This study investigates the effects of band labels on evaluators' judgments of musical performance. High school concert band members (n = 72), wind ensemble members ( n = 77), and band directors (n = 8) were randomly assigned to a band label or no label group. Only the band label group was given evaluation forms that specified the group playing…

Although neurological anomalies seem to be on the rise, this author wonders if the disorder known as autism is truly a genuine epidemic. Marcum explains why a better way of labelling might be more helpful. He contends that autism is not a "disease," but rather a syndrome--a collection of symptoms. To label all brain disorders or developmental…

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…

For many people an esoteric educational topic is eugenics. This brief text analysis will provide a textual as well as contextual analysis of Dr. Ann Gibson Winfield's book (2007) Eugenics and Education in America: Institutionalized Racism and the Implications of History, Ideology, and Memory. Winfield objectively critiques eugenic apologetics.…

The number of people diagnosed with autism has risen exponentially in recent years. Are the diagnostic labels currently in use adequate to describe such a vast range of symptoms? Should we reconsider the appropriateness of the language we use to discuss autism? A mother of two autistic sons describes what the autism label has meant for her and her…

In the Essex, Cincinnati retirement center where they both worked as nurses, Holly Doherty and Michele Schavoir often heard aides complain about one longtime resident in particular. The patient kicks and screams and nurses can not stand to be around her. After a year of playing detective, Doherty found a number of the patient's relatives in…

Traditional special education research has excluded personal stories told by those most affected by the special education system. Specialists continue to diagnose, label, and provide assistance to persons with learning disabilities with little input from the persons most affected. The field continues to rely on the medical model, placing the locus…

Proponents of a social model of disability derive their arguments from social constructionism. They combine different disabling conditions under one term: disability. Subsequently, they apply the specific viewpoint of the disability rights social movement of people with physical disabilities to other conditions such as intellectual disabilities,…

Researchers have identified the negative effects of labeling associated with curricular tracking. Using a variety of theoretical perspectives, researchers have also suggested how the formal, structural role of tracking was established and has persisted despite strong evidence that tracking and attendant labeling of students negatively affects the…

This paper argues that the concept of E-Prime (E') holds practical benefits to effective listening for students of interpersonal communication. In advancing this argument, the paper includes a concise review of relevant literature on E-Prime, defensiveness, and conflict, with particular emphasis on verbal aggression. The literature demonstrates…

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…

Children's ability to read and spell their own and classmates' personal names in and out of context in Hebrew was studied. Preliterate children aged 4 to 6 years (N = 60) showed high knowledge of their own names but varied greatly in knowledge of others' names and emergent literacy skills. Reading and spelling of names was primarily related to…

Len Barton has pioneered the sociological study of education in the areas of disability studies and inclusive education. This paper addresses an argument developed by Len Barton that social exclusion, of which disablism is one element, (1) has many compounding forms of differing exclusions, (2) is not a natural but a socially constructed process,…

This study demonstrates the potential for collaborative research among participants in local settings to effect positive change in urban settings characterized by diversity. It describes an interpretive case study of a racially, ethnically, and socioeconomically diverse eighth grade science classroom in an urban magnet school in order to explore…

The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between being labelled either as having dyslexia or as having general special educational needs (SEN) and a child's self-esteem. Seventy-five children aged between 8 and 15 years categorised as having dyslexia (N = 26), as having general SEN (N = 26) or as having no learning difficulties (N…