Necessary Educational Reform for the 2lst Century: The Future of Public Schools in our Democracy

We offer a theoretical and ecological argument for the preparation of citizens in U.S. public schools. This democratic education draws legitimacy from the concern of the nations founders for a populace educated to govern itself. We also emphasize the need for new democratic skills and knowledge in the face of today’s challenges, and our responsibility to prepare the young for the 21st century. A critique of the current school reform movement is provided because of its undemocratic nature. We issue a call for the transformation to democratic schools. We specifically argue that current efforts at reform are maintaining historical inequities, while also depriving those that enjoy social and economic advantages of the education needed to meet the challenges of a rapidly changing world. The democratic education proposed is based on three goals: citizenship preparation, inclusion, and an optimum learning environment. Seven well established principles of democracy and their relationship to schooling are presented. These include; the nature of authority, inclusiveness, equal availability of the understanding required for deliberating the most serious challenges to democracy and livability, equal access to centers of political decision-making, guaranteed inalienable rights, equality, and universal access to an optimum learning environment. We offer a fundamentally different approach to educational reform: calling for a reassessment of the role of public schools in a democracy that recognizes the importance of citizenship preparation, and a “bottom up” reform model that starts in the classroom and can be implemented by individual teachers.     

1982 FIFA World Cup: from Spain’s struggle for democratic legitimacy to Italy’s rediscovery of football nationalism

ABSTRACT

One of the most memorable moments in the World Cups history is Marco Tardelli’s second goal in Italy’s win over Germany in the 1982 World Cup finals. Better known as Tardelli’s scream, it is thus a perfect object to analyse in order to understand football’s deeper social meanings and its political and cultural undertones, in this case both for the World Cup champions, Italy, and for the host country, Spain. In the Spanish case, organizing the World Cup was a huge political opportunity for the just restored democracy to showcase to the world a modern and pluralistic society leaving behind the authoritarian and outdated dictatorship. As for Italy, their first World Cup winning since World War II was heavily politically used by actors across the political spectrum. Such nationalistic approach constituted a novelty after decades of a low profile national discourse.     

Gender and ethnic differences in perceptions of equal opportunity climate and job outcomes of US Army Reserve component personnel

We examined equal opportunity climate (EOC) perceptions of reserve component personnel in the US Army (n = 949). We expected that gender and ethnic group membership would influence perceptions of the equal opportunity climate; and that gender and ethnic group membership would moderate the relationship between equal opportunity climate perceptions and ratings of job satisfaction, organizational commitment and workgroup effectiveness. Consistent with our hypothesis, we found the women and minorities perceptions regarding the equal opportunity climate were less favorable than White men. We also found that both gender and ethnicity moderated the relationship between equal opportunity climate perceptions and job outcomes of these groups. Our findings suggest that different groups are sensitive to particular aspects of EOC (e.g., harassment or discrimination) and that these sensitivities affect job-related outcomes.