Is the American public school doing what we want it to do? Or, is what we want it to do in conflict with what society allows it to do? This book takes on issues central to understanding the complexities of the American public school experience. Readers are simultaneously taken into the historical and contemporary context of these issues through an honest and provocative approach that engages them into the real world of school. Chapters revolve around key issues such as religion, democracy, teachers, race, reform, pedagogy, efficiency, freedom, segregation, social class, exceptionality, gender, technology, and accountability. Paradoxes of the Public School promises to foster a thoughtful dialogue on the complexity of school and how best to improve it for the future. Teacher educators may find it useful to help develop teacher candidates’ understanding of the nature of school. However, anyone interested in the nature of school will find this book insightful, clear, and easy to follow. All readers will find this book to be cutting edge as it creatively fills a dire need for a compelling tale of school that is both informative and thought provoking.

Revised thoroughly and updated, this second edition of Paradoxes of the Public School comprehensively explores public education in the United States. Researchers, faculty, and students will find this book accessible, insightful, and provocative. The book is packed with school history, theory, and data that are practically applied to a clear and fluid treatment of contemporary issues. Such issues include those related to areas such as religion, democratic citizenship, the teaching profession, race, academic freedom, social class, exceptionality, gender, technology, and privatization. Written with a clear and engaging prose, Paradoxes of the Public School is designed to be useful for both individuals seeking a first encounter to understand public education as well as longstanding education scholars.

In 2005 the World Bank released a gender assessment of the nation of Jordan, a country that, like many in the Middle East, has undergone dramatic social and gender transformations, in part by encouraging equal access to education for men and women. The resulting demographic picture there—highly educated women who still largely stay at home as mothers and caregivers— prompted the World Bank to label Jordan a “gender paradox.” In Gendered Paradoxes, Fida J. Adely shows that assessment to be a fallacy, taking readers into the rarely seen halls of a Jordanian public school—the al-Khatwa High School for Girls—and revealing the dynamic lives of its students, for whom such trends are far from paradoxical. Through the lives of these students, Adely explores the critical issues young people in Jordan grapple with today: nationalism and national identity, faith and the requisites of pious living, appropriate and respectable gender roles, and progress. In the process she shows the important place of education in Jordan, one less tied to the economic ends of labor and employment that are so emphasized by the rest of the developed world. In showcasing alternative values and the highly capable young women who hold them, Adely raises fundamental questions about what constitutes development, progress, and empowerment—not just for Jordanians, but for the whole world.

Comparing Special Education unites in-depth comparative and historical studies with analyses of global trends to uncover similarities and differences found in special education systems around the world.

This is a book by several charter school advocates taking stock of the past, present, and future of the charter movement.--

Educational Partnerships and the State is a compelling collection of essays by an international group of scholars that provides a critical exploration of the role of partnerships in contemporary educational reform. Their focus is on the expanding role that collaboration between the public and private sector has come to play in the governing of schools, children, and families in response to an array of worldwide economic and social changes. The contributors to this volume highlight the new relationship between civil society and the state through partnerships and what that linkage has come to mean for an array of educational issues including academic achievement, school governance, school parent-relationships, teacher education, the construction of family and community involvement, and the discourses of reform as practices that order participation and action.

Learning from Singapore tells the inside story of the country’s journey in transforming its education system from a struggling one to one that is hailed internationally as effective and successful. It is a story not of the glory of international test results, but of the hard work and tenacity of a few generations of policy makers, practitioners and teacher trainers. Despite its success, Singapore continues to reform its education system, and is willing to deal with difficult issues and challenges of change. Citing Singapore's transformation, author Pak Tee Ng highlights how context and culture affect education policy formulation and implementation. Showing how difficult education reform can be when a system needs to negotiate between competing philosophies, significant trade-offs, or paradoxical positions, this book explores the successes and struggles of the Singapore system and examines its future direction and areas of tension. The book also explores how national education systems can be strengthened by embracing the creative tensions generated by paradoxes such as the co-existence of timely change and timeless constants, centralisation and decentralisation, meritocracy and compassion, and teaching less and learning more. Learning from Singapore brings to the world the learning from Singapore—what Singapore has learned from half a century of educational change—and encourages every education system to bring hope to and secure a future for the next generation.

Stimulating, thought-provoking analysis of the most interesting intellectual inconsistencies in mathematics, physics, and language, including being led astray by algebra (De Morgan's paradox). 1982 edition.

Paradox in Public Relations: A Contrarian Critique of Theory and Practice is a thought-provoking exploration of public relations, aiming to promote changes in meaning and perception by creating new meta-realities for public relations. The term “Public Relations” was embraced by early practitioners primarily because it sounded more professional than the often-pejorative alternatives. This book argues for a reframing of some of the popular realities associated with modern-day public relations and uses psychological and organizational change theory to critique paradoxes in public relations theory and practice. By examining public relations through the lens of paradox, we can begin to identify the logical fallacies that have inhibited progress and innovation in public relations practice and theory. The book explores the paradoxical nature of key concepts, including public interest, relationship management, accountability, stewardship, loyalty, community, and ethics. It also recommends new conceptualizations for understanding the field. This book will be of interest to media, communication, public relations, and advertising faculty and graduate students, particularly those interested in public relations theory and ethics. Scholars from other disciplines can also use this exploration of paradox in PR as a learning tool for identifying logical fallacies and inconsistencies.

Paradoxes of Media and Information Literacy contributes to ongoing conversations about control of knowledge and different ways of knowing. It does so by analysing why media and information literacy (MIL) is proposed as a solution for addressing the current information crisis. Questioning why MIL is commonly believed to wield such power, the book throws into sharp relief several paradoxes that are built into common understandings of such literacies. Haider and Sundin take the reader on a journey across different fields of practice, research and policymaking, including librarianship, information studies, teaching and journalism, media and communication and the educational sciences. The authors also consider national information policy proposals and the recommendations of NGOs or international bodies, such as UNESCO and the OECD. Showing that MIL plays an active role in contemporary controversies, such as those on climate change or vaccination, Haider and Sundin argue that such controversies challenge existing notions of fact and ignorance, trust and doubt, and our understanding of information access and information control. The book thus argues for the need to unpack and understand the contradictions forming around these notions in relation to MIL, rather than attempting to arrive at a single, comprehensive definition. Paradoxes of Media and Information Literacy combines careful analytical and conceptual discussions with an in-depth understanding of information practices and of the contemporary information infrastructure. It is essential reading for scholars and students engaged in library and information studies, media and communication, journalism studies and the educational sciences.