The rhetoric of current blueprints for (Australian) school reform must be scrutinized to ensure a power redistribution furthering improved outcomes for more students, particularly the least advantaged. A desirable social justice outcome might be achieved through blending equality aspects ensured by the old centralized system with the progressive…

To respond effectively to alleged historical misrepresentations and prejudices in Afrocentric and other ethnocentric philosophies, educators must first address our society's inadequacies. Silence suggests complicity and discredits calls for reason, academic scholarship, and the value of learning. Multiculturalism is a world view that is rooted in…

Describes teaching children about historical documents as a way of illustrating the reasons behind U.S. government. Explains that the course examines the U.S. Constitution, Magna Carta, Mayflower Compact, and Bill of Rights. Argues that children have firm opinions about fairness and justice. Describes a project comparing U.S. government with that…

Explores most transformative aspects of critical theory of schooling informed by imperatives of feminist politics of literacies. Feminism is a fundamental discourse for developing a broader notion of democratic struggle and social justice. Feminist theory is central to eliminating sexist, racist, and classist social practices, empowering students,…

Explores the meaning of distributive justice and considers the importance of teaching the concept in social studies classes. Delineates characteristics of reasonable arguments for treating people differently to bring about justice. Presents situations to generate classroom discussion of the concept of justice. (NL)

To accomplish significant educational, social, economic, and political change in the 1990s, higher education must identify and learn new principles and techniques for strengthening the leadership of minorities and resolving interracial differences, and use them to build strong and democratic organizations and institutions. A preliminary theory of…

Reviews the United States' nineteenth-century clean living movement, examining a recent resurgence of efforts to control alcohol and tobacco use, issues of sexuality, and overall fitness. The article highlights negative aspects, particularly regarding abridgment of personal choice, and notes implications for school health personnel. (SM)

The ideology behind the educational justifications for a national curriculum and national testing can damage members of society who have the most to lose. The paper analyzes the conservative agenda, discusses connections between national curricula and testing, increasing privatization, and choice plans, and notes resulting patterns of differential…

Discusses the importance of a multicultural educational perspective in a democratic society, using Dewey's philosophy to find resources for transcending the Eurocentric/multicultural dichotomy while promoting education for a more pluralistic society. Dewey believed that the more groups shared interests and interacted freely, the better the…

Examines aspects of Dewey's position on the role of education in a democratic society, discussing the education of a whole person within the context of cultural diversity. Positions examined include the self and community, scientific method and dynamics of existence, experience and value, and education and multiculturalism. (SM)

Civil society is important for enhancing quality of life, but it is weakening in the U.S. and elsewhere, with formidable obstacles to expanding it. This paper examines strategies for reinvigorating it; considers relationships between civil society, physical activity, and physical-activity professionals; and discusses involvement of sport…

Describes Harold Alberty's curriculum design work, including his conceptual framework for general education. Alberty's designs, representing ever-increasing divergence from the traditional, subject-centered program, offer guidance for today's curriculum planners. Alberty's favorite was type-four core, based on adolescents' common problems, needs,…

Describes the Writing Center at Johnson County Community College as an institution that implements democratic ideals in its staffing and teaching; and where all voices are heard, encouraged, and validated. Describes three things necessary to achieve a writing center with a democratic nature: a peer-tutor program including formal tutor training;…

Namibian teacher-education reforms cast teachers as critical developers of schooling changes, not as government servants delivering an approved curriculum. Reforms are contributing to a societal reconstruction that means greater equity for all Namibians. The role of critical practitioner inquiry in supporting learner-centered, democratic practices…

Argues against the juggernaut view of globalization, suggesting that much depends on how we engage with global forces to mitigate their worst consequences and use them to advantage. Views democratic nation-building, informed by education, as pivotal to the engagement process. Locally, educators must retrieve the "public" in public…