This volume of radical studies in the sociology and politics of education specifically addresses educational policies and the crisis of the welfare state--one of the central political facts of our time--and opens up new areas in the critical social analysis of education. Shapiro explores the interconnection between educational policy and the structure of economic, political, and cultural life in the United States, arguing that in spite of its practical and ideological autonomy, the educational region is not immune to the kinds of disruption and dislocation found elsewhere in society. Minority discrimination, urban decay, and the uneven results of the labor market as well as other conditions force new issues and questions onto the ideological policy agenda. However, in his cogent assesment of the state of public discourse, Shapiro discovers an absence, with one important exception, of reference to critical themes in mainstream political debate. He delineates the displacement into the educational area of crises that confront the lumpen class in America and that are experienced as economic deprivation, political disempowerment, and cultural disintegration and then speculates as to why a political agenda that speaks to the interrelatedness of the social crisis and the educational crisis remains unconstructed. The bulk of the eight chapters study a proposed political agenda for education that is resonant with the cultural concerns and social needs of subordinate and intermediary groups--a left agenda--that addresses three key areas: first, the crisis of values and meanings that consumption capitalism makes inevitable; second, the sense of disempowerment experienced by both subordinate and intermediary groups in American society; and finally, the issue of social justice based on the author's creatively expanded definition of the issues inherent to this concept including hunger here and abroad, the distribution of wealth and economic power, inadequate supply of shelter and medical care, and infant mortality. This important work with its invaluable analyses and proposals should be read by those concerned with the possibilities of radical intervention in public education during a period of conservative restoration. Must reading for students and scholars concerned with both the social analysis and critical study of education.

The authors' goal is to explore how an alternative, politically viable public discourse on education can be constructed. They examine the kinds of conditions, concerns, and subjectivities that must be attended to in order to develop an effective and resonant new language that can re-focus the purposes of education in this society. The authors' agree that educational discourse must be transformed into a visible, morally and politically vital, public commentary and debate - one that can begin to address the social, cultural, and spiritual crises that now confront humanity.

"Progressive educators have always been better at critique than at possibility. This book promises not to ignore critique, but to favor possibility. It is most rare and greatly welcomed."

Richard Quantz, Miami University

"The editor argues that in a material world, depicted by consumerism, spiritual nihilism and conspicuous consumption, there is need to offer a new vision and direction in education that would promote a more harmonious, holistic values-oriented schooling that transforms persons into moral beings, who care for others?. In terms of innovative ideas and approaches to pedagogy and theorizing about schooling, this volume is at the top of pedagogical discourses and thinking."

Joseph Zajda, Australian Catholic University (Melbourne Campus)

Education and Hope in Troubled Times brings together a group of the best and most creative educational thinkers to reflect on the purpose and future of public education. These original essays by leading social and educational commentators in North America attempt to articulate a new vision for education, especially public education, and begin to set an alternative direction. This is a time of crisis, but also of renewed possibility?one that offers the opportunity to radically reconsider what is the meaning of education for a generation that will bear the brunt of grappling with the extraordinary dangers and challenges we confront today. At its core this volume questions what will it mean to be an educated human being in the 21st century compelled to confront and address so much that threatens the very basis of a decent and hopeful human existence. Carrying forward a project of redefining and reshaping public discourse on education in the U.S., it is a critical catalyst and focus for re-thinking public policy on education.

This text-reader brings together powerful readings that critically situate issues of education in the context of the major cultural, moral, political, economic, ecological, and spiritual crises that confront us as a nation and a global community. It provides a focus and a conceptual framework for thinking about education in light of these issues. Readers are exposed to the thinking of some of the best and most insightful social and educational commentators. Critical Social Issues in American Education: Democracy and Meaning in a Globalizing World, Third Edition, is intended to work on two levels. First, it helps readers to develop an awareness of how education is connected to the wider social structures of cultural, political, and economic life. Second, it encourages not only a critical examination of our present social reality but also a serious discussion of alternatives--of what a transformed society and educational process might look like. The editors' goal is to deliberately engage readers in connecting the work of teachers to an ethically committed, politically charged pedagogy. The assumption on which they base the text is that educators must see their work as inextricably linked to the broader conflicts, stresses, and crises of the social world--it is not otherwise possible to make sense of what is happening educationally. What happens in school, or as part of the educational experience, reflects, expresses, and mediates profound questions about the direction and nature of the society we inhabit. The text is organized thematically into five sections, which address, respectively, social justice and democracy; consumerism, culture, and public education; marginality and difference; moral and spiritual perspectives on education; and globalization and education. Each section is preceded by a brief essay that introduces the readings. This Third Edition includes many new readings and addresses issues that have more rec

In this book Svi Shapiro explores the ideological and attitudinal functions of schools, looking especially at what is called the 'hidden curriculum.' He offers both an analysis of the role of education in producing and maintaining attitudes and values that contribute to our competitive, socially unequal, instrumental, consumerist, and self-oriented culture and a radically different vision for what our schools should be about--a vision that focuses on education's role in supporting a more critically reflective, socially responsible, and compassionate culture.
Federal and state legislation have propelled schools today in the direction of an increasingly test-driven, instrumental, and individually competitive regime. Under these legislative mandates, schools are increasingly alienating and stressful places for both students and teachers. Most disturbing is that this form of education is not conducive to providing young people with the capacity to cope with the moral, cultural, spiritual, and political challenges of the world they inhabit. More than only offering a critique of schools, Shapiro proposes a counter-vision that can lead to a different kind of culture and society, and he discusses strategies for advocating and implementing it. Written in a style that is very accessible to a wide range of readers, "Losing Heart: The Moral and Spiritual Miseducation of America's Children" is also carefully researched and draws on relevant theory to make a strong case.
This book speaks to a wide range of readers, including academics and students in education, sociology, anthropology, political science, and cultural studies; public school professionals; and the general public interested ineducation. It will appeal to faculty in schools of education who are looking for a text that offers both a critical language "and" one that speaks to possibility and change.

This text-reader brings together powerful readings that critically situate issues of education in the context of the major cultural, moral, political, economic, ecological, and spiritual crises that confront us as a nation and a global community. It provides a focus and a conceptual framework for thinking about education in light of these issues. Readers are exposed to the thinking of some of the best and most insightful social and educational commentators.
"Critical Social Issues in American Education: Democracy and Meaning in a Globalizing World, Third Edition," is intended to work on two levels. First, it helps readers to develop an awareness of how education is connected to the wider social structures of cultural, political, and economic life. Second, it encourages not only a critical examination of our present social reality but also a serious discussion of alternatives--of what a transformed society and educational process might look like.
The editors' goal is to deliberately engage readers in connecting the work of teachers to an ethically committed, politically charged pedagogy. The assumption on which they base the text is that educators must see their work as inextricably linked to the broader conflicts, stresses, and crises of the social world--it is not otherwise possible to make sense of what is happening educationally. What happens in school, or as part of the educational experience, reflects, expresses, and mediates profound questions about the direction and nature of the society we inhabit.
The text is organized thematically into five sections, which address, respectively, social justice and democracy; consumerism, culture, and public education; marginality and difference; moral and spiritual perspectives on education; and globalization and education. Each section is preceded by a brief essay that introduces the readings.
This Third Edition includes many new readings and addresses issues that have more recently emerged as especially significant--such as concerns about the implications of globalization and the post 9/11 world, commercialism, violence, and the ever-increasing influence of high stakes testing.
This compelling text is relevant for a wide range of courses in educational foundations, educational policy, curriculum studies, and multicultural education that address the social context of education, cultural and political change, and public policy.

"Progressive educators have always been better at critique than at possibility. This book promises not to ignore critique, but to favor possibility. It is most rare and greatly welcomed."

Richard Quantz, Miami University

"The editor argues that in a material world, depicted by consumerism, spiritual nihilism and conspicuous consumption, there is need to offer a new vision and direction in education that would promote a more harmonious, holistic values-oriented schooling that transforms persons into moral beings, who care for others . In terms of innovative ideas and approaches to pedagogy and theorizing about schooling, this volume is at the top of pedagogical discourses and thinking."

Joseph Zajda, Australian Catholic University (Melbourne Campus)

Education and Hope in Troubled Times brings together a group of the best and most creative educational thinkers to reflect on the purpose and future of public education. These original essays by leading social and educational commentators in North America attempt to articulate a new vision for education, especially public education, and begin to set an alternative direction. This is a time of crisis, but also of renewed possibility one that offers the opportunity to radically reconsider what is the meaning of education for a generation that will bear the brunt of grappling with the extraordinary dangers and challenges we confront today. At its core this volume questions what will it mean to be an educated human being in the 21st century compelled to confront and address so much that threatens the very basis of a decent and hopeful human existence. Carrying forward a project of redefining and reshaping public discourse on education in the U.S., it is a critical catalyst and focus for re-thinking public policy on education.

The authors' goal is to explore how an alternative, politically viable public discourse on education can be constructed. They examine the kinds of conditions, concerns, and subjectivities that must be attended to in order to develop an effective and resonant new language that can re-focus the purposes of education in this society. The authors' agree that educational discourse must be transformed into a visible, morally and politically vital, public commentary and debate - one that can begin to address the social, cultural, and spiritual crises that now confront humanity.

This volume of radical studies in the sociology and politics of education specifically addresses educational policies and the crisis of the welfare state--one of the central political facts of our time--and opens up new areas in the critical social analysis of education. Shapiro explores the interconnection between educational policy and the structure of economic, political, and cultural life in the United States, arguing that in spite of its practical and ideological autonomy, the educational region is not immune to the kinds of disruption and dislocation found elsewhere in society. Minority discrimination, urban decay, and the uneven results of the labor market as well as other conditions force new issues and questions onto the ideological policy agenda. However, in his cogent assesment of the state of public discourse, Shapiro discovers an absence, with one important exception, of reference to critical themes in mainstream political debate. He delineates the displacement into the educational area of crises that confront the lumpen class in America and that are experienced as economic deprivation, political disempowerment, and cultural disintegration and then speculates as to why a political agenda that speaks to the interrelatedness of the social crisis and the educational crisis remains unconstructed.

The bulk of the eight chapters study a proposed political agenda for education that is resonant with the cultural concerns and social needs of subordinate and intermediary groups--a left agenda--that addresses three key areas: first, the crisis of values and meanings that consumption capitalism makes inevitable; second, the sense of disempowerment experienced by both subordinate and intermediary groups in American society; and finally, the issue of social justice based on the author's creatively expanded definition of the issues inherent to this concept including hunger here and abroad, the distribution of wealth and economic power, inadequate supply of shelter and medical care, and infant mortality. This important work with its invaluable analyses and proposals should be read by those concerned with the possibilities of radical intervention in public education during a period of conservative restoration. Must reading for students and scholars concerned with both the social analysis and critical study of education.