Given the financial burden they are taking on, parents and students are not interested in debates over tenure or academic freedom lest these distract them from the immediate goal of preparing to earn a living. Overburdened undergraduates-- students working twenty to forty hours each week to pay the bills and still taking out student loans--greet…

Liberals champion the view that promoting autonomy--seeing to it that our children develop into individuals who are self-governing in the conduct of their lives--is a vital aim of education, though one generally accredited as being subsidiary to well-being. Our prime goal in this article is to provide a partial validation of this liberal ideal…

In this study, we introduce the digital backpack as a means for creating a rich learning experience for students of multiple ages. Development, design, and refinement of the digital backpack are grounded in the theoretical framework of Universal Design for Learning using a Design-Based Research (DBR) model. This article presents the design and…

This article explores some of the legal and law-related challenges educators face in designing, implementing, and sustaining globally networked learning environments (GNLEs) in the context of conflicting international laws on intellectual property and censorship/free speech. By discussing cases and areas involving such legal issues, the article…

Provides an overview of the issues and controversies concerning censorship in classrooms and libraries. Discusses a number of strategies for defusing and addressing censorship attempts and issues. These include involving parents and community, developing procedures for challenged materials, and utilizing censorship attempts to initiate lessons on…

The extent to which public school students deserve First Amendment rights and the values and interests regarding public schooling that should limit student free speech are explored. Eight chapters are entitled: "Pursuing Excellence and Order"; "The Emergence of Children's Rights"; "Free Speech and Public Education";…

This paper argues that the fundamental purpose of public education is preparation for citizenship and democratic participation through the inculcation of American democratic values. These values are codified by the Constitution and are further illuminated by the nation's courts and other public institutions. The paper calls for a recommitment to…

Despite its long history, accountability in education means different things to different people. There is little consensus about how to apply the concept intelligently and creatively in schools. This fastback explores various issues inherent in the concept and practice of accountability, as applied to public education. The issues include…

This paper briefly describes a higher education reform movement underway in Sweden and offers, respectively, the text and a summary of two policy-forming memoranda. A 1977 legislative decision on all postsecondary education gave the government authority to set education policy, and based the entire university and university college system on…

The classical marketplace metaphor for intellectual exchange forms the ideological basis for the way argument is still taught in composition classrooms, where supposedly students are being prepared to participate as full citizens in an equal democracy. However, such a view of democratic citizenship, free speech, and argument is open to criticism…

Information on censorship in academia in the United States is presented, based on censorship cases reported in the "Newsletter on Intellectual Freedom" from 1976 to 1981. Cases occurring in academia accounted for 63 of the more than 800 cases reported. The states and institutions in which the censorship attacks occurred are identified, along with…

Academic freedom for precollegiate teachers in the United States is less clear than that expressed and confirmed in law and custom for college faculties. The question studied was how academic freedom is perceived in theory and practice by secondary school teachers outside of the United States. The interview schedule was modeled after schedules…

Noting that the fundamental philosophical barrier to fashioning an appropriate model of cable television rights is the equitable balancing of individual and collective First Amendment claims against the medium, this paper offers an approach for such a balancing that is based on the underlying dimension of the inherent social utility in expression.…

The religious liberty clauses of the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States are the most important political decision for religious liberty and public justice in history. Two hundred years after their enactment, they stand out boldly in a century darkened by state repression and sectarian conflict. The controversy now surrounding…

Attempts to control the content of curricula and of books in school libraries are increasing rapidly, bringing into focus the question of what rights students have to receive information and what rights a community has in determining what information is taught and available in its schools. There have been several cases concerning First Amendment…