Before all the talk about "public intellectuals," Michael Walzer was one. For 50 years, he has gone back and forth between positions at Princeton and Harvard Universities and then at the Institute for Advanced Study, in Princeton, New Jersey, where he is now emeritus. His writings appear regularly in "Dissent" magazine, which he has co-edited for…

Based on ethnographic research in a diverse New York City neighborhood, this article examines issues surrounding the practice of crossing from children's perspectives. Crossing refers to the use of language varieties to which one does not have conventional access, practices that could be disparaging or affiliative. The author explores how children…

Major troubling contours of neoliberalism and high-stakes education have common features. Consequently, the author discusses how multicultural education can serve as praxis for collective empowerment in a globalized context. The author asserts that equitable representation and localized multicultural knowledge production are the foundation of a…

Over the last 40 years child protection systems in all Advanced Western Societies have been subject to high profile criticisms and regular major reviews. In many respects the Munro Review of Child Protection (2011) in England, is very different to those which have gone before. This paper summarises the main findings and recommendations of The…

Background: Medically unexplained physical symptoms, commonly referred to as functional somatic symptoms (FSS), are common in pediatric medical settings and associated with suffering, impairment, and medical help seeking. The association of pediatric FSS with anxiety and depressive symptoms and disorders across the life span is reviewed.Method:…

This commentary addresses Subotnik et al.'s target article from the perspective of researchers active in the field of giftedness. First, we self-critically examine the current standing of giftedness research within the scientific community. Second, the authors' critique of gifted education is sharpened in three respects: (a) gifted identification,…

Prompted by a recurrent question from students, this paper examines perspectives from world Englishes and postcolonial studies in relation to one another. Focusing on two critical thinkers, Braj B. Kachru and Edward W. Said, each section highlights relevant themes and ideas from selected works of each scholar and discusses points of convergence…

In mainstream American culture, death is not usually talked about openly. It is discussed privately among adults because death is often regarded as a final ending. Nevertheless, many elementary school teachers discuss el Dia de los Muertos with their students. The celebration of el Dia de los Muertos, in contrast to dominant ideology, commemorates…

Sowden's article raises a number of questions concerning English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) and criticizes it as a simplified and culturally neutral means of communication. In this response, I address the issues concerning the conceptualization and use of ELF as well as the implications for ELT. I provide up-to-date evidence of ELF research and show…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to offer a critical reflection on ideas that have been published in the "Journal of Educational Administration" over the last 50 years that present perspectives on the nature of educational administration and its various aspects, that are alternatives to the mainstream systems-scientific view of…

The primary goal of the current study was to examine the impact of maternal criticism (expressed emotion-criticism; EE-Crit) on the prospective development of depressive episodes in children. In addition to examining baseline levels of EE-Crit, we also sought to determine whether distinct subgroups (latent classes) of mothers could be identified…

The author appreciates the opportunity to reply to Professor Eppley's comment on her paper that was recently published in the "Journal of Research in Rural Education" (Stockard, 2011b). Eppley's paper contains numerous statements that misrepresent both the content of the author's original paper and the social science literature as well as a number…

The young adult novel "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian" is the author's autobiographical story of a poor reservation Indian boy and his desperate and humorous attempts to find a better life. In this article, the author answers critics who want to X-rate his young adult fiction as too violent.

This article presents a critical rhetorical analysis of the governing and reform ideology of the Norwegian school system of the 1990s. It uses Karl Popper's "The Open Society and its Enemies" as a critical resource in the reading of the reforms, and discusses some of the consequences of the regime's models of leadership and public…

The recent publication of the UK government's Browne Review 2010 on university and student funding signifies a massive step towards embedding capitalist free-market consumerist values and practices into UK higher education. This paper critically examines that paradigm shift away from public sector provision from the perspective of French Theory,…