Using data from the Wabash National Study of Liberal Arts Education, this study examines the relationship between engagement in diversity experiences during college and student attitudes about the importance of being socially and politically involved at the end of their fourth year of college. Findings suggest a positive link between…

At the dawn of the new millennium, American higher education faced a crisis. Dogmatic philosophies of multiculturalism, postmodernism, and statism were sweeping away thousands of years of Western thought. The academy was being scrubbed of free market economics, traditional attitudes toward Western civilization, time-tested methods of scholarship,…

There is a claim currently circulating the European Union (EU), both cynical and misleading: "multiculturalism is dead in Europe". No wonder, as the conglomerate of nation-states/EU has silently handed over one of its most important debates--that of European identity--to the left and right wing parties, recently followed by several…

Americans believe in the tremendous potential of higher education--but they also feel that higher education is falling short of that promise. New America's inaugural annual poll about perceptions of higher education reveals a gap between what higher education could, and should, be and what higher education currently is. "Varying Degrees: New…

In his new book, Michael Vavrus helps readers better understand why issues of diversity and difference are so highly contested in the United States and across the globe. Vavrus incorporates specific education examples throughout the text to examine six contested areas: race and ethnicity; socioeconomic class and culture; multicultural and ethnic…

The southeastern United States (SEUS) faces numerous potential impacts from a changing climate; however, the population has been characterized with a predominance of naysayers and few climate policies have been implemented by state governments in the region. As such, public education is an important avenue for achieving a climate literate…

Certain scientific conclusions are controversial, in that they are rejected by a substantial proportion of nonscientists despite an overwhelming scientific consensus. Science educators are motivated to help students understand the evidence behind the scientific consensus on these matters and to move students' views into alignment with those held…

Transnational education (TNE) is becoming a phenomenon in the world of education in many countries. Morocco is included. The flourishing and spreading of many foreign educational institutions, products, and activities is becoming noticeable. As an Islamic nation, Morocco has long maintained its business and educational ties with different foreign…

In education policy, as in many other policy fields, well-designed policy reforms may fail to get enacted because policymakers may suddenly become confronted with a public backlash against their reform agenda. Thus, understanding the dynamics of public opinion is important in order to be able to assess the chances of successful reform. There is a…

Among the most controversial aspects of John Dewey's career as a public intellectual was his conflict with the Communist Party and its various front groups. John Dewey and Sidney Hook co-founded the Committee for Cultural Freedom that directly exposed that pretense of the Popular Front, which excluded the Soviet Union from the list of totalitarian…

In this article, the authors review the theoretical and social science literature that supports the pedagogical practice of engaging students in discussions and deliberations about controversial political issues. They first outline the theoretical underpinnings of deliberative democracy and explain how it has appeared in the field of education for…

K-12 educators comprise a large and influential presence in American politics. Not only do they vote in significant numbers, but they also, at least in theory, possess the power to shape a new generation of young voters, not least by encouraging informed civic participation. When it comes to myriad issues related directly to education, their views…

Scholarship in teaching and learning demonstrates how academic understanding may be best achieved, and values of civic engagement best inculcated, when class materials are delivered within a experiential context. The goal for instructors, therefore, is to develop pedagogic techniques and teaching platforms that enhance learning by doing by…

This essay makes the case that Barbara Park's picture book "MA! There's Nothing to Do Here!: A Word from Your Baby-in-Waiting" (2008) adds another equal-parts absurdist and alarming item to the ever-growing responsibilities of expecting mothers: ensuring that their fetus is entertained. The messages that Park's narrative…

In the past 25 years, the English education system has experienced a substantial growth in alternative provision, that is, publicly funded schools that accept students from the general population without selection, but provide an educational setting different to the traditional, locally provided schools. Introduced in 2000 by the Labour Party,…