Knowledge, the univ., and development (2)

Part II. Teachers and Students

5. An international academic crisis? The American professoriate in comparative perspective

• Insularity & internationalism (American professoriate is least committed to internationalism among scholars from 14 countries, p. 76; The American research system is remarkably insular - pay little attention to the knowledge that the rest of the world produces)
  
• Centers, peripheries, & knowledge networks
  
• The decline of the traditional professoriate (a caste system: tenured, full-time non-tenure-track, part-time)
  
• Tenure (v. accountability)
  
• Scholarship reconsidered & assessed (research v. teaching)
  
• Morale (little sense of crisis; unhappy with institutional governance and policy)
  
• Future realities & professorial perceptions (university-industry collaboration)
  The largest and arguably the most powerful in the world, the American academic profession is faced with unprecedented challenges. Its world scientific and research leadership is reasonably secure because of the size of its academic system. At the same time, it must function in an increasingly multipolar world in which international skills and connections are important, and it is ill prepared for this role. American scholars and scientists remain remarkably insular in their attitudes and their activities
  

6. Professors & politics: An international perspective

• The impacts of activism ("academic as expert"; indirectly involved in government; oppositional thinking - involved in revolutionary movements in the Third World)
  
• Perspectives on faculty activism

7. Student political activism

• The historical context (Nazi supporters, nationalism during the colonial period
  
• The impossibility of a "Permanent Revolution" in the university (lack of sustainability)
  
• Response to activism (ignorance and/or repression; activist participation
• Who are the activists (core leadership, active followers, the sympathetic). Characteristics of activist leadership:
  
  • study in the social sciences (humanities)
  • from affluent families
  • from more educated families
  • from more liberal families
  • among the best students
  • often from minority groups
    
• The activist impulse (nationalism; broader political issues)
• The impact of activism (The collapse of communism - leftist student activism)
  
• The industrialized nations & the Third World (Third World students were more successful in politics than students in the industrialized nations)
  

8. Student politics in the Third World

• The political framework
• The academic environment
• Historical traditions
• Sociological currents
• Ideological orientations
• The future (from leftist to religious or conservative)
  

Comparative Education Review

Comparative Education Review

(Definition from Wikipedia)

National Differences, Global Similarities: World Culture and the Future of Schooling
http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/full/10.1086/501148

The United Nations and Education: Multilateralism, Development and Globalization
http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/full/10.1086/501147

Market University?
http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/full/10.1086/498325

Chronic Consequences of High-Stakes Testing? Lessons from the Chinese Civil Service Exam
http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/full/10.1086/498328

Asian Universities: Historical Perspectives and Contemporary Challenges

http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/full/10.1086/501143

Tech & Ed (Bibliography 2008)
http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/page/cer/bibliog07.html#sc24

Internationalizing Curriculum and Institution (Bibliography 2008)
http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/page/cer/bibliog07.html#sc15

Asia (Nepal) (Bibliography 2008)
http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/page/cer/bibliog07.html#sc27

Kalman, Yoram M., and Paul H. Leng. "A Distributed Model for Managing Academic Staff in an International Online Academic Programme." Interactive Learning Environments 15, no. 1 (May 2007): 47–61
http://www.kalmans.com/ILEsubmission

Knowledge, the univ., and development (1)

Altbach, P. G. (1998). Comparative higher education: Knowledge, the university, and development. Greenwich, CT: Ablex Publishing.

Intro: Comparative perspectives in the 21st century

• The modern university is at the center of an international system that encompasses technology, communications, and culture. (p. xvii)
• Internationalism
  
  • The university is an international institution with strong national roots. However, most analysts overlook the international origins and role of the university, focusing exclusively on national realities (p. xviii)
  • The modern American university, arguably the most influential academic model today, grows out of 3 basic ideas - the English collegiate model, the German research university ideal of the late 19th century, and the American concept of service to society
  • All of the world's universities stem from the medieval European model - common academic culture worldwide
  • Study abroad, brain drain
  • Knowledge is international; English language and new ICT contributed to the internationalizationalism; International higher ed. has become a significant "industry"
• The estates
  
  • Senior staff (professoriate): eroding power. Future - less full-time permanent positions, more diverse, less research-oriented, less able academically
    
  • Students: "student consumerism"; nature of the student population
  • Non-academic staff: gaining power
    
• Roots and implications of crisis (国学技研私付钱）
  
  • Diminished state funding (high enrollment, tech, salaries)
    
  • Who should pay? (Taxpayer - individual, equity, financial stability, access)
    
  • Privatization (revenue-producing strategies)
    
  • Technology (expensive, quickly outdated, difficult to integrate, time consuming, training)
    
  • Basic research and graduate study (fiscal climate - hard to sustain)
    
  • Internationalization (positive aspect but need mechanisms for financing and administering)
    
  • The academic profession (core of the university; under pressure; change)
    

Part I. Perspectives

1. Patterns in higher ed development

• Role of universities: Knowledge creation and distribution; political function
• A common heritage: follow institutional patterns derivative of Western models
• Networks of knowledge and higher ed: West-centered, English dominated, brain drain, the Third World scientific diaspora
• Expansion: Hallmark of the postwar era.
  
• Change and reform:
  
  • 1960s Interdisciplinary program; Curricular vocationalism
  • 1990s Improving the administrative efficiency & accountability
• The Millennium
  
  • Access and adaptation (equal higher ed. opportunity for disenfranchised groups)
    
  • Administration, accountability, and governance (bureaucracy, budget)
    
  • Knowledge creation and dissemination (changing forms, tech, cost, control & ownership, Western domination)
    
  • The academic profession (the professoriate is under pressure, challenged by demands for accountability, increased bureaucratization of institutions, fiscal constraints in many countries, and an increasingly diverse student body
    
  • Private resources & public responsibility (a change in values and orientations)
    
  • Diversification & stratification
  • Economic disparities (developed nations v. developing ones)
    

2. The university as center and periphery
The inequalities of the international knowledge system run very deep, have strong institutional support and significant historical roots, and are often in the interest of those who wield power, whether that power is military, economic, intellectual, or technological (p. 20)

• Third World Realities (univ remain elitist institutions, a key means of social mobility, mainly urban, often use European languages as the language of instruction)
  
• The anatomy of inequality
  
  • The historical tradition of universities is a Western tradition, and has little if anything to do with the intellectual or educational traditions of the Third World
  • The language of higher ed in many Third World nations is a Western language (language of power and of wealth)
  • Third World nations are basically "consumers" of knowledge, dependent on industrialized nations for research, interpretations of scientific advances, and, in general, information (difficult to develop indigenous model)
    
  • The means of communication of knowledge are in the hands of the industrialized nations (Internet may change the landscape? but access is a problem)
  • Large numbers of students from the Third World study in the industrialized nations
    
• Dependency & Neocolonialism
  
  • Neocolonialism: the policies of the industrialized nations that attempt to maintain their domination over the Third World (Education is a "fourth dimension" of foreign policy because it is seen to fit integrally into the national objectives of industrialized nations, p. 28)
  • Academics trained in Western universities to feel natural to continue using Western models
    
• Peripheral centers & central peripheries
  
  • Peripheral centers - The public in the Third World sees higher ed as a means of social mobility in societies with severe economic problems; faculty members see themselves as part of an international academic community
  • Central peripheries - International scholarship is communicated in English; some Western univ. lack funding and infrastructure; study abroad and maintain contacts with academics in the U.S. or Britain
    
• Removal of inequality
  
  • America is a sample of success that completed periphery-center transition
  • Sustained economic growth combined with national policies that have supported higher ed have fostered this development
  • removing inequalities as part of a commitment to a new international order is extraordinarily difficult to achieve (p. 34)
    

3. Twisted roots: The Western impact on Asian higher ed

• As a consequences of the industrial revolution, the products and the science of Europe, and later North America, came to dominate much of Asia (p. 41)
• The West tries to retain its central position (e.g. government-sponsored programs that are cultural and intellectual in nature)
• The heritage of colonialism: the use of the mother language; academic structures patterned after metropolitan models; the curriculum was like that in the metropole and not relevant to Asian realities; acdemic staff were from the metropole; culture of subordination; sources of cultural, political, and intellectual ferment; stressed contact with the metropole
• The noncolonized heritage: China, Japan, Thailand
• The contemporary impact of the West
  
  • The pervasive and subtle influence of the English language
  • The effect of foreign study (center-periphery flow)
    
  • Scientific exports
  • Western academic structures
    
• The indigenous response: change, accommodation, evolve
  

4. The American academic model in comparative perspective

• The American academic system in historical perspective
  
  • The English academic tradition (liberal arts) changed and democratized by the American experience (the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th centuries)
  • The emergence of graduate education (the end of the 19th century, land-grant ideas - direct service to society, research as part of the academic enterprise)
  • Implantation of research (the early 20th century, German research concept)
    
• The elements of the American academic system
  
  • The research university at the pinnacle of the system
  • The undergraduate arts and sciences colleges (basic ed. in the liberal arts)
  • The community college ("open access" to higher ed)
    
• The relevance of the American Model
  
  • The community of scholars and governance (department - a unique organizational model adapted from the European "chair" system)
    
  • An administrative cadre (professor-turned senior admin v. career admin)
    
  • Curricular expansion (flexibility to serve employment needs)
    
  • Research (P&T stress research & publication; funding & salary: reward-related; "publish or perish")
    
  • Autonomy & accountability (academic freedom v. social responsibilities)
    
  • Service (commercialized?)
    
  • Stability & change (peripheral change)
    
  • Dealing with adversity (financial problems, demographic changes, government cutbacks and shifts in emphasis away from education
    
  • Student services (loco parentis; extracurricular activities)
    

Emergent issues in education: Comparative perspectives

Arnove, R. F., Altbach, P. G., & Kelly, G. P. (1992). Emergent issues in education: Comparative perspectives. Albany, NY: SUNY Press.

Part III. Theoretical frameworks

7. Conceptualizing education and the drive for social equality (Farrell, J. P.)

• Components of national development (p. 107)
  
  • The generation of more wealth within a nation (economic development)
  • The more equitable distribution of such wealth, or at least more equitable distribution of opportunity for access to that wealth (social development)
  • The organization of political decision-making structures which would be close approximations of those prevalent in the West (political development)
    
• A model of educational inequality (p. 111)
  
  • equality of access: the probabilities of children from different social groupings getting into the school system (学校数量）
    
  • equality of survival: the probabilities of children from various social groupings staying in the school system to some defined level, usually the end of a complete cycle (primary, secondary, higher) （在校年份）
    
  • equality of output: the probabilities of children from various social groupings will learn the same things to the same level at a defined point in the school system （学习成效）
    
  • equality of outcome: the probabilities of children from various social groupings will live relatively similar lives subsequent to and as a result of schooling (have equal incomes, have jobs of roughly the same status, have equal access to positions of political power, etc) （毕业回报）

8. Conceptualizing the role of education in the economy

• Human capital theory
  
• Neoclassical model:
• Criticism
• Alternative conceptual frameworks
  
  • Institutional approaches
  • Radical economics perspectives
  • The political economy of educational policy-making
    

Part V. Assessing the outcomes of reforms

18. National literacy campaigns in historical and comparative perspective: Legacies, lessons, and issues (Arnove, R. F., & Graff, H. J.)

• Legacies and lessons (p. 286)
  
  • literacy effort need to last long enough to be effective
  • local initiative should be mobilized in conjunction with national will
  • there will be a significant minority who will oppose or not be reached by literacy efforts of centralized authorities
  • eventually emphasis will have to be placed on schooling for youth (in order to head off future illiteracy)
  • literacy must be viewed and understood in its various contexts
    
• Literacy must be contextually defined and continually reappraised
  
  • Literacy takes on meaning in particular historical and social formation
  • A process of deskilling (e.g., basic adult ed program's goal "is not ultimately a critical and imaginative literacy but an etiquette, an ability to perform tasks whose value refers not to the life experiences of the student but to the institution of education. p. 293)
  • It's only potential empowerment; certain groups try to prevent or control the provision of literacy
  • literacy is fundamentally a political issue involving these questions: What sort of society do we want? Are we seriously interested in improving the skills and training of the poorly educated? Will we make this a priority, and commit funds and expertise in an age of dwindling resources? p. 294
    

American education: A history

The Feminization of Teaching (p. 106)

Horace Mann - Common School (p. 115)

The Freedman's Bureau (p. 138)

Booker T. Washington and the "Atlanta Compromise" (p. 150)

The Progressive Reform (p. 194)

Committee of Ten (p. 206)

Vocational Education (p. 208)

John Dewey (p. 217)

The Eight Year Study (p. 267)

The Sputnik (p. 293)

Brown v. Board of Education (p. 297)

A Nation at Risk (p. 355)

No Child Left Behind (p. 366)

The social theoretical perspectives

1. Normative - value-oriented; what you value defines educational value

• Definition: the term "normative" is used to describe the effects of those structures of culture which regulate the function of social activity. Those structures thus act to encourage or enforce social activity and outcomes that ought to (with respect to the norms implicit in those structures) occur, while discouraging or preventing social activity that ought not occur. That is, they promote social activity that is socially valued. While there are always anomalies in social activity (typically described as "crime" or anti-social behaviour) the normative effects of popularly-endorsed beliefs (such as "family values" or "common sense") push most social activity towards a generally homogeneous set, resulting in varying degrees of social stability.
• Application
  
  • Normative influence is inevitable - it is difficult to separate your personal norms
  • Probe the nature of personal and educational assumptions
  • Examine policy in light of values and how these policies reflect values
  • Individuals develop their own value positions
  • Deals with the question of values
    
• Examples
  
  • Portfolio initiative@BSU - policy implementation and the digital divide/gap
  • What a student from Evansville Indiana sees as normal computer use is very different from Westfield or Carmel Indiana (?)
  • The amount of work expected from student in a rural district may differ from a suburban district - and Arkansas school from a Texas school - what is normative for one may not be normative for another
    

2. Interpretive - use concepts and theories to examine education in different contexts

• Definition
• Application
  
  • Students analyze the intent, meaning and effects of educational thought and practice
  • Interpretation varies based on historical, philosophical and cultural perspectives
    
• Examples
  
  • Northern v southern view of the war between the states
  • Democratic education allows for differing viewpoints of same instance
  • Portfolios in the Netherlands v. US - they have some different values
    

3. Critical - encourages development of inquiry skills

• Definition
• Application
  
  • Encourages students to question educational assumptions
  • Encourages students to identify contradictions
  • Encourages students to use democratic values to assess educational beliefs, policies and practices while assessing the origins and consequences of the beliefs, policies and practices
  • Students develop awareness of education and schooling in light of complex relations to the environing culture
    
• Examples
  
  • Technology is powerful and how it is used by students can produce powerful learning
  • Curriculum choice should be viewed with a critical perspective - how does this effect each student?
    

Distinguish between "perspectives" (interpretive, normative, and critical) and "standards"

• Perspectives are ways to interpret; based on philosophical, epistemological (theory of knowledge) understanding of how knowledge works (e.g., what is knowledge? How is knowledge acquired? What do people know?)
• Standards are action indicators - do this to "meet" the standard
• Perspectives vs curriculum
  
  • These perspectives are different from curriculum in that curriculum is comprised of a set of knowledge, generally agreed to by a group who share common perspectives
  • Bobbit & Dewey defined curriculum as the compilation of deeds and experiences through which children learn and become successful adults in a given society
  • These experiences can be viewed from a variety of perspectives through reflection. The perspective of participants varies somewhat according to their own persoanl experience, cultural background, and reflective understanding. In social foundations, the perspectives are evidenced through demonstration of the thought processes, either through writing, verbal articulation or response to classroom assignments or conversations
  • Perspectives are ways to think about problems and issues in education. Standards are often behavioral in nature and oriented to some sort of action. Standards are used to build confidence in learning how to learn, especially in interdisciplinary ways

The field of social foundations of education is both an interdisciplinary approach to understanding knowledge and is a content-specific body of knowledge

• Field of social foundations - interdisciplinary is embedded in problems (a question for consideration, solution, inquiry), issues (must be answered yes or no, matter of dispute, ready for decision, and controversy or disagreement), claims (assertion open to challenge - stance on issue), evidences (proof, outward sign, research), and arguments (intended to persude, leads from premise to conclusion, supports claim)
  
• epistemological functions: how to accumulate, how to make sense, how to distribute - all about thinking in interdisciplinary ways
• Content-specific body includes history, sociology, philosophy primary areas, but also includes uses of all social sciences like anthropology, economics, all ways we make sense of work and apply to education questions
• Full complement of social sciences to better understand - want to know how each of various fields think about something and bring them together
• Uses content from all disciplines to make sense and communicate understanding
  

Seventeen

One of the criticisms of the Lynds' work by Munsonians had to do with intentionality. What did they intend to do in the Middletown studies? This is related to the theoretical frameworks we talked about in class.Looking at those four models, what do you think was the theoretical framework used by the film makers (Jeff Kreines and Joey Demott) in "Seventeen"? What was their intention in making the film?

Taylor, Kimberly A.:
I can see parts of both conflict and critical theory in this film. Conflict theory because the film emphasizes the conflict and change within the school system rather than the order and maintenance. I think the directors also had a goal to arrive at a more realistic portrayal of social reality. They did not chose the elite students, they chose the opposite side of the spectrum and showed the disruption of race and class within the students' lives. It also fit the numerous major questions and topics for investigation from out handout. I can also see Critical theory at work as well. Critical theory's goal is to unmask sources of oppression and to promote understanding of causes and consequences of oppression. I think the directors did this as well. Viewers could also clearly see the answers to the questions posed in the major questions and topics for investigation in the Critical Theory column. So I'm on the fence with this one.

Wei
While I agree that most of us see a clear pattern of conflict theory in Seventeen, I am not quite sure whether a framework of critical theory is used or not. This documentary provides a realistic portrayal of the conflicting social reality of the lower-middle-class teens including interracial dating, underage drinking, drug use, and so on. However, this doesn’t necessarily mean that its goal is to "unmask sources of oppression, to promote understanding of causes and consequences of oppression, and to encourage participation in liberation."

To my understanding, a documentary producer (or the viewer) might be very critical but a documentary film should be filmed and presented in a neutral, calm, and non-radical way. In this film, although the producers intentionally chose a group of "problematic" students in Southside, I don't see that the producers took any substantial stance of the critical theory - neither did they reveal "how positive and negative meanings and identities are constructed", nor did they explore "to what degree and how can the oppressed achieve autonomy." They even did not define explicitly what constitutes the conflict.

I might be wrong but I guess a little more discussion would be helpful.

Hooper, Leah D.:
I agree with seeing both Conflict and Critical Theory. Again, as has been stated, we truly are not aware of the actual intentions of the film makers but the product supports either/both of these theories.
I appreciate having the "rest of the story" to know where people are now. I would LOVE to talk to them, though. What an interesting documentation of that time in your life.

Freistat, Sally E.:
After much thought and reflection on our classroom discussions, I think the theory applicable most to "Seventeen" was conflict theory. Based on what we know of the directors, their public intent was to capture high school life in a video yearbook. The public assumed the directors would select high school achievers, those who understood and played the the "rules." Instead, they choose to follow students who broke all the rules. Perhaps the intent of the directors was to scandalize the project however I think they were trying to demonstrate how high school experience is not the same for all students and how the system of public education negatively affects students. The directors made some interesting decisions when choose what to record. For example, we saw Lynn and her friends in Home Economics class and her demonstration of disrespect for the teacher and the class. We did not see Lynn at work. Perhaps she excelled at work and was an entirely different person. Including this in the documentary would have created a much different persona than the one we got to know.

Link
http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9B04E1D91639F935A35751C0A963948260