This book challenges the modern certainty that education is a universal good and a human right and celebrates the well-being still enjoyed in the commons and cultures of people living at the grassroots. The first section describes how education is an instrument of acculturation. Within two generations of formal schooling, people are separated from…

Maintains that neither postmodernism nor cultural pluralism are antithetical to biblical texts. Locates postmodernist open-ended thinking in many of the enigmatic proverbs and other wisdom texts. Reveals similarities, and at times historical connections, between much of the Bible and various Mediterranean cultures. (MJP)

In this book, the need to reform schools and integrate vocational and academic education is examined in the context of the political dynamics that connect schools and the economic system. Throughout the book's 12 chapters, it is argued that integrating academic and vocational education is a better way of educating students and alerting them to the…

One of the many positive consequences of the transition to a postmodern society is the increased recognition of the range of individual differences among children of the same age. This book provides a comprehensive overview of the postmodern reinvention of childhood, focusing on ages 4 through 8 years. The book's introductory chapter describes the…

Argues that the combination of collaborative writing and electronic resources can produce a reaffirmation of literacy as a social process. Utilizes feminist theory to equate the postmodernist assumptions regarding the indeterminate nature of language with democratizing influences. Describes a class project where students produced a collaborative,…

This book contains 12 papers that trace the connections and tensions between the original aims and forms of cultural studies in Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the current settings, goals, and methodologies of cultural studies. The following papers are included: "Introduction" (Nannette Aldred and Martin Ryle); "Marginal…

The human resource development (HRD) profession needs to continue to develop its core theories and to integrate new theories into the body of knowledge. Creating new knowledge is of essential importance to both HRD practitioners and researchers. As an emerging field, HRD is in the process of defining itself as a discipline. Currently, there are…

A somatic approach to education implies education that trusts individuals to learn from and listen to the information they are receiving from the interaction of self with the environment. Somatic or embodied knowing is experiential knowledge that involves senses, perceptions, and mind-body action and reaction. Western culture has been dominated by…

One of the greatest dilemmas about implementing competency-based training in Child Studies, as prescribed by the Australian National Training Authority, is not what is stated in the training packages but what is left unsaid--the underlying assumptions. Issues such as cultural beliefs and attitudes are addressed, but generally only at the level of…

This book represents the beginning dialogue and critique of social, political, economic, and historical forms of hegemony operating in the adult education field. Twenty-three chapters are grouped into five sections. Section I, Deconstructing Exclusion and Inclusion in Adult Education, offers a dialogue on hegemony and critiques the philosophical,…

Directed at practitioners in adult and career education, this document defines qualitative research, compares qualitative research to quantitative research, describes the "war" between proponents of each kind of research, describes how to assess qualitative research, and explains how to choose and use qualitative techniques. Pitfalls of…

The following are among the papers included in these proceedings: "Challenging the Exclusionary Effects of the Inclusive Mask of Adult Education" (Rockhill); "Organic Intellectuals of the State and Political Struggle in the University" (Cunningham); "Adult Education's Prospects in a Post-University World" (Smith);…

The following are among the 56 papers included in this proceedings: "Contextual Factors Associated with Evaluation Practices of Selected Adult and Continuing Education Providers in Malaysia" (S. Ahmad); "The Professional Ethic and the Spirit of Post-Modernism" (P. Armstrong); "Transforming the Teacher-Student…

This book examines the rhetoric surrounding the notion of informal learning in order to expand debate about the uses of informal learning in workplaces and about attempts to "recognize" it through competency-based standards. The following topics are among those discussed in the book's eight chapters: (1) the nature of informal learning…

This handbook presents the perspectives of more than 60 leading authorities on the study and practice of adult and continuing education. The following are among the papers included: "A Selective History of Adult Education Handbooks" (A.L. Wilson, E.R. Hayes); "The Concept of Critically Reflective Practice" (Stephen D.…