This article looks at how colonialism has contributed to the racialized history of Indigenous people by unethical diagnostic implementations of categories and classifications, while overlooking exceptionalities when assessing Indigenous people. By understanding how settler-colonial assessments and/or diagnostic tests have been developed and…

Mental illness is a substantive issue for graduate students. We investigated experiences of mental illness during training among genetic counseling students, a subgroup of graduate students for which little data exists on this topic. Genetic counseling students and recent graduates (n = 227) completed an online survey, from who 11 were selected to…

This article explores the ideological function of the derogatory label of "pushy parent", which, since the 1980s, has been used considerably in journalistic, popular, political and academic discourses in the UK and the USA. "Pushy parent" is not a descriptive term, but a conceptually vague label implying the existence of…

This commentary addresses the analysis in Persson's (2012a) article. According to the authors, the agenda for change amongst scholars has four productive proposals. These are: (1) that scholars should broaden their disciplinary outlook beyond psychology and education; (2) that they should eschew policy borrowing; (3) that they should clarify, for…

This study examined peer crowds in the Singapore context. A total of 598 Secondary 1 and 2 adolescents were asked to identify the crowds they perceived to exist in their schools and to describe these crowds' characteristics. The adolescents had no difficulty identifying crowds, generating a total of 1,534 crowds. Among the crowds identified, seven…

In this special section, 6 articles address the provocative question of how to determine the boundary between difference and deficiency, for children who differ from the mainstream in some way--language, hearing, cultural background, socioeconomic status, or social understanding. Our commentary considers these articles in light of current models…

In the Netherlands and the USA, the assessment process is changing for children who present learning and behavioural challenges in school. Evaluations for eligibility determinations and support planning are shifting along with disability models and tensions over the provision of inclusive schooling. Legislative edicts influence the assessment…

Decision-making regarding intensive instructional support for children with special needs should build from children's instructional needs, and not from diagnostic labelling and criteria for funding eligibility. Cognitive referencing, the use of results on intelligence and language quotients to decide children's academic options and funding…

"Poor white trash" is likely the most enduring and degrading in a long line of "stigmatypes"--"stigmatizing boundary terms that simultaneously denote and enact cultural and cognitive divides between in-groups and out-groups"--such as "redneck," "cracker," and "hillbilly." Some people…

This article focuses on the sense of what an "African" (American) identity could mean when viewed through the processes of migrations and fluid identities of contemporary African immigrant children as they interact with their African (Americans) peers in schools. The purpose of this article is to use data from a study of West African…

This dissertation examines the construction of the label Muslim as an emerging racial and political signifier. I explore how students who identify as Muslim understand their own racial and religious construction, as well as their own subjectivity within the American social, political and cultural landscape. This dissertation asks: (1) How do…

In some places in the world teachers still receive professional esteem commensurate with the vital task they have chosen to fulfil. In the US this is not currently the case. Even the lip service that used to be paid to teachers seems to have vanished as the perceived crisis in the schools is more and more blamed on teachers--and especially teacher…

Color-blind racism develops when persons ignore color in people and see them simply as individuals. As persons of color in racialized societies such as the United States are unequally treated on account of their color, the issue becomes a matter of faith and religious experience as religious leaders and educators, who disregard color, overlook…

In the United States first-generation students (FGSs), those who are the first in their families to attend university, are recognised as disadvantaged and receive government support. Amidst affirmative action debates in higher education in South Africa, an increased awareness has emerged about challenges that FGSs in this country face. A…

Educators in the United States have been socialized to believe that their mission in teaching is to play nice and treat all of their students the same, regardless of race, ethnicity, class, or gender. What is often missing in this teaching-all-equally approach is a counter-narrative that questions whether teachers can in fact successfully act as…