The past 50 years have witnessed a growing presence of critical theory within different social science academic departments across the western world. The joint existence of a theory committed to exposing and criticizing various inequalities of the social order within academic institutions based on traditional hierarchies and prestigious…

Higher education must reinvent how educators think about collaborative learning. To provoke change toward more democratic and equitable educational opportunities, educators must discuss what technology they need to imagine, design, and create in order to navigate today's global challenges, especially if they hope students will continue their work…

Kappan editor Rafael Heller interviews Annette Lareau about her research into different experiences of childhood and family life. In her observations of families of different social classes, she learned that upper-middle-class families approach parenting as an act of "concerted cultivation" requiring ongoing attention, making them more…

The distinguished US philosopher Elizabeth Anderson, who teaches at the University of Michigan, answers questions put to her by John White about educational aspects of her work in moral and political philosophy. She begins by describing her indebtedness to Dewey in his views on developing students' capacities for intelligent enquiry and as…

Over the past decade or so, the importance of self-regulation for academic development and later life success has become increasingly clear (Morrison, Bachman, & Connor, 2005). This article is a commentary regarding the articles in a special issue of "Early Education and Development," which broaden the understanding of the important…

The theme of the AMS 2014 Annual Conference is "Unity in Diversity," a concept that also describes the work of conference keynote speaker Andrew Solomon. Solomon is a writer and lecturer on psychology and politics; winner of the National Book Award; and an activist for LGBT [lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender] rights, mental health,…

Cara Hoffman's work enacts George Orwell's imperative to "pay attention to the obvious" (an idea that several sympathetic characters repeat in her 2011 novel "So Much Pretty"), probing aspects of twenty-first century life in the United States that have become so accepted as to be unremarkable, such as epidemic levels of…

This article argues that narratives forecasting spectacular mobility for Black people/people of color along with the growth of the Black middle class function as proof that America "works" and that the American dream is obtainable for all. However, what is concealed within this "meritocratic" discourse is that full acceptance into this society is…

This paper argues that competency-based training in vocational education and training in Australia is one mechanism through which the working class is denied access to powerful knowledge represented by the academic disciplines. The paper presents a modified Bernsteinian analysis to argue that vocational education and training students need access…

Reviews the national impact of adolescent pregnancy with emphasis on the Black community. Criticizes the mass media for exploiting sexual behavior. Proposes a national agenda incorporating comprehensive sex education, family planning services, and educational, economic, and social opportunities. (FMW)

The major concern of the educational system in Israel today is how to advance students who come from low socioeconomic backgrounds and from a cultural background which is different from that of the privileged sectors of the population. In general, the problem of educationally disadvantaged students is related to the problem of social gaps. These…

Relevance of kibbutz education in relation to influence of progressive Western tradition is examined in: (1) analysis of objectives; (2) discussion of the success of the kibbutz in attaining the objectives; (3) comparison of the objectives in light of differences in social relations between the West and the kibbutz; and (4) reinterpretation of…

In this paper I explore different ways to understand the idea of community. Using the work of Alphonso Lingis, I make a distinction between the rational community and the community of those who have nothing in common. The latter community is the community in which we are all strangers for each other. I argue that the language of the latter…

Discusses the development of racial identity in African-American students. Describes different strategies of minority students to get along in white schools. Includes racelessness, immersion, and oppositional identity. Suggests that academic success is viewed by the African-American student's peers as trying to be white. Argues that the curriculum…

Intuitively, "sponsors" seems a fitting term for the figures who turned up most typically in people's memories of literacy learning: older relatives, teachers, priests, supervisors, military officers, editors, influential authors. The concept of sponsors helps to explain a range of human relationships and ideological pressures that turn…