The purpose of this position paper is to emphasize the importance gender equity within curriculum as a primary focus within our educational institutions to ensure equal access and representation for our students. This emphasis is based on data that supports how focusing on meaningful content connections, conducive environments with respect to the…

Author Jane Anna Gordon begins this commentary by saying that early in her academic career she was struck by the dual character of schools as places that can damage and waste the human potential of some on one hand, and that can and should be put in the service of liberation on the other. She writes that this point was driven home to her through…

Educators are inclined to think that the words they use in their discourses about policy, research, and practice mean what they mean them to mean. It is just as clear, however, that such discourses ideologically produce and reproduce relations of power that benefit some and disadvantage others. This essay begins an argument that educators need to…

This opinion paper intends to elucidate the author's theoretical framework towards education and the goals of curriculum. The author utilizes various scholars' work to help form a silhouette of his beliefs and of what he feels a P-12 school curriculum should provide to students, as well as to outline how his theoretical disposition has shaped his…

Peter Doble has recently made his opinions on an article written by the author (Thompson, 2004a). Several of the points Doble raised were addressed in the author's book "Whatever Happened to Religious Education?" (Thompson, 2004b). In this article, the author addresses the points made by Doble in response to her article. The author contends how…

This position paper observes the impact of "Proposition 227", California's "English for the Children" initiative, on the professional development of teachers of English Learners. It draws on information I obtained while working as an evaluator of the California Teacher Institutes (CTIs), a network of institutes aimed to enhance…

In this paper I respond to Ajay Sharma's "Portrait of a Science Teacher as a Bricoleur: A case study from India," by speaking to two aspects of the bricoleur: the subject and the discursive in relation to pedagogic perspective. I highlight that our subjectivities are negotiated based on the desires of the similar and competing discourses…

The hidden curriculum consists of implicit values taught and learned through the process of schooling. This paper describes theoretical and methodological approaches to research in this area, reviews research related to physical education, and proposes a model for feminist analysis of the hidden curriculum in sport and education. (Author/MT)

Argues that present work on the hidden curriculum is theoretically limited by a one-factor "theory of redundancy." Suggests a revised theory with (a) "Hot Curriculum"--which is largely based on the reward principle and (b) "Cold Curriculum"--based on the redundancy principle. (BR)

This paper presents a critical examination of the work of Christopher Lasch. The individual's growing sense of helplessness, the development of a "minimal self," the impact of mass culture on education, Lasch's proposals to resolve the culture crisis, and the relevance of Lasch's views to the reform of social education are addressed. (MT)

It is time for a new theory of values education which should identify ideas worthy of being passed on, address the process by which values are internalized, view teacher behavior as a major carrier of values, assess how classroom processes influence students, and examine content taught for the values embedded therein. (MT)

Discusses competition and profit in higher education and the effect of the profit motive on educational quality. Describes the impact of the lucrative executive education field, extension education, the Internet, and the hidden curriculum of advertising and corporate dollars in universities. (SK)

Addressing recent criticism of distance education, explores the distinctive hidden curriculum (supposed "real" agenda) of distance education, focusing on both its positive and negative expressions. Also offers an updated view of the hidden curriculum of traditional, campus-based education, grounded in an emerging worldwide context of broadening…

This article analyzes the importance of extending literacy as both a historical and social construct for engaging the discourse of domination and for defining critical pedagogy as a form of cultural politics. Paulo Freire's Model of Emancipatory Literacy is discussed, and its implications for developing a radical pedagogy are explored. (MT)

Argues that two types of knowledge are presented during biology lessons: disciplinary subject matter and the personal practical knowledge of the teaching process. Describes how a teacher's philosophical orientation/world view may direct students to conceptualize knowledge in a technical way, resulting in estrangement from practical understanding…