Education, Cultures, and Economics: Dilemmas for Development (Garland Reference Library of Social Science)

Book Description

This edited volume reviews the conflict between economic prescriptions for improved education in the developing world and local cultures. Among the issues reviewed are: conceptions of culture and economics in development and education literature, economic considerations of school systems to promote cultural goals, the differentiation of schools from other sites of cultural reproduction, learning experiences of various cultural groups, and the cross-cultural work of development agencies.

Hothouse Kids: The Dilemma of the Gifted Child

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You do your best parenting before you have kids
Interesting but Frustrating
No Dilemma Presented Here
A challenging book for parents
More Opinion Than Fact

Hothouse Kids: The Dilemma of the Gifted Child
Alissa Quart
Manufacturer: Penguin Press HC, The
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1594200955
Release Date: 2006-08-17

Book Description

Critically acclaimed author Alissa Quart breaks the news about an issue that will be of urgent concern to parents and educators as well as adult readers with "gifted" pasts: the dilemma of the gifted child. While studies show that children who are superior learners do benefit from enriched early education, the intensely competitive lives of America's gifted and talented kids do have risks. The pressure can have long-term effects in adult life, from debilitating perfectionism to performance anxiety and lifelong feelings of failure.

Quart traveled the country to research the many ways in which the current craze to "produce" gifted kids and prodigies has gone too far. Exploring the overhyped world of baby edutainment and "better baby" early education programs, she takes a hard look at the claims about educational toys and baby sign language. Taking readers inside the ever-more elite world of IQ testing, she reveals the proliferation of new categories of giftedness, including "terrifyingly" and "severely" gifted and examines the true value of such testing. Profiling the explosion of kid competitions-from Scrabble(tm) and chess to child preaching-she uncovers the dangers of such heated pressure to excel so early in life and exposes the prodigy hunters who search science and math fairs for teens to hire for Wall Street investment firms. Critiquing the professionalization of play, she visits with kids who've been identified as prodigies-from a four-year-old painter whose works sell for $300,000, to an eight-year-old professional skateboarder who is backed by nine corporate sponsors. Surveying expert assessments of the necessary role of unstructured play in child development, she warns about the disappearance of recess and the pitfalls of children's overstuffed schedules today. She also profiles the growing divide in opportunities for wealthy kids versus those from middle and lower income families who are losing out as gifted programs at public schools are gutted in the wake of the No Child Left Behind Act.

How should parents and educators draw the line? How much enrichment is too much, and how much is too little? What are we doing to our gifted kids? Alissa Quart's penetrating in-depth examination provides a much-needed wake-up call that will spark a national debate about this urgent issue.

Customer Reviews:

You do your best parenting before you have kids.......2007-08-07

I was disappointed by this book. I know I did my best parenting before I had any kids and I guess Alissa is doing the same. What I expected when I picked up the book and what I got were diametrically opposed. While I am sure there are parents who push their kids too hard, most don't. Rather than concentrate on the minority I'd prefer she give help to the majority, she didn't! I have read many books on the subject and found hers to be the least help of any I've read in the last 16 years!

Interesting but Frustrating.......2007-07-28

The biggest problem I had with the book is that Ms. Quart is childless, so she second-guesses what parents are doing without ever having been in that position herself. I'd like to see whether Ms. "Holier-than-Thou" Quart gets a bit more sympathy when she has her own child(ren). She is obviously very bitter about her own experience as something of a writing prodigy, and that bias colors her writing throughout the book.

She also lumps together a bunch of different issues that don't really have all that much to do with each other. It's like she can't decide what the focus of her book is- true prodigies, garden-variety gifted kids, or the average IQ offspring of affluent parents.

I was particularly disappointed in the chapter on homeschooling. Ms. Quart views homeschooling as always inappropriate "hothousing" even though earlier in the book she discusses how many public schools are cutting back or eliminating gifted programs. Also, she fails to understand that many parents are homeschooling precisely to get away from the unhealthy competitive atmosphere and obsession with external markers of achievement she repeatedly criticizes in her book.

No Dilemma Presented Here.......2007-04-17

A dilemma suggests two views, a situation where a difficult choice must be made. The author presents only one view. Over and over again she tells stories of unhappy adults who were paralyzed by the gifted label and the experience of being pushed by extreme parents. While I believe these stories and pain are genuine, I cannot understand why Ms. Quart does not speak of other adults who have thrived, those who look back fondly on their gifted education and the enrichments their parents offered. She mentions the current Spelling Bee pronouncer and former champion, Jacques Bailly. In other venues Bailly has frequently spoken how much he believes in academic competition and how much he enjoyed the experience as a child. But here Bailly is only quoted when he registers a complaint.

Stories of positive experiences never are mentioned. The balance would have made this book live up to the subtitle.

The crucial flaw of the book is that Ms. Quart completely misses the point about gifted children. She speaks of giftedness as something forced on children (or as a classification "bought" by wealthy families.). Anyone who spends time with a truly gifted child knows that the push comes from the child. No parents of a gifted child would ever credit the Baby Einstein videos for their child's intellectual curiousity.

And gifted children do ask for academic pre-schools and weekly trips to the museum, and very much enjoy spending hours in a small room being quizzed by an adult. (This may not be a good thing, but it is a real thing.)

I expected the book to examine the actual dilemma parents face--how much should the parent nurture the child's requests, and how much should the children be encouraged to "just go out and play" even though they resist? By dismissing the key element of the child's desires in this equation, Ms. Quart eliminates any value to her argument.

This book does nothing to help gifted children, nor to guide their parents or teachers.

A challenging book for parents.......2007-03-03

It is quickly evident that the author is too close to the issues she presents and that she is very bitter about her childhood. I also didn't care for the condescending attitude she takes about almost everyone she encounters in her research.

Unlike others reviewers, I thought she did come to a general conclusion, that gifted children generally benefit from gifted education programs but not the pressure of wearing the mantle of "prodigy." I especially appreciated the favorable description of Iles School in Springfield, Illinois.

As a parent of two gifted children, I found a lot of food for thought in this book: topics that led to self-reflection about my motivations and actions.

More Opinion Than Fact.......2007-02-27

As someone who lived (and, I guess, is still living) the life of a "gifted" person, I'm not terribly surprised by what I found in this book. Many of the problems held by gifted students originate not from parents but from bureaucrats--people who want to figure out how best to control their talents for profit. There isn't much profit for the parents themselves, so where's the profit going to come from? Other than those kids marked by stock brokers and scientists for high-paying jobs, what's left? Political profit, of course, and this is Quart's real goal. Quart simply oppresses her topic into non-existence unless it can produce the right kind of person that will be sure to vote the right way. Scrabble players, spelling bee kids, math geniuses...they're all weird at best and dangerous at worst, *especially* if they've been home-schooled or attend church. Competitors in chess are hyper-competitive, but (surprisingly?) kids participating in politically-charged poetry slams are "encouraging" and "supportive". She weeps for school districts that support the gifted and thereby thwart the "equal results" that certain political groups seek, yet cannot find anything but disdain for programs that support the results of all students simply (and clearly) because of the political party that happened to begin it. Her descriptions of her subjects are caricatured so badly that one cannot have any faith in the descriptions. And, as some have noted below, she has played loose and fast with those she quotes in order to make the right sort of case. If you have the ability to ignore or refute the author's opinions through basic critical-reading skills, you can get a basic idea of the sorts of issues faced by the gifted. If not, look elsewhere.

Dilemmas of Science Education: Perspectives on Problems of Practice

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Dilemmas of Science Education: Perspectives on Problems of Practice

Manufacturer: RoutledgeFalmer
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0415237637

Book Description

Through the use of case studies and commentaries by senior scholars in the field, this unique book provides student-teachers with personal and professional insights into some key science education 'dilemmas'.

Cases in Middle and Secondary Science Education: The Promise and Dilemmas (2nd Edition)

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Cases in Middle and Secondary Science Education: The Promise and Dilemmas (2nd Edition)
Thomas R. Koballa , and Deborah J. Tippins
Manufacturer: Prentice Hall
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0131127985

Book Description

This broad-based volume highlights dozens of situations and challenges associated with middle school and secondary school science teaching, along with the suggestions of experts for improving practice and stimulating creative thinking in a scientific vein. After an introduction to the case-based pedagogy, ten chapters present three to four cases each, all of which relate to a central theme. The final chapter delineates a methodology for creating engaging, instructional cases from one's personal teaching experience. Through a study of the cases, future and practicing science teachers can glean an understanding of prevailing instructional practices and convincing, research-based arguments with which to challenge current traditional approaches. For future and in-service science teachers at middle and secondary schools.

Democracy, Education, and Multiculturalism: Dilemmas of Citizenship in a Global World

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Democracy, Education, and Multiculturalism: Dilemmas of Citizenship in a Global World
Carlos Alberto Torres
Manufacturer: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0847685357

Book Description

This important book looks at developments that are changing our understanding of the role of education in citizenship and the possibilities of democratic participation. The chapters cover theories of citizenship and education and the transition from the welfare state to the neoliberal state, and draw on Hobbes, Locke, Jefferson, Kant, Hegel, Marx and other writers such as C. Mouffe and C. Pateman to outline contemporary approaches to multiculturalism in education and citizenship.

From Oppression to Grace: Women of Color and Their Dilemmas within the Academy

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From Oppression to Grace: Women of Color and Their Dilemmas within the Academy

Manufacturer: Stylus Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Book Description

This book gives voice to the experiences of women of color--women of African, Native American, Latina, East Indian, Korean and Japanese descent--as students pursuing terminal degrees and as faculty members navigating the Academy, grappling with the dilemmas encountered by others and themselves as they exist at the intersections of their work and identities.

Women of color are frequently relegated--on account both of race and womanhood--into monolithic categories that perpetuate oppression, subdue and suppress conflict, and silence voices. This book uses critical race feminism (CRF) to place women of color in the center, rather than the margins, of the discussion, theorizing, research and praxis of their lives as they co-exist in the dominant culture.

The first part of the book addresses the issues faced on the way to achieving a terminal degree: the struggles encountered and the lessons learned along the way. Part Two, "Pride and Prejudice: Finding Your Place After the Degree" describes the complexity of lives of women with multiple identities as scholars with family, friends, and lives at home and at work. The book concludes with the voices of senior faculty sharing their journeys and their paths to growth as scholars and individuals.

This book is for all women of color growing up in the academy, learning to stand on their own, taking first steps, mastering the language, walking, running, falling and getting up to run again--and illuminates the process of self-definition that is essential to their growth as scholars and individuals.

Dilemmas of Culture in African Schools: Youth, Nationalism, and the Transformation of Knowledge

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Dilemmas of Culture in African Schools: Youth, Nationalism, and the Transformation of Knowledge
Cati Coe
Manufacturer: University Of Chicago Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0226111318

Book Description

In working to build a sense of nationhood, Ghana has focused on many social engineering projects, the most meaningful and fascinating of which has been the state's effort to create a national culture through its schools. As Cati Coe reveals in Dilemmas of Culture in African Schools, this effort has created an unusual paradox: while Ghana encourages its educators to teach about local cultural traditions, those traditions are transformed as they are taught in school classrooms. The state version of culture now taught by educators has become objectified and nationalized—vastly different from local traditions.

Coe identifies the state's limitations in teaching cultural knowledge and discusses how Ghanaians negotiate the tensions raised by the competing visions of modernity that nationalism and Christianity have created. She reveals how cultural curricula affect authority relations in local social organizations—between teachers and students, between Christians and national elite, and between children and elders—and raises several questions about educational processes, state-society relations, the production of knowledge, and the making of Ghana's citizenry.

The New American Dilemma: Liberal Democracy and School Desegregation (Yale Fastback Series)

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The New American Dilemma: Liberal Democracy and School Desegregation (Yale Fastback Series)
Jennifer L. Hochschild
Manufacturer: Yale University Press
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Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0300031149

Book Description

A provocative examination of school desegregation in America and how it does-and does not-succeed. "In this powerful tract on school desegregation, Jennifer Hochschild formulates the most searching challenge to the theory of incrementalism that I have come across in recent years." -David Braybrooke "A comprehensive synthesis of what is known about the processes of school desegregation and a powerful policy-oriented argument on a subject whose crucial significance Americans have been unable to wish away." -Paul E. Peterson, Brookings Institution "A well-written, insightful survey and analysis of the pattern of school desegregation in American society since the Supreme Court's Brown decisions and a first-rate analysis of the implementation of public policy in the US, with perceptive remarks on incrementalism as a method of change."-Choice "The New American Dilemma is policy analysis as it should be done, thorough in its consideration of evidence and bold in its examination of fundamental issues of political practice and social theory."-Clarence N. Stone, Ethics "The New American Dilemma challenges almost all positions cherished by liberals and leftists, blacks and whites, including gradualism, democratic participation and ethnic solidarity. Because of that alone, The New American Dilemma is invaluable." -Richard H. King, Journal of American Studies "A solid contribution to the literature on desegregation. . . . . This thought-provoking book provides an excellent perspective on the thirty years of desegregation since Brown." -Mary Jo Newborn, Michigan Law Review

The Last Remnants of Slavery: An African American Dilemma

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The Last Remnants of Slavery: An African American Dilemma
Arthur J. Stovall Ph. D
Manufacturer: Trafford Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1412046351
Release Date: 2006-07-06

Product Description

The mission or purpose, Dr. Stovall, endeavors to transmit in this book, "The Last Remnants of Slavery: An African American Dilemma", is support for an intervention that will start a Cultural Revolution for change, to end the last chapter to a chaotic dysfunctional process in the lives of African Americans. There are many historical correct and factual representations about slavery, but until now, there have been no examination of slavery's impact on African Americans. This book is a must read that deals with the Last Remnants from the past that is still influencing the economic, social and political values in African American communities. The processes of the remnants discouraged Africans and subsequent African Americans from any organized effort at providing for their communities' economic, social and political representation that would have allowed self-sufficiency after emancipation and proclamation in 1865.

The Africans' unbeknown to themselves became guardians of the poverty paradigm and past it to their future generations' not just poverty as a lifestyle, but the socialization process that has ensured its perpetuation. The effects of the Last Remnants' tactics have grown roots in the lifestyle of the African American families and communities. The outcome of the Last Remnants is evident by the crime reports, which suggest that 90% of the incarcerated population is made-up of African American's youth between the age of 18 to 38 and 70% are substance abuse related offenses.

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Japan's Diversity Dilemmas: Ethnicity, Citizenship, and Education
Soo im Lee , Stephen Murphy-Shigematsu , and Harumi Befu
Manufacturer: iUniverse, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Demography | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0595362575

Book Description

Japan's Diversity Dilemmas: Ethnicity, Citizenship, and Education reveals how Japanese society is now in the midst of dramatic transformation brought on by demographic change and globalization. Foreigners are coming to Japan and many more will come in the near future to meet the demands of an economy that needs workers to compensate for an extremely low birth rate. The ramifications of this influx of foreigners into a society that has based its identity on a mythical ethnic purity are enormous.

This book examines the effects of globalization on both new and older ethnic communities. It shows the ways in which minorities, in particular Koreans, are changing their conceptions and practices regarding nationality. It explores issues of human rights and emerging conceptions of citizenship in Japan. It also looks at how forces of globalization are affecting the state ideology of homogeneity and how a new image of diversity and multiculturalism is slowly developing. Several authors focus their attention on implications for education in citizenship education, ethnic education, and international education.

Japan's Diversity Dilemmas is not just about minorities, but addresses issues of diversity that impact Japan as a nation in three areas: ethnicity, citizenship, and education. As the population diversifies, the linking of ethnicity and citizenship is being challenged and education is a battleground where these struggles occur. This collection of papers by an interdisciplinary group of authors helps readers to understand Japan's evolving conceptions of the nation and its attempts to balance tensions of unity and diversity.

'Japan's Diversity Dilemmas looks at precisely the kind of issues that need examination and discussion, as Japan stands on the cusp of potentially huge demographic and social changes. This collection of studies will enrich and inform classroom and public discourse and those who follow these issues will find this book essential."
-Sharon Noguchi, San Jose Mercury News and former Fulbright Fellow, University of Tokyo

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