Asserts that governance of U.S. schools is decentralized, and extremism not a part of the curriculum. However, American schools would be more effective if students understood their place and behaved more politely, if trying hard were routine behavior, and if public education were more highly valued. (23 references) (MLH)

Recounts the activist history of the Conference on College Composition and Communication in working toward a more democratic valuing of language diversity by both teachers and the public. Focuses on two organizational policies of CCCC, the "Students' Right" resolution of 1974 and the "National Language Policy" of 1988,…

Focuses on acquisition of English by speakers of Jamaican Creole. Examines historical data drawn from reports from the colonial period and highlights the systemic failure of pupils to acquire English. Discusses a recent investigation of secondary schools in postcolonial Jamaica, which finds a similar cycle of underachievement among Creole…

Argues that gendered identities are in context more fluid and shifting than depicted in feminist leadership texts, drawing on a small case study of female (British) headteachers. Femininities are varied and shaped by the roles women undertake, the leadership context, and the amount of power women have access to. (Contains 65 references.) (MLH)

The "new ruthless economy of globalization" has spawned a culture of performance in education characterized by increased demand for accountability through high stakes testing, and decreased funding. Effects include loss of teacher autonomy, focus on teaching to the test, proliferation of commercial cramming schools, increased external…

A conceptual framework was developed to analyze ideological debates about bilingual education in California and Colorado. A discussion of language as problem, as resource, and as right reveals how viewing Spanish as a problem enables devaluation of bilingualism and the linguistic capital of Latino immigrants, and the displacement of Latino parents…

Presents the results of a major study that attempts to define the occupational characteristics of the teaching profession in post-Soviet Russia. Compiles and summarizes a wide array of information concerning educational background, salaries, certification, professional attitudes, prestige, and other factors among Russian teachers. Includes…

Presents the results of a major study that attempts to document the effect that the sociopolitical changes in Russia have had on the material comfort, personal attitudes, and social position of teachers in that country. Includes comparisons of competing educational models as well as statistical analysis of teachers' attitudes. (MJP)

Examines the challenges of preparing English language teachers in South Africa's postapartheid society, describing what it means to educate teachers in a transforming society and how to handle students' changing lives as they shed their baggage of apartheid schooling, interact with fellow preservice teachers, and attempt to change the lives of the…

Four case studies illustrate three approaches to Aboriginal postsecondary education in Canada: the add-on approach, the partnership approach, and the First Nations control approach. Overcoming challenges related to access, completion rates, Indian control, and cultural relevance relies in large part on the political will of Canadian governing…

Discusses how using "Pickering v. Board of Education" or "Hazelwood School District v Kuhlmeier" as precedents in cases involving classroom speech by teachers has fostered court inconsistency. Proposes a judicial standard that emphasizes adequate notice to teachers when certain speech is proscribed and scrutinizes school-board…

An ethnographic study in two California school districts examines how court cases, federal and state legislation, local and state school board decisions, election results, and national reports interacted to constrain students' confidence to function at a particular level in English and the learning opportunities that a bilingual teacher could…

Discussion of the pressures for expansion in Norwegian higher education looks at both long-term trends (need for a better-educated workforce and rising level in parents' education) and current demographic, individual, and political forces (a deteriorating labor market, younger students, competition for admission). Whether this situation is unique…

Argues for placing art education at the center of a radically reconstituted liberal arts curriculum. This curriculum would elevate aesthetic education (music, dance, art) to the same level as the more traditional subjects. Calls for a thorough integration of these subjects with an emphasis on experiential learning. (MJP)

Focuses on a low-performing school district to review the problems of school reform and accountability, and to reveal the set of prevailing conditions and themes that make change more complicated. It is argued that the politics of race, poverty, the vacuums in communication and leadership, and the uncritical mass of human resources dramatically…