ABSTRACT: Barbara Applebaum develops a conceptual framework that makes clear the ways that speech acts reproduce power, especially as it serves to maintain the marginalization of non-heterosexual people. But Applebaum's focus on explicit "utterances" and "expressions of beliefs" is too narrow, leaving out silence, especially the silence around sexual orientation in school curricula. Silence is a speech act that serves the reproduction of power and promotes harm just as powerfully as the other speech acts Applebaum is willing to censor. And so she begs the question: Can we forget to censor silence in the fight against heterosexism?

ABSTRACT : This article deals with the issue of including gay, lesbian, and bisexual themed materials in school curricula. It is argued not only that such materials should be included but also that the more radical notion of "positive systematic inclusion" should be followed. Positive systematic inclusion requires the positive portrayal of GLB persons in the curriculum and prohibits teachers, at least in the early school years, from expressing opinions against homosexuality. Using a recent critique of this position provided in Sex Education by John Beck as a foil, the author argues that positive systematic inclusion is required by and promotes the liberal democratic tradition. Furthermore, positive systematic inclusion represents the radicalization of the liberal democratic tradition necessary to respond adequately to legitimate criticisms from postmodernists.

ABSTRACT : With the recent passage of anti-bilingual education initiatives in California and Arizona, these programs clearly face one of the most serious challenges of their long history. In this defense of bilingual education, I briefly review Rawls' defense of self-respect as a primary good and further describe the Aristotelian principle of motivation that he relies on to develop his defense. Self-respect in these Aristotelian terms provides specific guidance in educational policy for non-English-speaking students. Specifically, I argue that bilingual education promotes the primary good of self-respect and increased academic engagement. I point out how critics of bilingual education either misuse the Aristotelian position or ignore it to the educational detriment of language minority students.

ABSTRACT: Here we review Jim Cummins' most recent book on bilingual education. Broadly speaking, we were impressed with Cummins' unabashed and empirically supported defense of bilingual education. In this sense, Cummins does the field a great service. However, we have concerns over some of the specifics of Cummins' theories (which, we should note, do NOT detract generally from the empirical evidence he provides to defend bilingual education). We argue that in some respects the combination of the threshold and interdependence hypotheses smacks of a deficit model in spite of Cummins' explicit denial of this. The result is that the transformative pedagogy he defends falls somewhat short and seems to further the reification of "standard english."

ABSTRACT: In this article I outline Dewey's position on nationalism (without its "evil side") and the implications that this political philosophy has for educational policy. Dewey presents, I argue, a liberal/radical philosophy of nationalism that provides a powerful counter to conservative appeals to assimilation. He deftly cuts a path through communitarian, liberal, and conservative political orientations that provides a promising approach nation building that balances the needs of cultural communities and those of the nation-state. Deweyan nationalism leads us directly towards the multicultural education advocated by contemporary scholars, such as Sonia Nieto, James Banks, and others.

ABSTRACT : Too often "spirituality" and the methods of leading students toward it are defined in terms of religious beliefs. Even when the notion of spirituality is connected to such benign terms as "love" or "caring," it is open to dangerous interpretation. In this paper, I provide illustrations of such interpretations. The way that some people define the many notions that surround spirituality serves to deaden the very spirits they claim to want to save. This is particularly true vis-à-vis the issue of homosexuality in schools. I argue that the spirituality of gay and lesbian students can best be served by heeding certain principles of justice.

ABSTRACT : In this article, I address the "balkanization argument" made by conservatives for English-Only legislation and against bilingualism. The argument here is that the United States faces the sort of linguistic divisions found in other countries. Most frequently invoked are the cases of Canada and Belgium. The claim that the United States should take warning from these countries and avoid the promotion of bilingualism has been made by a number of people, including Linda Chavez, Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., and Newt Gingrich. I argue that this claim is alarmist, at best. Data from Canada and Belgium indicate that the linguistic situations in these two countries are far too different to make reasonable comparisons to the United States. I make my case by using data of language shift, language demographics, and language prestige. These data indicate just how far the United States is from being on the same road towards linguistic division. This is not to say, however, that linguistic division cannot occur, and I point out the lessons we should draw from the cases of Canada, Belgium, and other multilingual nations.

ABSTRACT With the increasingly heard voices of gays, lesbians, and bisexuals in American society and their demands for recognition have come the responses of religious conservatives. In this article, I consider whether the extreme moral positions that religious conservatives take are defensible. More specifically, I want to consider whether teachers who embrace such conservative positions should be permitted to act on them in their classrooms. My arguments lead me to distinguish between moral democratic and moralistic positions. The former I examine using the virtues of recognition and the principle of non-oppression. I conclude that democracy requires the positive portrayal of homosexuality in schools and precludes teachers expressing their beliefs against it.

ABSTRACT In her recent book, All Must Have Prizes, Melanie Phillips makes several claims about the "disastrous" influence that John Dewey had on education in the United Kingdom. The problem is that Phillips gets Dewey flat wrong. She is, of course, not alone in her misreading of Dewey. Using Phillips as a point of departure, I present several misinterpretations of Dewey. Specifically, Phillips and others make the following claims: 1) Dewey promoted ahistoric and cultureless education; 2) Dewey sacrificed knowledge, facts, and subject matter to skills and processes; 3) Dewey rejected the authority of teachers. I point out how Dewey speaks explicitly to each of these assertions.

ABSTRACT This is a short rejoinder to Clint Collins at the University of Kentucky. Collins responded to the article below, suggesting that by "looking for ways to get [pre-service teachers] out of teaching" I acknowledge my own bias. This, I point out, is exactly the opposite of what I am up to. But, more importantly, I argue that by whittling the issue down to merely a question of "safety," Collins missed the point.

ABSTRACT As school officials seek to recognize the important and rich diversity of their students bring with them to the classroom, teacher education programs must prepare teachers to deal effectively and justly with these students. This must include gay, lesbian, and bisexual students and students with same-sex parents. In this article, I use case studies of pre-service teachers to illustrate just and unjust ways to deal with the issue of homosexuality. Just as teachers must demonstrate knowledge of the subject matter they will be teaching and competence in instructional methods, they must also be able to demonstrate competence in providing equality of educational opportunity-built around specific democratic principles-to all students. Colleges of Education, I argue, are on solid moral ground in denying certification to pre-service teachers who cannot or refuse to deal justly with gay, lesbian, and bisexual youth (including both those who already recognize their homosexuality and those who will).