Critical Issues in Education: Dialogues and Dialectics - Softcover

Nelson, Jack L.; Palonsky, Stuart B.; McCarthy, Mary Rose

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0072555114 ISBN 13: 9780072555110

Publisher: Mcgraw-Hill (Tx), 2003

Synopsis

Critical Issues in Education is designed to be used in courses that examine current, relevant pro and con disputes about schools and schooling. By exploring the major opposing viewpoints on these issues, the text encourages education students to think critically and develop their own viewpoints. The clear writing and dramatic dialectic approach are conducive to dynamic classroom discussions that help students grasp the many sides of these complex issues. Three integrating themes provide a solid framework for examining the eighteen topics covered. Each part begins with a chapter-length introduction that provides background material and organizing themes for the issues that follow. Each issue is then presented from two divergent viewpoints, each one written in advocate language to be as compelling as possible. The book's objective, in addition to informing the reader about the issues, is to develop critical thinking skills within the context of education.

About this title

From the Publisher:

The fourth edition includes updated research and scholarship and updated bibliographic references.
Three new chapters explore the pros and cons of 'Beginning Reading - Is there one best approach to literacy?', 'Gender - Should gender differences affect schools and schooling?', and 'Mainstreaming and Inclusion - How should we provide for students with special needs?'.
Comprehensive and Flexible -Balanced, pro-and-con coverage is given to the most hotly debated issues in education today. The modest price permits it to be used either as a core text in issue-oriented courses or as a supplement in courses devoted partly to issues.
Integrating Themes -Each of the book's major parts begins with a chapter-length introduction that provides background information and introduces a theme that ties the issues together.
Critical Thinking Skills -Each of the book's issues chapters presents two convincingly argued, alternative positions on a particular issue. The idea is not only to inform the reader about the issues but, through the debate format, force the reader to weigh the arguments, seek additional information, and come up with his or her own position.
Organizing Framework -The issues have been arranged in a macro-to-micro scheme. They move from a consideration of the overall purposes of schooling to the curriculum, teaching, and evaluation considerations that flow out of those purposes.

About the Author:

Jack L. Nelson a professor of education at Rutgers, obtained his doctorate from the University of Southern California. He is experienced teacher in schools at the elementary, secondary, undergraduate, and graduate levels; his university teaching experience includes California State University, Los Angeles; the State University of New York at Buffalo; San Jose State University; and Cambridge University. Nelson has been a visiting scholar at the University of California, Berkeley; Stanford University, University of Colorado; and Curtin University and the University of Sydney in Australia. Critical Issues in Education is his sixteenth book; he has also published about 150 articles and reviews. He is listed in Who’s Who in America and Contemporary Authors.

Stuart B. Palonsky is professor of education and director of the Honors College at the University of Missouri-Columbia. A former public school teacher in New York and New Jersey, Palonsky earned his doctorate at Michigan State University. His publications include 900 Shows a Year, an ethnographic study of high school teaching from a classroom teacher’s perspective. In addition, Palonsky has published numerous articles and reviews in educational and social science journals, and has presented scholarly and professional papers on educational issues at national association conferences.

About this edition

• Publisher: Mcgraw-Hill (Tx)
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0072555114
• ISBN 13: 9780072555110
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 5
• Number of pages: 20