Drawing on personal experiences with homeless urban children living in shelters, discusses liberatory science education (focusing on an after-school science program) and describes dilemmas inherent in such work, considering how an understanding of the complexity of the relationship between margin and center is necessary in moving toward liberatory…

Establishes the moral basis for special education as it concerns the duties of justice, toleration, and beneficence. The moral motives for special education are in the liberal democratic ideals of self-determination of every citizen and justice for all. (Author/SLD)

A genuine, ethical public-relations program must not center around capitulation in the face of criticism from particular persons or interest groups. Nor should it be directed at propagandizing or browbeating the public into submission. Instead, PR programs should strive to achieve mutual understanding via symmetric, two-way communication. (9…

Examines the larger implications of the academic labor movement, especially in relation to democratic governance of higher education institutions. Discusses the American Association of University Professors, focusing on the rights of nontenured and part-time faculty and graduate student employees and noting how the Association works to end their…

Rethinks the meaning of power and demonstrates how, by building effective public relationships, students and educators alike can change their environments and transcend the culture of powerlessness. (Author)

Discusses the relationship between liberal democratic principles and multiculturalism as it applies to implementation of educational policies. An ethnographic/ethnic studies and critical multiculturalism model is proposed to ensure the acknowledgment and empowerment of the ethnic identity of the students. (MMU)

Sets out the positions of Liberal and Communitarian philosophers on the fundamental requirements for a democratic civil society. Argues that a cultural, pluralist, democratic society will be characterized by a diversity of controversial moral positions at a range of levels. Offers discussion as a method of reconciling controversial moral…

Two systems of metaphors (laissez-faire and communitarian) have set the parameters governing the educational choice debate. Choice proponents argue that markets will make schools more efficient and egalitarian; critics view privatization as fragmenting the body politic. When institutional racism is factored in, privatization appears to further…

Teachers who share children's literature with their classes in content areas also provide a rich curriculum in moral and ethical education. Embedded are values that promote democratic living and enhance children's moral education. This article discusses the ethics in fictional and biographical children's literature and offers strategies for…

Explains how Town Hall meetings with high school students and California legislators-- the LegiSchool Project--provided the kinds of experiences that enabled the author to examine three essential conditions of democratic citizenship: student interest, respect, and appreciation. Illuminates what these three conditions consist of and how many…

Delegating decision making to those closest to implementation can result in better decisions, more support for improvement initiatives, and increased student performance. Shared decision making depends on capable school leadership, a professional community, instructional guidance mechanisms, knowledge and skills, information sharing, power, and…

The 21st-century superintendent faces several challenges: changing demographics (growing diversity), the divide between haves and have-nots, devaluation of children (reliance on remediation over prevention), de-emphasis on education for citizenship, deregulation, devolution of power, "demassification" (fewer common information sources),…

Argues that composition has neglected the circulation (delivery) of writing by figuring classroom life as a middle-class family drama. Draws on Marx's "Grundrisse" for a conceptual model of how circulation materializes contradictory social relations and how contradictions between exchange value and use value might be taken up in writing…

Discusses how to bring political issues into the classroom, highlighting the influence of local context and noting conservative and liberal criticisms of political correctness. Suggests the need for a different idea of how to teach politically from the advocacy pedagogy advanced by recent critical educators, explaining that bringing students into…

Examined how precollege experiences predispose students to democratic outcomes: ability to see the world from another perspective, beliefs that conflict enhances democracy, and views about social action's importance. Found that first-year females are more likely than males to report these values, and that race/ethnic or controversial discussions,…