The author begins by stating that Mark Wolery has probably done more than anyone else to remind the field that teaching children is the most important thing practioners do in classrooms and that there is research on what good instruction looks like. However, the author asserts that he has a different take on the new (although it began "a…

In this article, the author discusses the meaning and importance of high grades and high achievement in terms of giftedness. She offers some reasons to tell children about the importance of school achievement. She suggests that good grades are no guarantee of eventual adult success, whether that is defined as a high income or a rewarding,…

While recognizing the value of "vision," it could be argued that vision alone--at least in schools--is not enough to rally the financial and emotional support required to translate an idea into reality. A compelling vision needs to reflect substantive, research-based knowledge if it is to spark the kind of strategic thinking and insight…

Greenberg (2010) is correct in his assertion that the investigational heuristic used to measure the efficacy of antidepressants is flawed. Robust placebo effects are endemic in the psychiatric literature, particularly in studies of antidepressants, and estimates of placebo responding have increased over time (Rief et al., 2009). In the case of…

This article connects the theoretical perspective of Paulo Freire's Pedagogy of the Oppressed with the teaching and learning styles of teachers and students at Central Park East Secondary School (CPESS) in East Harlem, New York. It examines some of the ways the Freireian model has worked within the public school system and considers some of the…

Several unearned benefits attending straight privilege are listed, prefaced by two main arguments. First, it is argued that the rampant heterosexism in the U.S. is largely attributable to many Americans' framing of heterosexism as a matter of religious freedom rather than as a form of bigotry. It is further argued that educators' elimination of…

This article challenges the overemphasis in early childhood education on young children's development and its relative inattention to their learning. The author argues that learning leads cognitive development, and that early childhood educators should be more centered on teaching for learning and less on facilitating development. An alternative…

The unfolding of individual interests is reconstructed as part of a person's everyday experience in dealing with multiple goals. This is exemplified by referring to how adolescents cope with developmental tasks while striving for their ideal selves. Exploratory interaction with objects of potential interest is regarded as a central element that…

During the affluent noughties it was sometimes said of government that it had "more visions than Mystic Meg and more pilots than British Airways". In 2011, the pilots, the pathfinders, the new initiatives are largely gone--implementation is the name of the game--but the visions remain. The latest one, as it affects adult learners, is in…

This essay focuses on advanced-level German instruction and advocates an open, flexible approach to integrating the recommendations of the much-discussed 2007 MLA report on "Foreign Languages and Higher Education." Specifically, language, literature, film, and cultural studies are combined to allow for the development of transcultural competence…

In everyday language, whether a school is described as "public" or not is determined by the way it is funded and by who is allowed to attend it. Ideally however, a public school should also be defined and evaluated by its unique goal--to renew a public by providing the young with the skills, dispositions, and perspectives required to…

It is good to see Cunningham et al. including F. Matthias Alexander in their list of positive influences in John Dewey's life. However, I believe Cunningham's essay, "Shared explorations of body-mind: the reciprocal influences of Dewey and F.M. Alexander", falls short in its acknowledgement of Alexander and in one important aspect is incorrect. In…

In this issue, P. Hegarty comments on an article by G. Rieger, J. A. W. Linsenmeier, L. Gygax, and J. M. Bailey (2008) that compared videos of homosexual and heterosexual people from childhood and adulthood. The current authors claim it is reasonable to treat masculinity-femininity as a bipolar scale and present justification for the approach used…

Social work strives to be inclusive of all cultural groups and religious identities. However, a tension exists in the profession between freedom of religious expression and full acceptance of lesbian, gay, and bisexual people. David Hodge and others claim social work is oppressive to evangelical Christians. This article critiques primarily Hodge's…

This essay reviews the Vision and Practice section of the "International Handbook of Jewish Education" published in 2011. Gathered in this section, 24 Jewish educators (spread across 18 chapters) offer theoretical reflections on the state of Jewish education in the contemporary moment. These chapters seem, on first reading, a rather eclectic…