We, as community college English teachers, have the opportunity to empower students who have been subjected to years of top-down, teacher-directed education. We have the obligation to make them critical thinkers, improving their chances of being thoughtful and successful adults. It all begins with the way we teach writing and the respect we have…

The Honorable Judge Nathaniel Jones litigated the "Milliken v. Bradley I" case before the U.S. District Court and Supreme Court in 1971 and 1974. Nathaniel Jones was born May 12, 1926 in Youngstown, Ohio, and served as the general counsel for the NAACP from 1969-1979. In 1979, President Jimmy Carter nominated Nathaniel Jones to the U.S.…

Written through the prism of Critical Race Theory (CRT), this paper addresses the question, "How can schoolhouses best serve the students within them?" The author begins by introducing "environmental racism" through a review of the literature. The author argues that CRT proponents, by allying with whites and using geographic…

Turner's (1974) conception of liminal space provides an entry point to look beyond the given and to create opportunities to examine, critique, and challenge the assumptions inherent in many music programs. Building upon his theory of liminality as a place that is "ambiguous, neither here or there, betwixt and between all fixed points of…

The author's school had just been labeled a failing school by No Child Left Behind when its new principal arrived in the fall of 2007. In this demoralizing climate, teachers can get frustrated and choose to give up, or they can rise to the challenge, create a plan for improvement, and plunge into uncharted waters. This article discusses how the…

This study explores the types and extent of federal and state aid to Catholic elementary education. It examines the situation in Michigan, Missouri, and Ohio and provides case studies of Catholic elementary schools in Detroit, St. Louis, and Toledo. In Ohio, probably the most generous state with respect to nonpublic schools, the elementary school…

The art of spoken word has captured youthful spirits all over the country, especially in heterogeneous urban centers. In this essay, the author opens up for re-consideration a central issue in language arts education, one suggested by the very writing of spoken word: how educators think about the relationship between oral and written language and…

To test R. E. Callahan's (1962) theory about superintendents' vulnerability to interest groups, the career of E. C. Hartwell is examined. Hartwell's career in three cities (1914-22) demonstrates the power that a superintendent could acquire and wield. (SLD)

This paper analyzes prevalent methods of comparing schools' performance and recommends alternative measures more helpful toward understanding how schools might be improved. The influence of two factors--resource availability and financial need--on the level of school programming is explained in light of Michigan's system of educational finance.…