This article presents a discussion of how postmodernist, poststructuralist and critical educational thinking relate to different theories of power. I argue that both Critical Theory and some poststructuralist ideas base themselves on a concept of power borrowed from a modernist tradition. I argue as well that we are better off combining a…

Knowledge about music advocacy strategies has long been promoted as important for music educators, not only for the benefit of their individual programs but also for the specific benefit of music students and the general public. This article suggests an approach to advocacy grounded in the teacher's professional beliefs, phrased in terms…

The need for a convergence of the visual arts and the natural sciences within the framework of both formal (schools, universities) and non-formal education (museum) at the level of dissemination and popularization of this knowledge is something that has preoccupied the communities of artists, scientists and educators. In the present work we aim to…

When Dewey scholars and educational theorists appeal to the value of educative growth, what exactly do they mean? Is an individual's growth contingent on receiving a formal education? Is growth too abstract a goal for educators to pursue? Richard Rorty contended that the request for a "criterion of growth" is a mistake made by John Dewey's…

As of September 2010, the U.S. manufacturing sector grew for the 14th consecutive month, leading some economists to speculate that, as with the Great Depression, American manufacturing will lead the economy out of the recession. It is a little bit of good news in a long stream of depressing employment reports. Career and technical educators…

Teaching philosophy is much more than just teaching style, or a framework for a course. It can be defined as one's beliefs about life that are carried out in his/her teaching practice, which serve as a foundation for his/her educational philosophies. The majority of literature addressing philosophies in adult education practice focus on how…

This paper is a preliminary investigation into how the context of student life influences student writing. Specifically, activity theory is drawn upon to explore how the role of assessment affects students' attempts to participate in knowledge-producing communities, a relatively under-researched aspect of student writing. To identify rhetorical…

Immanuel Kant envisioned a kind of respect in which one recognizes each human (1) as being not fully comprehensible by any human understanding, (2) as being an end in him- or herself, and (3) as being a potential source of moral law. In this essay, Gregory Lewis Bynum uses this conception of respect as a lens with which to examine African American…

How has philosophical reflection contributed to the ways that we think about teaching? In this paper I explore two forms of narrative reflection on teaching--genealogies and portraits. Genealogies tell a story about the origins of teaching; portraits find expression in myths and other narrative forms. I explore two genealogies of teaching--one…

The history of an educational institution is maintained both in its traditions--the customs and practices of the school--and in its physical dimension--the buildings, landscapes, and other cultural resources that define its "campus." In the past 15 years, the memorialization of the American college and university campus--whether in…

This article considers how a contribution based on Rorty's philosophy can help in the understanding of quality and its assurance in higher education. The suggestion is that if quality has an edifying purpose, then it should be seen as an ongoing process and might be aptly judged as being just "good enough". This position is argued for it…

Human dignity is a grand concept that is assumed to play an important role in education. However, no widely accepted universal definition of human dignity exists. The aim of this study was to examine the Discourse of Human Dignity within teacher education, especially with respect to how Swedish teacher educators make meaning of the concept of…

Rev. Mark S. Massa, S.J., is the dean and professor of Church history at the School of Theology and Ministry at Boston College. He was invited to give a keynote to begin the third Catholic Higher Education Collaborative Conference (CHEC), cosponsored by Boston College and Fordham University. Fr. Massa's address posed critical questions about…

In a recently published article in Cultural Studies of Science Education (Volume 6, Issue 2) titled, "What does playing cards have to do with science? A resource-rich view of African American young men", Alfred Schademan (Cult Stud Sci Educ 6:361-380, "2011") examines the resources that African American young men learn through playing a card came…

This article applies criteria for validity in interpretation to Eric Donald Hirsch, Jr.'s interpretations of John Dewey. Specifically, three criteria that Hirsch, himself, established in his earlier work are used to evaluate Hirsch's interpretation of John Dewey as a member of a class (romantics) who embraced a naive naturalism (trait) more often…