This article describes a book review assignment that is an application of enlightenment practices to a modern learning environment. This paper encourages both student learning in the content of enlightenment ideas and the methods of critical, accessible writing. Students engage in metacognition by using the critical reasoning capacities of their…

In this essay, Robbie McClintock argues that educational theorists have inflated John Dewey's deserved reputation beyond what the quality of his work can sustain. He briefly recounts how Dewey developed a program for reconstruction in philosophy, education, and social life with the aim of overcoming chronic dislocations in social life. McClintock…

The purpose of this article is to provide a detailed analysis of the development of reflective practice in American education. The essay will primarily ground itself in various works by John Dewey and Donald A. Schön, as well as analyze the impact these authors had on the topic. The essay will rely heavily on Schön's "Educating the Reflective…

This essay takes a look at what I call anti-progressivism in education or, more particularly, criticism of progressive education that was so vocal and visceral that it earns a label, at least initially, of anti-progressivism. After a brief introduction discussing the terms in general, I look at three instances of anti-progressivism in the 1950s…

This article is a critical examination of practices and representations that constitute international education. While international education has provided substantial contributions and benefits for nation-states and international students, we question the discourses and practices which inform the international education export industry. The…

In this article I describe the analytic approach adopted by Peters, his colleagues and followers of the "London line" in the 1960s and 1970s and argue that, even in those times, other approaches to philosophy of education were being valued and practised. I show that Peters and his colleagues later became aware of the need for philosophy of…

Contemporary propaganda is ubiquitous in our culture today as public relations and marketing efforts have become core dimensions of the contemporary communication system, affecting all forms of personal, social and public expression. To examine the origins of teaching and learning about propaganda, we examine some instructional materials produced…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to offer a critical reflection on ideas that have been published in the "Journal of Educational Administration" over the last 50 years that present perspectives on the nature of educational administration and its various aspects, that are alternatives to the mainstream systems-scientific view of…

Booker T. Washington was born a slave in the American South, rising remarkably in the period after slavery to become a leader of his race. His advocacy of appeasement with the Southern white establishment incurred the ire of his black peers, given the withdrawal of the franchise from ex-slaves in southern states after a brief period of positive…

In a seminal article, Philip Alperson (1991) first argued that a proper philosophy of music and music education should account for all musical "praxis." Nonetheless, his introduction of the concept of praxis into the philosophical discourse of music education seems to occasion either a yawn or hostility, despite having a much longer and more solid…

This paper addresses theories of the avant-garde, especially but not exclusively in art and as part of a modernist aesthetic. The paper examines the ways in which avant-garde theory of the creative process can inform educational administration in the change process, as both a critique and an ideal. The argument adopted here is that if…

This essay offers a retrospective on the four special issues of this journal (1957, 1980, 1990, 2001) dedicated to the "state of the art" of rhetorical criticism. Drawing on Oscar Wilde's "The Portrait of Mr. W. H." as allegory, the essay also functions to queer this retrospective in an ongoing effort to queer rhetorical studies. The essay closes…

The March 24, 2008, edition of "National Review" (NR) was dedicated to the memory of its founder: William F. Buckley, Jr., who had passed away on February 27, 2008. It included thirty two different memorials about him written by prominent authors, editors, social commentators, fellow journalists, politicians, and historians. Then NR…

A century ago Edmond Holmes, His Majesty's Chief Inspector of Elementary Schools from 1905 to 1910, made a major contribution to educational debate through his widely quoted and much disputed "What Is and What Might Be" (Holmes, 1911). In a previous article (Richards, 2010) his criticisms of what was then contemporary policy and practice…

In 1898, students at the University of Toronto founded "Torontonensis", the university's first yearbook. Fashioned as a remembrance of university, from its inception the yearbook was fraught with conflict and contestation particularly around how male students were represented and how their college experiences were made, and not made,…