Full Description
This text-reader brings together powerful readings that critically situate issues of education in the context of the major cultural, moral, political, economic, ecological, and spiritual crises that confront us as a nation and a global community. It provides a focus and a conceptual framework for thinking about education in light of these issues. Readers are exposed to the thinking of some of the best and most insightful social and educational commentators. Critical Social Issues in American Education: Democracy and Meaning in a Globalizing World, Third Edition, is intended to work on two levels. First, it helps readers to develop an awareness of how education is connected to the wider social structures of cultural, political, and economic life. Second, it encourages not only a critical examination of our present social reality but also a serious discussion of alternatives--of what a transformed society and educational process might look like. The editors' goal is to deliberately engage readers in connecting the work of teachers to an ethically committed, politically charged pedagogy. The assumption on which they base the text is that educators must see their work as inextricably linked to the broader conflicts, stresses, and crises of the social world--it is not otherwise possible to make sense of what is happening educationally. What happens in school, or as part of the educational experience, reflects, expresses, and mediates profound questions about the direction and nature of the society we inhabit. The text is organized thematically into five sections, which address, respectively, social justice and democracy; consumerism, culture, and public education; marginality and difference; moral and spiritual perspectives on education; and globalization and education. Each section is preceded by a brief essay that introduces the readings. This Third Edition includes many new readings and addresses issues that have more rec
Contents
Contents: Preface. Introduction. Part I: Social Justice and Democracy: Unmet Promises. P. Krugman, For Richer. S. Books, Funding Accountability: States, Courts, and Public Responsibility. J.L. Rury, Democracy's High School? Social Change and American Secondary Education in the Post-Conant Era. L.M. McNeil, Creating New Inequalities: Contradictions of Reform. C.E. Sleeter, C. Grant, Illusions of Progress: Business as Usual. S. Aronowitz, Higher Education as a Public Good. Part II: Schools for Sale: Consumerism, Corporate Culture, and Public Education. C.E. Boutwell, Profits Without People. H.A. Giroux, Kids for Sale: Corporate Culture and the Challenge of Public Schooling. H.S. Shapiro, The Littleton Tragedy. A. Molnar, Commercial Culture and the Assault on Children's Character. D.E. Purpel, Goals 2000: The Triumph of Vulgarity and the Legitimation of Social Injustice. Part III: Marginality and Difference: The Fractured Community. J.R. Martin, Becoming Educated: A Journey of Alienation or Integration? A. Portes, English-Only Triumphs, but the Costs Are High. M. Kimmel, What About the Boys? H. Berlak, Race and the Achievement Gap. D. Risner, What Matthew Shepard Would Tell Us: Gay and Lesbian Issues in Education. H.S. Shapiro, A Parent's Dilemma: Public vs. Jewish Education. Part IV: Critique and Hope: Moral and Spiritual Perspectives on Education. H. Berlak, From Local Control to Government and Corporate Takeover of School Curriculum: The No Child Left Behind Act and the Reading First Program. H.S. Shapiro, Public School Reform: The Mismeasure of Education. N. Noddings, Care and Moral Education. D. Huebner, Education and Spirituality. M. Lerner, The Spiritual Transformation of Education. D.E. Purpel, Social Justice, Curriculum, and Spirituality. Part V: Globalization and Education: Twenty-First Century Challenge. N. Klein, Threats and Temps. E. O'Sullivan, Education and the Dilemmas of Modernism: Toward an Ecozioc Vision. Z. Baumam, Identity in the Globalizing World. D. Held, The Transformation of Political Community: Rethinking Democracy in the Context of Globalization. H.S. Shapiro, Lessons of September 11: What Should Schools Teach?
