Human beings enter the world highly motivated to learn. It is how we invent ourselves--a survival mechanism. So when educators talk about students who are not motivated to learn, something is amiss. Either they cannot see what motivates the student in question, or the student's life is dangerously off course. In either case,…

This article utilizes the qualitative methodology of autoethnography for examining how doctoral programs create intellectual war zones for African American students through oppressive institutional socialization. Theoretically grounded in critical race theory, I utilize my counternarrative as an African American graduate student to describe the…

The learning goals of a well-designed course in the liberal arts include not only the imparting of knowledge but also the development of critical thinking and disciplinary expertise. A class on Luther can help students acquire those intellectual skills associated with the discipline of history and the liberal arts more generally as they consider…

This article builds upon the international dialogue around 'curriculum crisis' initiated by Michael Young in "Journal of Curriculum Studies" ("JCS") in 2013 and followed up in "JCS" in 2015. It seeks to expand the dialogue in three avenues. First, when considered from a sociological perspective, Young is correct to…

Scholars conventionally find play difficult to define because the concept is complex and ambiguous. The author proffers a definition of play that takes into consideration its dynamic character, posits six basic elements of play (anticipation, surprise, pleasure, understanding, strength, and poise), and explores some of their emotional, physical,…

This synopsis centers on Eleanor Duckworth's ideas about the relationship between education and intellectual development. Specifically, Duckworth described the essence of intellectual development as the "having of wonderful ideas" and the essence of pedagogy as the creation of occasions to "have wonderful ideas." As…

This essay explores the nature and importance of field trips as sites for artistic development, intellectual fulfillment, and pedagogical inspiration. The author weaves personal reflections from a professional field trip and experience teaching art education online with creative and pedagogical references to make a case for experiential learning…

This article presents the Center for Pedagogical Measurements' experience of assessment procedures transformative challenge when the COVID-19 was unfolding across the world and when there was no ready scenario that could guide online instruction and assessment as well. The authors of the article have provided the cases of adaptive responses and…

In "Homeschooling: The History and Philosophy of a Controversial Practice," James G. Dwyer and Shawn F. Peters examine homeschooling's history, its methods, and the fundamental questions at the root of the heated debate over whether and how the state should oversee and regulate it. The authors trace the evolution of homeschooling and the…

This paper takes a longue durée look at universities at the core of the world economy, where the modern idea of intellectuals as trustees of the reflexive structures of society has achieved its most enduring institutional form. To wrest thinking away from a conformism that makes us see universities as nothing more than organisations amongst…

Adolescence is a period in everybody's life that is usually referred to as "time that everybody must go through" or "parents' hell". Transition between childhood and adulthood is indeed of great importance in everybody's life, but it is usually accompanied with a variety of questions, problems, dilemmas and a constant need to…

Michael W. Apple is the John Bascom Professor of Curriculum and Instruction and Educational Policy Studies in the Departments of Curriculum and Instruction (CI) and Educational Policy Studies (EPS) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Education where he has taught since 1970. Michael Apple is one of the foremost educational theorists…

There are many models for education that place students in the forefront. This proposed model for informational education presents a particular structural and pedagogical suggestion that aims at enabling students to grow intellectually. It also situates education, as a human action, with a system of justice. The intellectual and personal growth of…

Modern scholarship has struggled to come to terms with the meaning of wisdom and its significance in the field of education. This book examines the importance of pursuing wisdom in schools by turning to ancient and medieval sources for clarification concerning the nature of wisdom. Sean Steel argues that our current emphasis on the development of…

Historians have recently opened up a reconsideration of the 1950s. Long characterized as a time of stolid conformity and Cold War conservatism, the era is increasingly seen in more variegated terms. Studies exploring a range of institutions, causes, and activities have illuminated ways the intellectual and social soil of postwar America gave root…