The events of September 11, 2001, provoked an awakening of patriotic sentiment in Americans from all walks of life. Reflecting representation from the most diverse of political, social, and economic quarters, this patriotic movement included most everyone from across the spectrum, from politicians, religious leaders, and teachers on the one hand,…

In efforts to create "good" and "responsible" citizens, social educators have sought solutions (assimilation, acculturation, etc.) to the "problem" of racial, ethnic, and linguistic diversity in U.S. society (Houser & Kuzmic, 2001). The "greater good" of this neo-colonial endeavor often focuses on maintaining the privileges of the white, upper…

With the growing inclusion of multicultural curriculum in social studies, educators must understand the issues students of color face when learning about their ethnic history and culture. Using personal document analysis and phenomenological interviewing, this study explored six Filipino American college students' experiences with Pinoy Teach, a…

The examination of race and racism has been largely absent from much of social studies research and theory. Despite the growing racial and ethnic diversity in the nation's schools, many social studies teachers lack a theoretical framework to help students learn about, analyze, and discuss the role that race and racism have played historically in…

Race is a sociopolitical construct that is often inappropriately treated as a biological reality. This incorrect application of the construct must be challenged. The social studies curriculum, an appropriate place for this challenge, faces two tasks: correcting the concept of race, and working to eliminate the racism that its misuse has created.…

This article explores the appropriateness and implications of adopting and adapting the business-oriented concept of "best practice" in international schools. Because businesses and international schools tend to have contrasting goals and time-frames within which they seek to achieve their objectives, it is expected that "best practice" in schools…

This article is based on a multiple case study which examines the lives of a group of 11 former international school students who all attended an international school between 20 and 50 years ago. The research design was based on a review of the literature on third culture kids and adult third culture kids, covering emotional and relational issues…

This article discusses commonalities that exist between two popular educational approaches that provide options for a wide range of student achievement levels, the Schoolwide Enrichment Model and the International Baccalaureate, especially the Primary Years Programme, in classroom practice. Introductions to the International Baccalaureate and…

This article presents a model of cosmopolitanism, taken from the conceptual part of the author's research study into "The Relationship between Multilingualism and Cosmopolitanism". Cosmopolitan cultural identity is introduced as straddling the global and the local, encompassing questions of cultural mastery, metaculturality, mobility and…

It has been suggested that the International Baccalaureate Organization could be expected to "influence" as many as 100 million people in the foreseeable future. This article focuses on some of the cultural dissonances that may be produced from attempts to "clone" on to non-Eurocentric models, educational systems and methodologies designed to…

This article discusses the contribution made by Joseph Conrad's fictional writing to our understanding of cultural awareness. Never comfortable with his adopted English culture, Conrad used his experiences in different parts of the world during his career in the merchant navy to explore in his writing aspects of cultural dissonance and cultural…

International schools are increasingly identifying Functionally Multi-Lingual children in their student populations. These students, bilingual or multilingual at surface levels of conversation, have not established academic competence in any single language. In many cases, the teacher may assume that another, more robust language exists, when in…

The article begins by setting out a confluence of events that initiated a proposal to attract students from Taiwan to a new EdD program in Australia, and then explores the tensions and congruities that ensue from this scenario. The main tensions and congruities revolved around issues of standards, quality, English-language levels, profit motives,…

The issue of parental choice of school for their child has been a topical one in many contexts worldwide, and work has been undertaken in a number of national contexts to investigate the many factors at work in influencing such choice. This article considers parental choice within the specific context of bilingual (Spanish/English) schools in…

The potential of online learning for enhancing international education is substantial, yet few studies have explored the conditions under which students feel motivated and engage productively in cross-national online interchange. This article examines the significance of social affordances, specifically social presence, on university students'…