Civic Respect, Civic Education, and the Family

We formulate a distinctly 'political liberal' conception of mutual respect, which we call 'civic respect', appropriate for governing the public political relations of citizens in pluralist democratic societies. A political liberal account of education should aim at ensuring that students, as future citizens, learn to interact with other citizens on the basis of civic respect. While children should be required to attend educational institutions that will inculcate in them the skills and concepts necessary for them to be free and equal citizens, parents should be granted as much freedom as is compatible with the requirements of civic respect to raise their children in accordance with their respective 'comprehensive doctrines' (systems of beliefs and values, including religious doctrines). We consider an objection to our position drawn from the account of upbringing recently advanced by Matthew Clayton, namely, that the conception of civic respect that we advance rests on an implausible view about the limited scope of the requirements of political justice. We develop an account of the 'basic structure of society' as the appropriate subject of political justice that can overcome this objection.     

Student Technology Rollouts in Higher Education: Lessons From DISCOVERe

ICT rollouts are no longer discretionary: they have become a mandatory function of effective educational institutions. This study examines the rollout of tablet technology at a public, four-year university with particular attention to variations within the student population and the student voice. The research questions included: Do expectations about new technologies vary among students according to socioeconomic factors? If expectations vary, then how do variations within the student population affect student response to ICT rollouts in higher education? Can attention to the student voice, including any variations within the student population, help higher educational institutions field more successful technology rollouts? The study found significant variation among students in the factors affecting technology adoption, which in turn affected the way the rollout was received by students. The study points to ways attention to the student voice can positively inform future technology rollouts.     

Dreaming in crisis

PROSPECTS - This article explores how socio-political crises that implicate teachers and students play out in dreams about the psychical and material realities of schooling. Teacher dreaming during...     

Learning disabilities and the new reductionism: a response to Reid and Valle

The purpose of this article is to respond to Reid and Valle's article "The Discursive Practice of LD: Implications for Instruction and Parent-School Relations" in this issue. Our response to the discursive analysis is organized around two major themes: (a) the issue of balance in the scholarship on learning disabilities (LD) and (b) the centrality of the discourse of general education to the discourse of LD. Following our response to the discursive analysis, we comment on the implications for instruction and parent-school relations drawn by Reid and Valle. Highlighted in this section is the disconnect between the macro-level findings from the discursive analysis and the micro-level orientation of their "sociopolitical vision" for instruction and parent-school relations.     

HISTORICAL REFLECTIONS ON THE ASCENDANCY OF ADHD IN NORTH AMERICA, c. 1980 – c. 2005

ABSTRACT:  An ecological niche framework ( Hacking, 1998 ) is utilised to examine the growth of ADHD in North America. The analysis suggests ADHD flourishes, at least in part, due to a complex and historically situated interaction of factors that created a niche within which a particular kind of explanation and treatment for the troubling behaviours of children can and does thrive.