School bashing has been a national pastime for years. Government officials and business leaders demoralize teachers and administrators carrying out improvement efforts by telling them how poorly they are doing. Although many educators truly believe in a national desire to improve education, there is no national will to compensate and empower…

Disagrees with the tone and conclusions of the special section on United States-Japan relations in the November-December, 1991 issue. Contends that the national interests of the United States were ignored to avoid "Japan Bashing" over trade and other economic issues. Calls for a more realistic view of Japan's trade policies toward the…

Discusses a report, "Different Drummers: How Teachers of Teachers View Public Education," on how education professors view public education. Argues that the report may have been biased by the political attitudes of its sponsoring organization. Examines how this could have produced the "professor bashing" that the researcher…

Goals 2000 is the offspring of "A Nation at Risk," a 1983 teacher- and school-bashing report. IBM CEO Louis Gerstner named the problem and defined the solution, claiming the need for choice, competition, and technology, recasting students as human capital, and marketizing the teacher/community relationship. Tables summarize critics'…

Two brief stories about attitudes toward higher education in North America are presented. One notes criticisms of college faculty as underproductive and overpaid and of distorted values in academe. The second focuses on two trends: cheerleading scholarships and endorsement income for athletic coaches. (MSE)

Examines the recent phenomenon of educators attacking their own on the issue of professionalizing teachers and improving teacher education. Explores the issue of the professionalization of teaching and discusses the role of teachers in educational reform. Concludes that teacher "bashing" may hamper attracting potential teacher education…

The phrase "school/business relationship" is misleading, since such "partnerships" encompass everything from genuine altruism to cynical exploitation of the "youth market." Corporate infiltration could signal privatization of public education, despite conspicuous failures like Education Alternatives, Inc. Instead of…

Many education critics are now acknowledging that schools are performing better than ever. "Then and now" studies of test scores typically favor the now. Student motivation strongly influences performance on standardized tests. Bush's America 2000 program does little for poor and minority children falling behind grade level. Complex…

In "Raising Children in a Socially Toxic Environment," James Garbarino's nostalgic recollection of family, school, and neighborhood life in the 1950s becomes the utopian antecedent for a comparative bashing of contemporary times. Although racial stratification and social/economic marginality compromise 1990s families' child-raising…

In this article, the author examines briefly several broad themes in reading reform to see what these can tell about policy makers' respect--or lack of respect--for teachers of reading. He talks about the current discourse of "scientifically-based" research which is about teachers, teachers who are blamed for reading failures. He…

Authors of "Strategic-Brief Therapy: An Insight-Oriented Approach?" reply to articles by Schwartz and by Slipp reviewing their original article, by clarifying their position and any misunderstandings that may arise from the reviews. The authors elaborate on their view of meaning construction and provide further explanation of case…

This issue on gender and the media contains the following (1) "Home, Home on the Remote"; (2) "Dads Through the Decades" (Mark Crispin Miller); (3) "The New Man: That's Entertainment!" (John Lehrer); (4) "Singing Men's Songs" (Kerry Skorlich); (5) "Media Myths and Men's Work" (Ian Harris); (6) "Why Are There No Asian Male Anchors?" (Ben…

In her advocacy of a model to train counseling psychologists as "evidence-based practitioners," Chwalisz (2003) (this issue) criticizes research based on positivism and advocates for methodological pluralism but ironically suggests the adoption of a medical model to influence the discourse on practice. In this comment, the author examines (a)…

This article is based on nearly 25 years of working with and studying folk art and folk artists. While certified art educators and their university teachers may think they are inclusive in their understandings about art and learning processes, generally speaking, they are either unaware or tend to ignore folk artists' ways of understanding the…

Given decades of lucid, blunt admonitions that statistical significance tests are often misused, and that the tests are somewhat limited in utility, what is needed is less repeated bashing of statistical tests, and some honest reflection regarding the etiology of researchers' denial and psychological resistance (sometimes unconscious) to improved…