The very essence of a culture is revealed in its educational attitudes, policies, and practices. Just as blood pressure and body temperature are measures of physical health, such matters are measures of social justice. This article focuses on the attitudes of males toward the education of women by highlighting the attitudes of the most famous and…

President Obama's education agenda, which unhappily seems to be George W. Bush's program squared, contains two major features that will impact teacher pay and working conditions. The first is that charter schools are to be promoted aggressively. The second is an insistence on teacher merit pay. In this article, the author talks about teacher merit…

A painstaking investigative report by the Washington Post describes pre-massacre Columbine as filled with social vinegar. The high school was dominated by a "cult of the athlete." In this distorted environment, a coterie of favored jocks, who wore white hats to set themselves apart, consistently bullied, hazed, and sexually harassed their…

Except for Timothy Hodges and James Harter's restrained research summary, the feature articles in this issue are evangelical in their praise of strengths-based education. It is, they assure us, a major innovation. English teacher Alexis Onishi writes that StrengthsQuest, a specific strengths-based approach, will have "a lifelong impact on how…

As a teacher the author often wishes that his students were more curious. Yet, Alice Ramos (this issue) proposes that curiosity can be a vice. She writes that there are times when a student might be motivated by a "blamable desire for knowledge." Ramos bases this claim on a distinction made by Thomas Aquinas, the thirteenth-century Aristotelian…

At this writing former President Reagan has just been interred with much pomp, plus hours of nationally televised praise. Some enthusiasts have even proposed carving the former president's countenance into Mount Rushmore. History will decide whether or not Mr. Reagan ranks as a great, or even good, president. But the indecorous rush to laud his…

Dedicated educators, struggling with the mandates of "No Child Left Behind" will immediately identify with the hero of this allegory. Horace is a small frog, who has a passion for gardening, and watching flowers bloom. As soon as he comes of age, Horace decides to pursue his great love of nurturing tender blooming things. He studies, diligently,…

For tens of thousands of years human beings relied on oracles, prophets, medicine men, and resignation to try to manage unknown risks. Then, in the transformative 200-year period from the mid-17th through the mid-19th centuries, a series of brilliant insights created groundbreaking tools for rational risk taking. Discoveries such as the theory of…

The author examines male attitudes regarding the education of women. He discusses the lives and education of women in ancient Greece and Rome, in the Middle Ages, in the Renaissance and Reformation, in the 1700s, and in the 20th century. (CT)

Discusses the ease with which solutions to educational problems are offered and the difficulty with which they are implemented. Considers expectations, consensus, tasks, and resources in showing the political complexity of schooling issues. (JOW)

Teaching children "knowing that" something is right or wrong is probably worthless. Meaningful values education--knowing how--is best done by example, by parents and educators conducting themselves morally. (SK)