Examines the violent context in which many African schools have existed (war, violent military oppression, and resistance). Explores the context of structural violence (debt, economic decline, and poverty) and its effects on education and argues that schools themselves have often been violent places, though recent democratic political developments…

New Zealand's new qualifications framework is designed to offer incentives for learning and opportunities for education and training for all. However, it is shaped by ideologies of individualism, choice, and autonomy that do not reflect reality and reproduce inequities. It is also a narrow, skills-based approach. (SK)

With patience and savvy, superintendents can recover from the sting of dismissal. Incumbents should be alert to warning signs, such as decreasing board-superintendent communications and board rejection of superintendent recommendations. Sidebars offer tips on fighting back with good cause, obtaining legal support, and surviving the endgame. (MLH)

Historically and increasingly around the world, English carries ideologies and discourses that conflict with each other, ranging from the liberation struggles in Africa to different nations' international radio broadcasts. In multi-sided and often ambivalent ways, English serves as the medium for forces on different sides of significant world…

Discusses two sets of social relations involved in reading and writing practices: (1) author/reader social relationships, and (2) participant social relationships. Notes each set of social relationships has implications for issues of authority, power, social identities, definitions of knowledge, emotional relationships, and social-group identity.…

The superintendent of a highly politicized district in British Columbia discusses the micropolitics of top-down reform mandates imposed on his district. He describes ways that resourceful school leaders mediate provincial expectations while working simultaneously and interdependently to create collaborative professional cultures and rich learning…

Discusses how the Guckenberger v Boston University case illustrates the interaction of the psychometrics of ability differences with the concept of learning disability and with the sociopolitics of schooling and society. Urges a more inclusive definition of learning disability which abandons aptitude-achievement discrepancy requirements and a more…

Reviews the work of Paulo Freire, one of the first internationally recognized educational thinkers who appreciated the relationships among education, politics, imperialism, and liberation. Discusses critical pedagogy and the place of liberation as the central project of education. (SLD)

Uses Peru to exemplify the debate taking place in South and Central American countries with large populations of indigenous people. Questions whether an interculturality based in apolitical calls for dialog and respect for cultural and linguistic plurality can meet the needs of indigenous peoples and their daily confrontations with oppressive and…

Discusses how public higher education is being brought under intense political pressure to demonstrate that students are proficient in basic skills before matriculating by the end of their first semester. Presents a case study that shows that through persistence and instructional support, students can successfully complete their studies over a…

For the 1999 fiscal year, Congress earmarked specific spending measures that included at least $797 million for projects involving colleges and universities, a 51% increase over 1998. Earmarks are seen by some as inequitable because they are not subject to competitive, merit-based reviews typically used by federal agencies to distribute money for…

Explores literacy sponsorship at an academy that schooled young Native American men near Lexington, Kentucky in the early 19th century. Presents case studies based on the correspondence of two advanced students who turned their literacy lessons toward a critique of their living and learning conditions. Notes the students embraced liberatory…

Presents two educators' views on elective courses. Argues that single-subject high school English courses teach the same skills that are taught in traditional English courses, offer students the opportunity to choose, can meet students' particular interest or needs, and should fulfill an English requirement. Offers a perspective on the history of…

Removes disability from its peripheral status in analyses of difference, retheorizing it as the organizing principle in constructing gender, race, and class in schooling. The paper suggests a critical pedagogy that helps render visible the material structures and ideological discourses that have different effects on minority students yet must be…

Shares a letter the author (a professor emeritus of Language Arts education) wrote to her state assembly member in California in response to legislation, based on a very limited definition of reading, that imposed the use of phonics on school districts. Notes that the letter can serve as a model for other educators to respond to their legislator.…