Although human rights are often expressed as universal tenets, the concept was conceived in a particular socio-political and historical context. Conceptualisations and practice of human rights vary across societies, and face numerous challenges. After providing an historical account of the conceptualisation of human rights in Japanese society,…

Using the frameworks of critical discourse analysis, representation theory, and legitimization theory, this study examines the political discourse of the campaign for Proposition 227 in California--particularly, the key social representations of languages, their speakers, and the main political actors in the campaign. The analysis examines the…

In this article, the author reflects on key events and issues with which he has been involved for 50 years. First, he gives a brief account of the Schools Council--what it meant in terms of the limited role of government in governing education, and in terms of the role of teachers as curriculum thinkers, not deliverers. Its demise in the 1980s…

Over the past decade higher education policy in England has gradually switched from a stance of "government as purchaser" to "government as informer". During 2012 this policy stance has been intensified through new requirements for the advice provided by schools and the introduction of "Key Information Sets" which are…

This research investigates how the Hong Kong state controls and disciplines the education sector through the regulation and manipulation of discourses. The authoritative narratives are that some schools are failing the students and parents for not being able to provide quality education, and that these schools are not subject to public scrutiny…

Community engagement in higher education is a shift beyond the traditional roles of instruction and research. This paper presents a transnational view of community engagement developed from two case studies of universities in the Philippines and Australia. The study, revealed variations in the way community engagement is understood and implemented…

This article provides a retrospective review and analysis of New Labour's policies in relation to lifelong learning. New Labour's plans to promote social inclusion through lifelong learning resulted in a focus upon participation in terms of increasing the numbers of students involved in formal learning and increasing their participation in…

In a report issued in 2010, the authors found only 6 percent of U.S. students performing at the advanced level in mathematics, a percentage lower than those attained by 30 other countries. And the problem is not limited to top-performing students. In 2011, they showed that just 32 percent of 8th graders in the United States were proficient in…

When these inequities began to change in the 20th century, due in part to the sweeping court-ordered integration following Brown v. Board of Education and the simultaneous expansion of public colleges and universities, all citizens began to gain access to educational achievement and, as a result, true access to the American power structure. The…

The debate concerning who teachers are and what they are supposed to do continues with similar fervor as 100 years ago. In today's political climate, there is a resurgence in essentialism (a focus on traditional instruction and teacher-led curricula). As our nation's teachers face the demands of accountability standards imposed by recent…

This paper outlines a critical performance pedagogy relevant to a postmodern democracy in a globalised post 9/11/01 world. A militant utopianism which challenges a politically conservative postpositivism is discussed. (Contains 9 notes.)

Historian Brian Greenwald offers a revisionist interpretation of Bell. He reviews Bell's role and influence within the American eugenics movement and shows that Bell had the respect of the most prominent American eugenicists. His intimate knowledge of deafness, from personal experience with his mother and wife and from his studies of deaf people…

In 1992, the University of New Hampshire (UNH) held a conference featuring leaders in the field of composition studies, attended by a wish list of luminaries, including Lil Brannon, Ed Corbett, Peter Elbow, Donald Murray, and Ken Macrorie. James Britton and Nancy Martin flew over from England to join the conversation. The prestigious research…

The rise and development of China's academic system is a process that started from "passively accepting Western Learning" to today's "catching up with Western Learning and even exceeding it". In the last century, China experienced a turbulent and unstable social environment in which academics and politics have always been…

In this article, a rationale for advancing a new idea in humanistic science education is developed from a Paulo Freire perspective. Paulo Freire developed a well-known approach to adult literacy based on his humanistic ideas through the dialogical process. From Freirean educational principles, the idea unfolds that a Freirean humanistic science…