Education Commons^™

Troubled Past, Golden Opportunity: Public Memory And Memorialization At The University Of Southern Mississippi, Hannah E. Arnold

Honors Theses

This thesis argues that The University of Southern Mississippi (USM) consciously chooses to present historical narratives in its history in ways that best enhance the university’s image. Examining the narratives of M.M. Roberts and Oseola McCarty using the theoretical frameworks of public memory and collective memory study reveals that the way they are memorialized within university history include both conscious and subconscious silences that impact how they are remembered by the public. This thesis identifies gaps within these two historical narratives and shows how these gaps were influenced by factors designed to enhance the university’s public image. Overall, the public …

Engaged Pedagogy And Teacher Discourse: A Critical Examination Of Public Education In Mississippi, Kelsi Ford

Honors Theses

This thesis explores Mississippi K-12 public education in terms of inequality and critical pedagogy with a focus on historical factors, state testing, and personal accounts of current teachers. The research is based on ten in-depth interviews with current schoolteachers regarding their perspectives on education and personal experiences and draws from previous scholarship, notably bell hook’s concept of engaged pedagogy. Critical pedagogy offers a model for transformative education for resisting social inequity and promoting democracy and citizenship, but teacher interviews suggest that the structure and culture of classrooms are contradictory to adopting critical pedagogy. Specifically, the research finds that both standardized …

Little Girl In The Country: A Children's Book, Holly Mcginnis

Honors Theses

A Work of Children’s Literature to Address Realities of Childhood in the Southern United States

This thesis investigated the intersection of life’s realities and children’s literature. Representation is an oft-talked-about area of children’s literature. It is coming to light that many groups are underrepresented in writings for children, and recent works are attempting to broaden the types and backgrounds of characters to represent the diversity of readers and authors. This thesis is the author’s attempt to accurately represent the types of students she encountered in student teaching experiences in the Oxford-area. Using inspiration from her own childhood and knowledge of …

Children's Perceptions Of Bullying Situations: Factors Influencing Peer Interventions, Allison Minchoff

Honors Theses

Previous research is inconclusive as to whether racial biases are prominent in elementary school children and whether gender influences the children’s perceptions of a bullying situation. Since both bullying and racial discrimination are of increased concern, I investigated how children perceive ambiguous situations that could be considered deliberate bullying or an accident, as a function of the gender, race, and reputation of the potential bully. Participants were asked to read three brief scenarios, each accompanied by a picture of the potential bully, and completed a questionnaire regarding how positive they would rate the actor, how negative they would rate the …

Education And Liberation: A Look At The Early Development And Directions Of The Virginia Public School System (1879-1899), John B. Terzian

Honors Theses

From its founding in 1870 and early development, Virginia’s public school system and its leadership provide a roadmap for many of the factors that have shaped America’s social landscape and racial politics. The onset of a rapidly industrializing Southern economy was instrumental in forming the direction for black education following Reconstruction and embodies the ideological debate regarding the purpose of education as it relates to racial uplift. The emergence of leaders like Booker T. Washington had an enormous impact on reshaping attitudes toward blacks and their potential as citizens. Ultimately, the ideological hegemony which victimized blacks served as a mechanism …

Problems Teachers Face While Teaching In Mixed Racial And Ethnic Classrooms, Linda Lee Hearn

Honors Theses

God taught us an important lesson: when communication stops, progress is halted. Today as then, differences not understood and a lack of communication can cause a stopping of progress.

In today's world of change, the classroom becomes the only true melting pot of our nation. As more and more peoples are brought together, the need for teachers who are able to function in such situations, becomes greater and greater. There can be no hard and fast rules for the handling of situations since the number of possible problems and occurrences surrounding them is infinite; but it must be realized that …