BOOK OF THE YEAR in The Times, the Sunday Times and the Financial Times Have you heard that language is violence and that science is sexist? Or been told that being obese is healthy, that there is no such thing as biological sex, or that only white people can be racist? Are you confused by these ideas, and do you wonder how they have managed so quickly to challenge the very logic of Western society? Helen Pluckrose and James Lindsay document the evolution of the dogma behind these ideas, from its origins in French postmodernism to its refinement within activist academic fields. Today this dogma is recognisable as much by its effects, such as cancel culture and social-media pile-ons, as by its assertions, which are all too often taken as read: knowledge is a social construct; science and reason are tools of oppression; all human interactions are sites of oppressive power play; and language is dangerous. As they warn, the unchecked proliferation of these beliefs present a threat to liberal democracy. While acknowledging the need to challenge the complacency of those who think a just society has been fully achieved, Pluckrose and Lindsay break down how often-radical activist scholarship does far more harm than good, not least to those marginalised communities it claims to champion.

Teaching with film is not a new approach in the social studies classroom. Different publications, such as Hollywood or History, have bridged the gap with challenges attached to using historical film and engage students through inquiry, not entertainment. To continue with the Hollywood or History strategy, this text uses television shows (sitcoms) to brings issue-centered curriculum to middle and high school classrooms. By exploring issues in specific episodes, students can learn the history behind an issue, relate it to their lives, and develop an informed decision associated with the issue. The College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) framework is an integral part to the exploration of issue-centered curriculum. In each chapter, the students will work through the four dimensions and develop critical thinking, reading, and writing skills. My hope is that this text can play a small role in walking practicing teachers through the C3 framework while allowing students to learn about issues that affect society and the communities where they live.

Each of them is one in a million. They number six thousand on a planet of six billion. They run our governments, our largest corporations, the powerhouses of international finance, the media, world religions, and, from the shadows, the world's most dangerous criminal and terrorist organizations. They are the global superclass, and they are shaping the history of our time. Today's superclass has achieved unprecedented levels of wealth and power. They have globalized more rapidly than any other group. But do they have more in common with one another than with their own countrymen, as nationalist critics have argued? They control globalization more than anyone else. But has their influence fed the growing economic and social inequity that divides the world? What happens behind closeddoor meetings in Davos or aboard corporate jets at 41,000 feet? Conspiracy or collaboration? Deal-making or idle self-indulgence? What does the rise of Asia and Latin America mean for the conventional wisdom that shapes our destinies? Who sets the rules for a group that operates beyond national laws? Drawn from scores of exclusive interviews and extensive original reporting, "Superclass "answers all of these questions and more. It draws back the curtain on a privileged society that most of us know little about, even though it profoundly affects our everyday lives. It is the first in-depth examination of the connections between the global communities of leaders who are at the helm of every major enterprise on the planet and control its greatest wealth. And it is an unprecedented examination of the trends within the superclass, which are likely to alter our politics, our institutions, and the shape of the world in which we live.

The world is currently witnessing the emergence of a new context for education, labor, and transformative social movements. Global flows of people, capital, and energy increasingly define the world we live in. The multinational corporation, with its pursuit of ever-cheaper sources of labor and materials and its disregard for human life, is the dominant form of economic organization, where capital can cross borders, but people can't. Affirmative action, democracy, and human rights are moving in from the margins to challenge capitalist priorities of "efficiency", i.e. exploitation. In some places, the representatives of popular movements are actually taking the reins of state power. Across the globe new progressive movements are emerging to bridge national identities and boundaries, in solidarity with transnational class, gender, and ethnic struggles. At this juncture, educators have a key role to play. The ideology of market competition has become more entrenched in schools, even as opportunities for skilled employment diminish. We must rethink the relationship between schooling and labor, developing transnational pedagogies that draw upon the myriad social struggles shaping students' lives and communities. Critical educators need to connect with other social movements to put a radically democratic agenda, based on the principles of equity, access, and emancipation, at the center of educational praxis. Many countries in Latin America like in other continents are developing new alternatives for the reconstruction of social projects; these emerging sources of hope are the central focus of this book. Major historical change always starts with people's social movement. Democracy can be one of the best political and social systems in the world but for it to work entails the sustainable participation of citizens. Above all, it requires that people be informed and critically educated since the quality of democracy depends on quality of education. There are 2 kinds of power: money and people. If people exercise their agency, they can be more powerful than money. There are some organizing principles of social movements, as: "don't do for others what they should do for themselves." Saul Alinsky wrote: Rules for Radicals: A pragmatic primer for realistic radicals; Mary Rogers: Cold Anger: A story of faith and power politics; Michael Gecan: Going Public: An organizer's guide to citizen action; and Ernesto Cortez's, Industrial Area Foundation, are all great sources for organized activism that do work. I put some of these principles to the test and they produced positive results, I was a founder and president of a union at my university and I lived my whole life as an activist and learned that, we can do more together than alone. Now we also have a new digital war with the Cambridge Analitica and Breitbart's fake news manipulation; however, we also have social-justice hacktivism to counter act it, as well as other democratic social media venues that critical thinkers and activist use. The chapters in this book demonstrate the importance of widening and diversifying social movements, at the same time, emphasizes the need to build cohesive alliances among all the different fronts. What some people think is "impossible" can become a transformed reality, for those who dare attempt changing the world as global citizens.