What's fear got to do with it?

January 23, 2008

The education world is under more scrutiny than ever before. Reports, political platforms, test result comparisons, and various articles in newspapers and magazines all criticize a field that just a generation or so ago was considered an unabashed American success. Educators, students and parents each experience significant fear as it relates to the education system, fearing such things as job loss, testing, bullying, or poor educational quality.

The current special issue of Educational Policy, named the Politics of Education Association Yearbook, explores the use of fear in the politics of education and its impact. Beginning with the assertion that fear now shapes the political arena, affecting beliefs about education, the articles examine current issues in education and how they affect students, teachers and administrators.

“The 2008 Yearbook examines the underlying elements of fear in education politics, among groups, constituencies, and levels of government--as a way of understanding the dynamics of school change and reform in a complex post-modern society,” commented Journal Editor Ana M. Martinez Aleman. “Guest Editors Rick Ginsberg and Brice Cooper have compiled articles that invite the readers to critically examine the politics of fear in school reform.”

“This volume of the Politics of Education Yearbook covers some new ground in the field of the politics of education,” write the guest editors in the introduction. “Our hope is that it will spark new research on how politics is evolving as it relates to education and help those studying the field to recognize the prominence that fear now holds in how schools function.”

Source: SAGE Publications


Rank 4 /5 (5 votes)
Tags

Relevant PhysicsForums posts

More news stories

A frank discussion of the power law and linking correlation to causation

(PhysOrg.com) -- Michael Stumpf a mathematics professor at Imperial College in London, and Mason Porter a lecturer at Oxford have teamed together to write and publish a perspective piece in Science regarding the in ...

Other Sciences / Mathematics

created Feb 10, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (5) | comments 10 | with audio podcast report

Employers feel no love for unscrupulous practice of 'service sweethearting'

A new study led by two Florida State University marketing professors finds that some frontline service employees who are rewarded for hikes in customer loyalty and satisfaction also may engage in "service ...

Other Sciences / Economics & Business

created Feb 10, 2012 | popularity 3.3 / 5 (3) | comments 11

US workers are 'giving away the store,' costing firms billions

Nearly 70 percent of the nation's service employees give away free goods and services – from hamburgers to cable TV – costing companies billions of dollars a year, according to a groundbreaking study.

Other Sciences / Economics & Business

created Feb 09, 2012 | popularity 3.5 / 5 (4) | comments 10

New insights into how to correct false knowledge

The abundance of false information available on the Internet, in movies and on TV has created a big challenge for educators.

Other Sciences / Social Sciences

created Feb 07, 2012 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (7) | comments 9 | with audio podcast

Neanderthal demise due to many influences, including cultural changes: study

As an ice age crept upon them thousands of years ago, Neanderthals and modern human ancestors expanded their territory ranges across Asia and Europe to adapt to the changing environment.

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

created Feb 07, 2012 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (5) | comments 8 | with audio podcast


Scientists discover molecular secrets of 2,000-year-old Chinese herbal remedy

For roughly two thousand years, Chinese herbalists have treated Malaria using a root extract, commonly known as Chang Shan, from a type of hydrangea that grows in Tibet and Nepal. More recent studies suggest that halofuginone, ...

New method to examine batteries -- MRI from the inside

There is an ever-increasing need for advanced batteries for portable electronics, such as phones, cameras, and music players, but also to power electric vehicles and to facilitate the distribution and storage of energy derived ...

A mitosis mystery solved: How chromosomes align perfectly in a dividing cell

Although the process of mitotic cell division has been studied intensely for more than 50 years, Whitehead Institute researchers have only now solved the mystery of how cells correctly align their chromosomes during symmetric ...

Starve a virus, feed a cure? Findings show how some cells protect themselves against HIV

A protein that protects some of our immune cells from the most common and virulent form of HIV works by starving the virus of the molecular building blocks that it needs to replicate, according to research published online ...

Researchers find extensive RNA editing in human transcriptome

In a new study published online in Nature Biotechnology, researchers from BGI, the world's largest genomics organization, reported the evidence of extensive RNA editing in a human cell line by analysis of RNA-seq data, demons ...

The proteins ensuring genome protection

Researchers from the University of Geneva (UNIGE), Switzerland, have discovered the crucial role of two proteins in developing a cell 'anti-enzyme shield'. This protection system, which operates at the level of molecular ...