In "Diving in Where Angels Fear to Tread: Pre-Requisites to Evidence-Based Interventions," John Raven poses a crucial question if the current education system guarantees a high quality of future citizens. He proposes an analytical diagnosis of this complex phenomenon of wasting individual talents and social energy due to shortcomings and…

The paper argues that values education has moved from being associated most heavily with the religious agenda of faith schools to being central to updated research insights into effective pedagogy. As such, it represents a vital approach to education in any school setting. The paper draws on an array of values education research and practice in…

Rosenak's "Teaching Jewish Values" (1986) is perhaps his most accessible book about Jewish education. After diagnosing the "diseases" of Jewish education, he endorses "teaching Jewish values" as the curricular strategy most likely to succeed given the chasm which divides traditional Jewish subject matter and the…

While global human rights knowledge has become a central facet of curricula used to shape multicultural societies and develop cosmopolitan citizenry, such knowledge is shaped by sociopolitical context. Japan has a long history of incorporating human rights concepts into its citizenship curriculum; however, this curriculum is produced in a…

Studies of "cost and value" in anatomical sciences education examine not only what works, but at what cost, thus evaluating the inputs and outputs of education. This research provides insights into how to use available resources (e.g., academic time, budgets, infrastructure) as a mechanism to obtaining the maximum outcomes available. The…

This paper was invited as a commentary on the keynote paper for this special issue by Simon Marginson and Lili Yang. The paper begins by noting the importance of a fully balanced approach to comparison in higher education, that gives equal value and weight to Sinic and Anglo-American views by adopting a transpositional approach and also…

This essay review focuses on Daisaku Ikeda (b. 1928) and his curriculum of Soka, or value-creating, education present in two works: "Choose Life: A Dialogue" (Toynbee & Ikeda, 1976) and "Thoughts on Education for Global Citizenship" (Ikeda, 1996b). In reviewing these works, the authors trace the biographical roots of Ikeda's educational philosophy…

The arts disciplines (visual arts, music, theatre, and dance) merit and require formal study. Policy makers should support studies in the arts as core disciplines, as specified in the "Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA)," the federal legislation that sets policy and appropriations for public education. The arts merit and…

In this article John Raven responds to commentaries on his article, "Diving in Where Angels Fear to Tread: Pre-Requisites to Evidence-Based Interventions" (EJ1248321). Herein, he provides dialogues with individual authors that relate closely to his original theme and which seemed to merit further elaboration. He briefly addresses: (1)…

Under the current neoliberal paradigm, the discussion of "good teachers" often centers on a very limited aspect of "best practices" used to effectively transmit pre-packaged knowledge to students. Soka, or value-creating education as expounded by Japanese educators Tsunesaburo Makiguchi, Josei Toda, and Daisaku Ikeda, is an…

In his 2006 essay, "Moral Education's Modest Agenda," Robin Barrow argues for a clearly bounded conception of morality; he presents the moral domain as concerned with moral principles, and moral education as the cultivation of moral understanding. Barrow rejects behaviourism, character education, values clarification, developmentalism,…

Adult basic education's role, from the beginning, has been about serving people with foundational skill needs. The author, Judy Mortrude, agrees with the argument that adult literacy education needs to be repositioned within a new framework of lifelong and life-wide learning, a framework in which new policies are formulated, programs are designed…

The structure of higher education today, in conjunction with those actively trying to devalue a liberal arts degree in the public sphere, has set the table for what seems like a completely rational solution: finding a "niche." Broadly speaking, colleges offering a liberal arts education identify their "niche market" in terms of…

An honors senior thesis introduces students into a world of scholarship and professional activity in a way that no single course, either semester- or year-long, can do (Anderson, Lyons, and Weiner). Many honors educators consider honors thesis work to be the defining honors experience. For graduate schools, employers, and the students themselves,…

Ellen Winner is a psychologist and a professor at Boston College. She specializes in psychology of art. In this interview, she answers the following questions including: (1) What are you currently working on, researching? (2) Could you elaborate on the intrinsic value of art education? (3) How might you compare your work today to earlier advocates…