Education Commons^™

White Teachers, Race Matters, Ellen Bigler

Faculty Publications

Educational anthropologists address in their works the legacy of an enduring history of racial oppression in the United States. Drawing on observations from teaching courses on multicultural education I examine the ideologies of future white teachers forged in particular racial and class locations. Students' faith in the existence of equality of opportunity emerges as significant in shaping their receptivity in interrogating the status quo. Course activities provide contrary evidence, permitting greater engagement with anthropological theories.

Labor Of Learning, Alexander M. Sidorkin

Faculty Publications

This paper is an attempt to understand learning as labor - not metaphorically, not psychologically, but from the point of view of the political economy of education. Where does learning fit in the great scheme of things in the contemporary economy? How does this affect the theoretical view of schooling? In schools, students are asked to produce numerous things - literary essays, stories, poems, statistical reports, mathematical calculations, graphs, tables, musical performances, scientific research papers, posters, models, theater shows, oral presentations and written reports. I am interested in the things that students produce, and will try to understand them in …

Staff Development Strategies And Contexts Associated With Positive Impacts On Teachers_ Attitudes And Practices, Susan Gracia

Faculty Publications

The purpose of this study was to identify staff development strategies, organizational contexts, and teacher characteristics that were associated with positive impacts on teachers_ attitudes and practices. The study focused on 89 elementary teachers in 11 schools across 5 districts, all of whom participated in a state-sponsored staff development project during the 1999/2000 academic year. This staff development initiative was designed to assist teachers in acquiring the knowledge and skills necessary to develop and implement standards-based math instruction and assessment in their classrooms.

Using surveys, interviews, and written teacher logs, data were gathered regarding the amounts and types of staff …

Toward A Pedagogy Of Relation, Alexander M. Sidorkin

Faculty Publications

One of the main intellectual trends in American educational philosophy could be described as a shift from the pedagogy of behavior to the pedagogy of relation. Not a widely used term, pedagogy of relation nevertheless captures the shared intent of otherwise widely diverse group of writers. It is mainly, but not exclusively, associated with feminist thinkers like Nel Noddings, Jane R. Martin, and Carol Gilligan. Among non-feminists, one can mention a group of philosophers who support one or another form of proceduralism (often inspired by Jurgen Habermas), Gert Biesta_s communicative pedagogy, and Frank Margonis and his relational ontology.

Dialogue With Evil, Alexander M. Sidorkin

Faculty Publications

This paper is a direct result of comments Dr. Barbara Thayer-Bacon gave me on one of my previous papers. I have been exploring possible implications of Mikhail Bakhtin's notions of dialogue and polyphony for educational theory. The assumption I borrowed from Bakhtin is that dialogue is the end and everything else in a means. In other words, Bakhtin seemed to reject any absolutes with the exception of dialogical relation. I thought, and still do now, that this is a very productive idea, and that dialogue understood as a relation can effectively describe something very central to human existence. Among other …

Redefinition Of Plurality, Alexander M. Sidorkin

Faculty Publications

The notion of 'double message' is commonly perceived as a negative one in the educational context. Many believe that an educational institution, and even better, a whole community, must convey a consistent moral message to the youth. This paper aims to show that the consistency of a message is not always good, and that truly educational moral message is always a double message, an ambivalent and a self-contradicting one. To preserve the polyphony of a moral message, I argue, is more important than to observe the cohesion of such a message.

Authoritarianism And Education In Soviet Schools, Alexander M. Sidorkin

Faculty Publications

Here is a perfectly plausible theory, even more so as the two last American presidents seemingly supported it. Once upon a time there were two military and ideological blocks: the Western democracies and Communist totalitarianism. They fought the Cold war, which the Western block has won, and the Communist block has lost. Two main strategies greatly contributed to the fall of the Communism: an arms race that exhausted Soviet economic power, and an ideological struggle that weakened the Soviet regime from inside. If this is true, American governments may rightfully claim credit for the victory. Moreover, if this is true, …

Carnival And Domination: Pedagogies Of Neither Care Nor Justice, Alexander M. Sidorkin

Faculty Publications

There are two alternative projects to overcome domination in education with ethics of justice and ethics of care. I want to look beyond disagreements between the two projects about the essence of morality. Both these projects, from my point of view, have clear limits. The domination is mainly a problem of freedom, and ethics deal with a problem of good and evil. In other words, I suggest that reduction of human evil may reduce domination, but does not free us from it. Other approaches, like carnival and similar cultural phenomena, would do a better job of overcoming domination.

Authenticity-Dialogicality-Recognition, Alexander M. Sidorkin

Faculty Publications

Charles Taylor has made a remarkable attempt to recover the moral ideal of authenticity as opposed to the debased form of authenticity, that leads to individualism. He points at the dialogical nature of authenticity, and finally, in another work, justifies the need for recognition. I want to show that the middle part of this chain of argument, dialogicality, if properly understood, cannot lead us to recognition in the sense Taylor ascribes to the latter.

The Research Critique Approach To Educating Sociology Students, Rachel I. Filinson, Darek Niklas

Faculty Publications

In recent years, instructors of methods courses have made a repeated plea in pedagogical journals for teaching students research techniques through "doing" or simulating a real project (Ballard 1987; Cutler 1987; Irish 1987; Ransford and Butler 1982; Stoddart 1987; Takata and Leiting 1987; Weiss 1987). Approaches are varied; they include individual, group, or class research projects that generate data for class-specific projects, collect data for external consumption, or use existing data. It is argued that the disembodied knowledge of scientific inquiry presented in the classroom must be supplemented concurrently by an exposure to the actual process of research. Only by …

Multinational Corporate-Investment And Womens' Participation In Higher-Education In Noncore Nations, Roger D. Clark

Faculty Publications

This article posits a theoretical connection between multinational corporate (MNC) investment and women's participation in higher education in noncore nations. It suggests that because MNC investment encourages a "breed-and-feed" ideology for women, the prejudicial hiring of men in high-status occupations, and the lack of state regulation of gender discrimination, its presence skews the demand for higher education away from women. Panel regression analyses of data from 66 noncore and 44 peripheral nations indicate considerable support for this position.

Student Personality Traits And Values Across Generations, Thomas J. Lavin, Richard W. Prull

Faculty Publications

To assess possible generational differences in student personailty traits and values, an analysis was conducted of four samples of college freshman who had completed the Omnibus Personality Inventory (OPI) at intervals spanning 1969 through 1987. A linear increase in impulsivity during that period was the strongest of the observed shifts.

Effects Of A Content Area Reading Course On Teacher Attitudes And Practices, Ezra L. Stieglitz

Faculty Publications

Efforts have been made during the past 10 years to develop the teaching skills of secondary teachers In the area of reading. Not just those designated as reading specialists but other secondary teachers have been called upon to devote more attention to reading skill development in their classes.

A Rating Scale For Evaluating English As A Second Language Reading Material, Ezra L. Stieglitz

Faculty Publications

In the last decade, a wide variety of commercial materials has been published for use in developing the speaking, listening, reading, and writing skills of second language learners. This article focuses on the selection of instructional materials for the reading component of an English as a second language (ESL) program.

Savor The Word To Reinforce Vocabulary In The Content Areas, Ezra L. Stieglitz, Varda S. Stieglitz

Faculty Publications

Success in the content area is determined mainly by the degree to which students master important concepts. This grasp of concepts is the major goal of instruction in all the content areas regardless of the modes of presentation such as reading from a textbook, viewing a filmstrip, or listening to a lecture. Along with concept development, the subject matter teacher must recognize the importance of words, whether printed or spoken, to content area learning. Words and content are inseperable. As Allington and Strange (1980, p. 143) state, "identifying a set of key concepts is primarily a task of identifying the …

Why Busing Plans Work, John A. Finger Jr.

Faculty Publications

The year 1975 has seen a rising opposition to busing for school integration. Advocates of busing are placed in the position of defending the initiation and continuation of busing. Those opposed to busing can have their opposition widely accepted despite the complete lack of analysis of the consequences. Historical injustices against Blacks and minorities are widely known, but much of the public seems unaware of or unconcerned about present injustices and the official acts of discrimination which are still perpetuated.

Academic Motivation And Youth-Culture Involvement, John A. Finger Jr.

Faculty Publications

The increased pressure for enrolment forces more and more colleges to be selective in their admissions procedures. This selection is customarily achieved through the use of aptitude tests combined with a student's high school record. Students are therefore selected on two bases: intelligence and academic motivation, for high school record is one index of the latter. As a result, admission is denied to students with low academic motivation.