Looks at the familiar, though largely undiscussed, figure of educational discourse, "safe space." Shows "safe space" to be an emerging metaphor for classroom life through an examination of four instances of usage. Offers a hopeful response to pervasive concerns about individual isolation in an increasingly stressful and pluralistic world. (DSK)

Responds to article by Bill Linn concerning the urban student's alienation and suggests that Linn may have a defeatist attitude. (MKM)

Pulls apart the artificial separation between that which is scientific and the personal, thus providing meaningful context for the science classroom. Often discourse about girls and science has focused on how we can fix girls so that they can fit into the science classroom. Instead, the goals of science education must be reconstructed to include…

Discusses the impact of a "shy" student, and her subsequent death, on a middle school teacher. Suggests that it is up to middle school teachers to implement a middle school philosophy and to provide a sense of security and belonging to every student in every classroom. (RS)

Describes a junior high class activity called the "International Language Census," in which international students learned each other's equivalents of "good morning" and "thank you." Notes that non-American students who were socially isolated grew less shy and became occasional centers of attention. (JG)

Describes personal experiences teaching English in a ghetto high school. Suggests that the college teacher of English should know how little preparation these students have in the way of thinking and working by themselves and how little relevance college education may have for them. (MKM)

Spiritual development in adolescents is marked by the search for meaning, longing for solitude, urge for transcendence, hunger for joy, creative drive, and hunger for rites of passage. Educators can foster spiritual development by creating an environment where students can explore these yearnings and make connections within themselves, to other…

This paper presents and discusses data based on the perceptions of 128 persistent school absentees on their initial and continued reasons for missing school. The findings suggest that a greater proportion of the students were inclined to blame their institutions, rather than social or psychological factors, for their behavior. (SSH)

This book discusses the crusade for educational excellence since the early 1980s. It argues that the reform movement has failed to adequately address the extraordinary degree of alienation and apathy among secondary school students and teachers, and the schools' contribution to the problem, i.e., there exists a human element of the education…

The school system in the United States was established as, and remains, an expression of the white, middle-class values dominant in the society. The "melting pot" theory, with its emphasis on assimilation and the reduction of differences has been held by many for a long time. In the schools, however, this emphasis tends to cause feelings…

Analyzes the social knowledge, or "practical ideologies" implicitly transmitted by classroom procedures and ways of formulating course content in two contrasting high school history classes. Discusses the attitudes and behavior of "conformist" and "nonconformist" students in terms of socioeconomic class. (MCG)