The medicalization of current educational research and its effects on education policy and school reforms

This paper starts from the assumption of the emergence of an educationalized culture over the last 200 years according to which perceived social problems are translated into educational challenges. As a result, both educational institutions and educational research grew, and educational policy resulted from negotiations between professionals, researchers, and policy makers. The paper argues that specific experiences in the Second World War triggered a fundamental shift in the social and cultural role of academia, leading up to a technocratic culture characterized by confidence in experts rather than in practicing professionals (i.e., teachers and administrators). In this technocratic shift, first a technological system of reasoning emerged, and it was then replaced by a medical “paradigm.” The new paradigm led to a medicalization of social research, in which a particular organistic understanding of the social reality is taken for granted and research is conducted under the mostly undiscussed premises of this particular understanding. The result is that despite the increased importance of research in general, this expertocratic and medical shift of social research led to a massive reduction in reform opportunities by depriving the reform stakeholders of a broad range of education research, professional experience, common sense, and political deliberation.     

安徽乡村文化生活现状的调查与思考--以枞阳县与颖上县的村落调查为基础

从调查的结果来看,目前安徽乡村文化生活在省民生工程的支持之下,广播电视“村村通”、农家书屋、基层文化馆站等纷纷展开,农村数字化电影放映与文化信息资源共享等建设项目在逐步进展之中,文化基础设施局部得到明显地改善,但文化投入不足、文化设施利用率不高、文化发展不平衡的现象广泛存在,农村文化事业队伍与管理体制不健全,乡村常住人员日益减少,传统乡村文化面临着无人传承的困局;从文化建设立场上来说,要在以尊重乡村为主体的基础上并以借鉴与汲取其他优秀文化成果来进行,新农村文化生活建设的主力军应该是农民,要充分调动其积极性与主体性来进行乡村文化生活的建设;从国家管理者来说,管理者要做到整合、协调乡村文化生活资源,充分发挥乡民创造与享受文化生活的积极性与主动性。     

Disability,Stigma and Otherness: Perspectives of Parents and Teachers

This qualitative study explored the perspectives of parents and teachers in the US with regard to the meaning and implications of disability in the context of schoolling, and of raising a child with a disability. The findings revealed broad conceptual differences in the perspectives of these two groups. Teachers’ beliefs were generally consistent with medical model perspectives on disability as biologically defined. Parents’ interpretations, more aligned with a sociocultural paradigm, were situated in the cultural meanings ascribed to disability and linked with issues of stigma, marginalisation and access. The findings also revealed the existence of master narratives on families of children with disabilities, entrenched in assumptions of pathological functioning and negative outcomes among these families. Implications for professional–family partnerships in the education of students with disabilities are discussed.     

‘Twilight or Middlemarch?’ A Teacher’s Refusal to Choose

What should children and young adolescents read? Recent changes in the English curriculum have once again shifted the focus towards more canonical texts, but does featuring such texts on the course necessarily equate to rigorous teaching and in-depth learning? Through a self-examination of her own reading history, the author argues for a dialogic approach to reading and text selection instead, so that students may negotiate better understandings of themselves and their own socio-cultural contexts.     

Use of sexuality-focused entertainment media in sex education

The literature on the impact of entertainment media on sex education is typically pathology-focused, unclear regarding the effects of such usage, and void of dialogue between those who actually work in the areas of sexuality education and entertainment. To address this gap, this paper is the product of joint authorship between media figures from varied sexually-focused programming fields and academics who teach and conduct research in the areas of sexuality and relational health. The authors focus on the role that various forms of entertainment media play in educating members of the public and college classrooms in the areas of sex and sexuality. Additionally, examples of the inclusion of entertainment media in educational contexts are discussed.     

Education as Part of the Migratory Project of Latin American Migrant Women Traveling to the United States in Undocumented Conditions

Education is an indispensable element for the development of society. In Latin America, the point of origin of most of the undocumented immigrants to the United States, equal opportunity in access to education and educational achievement is still pending. The study presented here focuses on the analysis of the expectations of female migrants via Mexico’s northern border, focusing attention on educational attainment as an important aspect of the “American Dream” of the migrant women interviewed and their dependents.     

Let’s Meet in Nepantla: The Possibility of Thirdspace as a Place “Others” Call Home

This autoethnography posits that my presence as a working-class Chicana obtaining an education in the United States consequently created a Thirdspace environment I recognize as Nepantla. Thirdspace allowed me to navigate urban schooling and elite institutions of higher education. Two narratives demonstrate opposing forms of acquired dominant and nondominant forms of cultural capital to interrogate the value of Thirdspace when considering unique knowledge generated by an insider along the margins. This article articulates that strategic construction of bridges into Nepantla may assist Latino students to successfully navigate the schooling experience and offer the potential to reframe educational discourse.     

艺术视角下文学作品的意义和价值--对长篇小说《山乡巨变》、《三里湾》和《创业史》的解读

在文学创作中,艺术视角的选择具有重要的意义。同是描写农业合作化运动的《山乡巨变》、《三里湾》和《创业史》,因为作家采用了不同的艺术视角,所以这三部作品也就具有了不同的思想意蕴,它们的意义和价值也就不同。文学作品的最大意义和价值是在文化上,而不是在政治上。纵观中外的文学史可以发现,艺术视角既具有个人性,也具有时代性和作家个人的反叛性。     

山岳旅游地文化内涵的景观呈现设计手法探讨--以麻城龟峰山寿养文化为例

有效地将文化内涵予以呈现是山岳旅游地转型升级、寻求差异化发展、提升竞争力的关键举措。在分析麻城龟峰山发展现状尤其是文化内涵呈现存在的遮蔽问题的基础上,引入景观设计的相关理念来探讨其寿养文化内涵的呈现。并提出从营造寿养文化氛围、注意形象标识及景观节点设计、强调景区主题与功能分区文化景观主题的一致性、优化景区空间格局四大方面来呈现龟峰山寿养文化的构想。     

全球化背景下中国电影的文化建构

全球化既为话语权的争夺提供了角斗场,也文化的自我展示提供了国际大舞台。其竞争核心就是文化价值观与文化认同感。电影文化就处在这个竞争舞台的最前沿。因此,建构具有民族特色的电影文化对塑造具有凝聚力和向心力的国家文化具有重大意义。