Many of the concepts that English teachers traditionally deal with are too "fussy" and inappropriate for the kinds of children who currently fill American schools. These minority students and latchkey kids find the archaic vocabulary and concern over grammatical niceties baffling--to them teachers are like "Doily People," people who are so nice…

Narrowly defining reading as a list of skills dealing with word attack and letter sounds is potentially crippling to readers, because it limits the instruction provided by those who write literature--authors, who, in creating text, create meaning. The nature of reading instruction should not structure the ways human beings come to deal with…

The arts should be considered part of the basic content of any school curriculum. The arts teach us about the central nature of what it means to be human. They are an essential part of the curriculum for all learners across all ranges of abilities and talents in all schools, but perhaps especially in rural schools, where access to museums, the…

This document contains five papers presented at a symposium designed to identify and discuss implications of nationwide perspectives and research studies on vocational education. Following an introduction that explains the context of the presentations, the following papers are included: "Improving Secondary Vocational Education" (Harry F.…

The English education program at the University of Maryland, College Park, serves as a sound model for teacher preparation. The requirements of the program accommodate the changing needs of society while preserving the traditions of literature and language study. All education students must fulfill university-wide requirements and meet general…

The increasing number of black students in private schools has been stimulated partly by concern about the adequacy of the public schools; a desire by parents for greater choice about, and control over, their children's schooling; and a desire to find schools with values similar to their own. Private school efforts to draw minority students have…

All research on curriculum development incorporates implicit assumptions about the nature of persons and the nature of learning. These assumptions fall into two major categories: (1) psychological assumptions, based on empirical descriptions; and (2) logical (conceptual) assumptions, which give explanatory accounts of meaning. Most curriculum…

The introductory essay in this volume presents a case study of class-based organizational control and contestation in secondary schools in Victoria (Australia) in the 1970s, based on a critical perspective derived from the Frankfurt school, a perspective that undertakes to reveal the power structures, class hierarchy, and legitimating ideologies…

A tribute to the work of Ann Berthoff, this book--a collection of 6 poems and 21 essays--explores issues in the philosophy and teaching of composition. Each of the five sections is introduced with a poem by Marie Ponsot. Essays and their authors consist of (1) "Genre Theory, Academic Discourse, and Writing within Disciplines" (James F.…

This study sets out to examine fundamental aspects of citizenship education in Swedish schools, based on the theory that, in a democracy with a system of compulsory public education, curricula are the products of political compromise, accommodating the aims of several different groups. From this perspective, the school as an ideological state…

This book, consisting of articles by separate authors, traces the historical and ideological development of textbooks in educational administration through five separate phases. "From Idea to Ideology: School Administration Texts 1820-1914" by Robert Mason analyzes 19th Century perspectives on school administration based on texts from that time,…

The major purpose of this book is to describe the basis, features, and future of the whole language movement. Topics included in the book include: (1) a description of what is known about language and language development; (2) presentation of a whole language perspective on literacy development, involving both reading and writing; (3) presentation…

This module was developed to help preservice and inservice teachers understand the rationale behind the community education movement, its development in North Carolina, and how to infuse at least one of its components (use of community resources) into classroom instruction. The module consists of three units. The first unit is designed to help…

An overview is provided of the educational philosophies of Allan Bloom, Lynne V. Cheney, William Bennett, and Ernest Boyer, with special focus on their political underpinnings. The essay begins with an examination of the issues discussed in "The Closing of the American Mind," by Allan Bloom. Concern and disagreement is expressed about:…

To advocate the work of Gregory Bateson, especially his Double-Bind theory, this paper describes how the theory can be applied to particular instances and to the general experience of black students in a predominantly white, authoritarian college setting. The paper argues that miscues on the part of black students in the classroom and in writing…