The carnivalization of American culture has become ubiquitous as we advance into the 21st century, but what happens when the transgressive text is introduced into the more intimate space of the college classroom, when the outrageous "outside" is brought "inside?" More specifically still, what processes and responses typically…

How is the commitment to social justice sustained over a lifetime? This would seem to be a matter of character, and that calls attention to the Aristotelian tradition in ethics. No one provides as much insight into the challenge of the contemporary appropriation of this tradition as Alasdair MacIntyre. Although a moral philosopher rather than a…

The core challenge is this--a difficult ethical decision, where values are in play and both sides have powerful moral arguments in their favor. One case presented in this article outlines a dilemma faced by one teacher who became a superintendent herself. The case exploded dramatically in a midsize metropolitan school district, where a principal…

This article discusses methodological and philosophical issues linked to action research. The concepts of subjectivity and objectivity--potential sources of bias that mislead researchers in dealing with these concepts--and how to cope with them are discussed. Controversial issues of truth in positivism, postpositivism, and other schools of…

Recent years, increasing diverse attitudes to religious education in the classroom make many private and public school face the controversy of "should religion be taught as a subject at schools?" (Kaiser, 2003; Slattery & Rapp, 2003; Wallace, Forman, Caldwell & Willis, 2003.) As a result, many administrators and teachers are making efforts in…

Costa Rica has rich ecological resources and has been a steady political force in turbulent Central America. Most recently, it has become a battleground between pro- and anti-genetically modified organism (GMO) political forces. This case study examines the roles of U.S.-based cotton ("Gossypium hirsutum" L.) seed companies, anti-GMO…

Simple role-play simulations can not only demonstrate the dynamics of a conflict but also create awareness of multiple perspectives even among populations relatively set in their opinions. To teach my student population of military officers, I utilize simple, nongame simulations of multisided Middle East conflicts that not only facilitate learning…

America's sense of community is broken down; its sense of connectedness and the collective is "collapsing." That these senses ever existed is a matter for considerable debate. But, as the new millennium gains momentum and neoliberalism seeks expansion, the author argues that a focus on rekindling these concepts of community,…

Centrality and fragility of university in the long-lasting debates over the functions of higher education and its role in the interplay of wider socioeconomic, political and cultural forces is an ever recurrent issue. It seems that exactly these debates called for constant public attention towards academia and helped retain its core function of…

This article focuses on some of the challenges of teaching science in a culture where science and religion sometimes appear to be or are set at odds with each other. Apparent conflicts between scholarly claims and religious claims are not limited to science, however--they occur in almost every subject. Many topics included in science education are…

Questioning the dichotomy of right and wrong, Virginia R. Monseau explores the tensions that arise from choices teachers make when trying to "do the right thing." From warning teachers about difficult students to presenting sensitive materials that challenge student belief systems, Monseau advises educators to pay close attention,…

Evolution is a central underlying concept to a significant number of discourses in civilized society, but the complexity of understanding basic tenets of this important theory is just now coming to light. Knowledge about evolution is constructed from both formal and "free-choice" opportunities, like television. Nature programs are commonly…

Evolution was introduced into the senior secondary school Life Sciences curriculum in South Africa for the first time in 2008. Research in other countries shows that evolution is an extremely controversial topic to teach, raising serious concerns for teachers. Curriculum change theory dealing with "stages of concern" suggests that…

Today, even though "social justice" programs exist as a virtual growth industry on US campuses and many universities have incorporated classes on race and racism into their curricula, everyone continues to be faced with the perception that race is a "controversial" topic that has to be broached with care due to its "sensitive nature". This is even…

The social studies profession has always been at its weakest in dealing with the analysis of racism and class (Ladson-Billings, 2003; Marshall, 2001), and the new technocratic atmosphere and discourse generated by No Child Left Behind (NCLB) will serve to make such analysis completely absent, despite the rhetoric of the National Council of the…