In response to Meyer and Crawford's article on how nature of science and authentic science inquiry strategies can be used to support the learning of science for underrepresented students, I explore the possibly of reconciliation between the cultures of school, science, school science as well as home. Such reconciliation is only possible when…

Dr. Rick Albrecht's article, titled "Drop and Give Us 20, Seifried: A Practical Response to Defending the Use of Punishment by Coaches," argued that I held a disregard for the unintended negative consequences of punishment and pointed out several items of concern he felt obligated to communicate to the scholarly and professional community to…

This commentary looks at the contributions and future research implications of the four articles in this Special Issue of "Thinking Skills and Creativity" to the fields of creativity and creativity education, both in culture-specific and culture-general terms. The articles included in this Special Issue draw attention to issues of…

As a flashpoint for specific instances of conflict, Muslim sartorial practices have at times been seen as being antagonistic to "western" ideas of gender equality, secularity, and communicative practices. In light of this, I seek to highlight the ways in which such moments of antagonism actually might be understood on "cosmopolitical" terms, that…

It is becoming more and more apparent that globalization processes represent, theoretically as well as practically, a challenge for educational sciences and therefore, it must be addressed within the sphere of education. Accordingly, educational conceptions have to adapt to globalization phenomena and focus more on alternative and innovative…

One hundred years ago, Upton Sinclair, in "The Jungle," exposed the deplorable working conditions of eastern European immigrants in the meatpacking houses of Chicago. The backdrop of this article is the new Jungle of the 21st century--the hog plants of the rural Midwest. Here I speak to the lives of the Mexican workers they employ, and, more…

In renewing her TESOL membership for 2008, the author noted that the membership letter stated that TESOL is a "global professional organization for English language educators." This was of particular interest as she prepared for TESOL's Bilingual Education Interest Section (BEIS) 2008 session titled "Imagining Multilingual…

In this essay, Steven Burik discusses Jacques Derrida's position with regard to the place of education in philosophy within the university system, and then relates these thoughts to comparative philosophy. Philosophers find themselves constantly having to defend philosophy and the importance of teaching philosophy against pressure from the powers…

This contribution provides an "outside" commentary on several of the articles provided in this special issue on environmental education and education in the context of sustainability in Denmark and Sweden. Although there is no uniform position or shared single outlook expressed in the articles in this special issue, there are some…

Article comments on contributions to an issue of Educational Policy that focuses on glocal politics of education in multiple national and international arenas. Commentary offered considers the ways in which the set of articles in this issue of EP require readers to take scalar leaps across the semiotic landscape of the local into the global. The…

The academy is considered by many as the major Western institution of knowledge. This article, however, argues that the academy is characterized by prevalent "epistemic ignorance"--a concept informed by Spivak's discussion of "sanctioned ignorance." Epistemic ignorance refers to academic practices and discourses that enable the continued exclusion…

In this essay, Peter Trifonas tries to show that there is no overcoming of the techno-philosophical grounding of intellectual freedom and academic responsibility or research action within the speculum of an all-seeing, all-knowing university. Instead, he argues that through Derrida's notion of an open "community of the question," deconstruction…

Multicultural education occurs in environments that consciously recognize the existence of racism, celebrate all cultures, infuse diversity in the curriculum, make it a continuous spiraling process, encourage critical thinking, and seek reform and change. (SK)

The article explores the ways "uneven geographical development" conditions and is conditioned by local placemaking practices. Guided by David Harvey's work along with Henri Lefebvre's three dimensions of spatial production--spatial practices, representations of space, and spaces of representation or the "spatial imaginary"--I…

A Brazilian nurse educator working in the United States describes the difficulty of achieving cultural awareness and the importance of daily experiences of other cultures. She stresses the need to prepare faculty to work with diverse nursing students and to recruit more minority faculty. (SK)