Examines basic issues about art education including its content, relevance to students' lives, creativity, and testing and accountability. Argues that art educators need to work at diagnosing problems, improving learning, and making opportunities for students rather than attempting to make art education accountable by submitting it to formal…

Postmodern social changes, ways these changes have contributed to the assumption of additional child-rearing functions by schools, and the modeling role of Catholic and other religious schools are discussed. Controversies in secular and religious schools arise from the transition from modern to postmodern values, not from parents'/schools' bad…

Reviews four case studies that stimulate classroom discussion of critical ethical issues faced by teachers. Avoids some of the pitfalls of the case study method by including variations for each case and by highlighting the relevant principles of perceived justice. Includes counter arguments and commentaries for each case. (MJP)

Argues that citizenship education must include an examination of the great issues of the times using active, critical teaching methods and reflective inquiry. Maintains that this is necessary to prevent political apathy in young people. Briefly discusses the history of social studies educational reform and the creation of national standards. (MJP)

The American way of life rests on a foundation of rational thought and civil behavior. Simply put, the strength of America depends on its culture--the set of beliefs, values, and behavioral norms to which most citizens adhere. Most educators have always viewed schooling for character and citizenship as a fundamental purpose of public education.…

Demonstrates how three groups--professionals, parents, and children--relate to each other concerning the responsibility of children's education. Proposes specific categories of accountability that each group must assume for the home-school partnership to develop. (MM)

Summarizes administrative roles from the Ministry of Education to boards of education elected by each prefecture and municipality. Discusses local autonomy in relation to national measures promoting educational equality. Identifies educational needs resulting from Japan's world trade, progress in science and technology, and changes in family life.…

A national shift toward greater state and district control of the teacher recertification process and a trend toward a reduced role for higher education institutions is reported. Certificate renewal requirements in 36 states and problems of quality control that might arise in locally directed programs are noted. (PP)

Discusses five curriculum orientations for computer art curricula: (1) cognitive process approach; (2) curriculum as technology; (3) curriculum as self-actualization; (4) curriculum as social reconstruction or relevance; and (5) the academic rationalism approach. Briefly critiques and defines other curricular approaches and concludes with a series…

Provides an overview of the philosophical approaches to the relationship between work and education and how these two concepts function best in a democracy. Recommends a return to the philosophy of John Dewey, who advocated a symbiosis of education and work resulting in a life of meaningful activity. (MJP)

Criticizes the current notion of defining students as "consumers" of education. Argues that this metaphor encourages a passive sense of entitlement in place of the hard work, discipline, and engagement that is necessary for learning to occur. Maintains that student are "producers" of their own knowledge. (MJP)

Discusses the ways in which feminist approaches in geography have developed over the last two decades. Critically assesses the notion of a specifically feminist method and discusses the implication of the deconstruction of "woman" for feminist research and politics. Includes a tabular comparison of conventional and feminist research…

Summarizes the response to complaints that a class examining the sociology of minorities unfairly emphasized negative behavior. The course was restructured to include an examination of resistance and interracial cooperation against racism. This new perspective was incorporated into writing assignments, class discussions, and instructional…

Investigates the ethical issues arising out of a field research project on the educational experiences of Muslim girls in a private Muslim girls' school and a single-sex state school. Argues for a feminist and poststructural approach to the research process with the subjectivity of the researcher explicitly acknowledged. (MJP)

Suggests that educational researchers need to (1) expand schooling beyond the narrow interests of the marketplace; (2) view multiculturalism as central to democracy; (3) refuse to equate nationalism and monoculturalism; and (4) substitute community, solidarity, and public responsibility for emphasis on choice and individual competitiveness. (SLD)