Indicators of Higher Education Equity in the United States: 45 Year Trend Report 2015

This publication brings together in partnership, the Pell Institute with the Alliance for Higher Education and Democracy (AHEAD) of University of Pennsylvania. Both organizations have a core mission to promote a more open, equitable, and democratic higher education system within the United States. The Pell Institute has a special mission to promote more equitable opportunity for low-income, first generation, and students with disabilities.The purpose of the Indicators of Higher Education Equity report is to report the status of higher education equity in the United States and to identify policies and practices that promote and hinder progress and illustrate the need for increased support of policies, programs and practices that not only improve overall attainment in higher education but also create greater equity in higher education attainment

Dialogic & Critical Pedagogies: An Interview with Ira Shor

In 2016, the Main Editors of Dialogic Pedagogy Journal issued a call for papers and contributions to a wide range of dialogic pedagogy scholars and practitioners. One of the scholars who responded to our call is famous American educator Ira Shor, a professor at the College of Staten Island, City University of New York. Shor has been influenced by Paulo Freire with whom he published, among other books, “A Pedagogy for Liberation” (1986), the very first “talking book” Freire did with a collaborator. His work in education is about empowering and liberating practice, which is why it has become a central feature of critical pedagogy.Shor’s work has touched on themes that resonate with Dialogic Pedagogy (DP). He emphasises the importance of students becoming empowered by ensuring that their experiences are brought to bear. We were excited when Shor responded to our call for papers with an interesting proposal: an interview that could be published in DPJ, and we enthusiastically accepted his offer. The DPJ Main Editors contacted the DPJ community members and asked them to submit questions for Ira. The result is an exciting in-depth interview with him that revolved around six topics: (1) Social Justice; (2) Dialogism; (3) Democratic Higher Education; (4) Critical Literacy versus Traditional Literacy; (5) Paulo Freire and Critical Pedagogy; and (6) Language and Thought. Following the interview, we reflect on complimentary themes and tensions that emerge between Shor’s approach to critical pedagogy and DP

Beyond all reason: spaces of hope in the struggle for England's universities

England’s public university system has been groaning and lurching toward privatization for decades. Until recently, however, it was still possible to argue that “the attempt to close off and render impossible the experience of education as a collaborative pursuit of a public good and to make possible its full commodification has not yet wholly succeeded” here.1 Despite being deeply disillusioned with increasingly neoliberal forms of academic work, many academics have thus also maintained that these could never be totalizing; that their implementation could be mediated through critical professional practice, and that social-democratic justifications for public higher education could prevail even within discourses that had become inhospitable to the very idea of the public itself. [...

The Diversity Distraction: A Critical Comparative Analysis of Discourse in Higher Education Scholarship

This critical literature review investigates how diversity and equity are employed in top-cited higher education scholarship published between 2000 and 2015. No analysis to date has offered such a comparative exploration relative to well-recognized racial disparities in higher education. Findings reveal a divergence with diversity largely attending to affirmative action concerns and equity to analyses of the pursuit of equity in higher education. The article concludes with advocacy for the equity frame because of its presumption of a normative justice-oriented standard and embedded orientation toward inquiry and action, both of which offer greater promise for policy, practice, and research that aim to enhance racial justice in higher education

John Dewey, Jane Addams and the Pragmatist Road to Democracy

Description: > Since the middle of the 20th century many liberal philosophers have > been skeptical of fostering values through public education. The > state in general, and its educational institutions in particular, > were supposed to be neutral regarding theories of the good. Given the > abuses of totalitarian regimes, this seemed a necessary adjustment to > preserve the freedom of individuals. Indoctrination was to be avoided > at all cost. This is true not only for philosophers who are, like > F.A. Hayek, wary of state intervention in general. It is also > characteristic of the work of John Rawls whose influence on political > philosophy today can hardly be overestimated. While Rawls was not > afraid of economic redistribution, he was adamant about keeping > public education as free from instilling a liberal and/or democratic > worldview as possible. Most of all, the state must renounce on > favoring any specific theory of the good. This includes, Rawls says, > the liberalism of John Stuart Mill as well as Immanuel Kant's > emphasis on autonomy. > Given the recent undermining of the democratic nation state and its > liberal foundations - there is no need to list the by now notorious > examples -, the idea suggests itself that this educational abstinence > has been one of the drivers of the current crisis of democracy. After > all, a significant number of people seem to no longer support the > democratic nation state with its traditional allegiances, like to > rely on facts, to be critical of the sources of information, to form > an understanding of the opinions of those one disagrees with, to > accept the outcome of elections, etc. So, has liberalism gone too far > in abstaining from educating for democratic values and the virtues of > liberalism? Do we need public education - in schools, universities, > and in adult education - that consciously fosters democratic values > and liberal theories of the good? And if so, how could this education > look like and what distinguishes it from the indoctrination of > totalitarian regimes? > Organized by the John-Dewey-Center Switzerland the conference > naturally blends these questions into the question whether Dewey's > thoughts on democratic education (especially his Democracy and > Education from 1916), largely bypassed by Rawls and his followers, > deserve renewed interest. The question also applies to Amy Gutmann's > Democratic Education from 1987. Although Gutmann ultimately rejects > Dewey's version of democratic education as too perfectionist because > Dewey claims that 'what the best and wisest parent wants for his own > child, that must the community want for all of its children', Gutmann > explicitly builds on Dewey's ideas and breaks, to some extent at > least, with the liberal mainstream abstention from democratic > education that emerged in the middle of the 20th century

Book review: Radical Hope: A Teaching Manifesto

A review of Radical Hope: A Teaching Manifesto (2020) written by Kevin M. Gannon

Higher Education in the Era of Illusions: Neoliberal Narratives, Capitalistic Realities, and the Need for Critical Praxis

The modern American university is in transition, undergoing major changes to its very structure and function. While few of these changes are reflective of the rhetorical language of economic freedom, liberty, choice, and rights used in promoting the neoliberal state project, many others are clear indications of the re-coronation of a capitalistic oligarchy and the reinstatement of its class supremacy through the exploitation of society. While most of the critical literature in higher education attends to the structural macroscopic effects of the new capitalism, it is the argument in this article that more attention should be paid to the subjective microscopic embodiment of neoliberalism in various higher education contexts. This article starts by describing the rise of neoliberal tendencies in today’s higher education. It then describes capitalistic trends in today’s university. The article then moves to a historical grounding of the neoliberal narrative in American culture, showing that its inception could be correlated with pressures caused by partial gains made by the civil rights movement; and that the presence of such narrative in higher education today serves a class function. The article concludes by outlining a pragmatist pedagogy of embodiment that may counter the neoliberal narrative in today’s university

\u3ci\u3eManagement and Gender in Higher Education\u3c/i\u3e by Pat O\u27Connor

Review of Pat O’Connor\u27s Management and Gender in Higher Education. Manchester, England: Oxford University Press, 2014