Education researchers continue to cite Bernstein's 'Education cannot compensate for society', while Bernstein's own focus on 'in-school processes' was echoed by Michael Gove's insistence that there are 'no excuses' for low working-class achievement in schools. Bernstein's ideas illuminate the relationship, within education policy, of…

For many communication scholars, critical pedagogy has proven a valuable teaching approach intended to strengthen democracy and empower the disenfranchised. However, the pedagogical practice becomes problematic when employed as a way to help the already enfranchised maintain their privileged position. This is the very problem posed by the…

The mighty heartland of the United States, the American Midwest, is certainly struggling economically. This region was the epicenter of America's industrial revolution, the arsenal of democracy in World War II, and the builder of the great blue-collar middle class that personified the American Dream. This important region made America a global…

Little known about the now celebrated 1912 Bread and Roses strike is that prominent Progressive-era reformers condemned the strikers as "uncivil" and "violent." An examination of Bread and Roses' controversies reveals how a ruling class enlists middle-class sentiments to oppose social-justice arguments and defend a civil…

Nations have many goals in mind when they design their education systems. Instilling in young people both a desire for democracy and the knowledge to perpetuate it and enabling them to understand and appreciate achievements of humanity, to reason for themselves, and to understand and empathize with others. However, a nation that ignores the need…

Describes Positive Peer Culture (PPC), a school-based program for teaching social skills to adolescents, especially those in foster care or juvenile justice residential settings. Outlines problem types, discusses formal and informal group meetings and benefits of PPC (critical thinking, participatory democracy, real-world literacy, business…