Equity is the most significant problem educators face. Very large inequities and inequalities persist in both education and society. Why? What can be done about them? While much has been written about these issues, progress is very slow and there is little agreement on why or what to do. While this article cannot resolve these questions, it raises…

The world faces pervasive poverty and inequality. Hundreds of billions of dollars in international aid have been given or loaned to developing countries though bilateral and multilateral mechanisms, at least, ostensibly, in order to do something about these problems. Has such aid helped? Debates around this question have been ongoing for decades,…

While there are areas of disagreement in the responses to this author's earlier article [Klees, "Aid, Development, and Education," "Current Issues in Comparative Education," v13(1) 7-28 2010], he finds that the disagreements are much less important than the commonalities. He tries to detail both in this reply, but he focuses on how he and his…

For more than a decade, there has been talk by politicians, academics, and others of a "third way," referring to means and principles of social organization other than the State and the market. Most of this discussion about a third way for development focuses on the roles that can be played by NGOs and other elements of civil society. In this…

This study attempts to evaluate Mexico's television-based secondary education system, Telesecundaria, by comparing the mathematics and language achievement of Telesecundaria students with that of students receiving traditional instruction. Student background and ability, community, teacher, and classroom variables are considered.…

Mateen Thobani's proposal to fund public education in Malawi through increased tuition fees applies inappropriate analytical techniques and fails to address a complex set of political, social, cultural, and economic issues. Policy formulation should stress a basis for dialog instead of pretending neoclassical economic analyses can provide answers.…

Suggests that neoclassical economics has dominated educational planning and policy analysis for 20 years, despite ongoing economics debates generating different positions on planning issues. Considers the views of radical and institutionalist economists and implications for educational planning. Questions both the validity of the efficiency…

Criticizes the state of educational economics through a review of "Economics of Education: Research and Studies" (G. Psacharopoulos, ed.) and "The Economics of Education and the Education of an Economist" (M. Blaug). Charges that educational economists have ignored external challenges and devastating technical and conceptual problems in empirical…

Discusses the problems faced by street and working children in Brazil, problems often exacerbated by the educational system. Describes how grass-roots activism led to enactment of an exceptional progressive law protecting children's rights. Examines the failure of technical rationality as the foundation of mainstream educational planning. (SV)