This essay challenges the conventional understanding of William Bagley and Arthur Bestor, which suggests that they held similar views in curriculum and teacher education. The author thinks this view is completely wrong and provides a radical new interpretation of Bagley and Bestor that uncovers a lost tradition within the field of education.…

Despite evidence that service-learning projects can have positive effects on students' learning and civic engagement, such projects are not yet widely utilized in political science. This seems to be driven, in part, by the concern that service-learning projects may politicize students. In my Urban Politics and Policy class, I implemented a…

Leo Strauss is commonly cited as a seminal influence for the neoconservatism that, in the minds of many commentators, dominates the administration of George W. Bush. What intersection, if any, exists between Strauss's views and neoconservatism? This paper investigates that question by studying Strauss's writings on liberal education and assessing…

The so-called Culture Wars have made the issue of religious tolerance in schools more confusing than ever. Where once free speech trumped nearly every concern in these wars in the public schools, there is now great concern about whether messages put out are politically correct. The preoccupation teachers now have with avoiding speech or themes…

Methicillin-resistant "Staphylococcus aureus" (MRSA), commonly called a superbug, has recently been a major political issue in the UK, playing a significant role in debates over health policy in the general election held in 2005. While science recognizes the lack of evidence with regards to the effectiveness of existing measures…

Research on the lack of civic and political engagement on the part of today's youth has relied on traditional, often quantitative, measures of political knowledge that may miss important elements of the process. Using an ethnographic approach with a group of inner-city high school students, our study reveals a richer construction of students'…

"Democracy promotion" as part of a larger project of 'reconstruction' is hailed in mainstream academia and in policy circles as an essential component of rebuilding the state and civil society in post-conflict situations. Here "democracy promotion" refers exclusively to the promotion of political representation and…

This article argues that given its structural conditions, development aid bears a particularly heavy burden of learning and accountability. Unfortunately, however, the organization of evaluation guarantees that evaluations will be inconsistent and it creates incentives for positive bias. This article presents evidence from organizational studies…

This paper seeks to provide a starting point for a broader discussion on the development of a critical research agenda in the field of "Education and Conflict Studies." We begin the paper with a brief overview of the field of Education and Conflict drawing on a series of recent "overviews" of the field and locate this within…

The history of the sixties at the University of Wisconsin-Madison is both typical of other large universities in the United States and, at the same time, distinctive within the national and even international upheaval that marked the era. Madison's history shows how higher education transformed in the decades after World War II, influenced…

By the time he left office, President Bush's faith-based initiative had become a kind of stand-in for his entire presidency. Whenever something went wrong on Bush's watch it was tarred as yet another "faith-based" policy. As the 2008 presidential election began to take shape, with the Democrats newly in charge of both the House and the Senate and…

As commonly told to and read by children, the story of Rosa Parks and the Montgomery bus boycott fails to indicate Mrs. Parks' activist role or the degree of community organization and participation in the boycott. Telling what actually occurred allows children identify with people who make justice happen. (SLD)

In this policy brief, former P/PV President Gary Walker asks, "Is mentoring now a durable part of American social policy? If so, is this unalloyed good news?" Adapted from an article that first appeared in "The Handbook of Youth Mentoring" (DuBois and Karcher, ed. 2005), the brief reflects on the impact and appeal of mentoring, addresses various…

In this paper, we analyse the links between subjectivities as they are constructed through the intersecting discourses of gender and literacy, and we situate this analysis in the context of the current neo-liberal social and economic order. We begin with a discussion of the background to the gender and literacy debates. We then describe what…

This paper looks at the 1992-3 compensation controversy at the University of California in light of the factors that shaped the board's policy response to the controversy, the Principles for Review of Executive Compensation. It discusses the events of 1992-3 in the context of the public and political debate over the appropriate model for executive…