Comments about the results of recent surveys that show that public school prestige is declining and recommends that schools reach out and get support from nonparents. A tribute to Horace Mann concludes the article. (MLF)

Two pairs of conflicting and interrelated values (the public good and the private good; freedom and equality) can be made compatible through education. (JD)

Examined how British, South African, and Russian faculty view the relationships between their teaching and their understandings of its democratic purposes. Found a concern for greater equality between teachers and learners, and a widely held view that globalization may negatively impact lecturers' educational and democratic purposes. However, the…

Uses ten-student focus group from Saskatchewan high school to examine student attitudes toward leadership involvement and decision making opportunities related to academics, building school climate, and cocurricular activities. Discusses student leadership issues involving relationships with staff members and social, school, and community…

Explores how, as higher education faces new financial realities together with escalating demands for more accountability, a call to reclaim the soul of higher education and with it, the soul of democracy, will require significant institutional and personal transformations. (EV)

Reviews three twentieth-century interpretations of Francis Bacon's science and rhetoric: positivistic science and the plain style; institutionalized science and its more highly figured style; and democratic science. Presents the author's own interpretation, and concludes that each interpretation reflects different perceptions of the good of the…

Given the importance of educating for democratic citizenship, the involvement of individual business people with policymaking bodies and task forces is highly desirable. However, schools should limit business involvement to civic-minded contributions free of marketing or advertising hype. To do otherwise betrays the spirit of educational…

Rather than returning to traditional "sociology of leadership," which is modernist and positivist in nature, educators ought to adopt a critical and pragmatic strategy toward the leadership quandary. This pragmatism would attempt to reveal the historic sources of our contemporary leadership malaise and make leadership inquiry more…

This paper traces librarianship's notions of intellectual freedom to a widely analyzed concept in law and political science known as the marketplace of ideas. A stewardship orientation in librarianship is described, changes in the profession are examined, emotional factors and democratic values are discussed, and self-actualization is considered.…

Schools as ethical, democratic communities are places where justice prevails, equity is cherished, integrity is a driving force in all relationships, full participation is an expectation, inclusion is a norm, resources are distributed equally, and members are allowed recourse to address grievances. Schools must teach democracy and ethics with…

Comprehensive sexuality education and education for a democracy have many important common features. They both seek to help individuals maintain physical and mental health, form and maintain stable relationships, develop decision-making skills, and develop a toleration for diversity. Sexuality education should encourage freedom of thought--not…

Examines how works of art can function as media of deep communication between individuals otherwise separated by walls. Highlights poetry reading and writing in a fourth-grade classroom to show how public school classrooms can become places where children exercise real choice over the disposition of their intellectual energies and where children…

Offers an "inspirational speech" delivered by Harvard professor Cornel West at the 1994 National Council of Teachers of English convention. Discusses ways in which English teachers can help to keep alive the tradition of struggle for decency, dignity, freedom, and democracy. Shares his belief in the significant role English teachers play in…

Describes The Social Development Program, a way to foster social responsibility and in the process reduce unacceptable classroom behavior simply and easily. The strategy is based on several principles: positivity; empowerment by choice; the importance of self-evaluation and self-correction; assumption of social responsibility; and authority…

America's founders recognized education as highest priority. James Madison thought education to be "the best security against crafty and dangerous encroachments on the public liberty." Teachers must educate not only children's abilities, but also their characters. American education was intended to implant virtue, to cultivate what…