Schools have always been subject to an overwhelming variety of socio-political demands, which shift in response to the political climate--impacting art education in different ways. The current debate on social and political issues in art education is not new. Beginning with McFee (1966), and particularly since the 1970s, there has been a growing…

The democratic aim of American education is to provide "all" students with the knowledge, skills, and dispositions to become informed, effective, and responsible citizens. Like civic education itself, literacy education can be embraced by all teachers across all disciplines. There are strategies that all teachers can use to help address…

The democratic aim of American education is to provide "all" students with the knowledge, skills, and dispositions to become informed, effective, and responsible citizens. Like civic education itself, literacy education can be embraced by all teachers across all disciplines. There are strategies that all teachers can use to help address…

This major contribution to the literature on adult education provides adult educators with an accessible overview of critical theory's central ideas. Using many direct quotes from the theorists' works, the author shows how critical theory can illuminate the everyday practices of adult educators and help them make some sense of the dilemmas,…

On one side, pure horror at catastrophe, the work of human beings or nature alone; on the other side, speechlessness, an apathy of powerlessness. Lured by the media, educators become spectators of multiple tragedies, distanced, unable to grasp others' pain. How do they deal with the crumbling of the taken-for-granted, of the reliable and…

Many young students are unfamiliar with key symbols of the United States and the ideals that these symbols represent. These symbols consist of images and words that adults know by heart, but too often take for granted. The lesson activities described in this article focus on four well-known symbols--their history and what they mean to American…

The author and preservice teachers in a postbaccalaureate Issues and Reform in Secondary Education course engaged Ernest Stringer's (2004) model of action research to develop generative curricula. They adhered to Walter C. Parker's (1991, 2006) vision of public formation and essential social studies teaching and used student-centered teaching…

Background/Context: A challenge for teachers who support teaching for and about democracy is doing so while being pressed into directives rooted in corporatocracy, a political manifestation of neoliberalism. The accountability movement today, particularly No Child Left Behind, is rooted in much more firmly in corporatocracy than democracy.…

Writers in this journal have presented a number of strategies that sociology teachers can use to facilitate the expression--and serious analysis--of unpopular opinions. This article contributes to this dialog by illustrating the application of a Bill of Rights learning module. In this module, students are expected to create a document that…

As a teacher of fourth and fifth grade students, this author wanted to teach her students to assume the responsibility of civic activism for the public good, but found that students at this age do not always understand that they can make important civic contributions or that one child can make a difference. To illustrate these concepts and…

This highly acclaimed volume in the "Defending Public Schools" series is now available in paperback from Teachers College Press. It is a practical, necessary addition to the work of administrators, teachers, policymakers, and parents as they negotiate the difficult path of how to best teach and educate today's children and youth. This…

On March 11-12, 2006 the FPRI's Marvin Wachman Fund for International Education hosted 44 teachers from 16 states across the country for a weekend of discussion on teaching about India. Sessions included: (1) Why It's Important to Know about India (Ainslie T. Embree); (2) Early Indian History (Richard H. Davis); (3) Modern Indian History (Marc…

Researchers have been studying children's knowledge, thinking, and attitudes about government for several decades. However, the studies focusing on elementary students, and especially primary students, have little or nothing to say about children's ideas about democracy or democratic government. That is because children at these ages have not yet…

Citizenship education is an important part of the development of young people. By enabling them to learn about their rights and responsibilities, to understand how society works, and develop knowledge and understanding of social and political issues, citizenship prepares them for dealing with the challenges they face in life. Through citizenship…

Educators need a balance between discipline theory and its practice in the classroom. This is especially important in today's educational climate, with its increased demands for teacher accountability. Tauber has designed this book for both those who are new to teaching and those who are already seasoned teachers, but who have had little, if any,…