a series of steps, 2) performers seeking to connect with the right person, or 3) aligners determining if a company is a match for them.