The distinguished US philosopher Elizabeth Anderson, who teaches at the University of Michigan, answers questions put to her by John White about educational aspects of her work in moral and political philosophy. She begins by describing her indebtedness to Dewey in his views on developing students' capacities for intelligent enquiry and as…

Gifted children are children first, and they have educational and social-emotional needs that run all over the map. Anyone who knows gifted children is familiar with the sudden shifts within a child who might be doing high school level scientific study, handwriting at a third grade level, display the wit and wisdom of a middle aged adult, and…

The author is the proud parent of The Most Complex Child on the Planet[TM]. This has been confirmed by numerous teachers, administrators, doctors, therapists, specialists, friends, family members, and random strangers on the street. She has accepted her son's complexity (mostly) and is trying to work with it instead of against it. Now she is…

This article addresses the social-emotional aspect of early childhood learning, specifically within the context of the transition to kindergarten. The author writes from a mother's point of view, and through focusing on her son's transition to kindergarten, she critiques the ways in which teachers too often ignore the social-emotional…

Homeschooling parents worry a lot. And homeschooling parents of gifted children seem to worry even more than most. Parents who homeschool intense, smart, sensitive, and perfectionist children and teens are often themselves intense, smart, sensitive, and perfectionistic, even if they don't always think of themselves as gifted. One shouldn't be too…

When the author first began attending History of Education Society annual meetings as a graduate student in the 1990s, he would often listen wide-eyed to war stories of the good old days when sessions would break down into shouting matches between "radical revisionists" and their opponents. He thinks older generation of historians missed both the…

I want to use this essay -- basically a commentary -- as a context for some political reflections on what is happening to the governance and the labour processes at universities internationally. In the process, in addition to my critical reflections on the neoliberal impulses affecting universities, I want to do two other things. First, I shall…

This article responds to Poutiatine's (2009) "What is Transformational?: Nine Principles Toward an Understanding Transformational Process for Transformational Leadership" by relating home schooling environments as lab schools for developing transformational leaders. Although many families select home schooling for improved academic progress or…

When the author started homeschooling, she would listen jealously as other parents discussed curriculum for reading and math, two subjects that her daughter never needed any instruction in as a young child. She was eager to try out curriculum, but her visual spatial daughter was not quite ready for learning on paper. She found out that searching…

John Locke is often taken to be a staunch defender of parents' rights in the realm of education. In fact, Locke's pedagogical reasons for preferring home education to school education do not necessarily apply to similar choices in modern contexts. Locke's political argument for defining education as a duty of parents rather than the state does not…

The author discusses his book "Homeschool: An American History," and offers four primary impetuses for the current status of homeschooling as a political movement. First, he writes, social and political changes of the second half of the twentieth century partnered radical leftists who wanted nothing to do with conventional America and conventional…

Rob Reich's claim that fruitful discussions about the balance among state, parental, and children's educational interests would benefit by contemplating the widespread phenomenon of homeschooling is a welcome suggestion. His policy recommendations, however, place an unjustified burden on parents to show the adequacy of homeschooling arrangements…

Drawing from six years of qualitative research, this article analyzes the broad range of proposed and existing homeschool regulations throughout the United States. It argues that current homeschool regulations--and most proposals for how to improve them--misjudge the complexity of such an endeavor; state resources are misused and the basic…

A parent who teaches her children at home discusses the skills needed by the parent, reasons for choosing home schooling, children's opportunities for socialization, and other topics that are frequently misunderstood. (MT)

Parents of two gifted children are interviewed about their decision to teach their children at home. The parents describe their reasons for taking the children out of school and the benefits of home schooling and offer suggestions for other parents contemplating the idea. (CL)