Political Science Commons^™

Educators As Leaders, Evan Barrett

Highlands College

A Montana Public Radio Commentary by Evan Barrett.

Published newspaper columns written by Evan Barrett on this topic, which vary somewhat in content from this commentary, appeared in the following publication:

Montana Standard, February 26, 2014

Missoulian, February 20, 2014

Carter, Tim Lee, 1910-1987 (Mss 80), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 80. Correspondence, photographs, audiotapes, film, clippings, general office files, and records of legislative proceedings relating to the political career of Tim Lee Carter, U.S. Representative (Republican) for Kentucky's Fifth Congressional District, 1965-1981.

Landscapes To Learnscapes: Exploring Schoolyard-Based Education, Emily I. Palena, Caroline T. Spurgin

Pitzer Senior Theses

This thesis explores schoolyard-based education as a viable and necessary method for rectifying the shortcomings within the American public school system and the Nature-deficit Disorder epidemic. We argue that schoolyard-based education should be fully integrated into the school system, not in the sole form of popularized school gardens, but as a standard teaching method. We show this using extensive research and a case study of three elementary schools in Claremont, California.

Hubbard, Sam R., 1906-1973 (Sc 683), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 683. Papers of Sam R. Hubbard, State Senator from Russell Springs, Kentucky, in which the writers seek his support relating to issues and bills that will come before the state legislature. Includes letters from individuals and organizations, draft legislation, and a brochure with a pictorial roster of the 1960 General Assembly.

Remembering Lee Metcalf, Evan Barrett

Highlands College

A Montana Public Radio Commentary from Evan Barrett.

Published newspaper columns written by Evan Barrett on this topic, which vary somewhat in content from this commentary, appeared in the following publications:

Havre Daily News, February 27, 2013

Ravalli Republic, February 28, 2013

Bozeman Daily Chronicle, March 4, 2013

Helena Independent Record, March 4, 2013

Montana Standard, March 13, 2013

Missoulian, March 22, 2013

Public Post-Secondary Experiential Internship: A Qualitative Evaluation Of Wildcat Interest Group’S Student Internship Program At The University Of Kentucky, And Its Benchmark Competitors, Nolan Jackson

Lewis Honors College Capstone Collection

This thesis will identify the early motivation for a program conceived by the Student Government Association at the University of Kentucky to penetrate civic apathy and enhance the politically engaged. This qualitative assessment of “Wildcats in Washington” of the Student Internship Program will detail the conception and implementation of the student-facilitated, student-sponsored experiential internship program reserved for the students of the University of Kentucky.

Additionally, this thesis will measure the uniqueness of the University Student Government’s governmental relations and internship initiative against similar efforts at institutions’ in three measurable populations.

Finally, this thesis will briefly address “Wildcats in Washington’s” current …

Practicing What We Teach: The Politics Behind Creating A State Social Studies Curriculum, Jacquelyn Visger

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

Societal importance of the social studies fields is the key to what makes the development of social studies curriculum political. State standardized curricula adopted in the 1990s gave freedom to individual states to create their own standards on what information they were requiring their students to learn. The standards we require students to know inherently molds their political philosophy throughout schooling. By focusing attention on two separate cases, Texas and Michigan, inherent differences in the creation process of these standards are highlighted to show how the differences in the creation process have an effect on the standards document. This thesis …

Education And Democracy; Can Education Foster Greater Democracy For Africa?, Danielle Katz

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the relationship between education and democracy. It argues that in order for education to have a meaningful impact on prospects for a sustainable democracy, educational systems must support democratic principles and ideals. The main focus of this study is Africa. In order to assess this hypothesis, the study uses a case study approach examining the education models of three Africa countries: Botswana, Ghana, and Uganda- to determine whether education has played a role in fostering democratic values in society. These three countries were chosen because each offers a variation on Africa's political …

Ask What Your Country Can Do For You: Social Spending And Satisfaction With Democracy In Latin America, Kenneth Retzl

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Past research on social policy in Latin America has primarily focused on how each countries' policies were formed, the institutional framework that bred the policies, or the economic constraints that necessitated certain reforms. Little work has been done to examine the effects those policies have had on the populace. This thesis attempts to determine if there is a relationship between social spending and satisfaction with democracy. The research takes two forms. First I present case studies of Brazil, Ecuador, and Venezuela. The second is an ordered logit hierarchical linear model utilizing survey responses from the 2005 Latinobarometer survey. In total …

Genocide In The Classroom: How Transitional Societies Are Affected By The Quality Of Genocide Education, Leah Oppenheimer

Honors Scholar Theses

Recognized as a legal term since 1944, genocides have been an unfortunate occurrence since the beginning of world history. However, many countries have failed to properly educate students about genocides that have taken place in their own countries by either not providing accurate or consistent information about what took place or denying the genocide outright. Additionally, in many countries, relations between formerly warring ethnic groups have not improved, despite the often large amount of time that has passed since the end of the genocide. This study examines how history education, both accurate and inaccurate, has affected the current social situation …

Changing The World From Classrooms To Communities: Designing And Disseminating A Service-Learning Curriculum For Teaching In A Formal Education Setting, Amanda English

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

To change the world is a growing desire among many of today’s student populations, portrayed increasingly across the spectrum of media, social trends and career pursuits. While the demand grows among students for community-oriented and socially-responsible opportunities, the offerings in educational institutions must respond to these emerging requests with new and innovative academic programs. This text emphasizes the role of the developing discipline of service-learning in channeling these energies and providing students with deep and meaningful academic experiences. Its content seeks to combat misconceptions of service-learning as simply an extra-curricular activity and provide tangible methods for incorporating its concepts into …

National Identity And The Education Of Immigrant Youth In Spain, Kathleen C. Mautner

Scripps Senior Theses

This thesis examines the present-day educational policies enacted by Spain in response to the country’s growing immigrant populations, specifically by comparing the policies implemented in two of Spain’s distinct autonomies. The thesis ultimately argues that the regions’ differing conceptualizations of national identity and their distinct relationships to the central Spanish state play a fundamental role in their motivations to enact comprehensive and effective policies that promote immigrants’ educational and social success.

A Centrist Solution To Central American Violence And Inequality, Devin Joshi

Human Rights & Human Welfare

The northern triangle of Central America (El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras) has experienced horrific violence, poverty, and a vicious cycle of human rights violations for decades. Repeated natural disasters and the re-routing of the drug trade through Central America are not helping the situation. On the other hand, nearby Costa Rica has achieved a much higher standard of human rights, public safety, and political stability. Why? Costa Rica has put in place four pillars of development and stability lacking in most other countries in the region: a stronger state, an educated population, inter-racial cooperation, and a more inclusive democracy. For …

Generic Wish-Lists For State-Centric Policies, Edzia Carvalho

Human Rights & Human Welfare

The Central America depicted in the article under review resembles a region visited by the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse—colonial Conquest, civil War, Famine and other natural disasters, and poverty, disease and Death. Added to this list of woes are the recent drug-fueled conflict, democratic instability, weak state capacity, and the socio-economic fallout of the economic recession in the United States. While the first half of the article records these problems, the author shifts gears in the second half and provides an array of responses to these challenges, with a forceful recommendation that states in the region focus their efforts …

Per Pupil Spending: How Much Difference Does A Dollar Make?, Nicole Anderson

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Education. The one thing everyone needs and no one thinks is good enough. Wherever students and policy makers turn there is the desire for something more, something better, coming out of the public education system. Over the years more and more funding has been poured into the education system in attempt to increase the student success rates and intellect of American students. However, American students are still behind internationally and more and more jobs are going to students from different countries. Is there a point when the money being funneled into education doesn’t make enough difference in student achievement and …

Economic Circumstances And Support For Universal Health Care, Daniel Cotter

Political Science Theses and Capstones

There have been many differing opinions over the new health care bill passed in 2010. My research is aimed at finding what factors play a role in forming an opinion on the new health care bill. Specifically looking at the economic and demographic circumstances of citizens of the United States and how it has affected their opinions on the health care bill. I use data gathered from the Pew Research Center and ran crosstabs on various different variables including opinions on the current economy, demographic characteristics, as well as opinions on the current health care plan. I anticipate finding that …

Law Is Not A Spectator Sport: Addressing Challenges Posed By Civic Education Through Public Engagement With The Supreme Court, Erica Lauren Bashaw

Journalism

Democracy relies on an informed and engaged citizenry.  Low knowledge of public policy debates makes it difficult for government to meaningfully reflect the will of the people or for citizens to engage in fruitful public discussions.  The discussions we manage to have about law and politics too often resemble a hyper-partisan cable news show rather than an honest effort at a conversation.  In addition, many studies have suggested that, on the whole, Americans are not as informed about the courts as one would hope. This is especially true of the United States Supreme Court, which benefits from the “myth” that …

John Hughes May Be Onto Something: Anti-Authoritarianism In Education, Film And Policy, James M. Iddins

Graduate Student Publications

In this article, I use two popular anti-authoritarian films to explore often-overlooked options for the education reform debate and general issues related to educational public policy. Bringing in sources from many disciplines, including anthropology, sociology, and economics, I argue for a second look at the issues revealed in the films and action on our part toward creating a more sustainable educational and economic reality. I contend that if we take into account our historical context, we come to a much different conclusion regarding these issues than we might have otherwise.

Aware: Analyzing The Impact Of An Anti-Human Trafficking Advocacy Curriculum Using Sixth Grade Students In Colorado, Alex Kornelius Monroe

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Human trafficking is an international problem that penetrates every society on the globe. Trafficking in children for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation, forced labor, and domestic servitude occurs in every state of the United States. Education is key in preventing human trafficking and American students lack proper knowledge of the issue. This study seeks to bridge this shortcoming through the creation and implementation of a holistic anti-trafficking advocacy curriculum that not only informs and motivates students and educators toward advocacy, but also meets Colorado state academic standards. Case studies using sixth grade students in Denver show the impact that …

Latin America’S Indigenous Women, Courtney Hall

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Latin America’s indigenous women are as diverse as the land they inhabit. Their uniqueness is shaped by belonging to groups that have their own distinct history, traditions, and identity. Yet despite this diversity, indigenous women confront the same human rights challenges: racial, gender, and socio-economic discrimination. Without ignoring the diversity of indigenous women, a better understanding of their fundamental struggles can be gained by weaving these issues together in a comprehensive narrative.

Waging Peace For Colombia’S Youth: Countering The Attack On Education, Phil Price

Human Rights & Human Welfare

After nearly five decades of internal armed conflict, Colombia’s children and education system remain firmly under siege. Boys and girls as young as thirteen are pulled out of classrooms and thrown into battlefields. Teachers routinely disappear and/or are subjected to extrajudicial executions. Guerillas, paramilitaries, and the Colombian army all utilize school buildings as posts for their combatants. School zones have become littered with landmines. Child displacement and poverty have reached epidemic levels. In direct contradiction with the Rome Statute and the Colombian Ministry of Defense Directive 30743, the Colombian government is guilty of war crimes by employing children as spies …

The Anglo Politics Of Latino Education: The Role Of Immigration Scripts, Edmund T. Hamann

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

In the 41 states without a substantial historic Latino population, large-scale schooling of Latinos is a comparatively new issue and the nature of that schooling is fundamentally shaped by how the more established (usually Anglo) populations understand this task. This chapter describes the understandings that led to, but also limited, one particularly comprehensive attempt in Georgia to respond to Latino newcomers. In that sense, this is a study of the cosmologies that can undergird the politics of schooling of Latinos. This chapter utilizes the concept of the script, or broadly shared storylines about how things are or should be, to …

History Education And Identity Formation: A Case Study Of Uganda, Takako Mino

CMC Senior Theses

History education builds the foundation of a common past necessary for the formation of group identity. Evaluating History curricula is important because group identity guides people’s political behavior. This Uganda case study demonstrates how different actors have manipulated History education in order to enhance the saliency of ethnic, national, and regional identities. The expansion of nationalized education and the teaching of Ugandan, East African, and African history have contributed to fostering the rise of national consciousness in Uganda. Greater awareness of national identity has promoted national integration while marginalizing non-school educated people.

Re-Evaluating Poverty Alleviation Strategies: The Impact Of Microfinance On Child Labor In Bangladesh., Lauren C. Smith

CMC Senior Theses

Microfinance has become one of the most promising tools for development and poverty alleviation over the past two decades. Millions of borrowers around the globe have utilized microcredit to start or expand their small businesses and raise their household income. One poverty-induced problem microfinance could potentially alleviate is child labor. Despite international legislation prohibiting it, child labor continues to deprive millions of children of their right to education. Without education, there is little hope for a country to increase productivity and wealth in the future. A number of scholars have highlighted a negative correlation between credit rationing and child labor. …

A Protection Post-Mortem On The "Death" Of Multiculturalism In Germany, Erin Mooney

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Noticeably absent from the recent pronouncements of the “death” of multiculturalism in Germany, including Chancellor Angela Merkel’s own conclusion that the policy had “utterly failed,” has been any interest to seriously examine, let alone address, the reasons for such a failure.

Constructing A Citizenry: Variance In Civic Education In Minnesota's Secondary Schools, Hopi Costello

Political Science Honors Projects

My project has two aims. First, I seek to fill the gap in basic descriptive data about the state of civic education in Minnesota's high schools. Second, I attempt to shed light on civic education in the state by exploring influences to it. I argue that demographic characteristics of civics teachers and the communities in which they teach influence both civics curriculum and teacher's conceptions of civic education. In a nation that depends on citizen participation for the functioning of the state, it is important to understand that the ways we teach students to participate may differ across locales.

Learning Sustainable Development: Chimeneas De La Esperanza, Miriam V. Mollan Gundersen

Social Sciences

Social inequality and environmental degradation are motivating informed young people into action and connecting impoverished regions of the world with students in more developed nations. This Social Sciences senior project is to analyze an alternative development model designed by a group of Californian university students. The project, named Chimeneas de la Esperanza, is designed to help impoverished Nicaraguan women start a ceramics business. The major hurdle of this mission is to establish a market for the ceramics product. Energy efficient ceramic stoves and smoke ventilating chimneys would benefit the community and avoid an impacted crafts market. The project encompasses ideas …

Bedouin Women In The Naqab, Israel: Ongoing Transformation, Marcy M. Wells

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Since its inception in 1948, the state of Israel has based development plans on an agenda of nation-building that has systematically excluded Palestinian Arab citizens such as the indigenous Bedouin. Policies of relocation, resettlement, and restructuring have been imposed on the Bedouin, forcing them from their ancestral lands and lifestyle in the Naqab (or Negev, as it is called in Hebrew) desert of southern Israel. The rapid and involuntary transition from self-sufficient, semi-nomadic, pastoral life to sedentarization and modernization has resulted in dependency on a state that treats the Bedouin as minority outsiders through unjust social, political, and economic structures. …

Obedience, Schooling, And Political Participation, Davin Chor, Filipe R. Campante

Research Collection School Of Economics

This paper proposes a framework for understanding the joint evolution of cultural norms and human capital investment, and how these affect patterns of political participation. We first present some empirical evidence that cultural attitudes towards obedience systematically influence an individual's propensity to engage in different political activities: obedience discourages more confrontational modes of political activity (such as public demonstrations), while raising participation in non-confrontational civic acts (such as voting). These cultural attitudes further appear to be determined in part by cultural transmission across generations. Motivated by this evidence, we develop a dynamic model in which human capital and obedience are …

"The Female Entrepreneur"?, Cath Collins

Human Rights & Human Welfare

I read the “Women’s Crusade” article that forms the centrepiece of this month’s roundtable with initial interest, gradually turning to a vague sense of disquiet spiced with occasional disbelief. After a few more readings, I tried highlighting the passages that bothered me and stringing them together. Countries “riven by fundamentalism”— that’s presumably the Islamic variety, rather than the Christian variant which holds such sway in the US. The suggestion that “everyone from the World Bank to the US [...] Chiefs of Staff to [...] CARE” now thinks that women are the answer to global extremism hides too many questionable assumptions …