Critical Issues in Education: Dialogues and Dialectics

by Nelson, Jack; Palonsky, Stuart; McCarthy, Mary Rose

• ISBN13: 9780073378640
• ISBN10: 007337864X
• Edition: 7th
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-02-26
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages

Summary

Critical Issues in Educationis designed to be used in courses that examine current, relevant pro and con disputes about schools and schooling. By exploring the major opposing viewpoints on these issues, the text encourages education students to think critically and develop their own viewpoints. The clear writing and dramatic dialectic approach are conducive to dynamic classroom discussions that help students grasp the many sides of these complex issues. Three integrating themes provide a solid framework for examining the eighteen topics covered. Each part begins with a chapter-length introduction that provides background material and organizing themes for the issues that follow. Each issue is then presented from two divergent viewpoints, each one written in advocate language to be as compelling as possible. The book's objective, in addition to informing the reader about the issues, is to develop critical thinking skills within the context of education. .

Table of Contents

Foreword	p. xiii
Preface	p. xvi
Introduction: Critical Issues and Critical Thinking	p. 1
Introduction	p. 2
Democratic Vitality and Educational Criticism	p. 9
The Political Context of Schooling	p. 14
A Tradition of School Criticism and Reform	p. 15
Whose Interests Should Schools Serve? Justice and Equity
School Choice: Family or Public Funding	p. 52
Is family choice of schools in the public interest?	p. 52
For Family Choice in Education	p. 52
Against Vouchers	p. 61
Financing Schools: Equity or Disparity	p. 75
Is it desirable to equalize educational spending among school districts within a state or across the nation?	p. 75
For Justice in Educational Finance	p. 75
Against Centralization in Educational Financing	p. 84
Gender Equity: Eliminating Discrimination or Accommodating Difference	p. 97
Is it ever necessary to create schools or classroom settings that separate students by gender?	p. 97
Eliminating Discrimination	p. 97
Accommodating Differences	p. 105
Standards-Based Reform: Real Change or Political Smoke Screen	p. 116
Will the standards-based reform movement improve education or discriminate against poor and disadvantaged students?	p. 116
Standards-Based Reform Promises Quality Education for All Students	p. 116
Standards-Based Reform is a Political Smoke Screen	p. 125
Religion and Public Schools: Unification or Separation	p. 138
How do schools find a balance between freedom of religious expression and the separation of church and state?	p. 138
For Religious Freedom in Schools	p. 138
Against Violating the Separation between Church and State	p. 147
Privatization of Schools: Boon or Bane	p. 159
What criteria are most suitable for deciding whether schools are better when they are operated as a public or private enterprise?	p. 159
Public Schools Should be Privatized	p. 159
Public Schools Should be Public	p. 167
Corporations, Commerce, and Schools: Complementing or Competing Interests	p. 184
Does school support become corporate support?	p. 184
Businesses are School Partners	p. 184
Commercializing the School	p. 194
New Immigrants and the Schools: Unfair Burden or Business as Usual	p. 210
Should schools offer free opportunity to all children of new immigrants?	p. 210
Schools Should Offer Educational Opportunities to All Children of New Immigrants.	p. 210
Bad Policy Overburdens Schools	p. 218
What Should be Taught? Knowledge and Literacy
The Academic Achievement Gap: Old Remedies or New	p. 243
Are already existing policies and practices reducing the academic achievement gap or are new measures needed?	p. 243
For Maintaining Existing Programs	p. 243
For Innovative Solutions	p. 254
Values/Character Education: Traditional or Liberational	p. 265
Which and whose values should public schools teach, and why?	p. 265
Teach Traditional Values	p. 265
Liberation Through Active Value Inquiry	p. 273
Multicultural Education: Democratic or Divisive	p. 289
Should schools emphasize America's cultural diversity or the shared aspects of American culture?	p. 289
Multiculturalism: Central to a Democratic Education	p. 289
Multiculturalism is Divisive and Destructive	p. 297
Technology and Learning: Enabling or Subverting	p. 309
What technology deserves significant school attention and who should decide?	p. 309
Technology Enables Learning	p. 309
Technology Can Subvert Learning	p. 319
Standardized Testing: Restrict or Expand	p. 335
Should the use of standardized school tests be increased or decreased?	p. 335
For Restricting Testing	p. 335
For Expanding Testing	p. 343
How Should Schools Be Organized And Operated? School Environment
Discipline and Justice: Zero Tolerance or Discretion	p. 363
What concept of justice should govern school and classroom discipline?	p. 363
Zero-Tolerance Disciplinary Policies Provide Justice in Public Schools	p. 363
Zero-Tolerance Discipline Policies are Fundamentally Unjust	p. 371
Teacher Unions and School Leadership: Detrimental or Beneficial	p. 382
Should teachers and their unions be given a larger role in running public schools?	p. 382
Teachers and Teacher Unions Should Play a Major Role in School Leadership	p. 382
Teachers and Teacher Unions Should Not Play a Role in School Leadership	p. 389
Academic Freedom: Teacher Rights or Responsibilities	p. 400
How should the proper balance between teacher freedom and responsibility be determined?	p. 400
For Increased Academic Freedom	p. 400
For Teacher Responsibility	p. 411
Inclusion and Mainstreaming: Common or Special Education	p. 425
When and why should selected children be provided inclusive or special treatment in schools?	p. 425
For Full Inclusion	p. 425
Special Programs Help Special Students	p. 434
Violence in Schools: School Treatable or Beyond School Control	p. 451
Can schools deal effectively with violent or potentially violent students?	p. 451
Schools Can and Should Curb Violence	p. 451
The Problem of School Violence is Beyond School Control	p. 457
Index	p. 469
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