Facing increasing standardization and accountability pressures, schools struggle to retain democratic ideals while seeking alternative visions. The standards movement defines a well-educated citizen as a technologically adept, economically savvy college graduate. Democracy flourishes only when protecting the marketplace of ideas and a diversity of…

Examines underlying epistemological and theoretical assumptions of the International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS). Concludes that IALS is primarily geared toward enhancing labor-market competencies but should instead make learners co-responsible actors of their own learning process and participants in a democratic debate defining the kind of…

The democratic imperative proclaims that an inequitable, inadequate education system is unacceptable. Exploring this imperative's implications for fiscal-equity reform, this article overviews 3 decades of legal trends in federal and state fiscal equity and educational adequacy litigation, examines adequacy's liberal ideological roots, and explains…

Offers seven recommendations (with comments) for action involving school partnerships with families and communities: Involve and support teachers and principals, adopt democratic principles, reach out to parents, encourage parent activism, provide parents with opportunities for choice and voice, encourage and support increased family…

The drive for privatizing public education comes from two different movements: load-shedding and outsourcing. Districts hope to reduce perceived labor problems, avoid managing "uninteresting" services, save money, and/or buy quick-fix education reform. Privatization of charter schools is becoming big business, but its cost-effectiveness…

Professor of Education Yetta M. Goodman discusses her realization that teachers should showcase and support students rather than being the center of attention themselves, the importance of teachers observing their students in various contexts, the degrading aspect of grades, and the rights and responsibilities of teachers as professionals to state…

Proposes an educational approach in which educators construct new roles as cultural awakeners and healers, enabling them to engage each learner in awakening individual cultural identity and cultural voice. To do this, educators must redefine culture, examine the link between culture and power, explore the dynamics of truth and power, and create…

In this new feature of the "Academe" journal, work by faculty members is highlighted who are mobilizing in support of academic freedom on their campuses and beyond. This September-October issue of the journal includes the following brief reflections from faculty all relating to the central theme of "fighting back": "Free…

What do we know about education and diversity, and how do we know it? This two-part question guided the work of the Multicultural Education Consensus Panel, which included the eight scholars named above. The panel's work was sponsored by the Center for Multicultural Education at the University of Washington and the Common Destiny Alliance at the…

This article charts the promissory notes and concerns related to college-level online education as reflected in the educational literature. It is argued that, to appreciate the potential and limitations of online education, we need to trace the issues that bind online education with distance education. The article reviews the history of distance…

This paper develops a conceptual basis for a model on the teaching of socio-scientific controversial issues for secondary or high school students. I argue that the teaching of controversial issues needs a stronger theoretical base. Drawing on a liberal democratic conception of possible sources of conflict, three strands are developed that provide…

The rapid transformation of a secondary school from a bureaucratically regimented institution to a student-centered learning environment advocating democratic practices merits review. Here, Dorfman shares his observations of what he has come to regard as the luckiest little high school, its achievements, contradictions, challenges, and promises.…

The paper discusses Iris Marion Young's idea of asymmetric reciprocity that rethinks typical understandings of gift giving. Iris Marion Young's proposals for asymmetric ethical relationships have important implications for democratic contexts that seek to take differences seriously. Imagining oneself in the place of the other or expecting from the…

For too long, too many students and too many of those who influence their thinking have regarded the liberal arts and sciences as a luxury--important sources of knowledge, but not the right preparation for those who seek employment after graduation. But change is in the wind, bringing with it a renaissance for liberal education--although in the…

Many so-called traditionalist musicologists and music educators would agree that one of the aims of education in democratic society should be to assist students, regardless of gender, class, ethnicity, or culture, and to the extent that it is possible, to construct their own musical and other differences free from excessive coercion. However,…