Synopses & Reviews
Critical Issues in Education is designed to be used in courses that examine current, relevant pro-and-con disputes about schools and schooling. By exploring the major opposing viewpoints on these issues, the text encourages education students to think critically and develop their own viewpoints. The clear writing and dramatic dialectic approach are conducive to dynamic classroom discussions that help students grasp the many sides of these complex issues. Three integrating themes provide a solid framework for examining the nineteen topics covered. Each part begins with a chapter-length introduction that provides background material and organizing themes for the issues that follow. Each issue is then presented from two divergent viewpoints, each one written in advocate language to be as compelling as possible. The book's objective, in addition to informing the reader about the issues, is to develop critical thinking skills within the context of education. The fourth edition includes updated research and scholarship, updated bibliographic references, and three new chapters (Beginning Reading Is there one best approach to literacy? Gender Should gender differences affect schools and schooling? and Mainstreaming and Inclusion How should we provide for students with special needs?).
About the Author
Jack L. Nelson a professor of education at Rutgers, obtained his doctorate from the University of Southern California. He is experienced teacher in schools at the elementary, secondary, undergraduate, and graduate levels; his university teaching experience includes California State University, Los Angeles; the State University of New York at Buffalo; San Jose State University; and Cambridge University. Nelson has been a visiting scholar at the University of California, Berkeley; Stanford University, University of Colorado; and Curtin University and the University of Sydney in Australia. Critical Issues in Education is his sixteenth book; he has also published about 150 articles and reviews. He is listed in Whos Who in America and Contemporary Authors.Stuart B. Palonsky is professor of education and director of the Honors College at the University of Missouri-Columbia. A former public school teacher in New York and New Jersey, Palonsky earned his doctorate at Michigan State University. His publications include 900 Shows a Year, an ethnographic study of high school teaching from a classroom teachers perspective. In addition, Palonsky has published numerous articles and reviews in educational and social science journals, and has presented scholarly and professional papers on educational issues at national association conferences.
Table of Contents
Foreword by Nel NoddingsPrefaceChapter 1: Introduction: Critical Issues and Critical ThinkingPart One: Whose Interests Should Schools Serve? Justice and EquityChapter 2: School Choice: Family or Public Funding Chapter 3: Financing Schools: Equity or DisparityChapter 4: Academic Achievement Gap: Old Remedies or New Chapter 5: Gender Equity: Discrimination or Legitimate Distinctions Chapter 6: Standards-Based Reform: Real Change or Political Smoke ScreenChapter 7: ReligionChurch/State: Unification or SeparationChapter 8: Privatization of Schools: Boon or BanePart Two: What Should Be Taught? Knowledge and LiteracyChapter 9: Basic Education: Traditional or Critical Chapter 10: Reading: Phonics or Whole Language Chapter 11: Multicultural Education: Democratic or Divisive Chapter 12: Values/Character Education: Traditional or Liberational Chapter 13: Technological Literacy: Necessary or ExcessiveChapter 14: Standardized Testing: Restrict or ExpandPart Three: How Should Schools Be Organized and Operated? School EnvironmentChapter 15: Instructional Leadership: Teachers or Administrators Chapter 16: Academic Freedom: Teacher Rights or Responsibilities Chapter 17: Teacher Unions: Detrimental or Beneficial to EducationChapter 18: Inclusion and Mainstreaming: Special or Common Education Chapter 19: School Violence: School Treatable or Beyond School Control Index