Much of the literature on social class and language study in schools argues that for middle-class parents and their children, languages are chosen for their capacity to offer forms of distinction that provide an edge in the global labour market. In this paper, we draw on data collected from interviews with parents and children in middle-class…

Historians of American education readily acknowledge that in the mid-19th century the German university and academic ideal rose in prominence among American academicians, who then worked diligently to replicate the German university model in the United States. During this same time, however, many more Americans were exposed to a different…

In this article, the author reflects on his feelings as a working-class transplant into academic culture and the middle class. He draws on his feelings of alienation from the people who surround him and his observations of the cultural subordination necessary to succeed in the middle class world to explain his desire to do more to help other…

This paper critiques what it sees as a tendency on the part of certain social researchers to engage in moralistic critiques of middle-class parents, especially in relation to the choices and actions of such parents within educational quasi-markets. It proceeds to a linked critique of the influence within education of certain aspects of the work of…

Reviews implications of the "deficit model" and the "difference model" for the education of minority groups. Discusses how compensatory and higher education programs for Blacks have subscribed to the deficit hypothesis by attempting to make Black students adopt white middle class traits. (GC)

Analyzes reading practices in the classroom and the mechanisms through which school proposes a uniform way of reading based on the concept of middle-class reading. (PA)

Demonstrates how French dictionaries from the seventeenth century onwards have used elimination or definition to censure certain words unacceptable to the bourgeois ideology of the times.

Discusses American Psychological Association's (APA, 1990) "Ethical Principles" and American Association for Counseling and Development's (AACD, 1988) "Ethical Standards" as they relate to racial-ethnic minorities. Contends that philosophical premises that underlie these principles and standards reflect solely majority culture…

While the social scientific study of education has advanced impressively in recent years, little progress has been made in a number of areas. Energies should be directed to the study of the education of the rich and privileged as well as the education of minorities and the poor. (Author/EB)

Identifies a number of the major aspects of social class that freshman composition addresses in its aims of enabling students to think and write in ways that will make them good citizens of the academic (and larger middle class) community and viable candidates for good middle class jobs upon graduation. (TB)

Examines the "accomplishments curriculum" which emerged as the dominant mode of education for middle-class girls in Britain and its colonies in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Discusses the expanded educational opportunities for women, describing their social effects, such as the early emergence of middle-class…

The author considers the conceptual soundness of self-directed learning and elaborates a definition of the term. The author also raises some questions about the methodological rigor of the studies on which the new academic orthodoxy is based. He considers social settings, learning styles, independence, middle class lifestyles, and methods of…

Examines the struggle between dominant and minority groups in terms of the use of language. Traces the development of literacy as a means of social control in the United States and England. Argues that linking literacy with standard language creates an effective form of ideological hegemony. (FMW)

Argues that the propensity and capacity of many adults to conduct self-directed learning projects is now well proven, and that researchers should now infuse a spirit of self-critical scrutiny into this developing field of research. Advances four criticisms regarding the current state of self-directed learning research. (Author/CT)

As minorities become attached to majority values and culture, they are viewed as part of the larger group, and they share its opportunities. A prolonged effort to teach cultural pluralism may not be in minority students' best interests. If America's problems are to be solved, consensus values must be rediscovered and taught. (PP)