Educational policy and practice has resided and continues to reside at the vortex of social and political strife in South Africa, as in the United States. Although school poverty and inequities among schools in the U.S. pale in comparison to conditions in South Africa, the two nations have much in common, including histories of state-sanctioned…

To the now-expansive literature on the causes and consequences of segregation in schooling and of inequality in educational opportunity in the United States, the author would like to add a call for more attention to the politics of school districting--that is, to how and why districts are created, in the service of whose interests, and with what…

Highlights a reading teacher in a small New York high school against the backdrop of increasing pressure to demonstrate accountability, sharing classroom observations in the context of the state's education reform agenda, regulations governing compensatory education and English language instruction, school funding, and Title I provisions, and…

Describes and critiques the dominant understanding of poverty in the United States as reflected in its most common measure, the federal poverty line, commenting on the politics of poverty measurement and considering the implications of a revised measure of poverty for thinking about poor children and their education in this nation's schools. (SM)

This paper argues that rural poverty remains relatively invisible because, although shameful, it is profitable, and the rural poor pose little threat to their suburban neighbors. This is illustrated via interrogation concerning a rural poultry plant fire. The paper examines implications of this case for foundations scholars and educational…

The article examines the educational implications of people's inclinations to blame social victims for their plight, looking at the situation of immigrants and issues of apathy. The article suggests that genuine encounters with suffering may offer the best hope for educational and social progress. (SM)