Critical Issues in Education: Dialogues and Dialectics
by Nelson, Jack; Palonsky, Stuart; McCarthy, Mary RoseEdition: 7th
Format: Paperback
Pub. Date: 2009-02-26
Publisher(s): McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages
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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 |
| Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved. |
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