Examined the nature of government policy toward community colleges in the United States and Canada in the 1990s and colleges' responses. Government policies were found to direct community colleges toward economic goals, emphasizing workforce training and state economic competitiveness and compelling colleges to improve efficiencies, increase…

Situates the politics of language surrounding the passage of California's Proposition 227, discussing historical and contemporary conditions leading to the recent dismantling of bilingual education. Reviews the dynamics of power, language, and ideology from precolonial times until the present, and uses them to suggest that the hegemonic bond of…

The California framework for science instruction has inspired models across the nation. However, religious and political conservatives, under the guise of increased academic rigor, are challenging the California science framework. These individuals want more rote facts, less scientific inquiry, and less hands-on activities, plus a new set of…

Focusing on Tanzania and the United States, this article examines the fallacy of a monolingual, English-only policy in education. It also examines the philosophy surrounding this debate and considers the detrimental effects upon students of attempting to impose a monolingual policy. Discusses the role of educational language in the quest for…

Discusses two studies that examine the effects of English, and its status as the official language, on Namibian languages. Finds that the numbers of students in African language classes in Namibia have been dropping significantly--in 1995 there were 100 students taking Oshindonga, and in 1999-2000 there was one. (Contains 66 references.) (NB)

After verifying that the federally supported Comprehensive School Reform Demonstration (CSRD) program schools in the 7 states studied had a disproportionately high English Language Learner (ELL) population, we examined the understandings and guidance about ELLs that was included by those states' state education agencies (SEAs) in the policy…

The National Council for the Social Studies suggests that social studies programs should provide for the study of culture and cultural diversity (NCSS 1994). Within the NCSS culture strand is the expectation that students can predict how data and experiences may be interpreted by people from diverse cultural perspectives, compare and analyze…

A national survey cited in the "New York Times" last November reveals that "Democratic professors outnumber Republicans by at least seven to one in the humanities and social sciences." These numbers, astonishing as they may seem, simply confirm what many in the academy have long known: that the ivory tower is tinged blue. With…

North Carolina boasts a growing network of global-studies magnet schools, a prominent university center that sponsors training on international issues and study trips abroad for thousands of teachers, an innovative recruitment program to attract teachers from around the globe, and a popular former governor who has championed the cause of …

This article describes an afterschool program called "Poetic High" in which the author shares insights on the transformation of oneself as a teacher into more of a guide and a mentor. It outlines the process of transforming the attitudes of students from being passive learners into being poets of learning and life. The Poetic High created by this…

The year 2005 began with high schools taking center stage in Washington's continuing drama concerning education reform. President George W. Bush started things off in January, when he delivered a ringing address at a suburban District of Columbia high school about the urgency of reforming American high schools and offered a bold $1.5 billion plan…

The multiplicity of ills facing the nation's public schools can depress even the most optimistic. In this article, the author presents her views about the school system and the negative effects that labor agreements have had on it. Her views on how to solve some seemingly intractable education problems have been informed by two experiences: her…

Men tend to achieve higher response accuracy than women on surveys of political knowledge. We investigated the possibility that this performance gap is moderated by factors that render the communicative context of a survey intellectually threatening to women and thereby induce stereotype threat. In a telephone survey of college students' political…

Global policies today encourage greater access by women to formal schooling but leave aside issues of content and school practices essential to the modification of the social relations of gender. This article assumes a holistic approach and compares the promise of education with its actual contribution to transformative knowledge. It examines why…

The controlling strategies of neo-liberalism, designed to constitute academics as economic units supporting the designs of government, are contrasted here with the creative and transgressive elements of a more Deleuzian approach to writing that opens things up, that brings thought to life, that makes the familiar, predictable order tremble. The…