The article to which this essay responds advises risky practices that trouble traditional distinctions between science and not-science (things not scientific in nature), particularly its argument to politicize science as a way to organize teaching. Raises questions about science as a regime of truth in a place where such questions carry much…

Compares national higher education quality assessment systems in Finland, Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, focusing particularly on the balance between internal and external societal needs in the systems' design and organization. Results indicate that systems are highly adjusted to each country's specific governance strategies, resulting in very…

To investigate how nonnative-English-speaking students at a U.S. college respond to institutional and professorial control, this article examined the power relations in a paired English-for-academic-purposes/psychology course. The study included rights analysis of the data. Rights analysis examines how power is exercised and resisted in various…

Over a decade ago New Jersey granted significant financial and operating autonomy to its state colleges. A look back to 1986, when the legislation was being implemented, identifies elements that enabled the successful transfer of responsibilities from the state to the campus. These included three categories of specific autonomies: cash management,…

Reports on an ethnographic study of parents' evenings at British secondary schools as seen from the perspectives of all involved. Collects data from in-depth interviews with staff, parents, and students, and by observation. Indicates that meetings are unique interactional events that create problematic interface between the power bases of home and…

Indigenous languages are being displaced at an alarming rate. The ramifications of language loss to the speakers' culture and to the wider culture, and its connection to issues of repression and acculturation are discussed. Reversing language shift is the practice of social justice and requires collaboration between indigenous communities and…

Discusses implications of achievement goal theory on the achievement motivation of African American students in predominantly white schools. Studies suggest that schools which emphasize task goals are more conducive to black students' academic success than schools that emphasize ego goals. Notes seven dimensions of school culture that provide a…

School effectiveness and school effectiveness researchers have increasingly sought to establish synergy between their respective fields, but differing organizational change perspectives have produced an irresolvable methodological and theoretical divide. Incorporating the "power" concept provides a bridge between structural and cultural analysis…

Examines the economic and cultural contexts of the popular television show "Twin Peaks," reading it as reactionary postmodernism. Argues that the show's clever innovations in production, avant-garde techniques, and postmodern sensibilities obscure in-depth or ongoing discussions about its reactionary politics, regressive and misogynistic…

Presents a typology of partnerships (service, exchange, cooperative, systemic/transformative) based on a philosophical analysis of trust relationships. An analysis of two major partnership projects in Virginia (the Manassas Park Educational Partnership and the Urban Alternative project at George Mason University) suggests rules and procedural…

Examines writing assignments, articles, textbooks, and other expressions of faculty thinking from courses about relationships among education, writing, and society in philosophy, English, history, and sociology at Howard University, a historically black university. Finds writing assignments at once conservative, subversive, and creative, in a…

Computers represent the digital phase of the Industrial Revolution, contribute to centralizing corporate and political power, worsen the growing environmental crisis, and displace local knowledge with data. By framing discussions of computers in terms of these worldwide trends, readers can avoid the simplistic thinking surrounding discussions of…

A study examining student feelings of empowerment in a rural Midwestern consolidated high school surveyed 54 students. Results indicate that students from the town where the school was located felt the most ownership in the school; most students were satisfied with the student council; and students were more involved in decision making in…

Describes cultural, political, and linguistic factors that have affected the literacy development of Aboriginal children in Australia. Discusses how oral and literate cultures manage knowledge differently, the social context of language development, literacy and power, cultural differences, and story reading. Suggests ways schools and teachers of…

Obstacles to reform at the National Autonomous University of Mexico are examined, including established power relations, bureaucracy, culturally based patterns, and resistance to external influence. The problems are viewed in the context of the university's history through the 20th century. Redefinition of the relationship between the university…