Questions how academia can continue to engage in knowledge production without producing and legitimating dominant discourses. Maintains that academia must accept that individuals live in a time of multiple perspectives, an absence of embracing consensus, and the deconstruction of any absolute or foundational principles of truth. (MJP)

States that a writing workshop environment is a radical approach to teaching, one that requires instructors to empower children to make choices and take responsibility for them. Discusses collaboration, classroom structures, and the need for democratic disposition in a writing workshop. Concludes that the implementation of a writing workshop…

Intradistrict programs that allow parents to consider different neighborhood schools are desirable. However, choice programs that encourage a wide spectrum of specialty schools (mostly magnet, charter, and custom-designed schools) represent a serious threat to the core (democratic) purpose of public education. Neighborhood schools will be at the…

The first axiom of actively involving students is to relate activities to their own experiences, thereby engaging them on an emotional level. The Socratic seminar, a form of structured discourse about ideas and moral dilemmas, accomplishes this goal while balancing two traditional educational purposes: cultivation of common values and celebration…

In the probusiness 1980s, marketing and public-relations schemes were characterized as legitimate contributions to the curriculum, helpful teaching aids, or effective school-business cooperation models. By the late 1980s, commercialism in schools had become so rampant that Channel One was regarded as a school-reform proposal. Today, profit-making…

A discussion of the influence of Russel Nye, a college English professor at Michigan State University and journalist, focuses on the values that shaped his teaching, scholarship, and writing and his defense of democratic values, especially in education. It is concluded that Nye's experience suggests that public service can be a source of personal…

Based on the idea that universities are places in which argument is an essential element, the standards that should apply to such argument are examined, drawing on the literature of communication, persuasion, and educational philosophy. A variety of perspectives are examined and critiqued, and it is concluded that regulation of argument is a…

Middle-level educators can meet all students' needs by grouping students for appropriate instruction, rotating teachers, encouraging student-centered teaching, setting high academic expectations, developing advisory programs and activity groups, and scheduling heterogeneous classes where appropriate. Educators should not sacrifice balance and…

For a school to be educationally successful, it must be a community of professionals working together toward a vision of teaching and learning. A school must develop a vision, determine decision-making processes, assess effectiveness of strategies, establish and clarify major goals, obtain control over resources, and avoid distraction. The League…

Discusses the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child as it seeks to establish the right of children to participate in discussions and decisions about their own situations. Includes action taken by children around the world to promote participation. Stresses the necessity of participation to become responsible, active citizens in a democracy.…

Charles Sanders Peirce's phenomenological investigations throughout his lifetime led to discovery of his theory of semiotics and created both his earlier pragmatism and his later pragmaticism. After briefly discussing postmodernists' themes, description, and critiques of Western culture, this article shows how Peirce's theory of signs and…

Discusses political education in the postwar Federal Republic of Germany. Describes a U.S. led reeducation program founded upon principles of denazification and democracy and examines German responses. Identifies the influence of the Soviet Union upon West German education. Analyzes the growth of political education in the 1960s, its maturation,…

To remain a free and pluralistic society, we can neither do away with the Western canon nor exclude the contributions of non-European ethnic groups. Given the tremendous social class and racial cleavages in U.S. society, claims that studies of ethnic diversity will threaten national cohesion are unfounded. (17 references) (MLH)

Scientific management and hierarchical accountability tend to destroy dialogue and issue ideas as orders to be obeyed. Instructional technology packages can actually enslave teachers. The emendation or feedback loop built into all instructional systems should allow educators to alter design in the context of practice and help technologists design…

Kanpol's book "Towards a Theory and Practice of Teacher Cultural Politics: Continuing the Postmodern Debate" (Ablex, 1992) examines postmodernist thought in education. Redefining critical social theory and the notion of resistance in postmodernist terms, the author shows these ideas' relevance to common democratic struggles and resistance to the…