The Holocaust has challenged students, scholars, and educators to make sense of a ghastly episode of modern times. Multidisciplinary accounts of the Holocaust should not mix history and literature domains and their symbol systems haphazardly, but should honor each domain while pursuing a fuller understanding of the experience. Docudramas confuse…

A veteran teacher educator has guided future teachers on an open-ended adventure into past landscapes, using various literary works, paintings, historical volumes, and curriculum history. Enlightenment thinkers assumed every question had only one possible answer. Science is one of many symbol systems used to construct meaning. Metaphors deepen and…

Award-winning science author and Harvard professor Stephen Jay Gould shares some views on education and contemporary American culture. Gould's most enthusiastic school memory is singing in an all-city chorus. Harvard students are bright and motivated but have no shared culture, historical perspective, or foreign language proficiency. Gould favors…

A veteran writer of teaching cases for use in teacher education classes walks readers through the process. Basic ingredients include a friendly colleague to serve as sounding board, viable case material, an interview subject, interview notes, case design, a writing and rewriting process, formal release, study questions, and a teaching note that…

Describes the teachers-as-learners concept employed by Expeditionary Learning Outward Bound's extended workshop on the Cherokee Nation Trail of Tears. Journal excerpts describing one teacher's experience are provided, along with lessons learned from treaty negotiations with a federal judge and Cherokee tribal representatives. "Summit" workshops…

An early childhood education professor humorously recalls his first day observing 3 year-olds as part of his university practicum. Intimidated by the sight of 15 lively youngsters roaming about, he manages okay, but injures a child when helping with a zipper. Saved by Bactine and Dumbo Band-Aids, he nonetheless worries about the accident report!…

According to newly released Third International Mathematics and Science Study data, American children may score low on international comparisons because teachers are trying to teach them too many topics. Surprisingly, Florida's minimum competency testing program has not increased low-achievers' dropout rate. A recent "American Demographics"…

So far, results from the massive Third International Mathematics and Science Study indicate that American students have not yet achieved national goal number 5--to be first in the world in math and science achievement by 2000. Although fourth graders' results were surprisingly stronger than eighth graders' scores, American students' overall…

Those who indiscriminately advise all teens to pursue baccalaureate degrees mistakenly assume that most high school graduates are ready for college-level work, will graduate, will find better jobs, and won't be harmed if they fail. Postsecondary education at the certificate or associate's degree level can lead to rewarding, high-wage occupations…

A fifth strand of the "new vocationalism" is trying to align academic and vocational education by restructuring high schools to provide more consistent integration opportunities. These efforts take the form of career academies, clusters or career paths, and occupational high schools or magnet schools. Active, student-centered pedagogies seem most…

The school-to-career movement aims to improve youngsters' educational performance and career prospects. High schools should be organized around nontracked, thematic programs to prepare students for higher education and highly skilled employment; offer career-focused programs; include work-based learning in the core curriculum; and integrate…

The pedagogical ideas underlying the school-to-work model and embodied in the scholarship/citizenship/artisanship triad can be expressed in various program components: studying the history of democratic capitalism; interviewing CEOs; evaluating personal characteristics and career opportunities; examining economic trends, policymaking, and…

Too many high school teachers and administrators overlook non-college-bound students' needs. To prevent the United States from becoming a two-class society, high schools should adopt a bifurcated administrative structure with two major curriculum-planning divisions: one to prepare students for college and another to prepare students for community…

In 1993 Columbia University's National Center for Restructuring Education collaborated with three educational reform organizations to encourage teacher dialogue about assessment reform via the Four Seasons Project. This article profiles three participating schools that use theory, ritual, textmaking, and networking to help teachers reconcile…

Although Virginia's Governor Lowell Weicker comes from a privileged background, he has drawn himself close to the people. A liberal Republican with some strong conservative values, Weicker believes privilege means sacrifice in terms of time commitment and tax effort. Weicker has spearheaded legislation to benefit learning-disabled and economically…