In this forum response essay, the author proposes that the largest challenge "and" benefit of Communication Activism Pedagogy (CAP) is bound up in a small but significant word in Frey and Palmer's (2014) definition of Communication Activism Pedagogy: "with." Working "with oppressed community members" challenges the…

Within the United States, education has long been valued as a means of fostering the growth and development of each person in order to realize the democratic ideals of freedom, equality, non-discrimination, and respect for the rights of all. In an increasingly globalized world and within the United States itself, this growth and development must…

In this article, the author shares her personal reflections on praxis and social justice through her work in a teacher education program in Los Angeles. She also shares her thoughts of why she became a teacher, why she became an education professor, and of those who inspired her to work in education. She describes the joy in educational work and…

Underpinning many of the ongoing debates over the means and ends of teacher education are serious differences about the purposes of education in general and about the relationship between schooling and a democratic society in particular. At stake in these debates is the nature of what counts as "democracy," a word with multiple political meanings.…

"Rethinking Popular Culture and Media" is a provocative collection of articles that begins with the idea that the "popular" in classrooms and in the everyday lives of teachers and students is fundamentally political. This anthology includes outstanding articles by elementary and secondary public school teachers, scholars, and activists who…

Educators--and parents and politicians and others--say children are their future. They say that they want students to think critically, that they want them to be problem-solvers, to ask questions, to challenge educators to make the world a better place. And yet, the author sees educators set aside these high aspirations and silenced by the fear of…

If the recent elections of a Black man to the presidency and a Hispanic woman to the Supreme Court of the United States, or news that Ku Klux Klan membership is down from its estimated high of 6 million in 1924 to about 8,000 in 2008 makes one think racism is gone from America, think again! Idaho residents still express concern about the image of…

If students from a totalitarian nation were secretly transported to a Canadian classroom to continue their lessons with new teachers and a new curriculum, would they be able to tell the difference? Both classes might engage students in volunteer activities in the community--picking up litter from a nearby park, or helping out at a busy…

In this article, Cochran-Smith argues that now more than ever, teacher education needs public intellectuals to challenge prevailing views and expose its governing myths. The author makes this argument by describing two issues that are in great need of public critique: (1) the myth that teacher education is a public policy problem that can be…

Since the first edition was published in 1994, Rethinking Our Classrooms has sold over 180,000 copies. This revised and expanded edition includes new essays on: (1) science and environmental education; (2) immigration and language; (3) military recruitment; (4) teaching about the world through mathematics; and (5) gay and lesbian issues. Creative…