Drawing on insights from literary critic and theorist Kenneth Burke, this rhetorical analysis of "Preparing Teachers" (2010), a publication of the National Research Council, reveals then critiques' key assumptions that are shaping policies and current reform efforts in teacher education, including changes in U.S. teacher…

This article, theoretically constructed on Gramsci's notion of cultural hegemony, explores the use of Black female hair as a cultural signifier in two media texts, specifically Adrienne Kennedy's play, "Funnyhouse of a Negro," and Chris Rock's documentary, "Good Hair," in specific media texts. Analysis of the…

In "We Need to Teach for Ethical Conduct," Dr. Robert Sternberg argued that students act unethically because they are unable to transfer principles of ethics into practice. While I agree that this is partially the case, it is also the case that unethical behavior is a result of the prevailing educational-philosophy: radical…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the quality, evolution, and position of university students' argumentation about organic agriculture over a 4-week argument-critique-argument e-learning experience embedded in a first year university biology course. The participants (N = 43) were classified into three groups based on their…

In the spring of 2013, the "Harvard Educational Review" ("HER") published a special issue entitled "Expanding Our Vision for the Arts in Education" (Vol. 83, No. 1). Following a variety of forward-looking essays and arts learner reflections concerning the potential of the arts in education, the issue concluded with a…

In this essay, Rubén Gaztambide-Fernández reflects on the comments made in a forum convened to reflect on his article "Why the Arts Don't 'Do' Anything: Toward a New Vision for Cultural Production in Education," published in the "Harvard Educational Review" ("HER")'s special issue entitled…

This essay questions the digital humanities' dependence on interpretation and critique as strategies for reading and responding to texts. Instead, the essay proposes suggestion as a digital rhetorical practice, one that does not replace hermeneutics, but instead offers alternative ways to respond to texts. The essay uses the Occupy movement as an…

The question whether the study of education and teacher education belong at a liberal arts college deserves careful consideration. In this essay Bruce Kimball analyzes and finds unpersuasive the three principled rationales that are most often advanced on behalf of excluding educational studies, teacher education, or both from a liberal arts…

This article proposes the use of a four-component multimodal employment project that offers students a 360-degree understanding of the rhetorical situations surrounding job searches. More specifically, we argue for the use of the four deliverables of written resumes and cover letters, mock oral onsite interview, video resume analysis, and peer…

With the hope of inspiring readers to reimagine the centrality of general education in constituting young adult capacities to create and sustain collective self-governance, this essay describes two courses and one activity built around public problems. General education viewed as a human right as well as a shared responsibility can thus serve as a…

This personal reflection explores the role of counter-narratives and courageous conversations in the elementary curriculum. It explores how the intentionality of Black Heritage Day at the Folk Arts-Cultural Treasures Charter School and its curriculum guides students and teachers in exploring issues of race, culture, and history. (Contains 1…

This essay takes a look at what I call anti-progressivism in education or, more particularly, criticism of progressive education that was so vocal and visceral that it earns a label, at least initially, of anti-progressivism. After a brief introduction discussing the terms in general, I look at three instances of anti-progressivism in the 1950s…

This literature review serves to inform the reader on current literature on Contrastive Rhetoric (CR), with specific reference to teaching writing to Japanese students of English. It will examine the historical developments of CR and its present significance before then looking at possible reasons for unique characteristics of Japanese L2 writers…

Because in his Gettysburg Address, President Abraham Lincoln said, "we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain," and "...that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth," it is accurate to report that he spoke the words "perish from the earth" and "died in vain." But if his 1864…

Poetry is about the experience of meaning as well as the meaning of experience. To read a poem is to feel one's way into the inner workings of its language, rather than to peer through that speech to an extractable truth. Most students of literature today have difficulty in grasping the performative or rhetorical dimensions of the texts with which…