Full Description
At a moment when brawls are breaking out at school board meetings and state officials are increasingly issuing curricular mandates, it's possible that this text's central question is more important than ever: How is it that given good intentions and hard work among education professionals, things in schools can go so very wrong?
As in the first edition, Hinchey and Konkol suggest that unspoken and misleading assumptions can produce choices, decisions and policies with disastrous consequences for kids. They tease out such assumptions on the key issues of school goals, curriculum, education for citizenship, discipline and school reform, inviting readers to question the taken-for-granted in order to better align intentions and outcomes. Such contemporary issues as book banning and parents' movements are presented not as isolated controversies, but instead in their historical, cultural and political contexts.
Designed for both undergraduate and graduate classrooms, the text applies to a wide range of studies related to public education, including its theory, policy, history and politics. Without proselytizing, the text asks readers to think for themselves and articulate their own commitments guided by end-of-chapter questions, some intended for all readers and some specifically for experienced professionals. Suggested additional readings, websites and videos invite further exploration of the topics under discussion and offer still more food for thought.
Contents
A Message from the Publisher
Preface
1. "You Have Arrived at Your Destination." Oh,really?
The Many Ways We Lose Our Way
The Many Ways We Lose Our Way in Schools
Where Do You Want to Go . . . and How Will You Get There?
Things to Think About
Things to Explore
2. What are Schools for, Anyway?
Assumptions about the Goals of Public Schools
Frameworks for Goal Setting
Choices for Educators
Things to Think About
Things to Explore
3. What Does It Mean to Educate for Citizenship?
Assumptions about Educating for Citizenship
Frameworks for Citizenship Education
Choices for Educators
Things to Think About
Things to Explore
4. What Is Curriculum? And Who Decides What's inIt?
Assumptions around Curriculum
Frameworks for Curriculum
Choices for Educators
Things to Think About
Things to Explore
5. How Much Control Does a (Student) Body Need?
Assumptions about Control in Schools
Frameworks for Disciplinary Policies
Choices for Educators
Things to Think About
Things to Explore
6. Reform? By Whom, and For What?
Assumptions about Reform
Frameworks for Reform
Choices for Educators
Things to Think About
Things to Explore
7. The Way Forward
Index
