The following obstacles to education reform are the most significant: (1) the system does not reward risk-taking; (2) the system resists oversight; (3) it is not accountable for failure; (4) too few resources are spent in the classroom; and (5) consumers of education are no match for the system. Old-fashioned bureaucratic monopolies continue to…

Examines youth murders in Brazil, including victim-generating sociostructural situations and creation of victims. Hypothesizes that modern Brazilian social structures shape poor Brazilian youth's vulnerability to murder by strangers. Presents statistics dealing with the gender distributions, age, skin color, and mode of death, identifying…

Examines the historical blighting of African-American slaves' minds, which stripped them of their African culture. Examines the effect on African-American children, as well as other children of color. Offers suggestions for coping with the problems of modern schools in terms of respecting and teaching these children that the system is the problem,…

Explores the wealth of learning opportunities arising from the study of Africa and its peoples. Students must learn about the history, traditions, and diversity of Africa, rather than focusing narrowly on the problems of recent years. Teaching students about the contributions of Africa will help them be better world citizens. (SLD)

Asserts that a shared set of unexamined norms and values about the constitution of the "academic" allows teachers and learners to collude in avoiding difficult political and social issues. The argument is grounded in the author's experience teaching a module that uses shocking, politically controversial material to communicate social…

Describes a performance at Purdue University of the ACT-OUT Ensemble of Indianapolis, which came four days after a drug-addicted student had murdered his counselor. Finds that the performance was a success because it entertained, educated, explained, and healed, fulfilling the mission of the acting ensemble. Discusses other functions of this (and…

Describes the use of social justice notebooks by a seventh/eighth-grade social studies teacher. Discusses the process of notebook writing and how these notebooks have improved students' thinking skills as well as class discussion as students engage with moral dilemmas. (SR)

Asserts that an intellectual community is called upon to educate students to become morally sophisticated and to take their moral reasoning capacity into a society with complex pressures. Explores key questions that must be addressed to create a space where such learning can happen. (EV)

Investigation (1) examined interrelations among normative beliefs, alcohol expectancies, and alcohol-related problems, and (2) investigated whether alcohol-related expectancies mediate associations between normative beliefs and alcohol-related problems. Analyses revealed that alcohol expectancies mediate the relationship between normative beliefs…

Explores how the issue of race is enmeshed in a complex web of social relations that also include love, sex, gender, economics, and violence. Suggests how a consideration of modernist primitivism and Sigmund Freud's ideas on the individual's relationship to society can provide frameworks for further analysis of two of the stories in Jean Toomer's…

This book, a critique of "The Bell Curve" by R. Herrnstein and C. Murray, explores what "inequality" in society means, how it arises, and how it can be measured or dealt with quantitatively. It also considers how societal and other variables work to increase or decrease inequality. The book argues that "The Bell…

Challenges progressive educators' view that skills, education, and learning are a universal solution to array of economic and social problems in the UK. Argues that those calling for progressive educational reform must acknowledge the reality of the contemporary class-divided workplace and the institutional context of UK capitalism. (Contains 134…

The evidence of racial and ethnic disparities in health outcomes is overwhelming. Excess rates of death, morbidity, and disability are prevalent among racial and ethnic minority elders. Effective collaboration with community organizations is a crucial component of efforts to reduce and eliminate disparities. (Contains 39 references.) (Author/JOW)

Uses Foucauldian theory to interpret the Royal Dutch/Shell Group's first annual "report to society" and an expository text by Shell's expert consultant. Analyzes the document and the emerging phenomenon of social reporting in the context of a larger sociopolitical struggle over sustainable development. Reveals how Shell both accommodated…

Considers how a critical literacy perspective encourages readers to use language as a tool for interrogating and critiquing the difficult things that happen in the world around them. Reports the findings of five teacher education interns who explored the use of critical literacy text sets with elementary and middle school children. Describes…