In social justice education, it is common to establish guidelines for classroom discussions. We examine the limits of these guidelines in achieving the goals of social justice education, arguing that they are not adequately responsive to power relations. Rather than creating a supportive space for dialogue, these guidelines can actually interfere…

Venka Simovska's article "Case Study of a Participatory Health-Promotion Intervention in School" provides important insights regarding the active involvement of youths in service programs. This response essay extends Simovska's discussions and frames them within three key areas: positive youth development, youth voice, and meaningful…

Many teachers struggle to maintain or build hope among themselves and their students in today's climate of high anxiety and low morale. This article describes and responds to those challenging conditions. It offers teachers and scholars of education a philosophically sophisticated and feasible understanding of hope. This notion of hope is grounded…

Teaching math to reflect values of democracy has to begin with some consideration of how democracy is conceptualized. A review of various theories of democracy conducted by Hagen (1992) provides everyone with a good starting point as it identifies three primary forms of democracy: competitive, participatory, and dialogue. In this essay, the author…

Bullying among school children is a long-standing problem that detrimentally affects a substantial number of students. School officials have recognized the impact of bullying and have introduced various methods to manage the problem. To help ensure that these methods reduce bullying, it is critical that school personnel understand critical issues…

This article examines the relationship between dominant masculinities and school safety. The author shows how the social construction of masculinity impacts the safety of boys and girls in school--socially, emotionally, and physically. Drawing from research on early masculinities, incidences of bullying, hate crimes, and school shootings, the…

In this article, the author talks about "Safe Space," an after school program created by a parent-teacher advisory board which maintained that students needed a safe in-school environment where they could openly talk about their out-of-school lives. Being that the school's curriculum heavily focused on academic standards, students' affective…

The experience of being a gay teen is tremendously difficult. The statistics regarding hate crimes and threats are staggering. The results of these threats are even more appalling: Gay and lesbian youth are at greater risk of dropping out of school, engaging in substance abuse, and running away from home, and are two to three times more likely to…