Given the importance of educating for democratic citizenship, the involvement of individual business people with policymaking bodies and task forces is highly desirable. However, schools should limit business involvement to civic-minded contributions free of marketing or advertising hype. To do otherwise betrays the spirit of educational…

Rather than returning to traditional "sociology of leadership," which is modernist and positivist in nature, educators ought to adopt a critical and pragmatic strategy toward the leadership quandary. This pragmatism would attempt to reveal the historic sources of our contemporary leadership malaise and make leadership inquiry more…

This paper traces librarianship's notions of intellectual freedom to a widely analyzed concept in law and political science known as the marketplace of ideas. A stewardship orientation in librarianship is described, changes in the profession are examined, emotional factors and democratic values are discussed, and self-actualization is considered.…

Schools as ethical, democratic communities are places where justice prevails, equity is cherished, integrity is a driving force in all relationships, full participation is an expectation, inclusion is a norm, resources are distributed equally, and members are allowed recourse to address grievances. Schools must teach democracy and ethics with…

Comprehensive sexuality education and education for a democracy have many important common features. They both seek to help individuals maintain physical and mental health, form and maintain stable relationships, develop decision-making skills, and develop a toleration for diversity. Sexuality education should encourage freedom of thought--not…

Examines how works of art can function as media of deep communication between individuals otherwise separated by walls. Highlights poetry reading and writing in a fourth-grade classroom to show how public school classrooms can become places where children exercise real choice over the disposition of their intellectual energies and where children…

Offers an "inspirational speech" delivered by Harvard professor Cornel West at the 1994 National Council of Teachers of English convention. Discusses ways in which English teachers can help to keep alive the tradition of struggle for decency, dignity, freedom, and democracy. Shares his belief in the significant role English teachers play in…

Describes The Social Development Program, a way to foster social responsibility and in the process reduce unacceptable classroom behavior simply and easily. The strategy is based on several principles: positivity; empowerment by choice; the importance of self-evaluation and self-correction; assumption of social responsibility; and authority…

America's founders recognized education as highest priority. James Madison thought education to be "the best security against crafty and dangerous encroachments on the public liberty." Teachers must educate not only children's abilities, but also their characters. American education was intended to implant virtue, to cultivate what…

Offers an overview of what it means to educate for a democratic life in the elementary school. Discusses three guiding questions: How can educators work together so that everyone benefits?; What is already known about the democratic process and what else should educators find out?; and Is everyone included in trying to solve this problem? (SR)

Conceptualizes teacher leadership, examining what leadership is, how teachers are leaders, and how to promote teacher leadership. Teacher leadership should not emphasize simply empowering teachers, but also accomplishing purposes that lead to high quality and socially conscious democratic education. This means leadership must occur in multiple…

There is no common ground between the views of Myron Lieberman and those of the American Federation of Teachers. Lieberman is a self-proclaimed right-wing extremist; union members are "small d" democrats committed to reforming education, not preserving the status quo, as he claims. Lieberman has been an enemy of unions ever since his…

Revisits the work of Louise Rosenblatt, who argued that literary experiences might be made the very core of the kind of educational process needed in a democracy, exploring her philosophy and her literary theory to examine whether, within the school curriculum, literary experience should be considered as crucial to educating citizens as are…

Provides a critique of certain social and institutional tendencies inimical to the development of social democracy and democratic community, especially conformity generated by bureaucratized social institutions, religious absolutism, and intolerance. Discusses the primary values of freedom and equality as critical to the development of democratic…

Examines the influence of soft-money-sponsored issue-advocacy advertising in U.S. House and Senate campaigns, comparing its effects against candidate-sponsored positive advertising and contrast advertising on viewers' candidate preferences and on their attitude that reflect democratic values. Reveals no main effects for advertising approach on…