Transition requires a multidimensional, interdisciplinary approach for its re-conceptualisation to bring to the fore systemic and power related concerns affecting marginalised and vulnerable groups. This concluding article examines the special issue articles through a range of perspectives. These include examining transitions through a…

For some time now, school boards, Ministries of Education, and the popular media have been expressing concerns about failing boys and how best to meet their needs, framing these concerns in terms of a crisis in which boys are the "new disadvantaged". This perspective does not provide an accurate representation of the problem and, in fact, detracts…

This interview conducted with Henry Giroux begins by probing Henry's childhood, upbringing and undergraduate years to discover where his sense of social justice took hold. It also questions Henry about his working-class background and the major influences on his thought, including his relationships with Paulo Freire and Howard Zinn. The interview…

The disturbances that took place across English towns and cities in 2011 raised significant debate and discussion about their causes and the motivations of the "rioters". Media and official explanations citing criminality and opportunism, repeated the now familiar narratives of cultural deficit, blaming absent fathers, poor parenting and…

The compelling essays in this issue of the journal take on the often contentious and complex issue of racial affirmative action. I do not wish to repeat the arguments authors offer either in defence or against student admissions to a university on the grounds of race, (dis)advantage, class, gender, and so on. Rather, I wish to respond to a…

Notwithstanding that Critical Race Theory (CRT) is currently in its second decade of existence, it is not and has never been something extraordinary--insofar as racism is something that has always been with us. Rather, CRT is a bona fide and avant-garde movement that leads to praxis--explicitly and courageously speaking to the injustices that…

The authors welcome and appreciate the comments of Eric Grodsky and Sigal Alon on their article "Shadow Education, American Style: Test Preparation, the SAT and College Enrollment." In their comments, Grodsky takes issue with several important theoretical and methodological aspects of their article and Alon highlights key processes…

Buchmann, Condron and Roscigno argue in their article, "Shadow Education, American Style: Test Preparation, the SAT and College Enrollment," that the activities in which students engage to prepare for college entrance exams are forms of shadow education, a means by which more advantaged parents seek to pass their privileged status along…

In this paper, the author critiques what he analyses as the misuse of statistics in arguments put forward by some Critical Race Theorists in Britain showing that "Race" "trumps" Class in terms of underachievement at 16+ exams in England and Wales. At a theoretical level, using Marxist work the author argues for a notion of…

According to this author, "unchecked capitalism is destroying the nation's public schools, and No Child Left Behind (NCLB) is the final nail in their coffin." He argues that, marching under the banner of "accountability," right-wing, pro-business forces are willfully undermining the democratic right of all children to a free,…

Criticizes the preceding article by Michael Useem, which holds that compulsory military service in the U.S. has discriminated against the lower classes. Argues that the draft was more equitable than the current volunteer system, and that military service has been an important mobility channel for disadvantaged people. (Author/GC)

A principal aim of the National Curriculum in England was to ensure equality of opportunity for all children, regardless of race or social class. This aim was strengthened through the introduction of the National Literacy Strategy 10 years later which set out to standardize not just the literacy curriculum itself but also the materials and methods…

Comments on "Psychotherapy, classism, and the poor: Conspicuous by their absence" by Laura Smith (see record 2005-11834-002). Smith is to be commended for identifying a critical missing area in applied psychology: the inclusion of people who are poor into training, education, research, and practice. But in advocating for psychology to be…

Previous efforts to frame age relations within the context of class stratification have been incomplete due to a failure to grasp the underlying continuity in the inequality produced by age and class location. Both age strata and social classes differ in their possession of valued resources and access to the means of acquiring these resources.…

Class society is vertically oriented and is reflected in such expressions as "on top" and "lower class." But solidarity, seen as respect for fellow human beings, is a horizontal relationship. Education for solidarity means an acknowledgement of human differences and a rethinking of our language implications. (CS)