As early as the 1990s, educationists, and even some governmental policy makers in China, advocated suzhi (quality) educational reform, aiming to develop creative individuals, and to revamp the exam-oriented and authoritarian education system. However, this suzhi educational reform was not entirely successful, with education in China becoming a…

In the following paper, the author draws upon the works of critical theorists and critical curriculum scholars to investigate the intersection of the social and political realms with contemporary educational and curricular trends. This paper specifically explores connections between current curriculum trends with neutrality, social reproduction,…

In this article, the authors describe a class activity that uses a combination of strategies to overcome obstacles students face when learning about the reproduction of inequality in everyday life. Based on Schwalbe et al.'s (2000) piece on "generic social processes," and following the idea of "making the strange familiar and the familiar…

The growth of surveillance in UK schools in recent years has resulted in the development of what can be labelled as the surveillance curriculum. Operating through the overt and hidden curricula, contemporary surveillance practices and technologies not only engage students in a discourse of control, but also increasingly socialise them into a…

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)

The author proposes a theory of power which explains important features of social and political life from the point of view that a more democratic and equalitarian organization of society is possible and desirable, and that education can play a role in attaining that kind of society. (MT)

There is an urgent need to build a movement for adult education in the United States. Tens of thousands more classes are needed to enable democratic participation in the economy and society. This dramatic expansion of adult education and literacy should be aimed at the development of critical consciousness and civic participation of over ninety…

Using categories of racism, sexism, and socioeconomic stereotypes, 37 stories from adult reading series were analyzed. Compared to a 1977 study, texts have improved only slightly. Reproduction of the cultural and political status quo remains the hidden curriculum of literacy education. (SK)

Discusses how to teach students in an introduction to sociology course about cultural capital as it relates to power relations. States that the course focuses on the relevance of sociological theory, how cultural capital is instilled in students through rules, and resisting rules. Provides examples of each topic. (CMK)

Argues that children's literature contains strategies to confine texts within a narrow band of sociocultural values. The language of children's fiction offers conventionalized discourse by means of which content is encoded. These texts are symptomatic of how literature is complicit in the ideological construction of Australian childhood. (nine…

This special journal issues focuses on how educational institutions resolve the problem of order and the challenge of building a cooperative learning community, and preparation for the role of citizen in a democratic society. (Contains 49 references.) (Author/MLF)

An analysis of 50 textbooks used in the elementary schools of the former Belgian Congo reveals an overt attempt to propagate colonial ideology. Fundamental themes included the legitimacy of the colonization, denigration of the indigenous culture, and establishment of colonial authority. Three books, however, resisted this indoctrination and one…

Many countries have introduced a range of policies that attempt to reformulate the relationships among government, schools, and parents through the application of market forces. This paper looks at the hidden curriculum of marketization and explores the extent to which the recent trend toward quasi-markets in public education systems are…

Maintains that although Canada's private schools attempt to reproduce dominant cultural ideology, meritocracy and recruitment have created paradoxical effects. Academic competition results in fewer private school graduates being admitted to top universities. Further studies reveal no correlation between private school and financial success. (MJP)

Examines the relationship between centralization and public education. Suggests that compulsory schooling is key to the increasingly centralized and "managed" nature of society and that the nationalization of schooling has undermined individual rights to liberty and democracy. Advocates that communities be responsible for their children and for…