Michael Young's recent paper in this journal is correct; there is a profound crisis in curriculum theory, and to be intellectually viable into the future the field must strive to "bring back" in empirical study of curriculum. Also by ignoring the empirical content of knowledge and access to it in mass education systems throughout the…

Michael Young's article "Overcoming the crisis in curriculum theory: a knowledge-based approach" ("JCS, 45", 2) is discussed from the starting point that the claimed crisis is constructed from a decisive solution, that is the solution determines what is a crisis. But curriculum research and curriculum theory are in need of…

The Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) phenomenon has happened very quickly and is also a shift in discourse. This article aims to slow things down and go through the last year or so with a bit more care than we're usually able to do in order to do a "close reading" of the year of the MOOC. Author Aaron Brady ventures an opinion to say…

This is the fourth of five commentaries discussing Zongjie Wu's essay, "Interpretation, autonomy, and transformation". It argues that he may have committed two methodological mistakes in his contrast between traditional Chinese education and contemporary Chinese (and Western) education: reverse-Orientalism and a form of fundamentalism.…

Sebastian Thrun gave up tenure at Stanford University after 160,000 students signed up for his free online version of the course "Introduction to Artificial Intelligence." The experience completely changed his perspective on education, he said, so he ditched teaching at Stanford and launched the private Web site Udacity, which offers…

This paper argues for new departures in English as an International Language (EIL) pedagogy for the social majorities "in their own interest," not that of the privileged stratum of metropolitan elites. It is incontestable that the unstoppable spread of global English is a product of cultural, socioeconomic and political hegemony that is ultimately…

Over the second half of the twentieth century, changes occurred in parent reports of their engagement in cognitive activities with their young children in the United States. This article argues that the growing trend of "parenting for cognitive development" in young children in the latter half of the twentieth century is associated with the…

This essay proposes a set of non-econometric tests using data on wage structure, school resource costs, public expenditures, taxes, and rates of return to explain anomalies in which richer political units deliver less education than poorer ones. Both the anomalies of education history, and its less surprising contrasts, fit broad patterns that can…

While finding that the need for literacy and coordinated cooperation between developing countries, international organizations, and "donor" agencies is imperative, the author finds that abolishing illiteracy is possible only in the context of eradicating hunger, poverty, and oppression; the priorities are elsewhere. (SK)

During the struggle for liberation in Zimbabwe in the 1970s, a form of cadre and mass political education developed that was nationalist rather than socialist. It focused on the need to elect a popular government rather than on Marxist class struggle. (SK)

The author argues that there should be a system of public enlightenment to build an information bridge between global problems and the private individual. This concept is analyzed in accordance with information and value aspects. Guidelines for this educational enterprise are discussed. (Author/CH)

In this article, the author discusses the possible changes in the medium of television by the year 2020. He predicts that the viewers of the future will each have a simple gadget that will enable them to select exactly what they want to view--at their own choice of time. Nobody will sit through the end of a programme they do not want to watch in…

This document discusses the treatment of Arabs in the western media. The main portion concentrates on the image of Arabs presented in American novels. Because television and films present visual images that communicate a powerful message in a matter of seconds, stereotyping appears as a shorthand form of communication and is, to a certain extent,…

Concludes that a Mass Literacy Campaign in a complex political setting in a nation such as Nigeria, devoid of ideological orientation and lacking in a popularist approach to the elimination of illiteracy, has limited chances of success despite the attractions and merit of a literate citizenry. (JOW)

Examines applications which make some use of communication technology for providing education and information. Outlines the roles communication interventions play in development; the circumstances for success; and some specific applications. (JMF)