Showing papers in "Peabody Journal of Education in 1972"

The competent infant

Abstract: In 1890, William James spoke of the newborn's world as "a blooming, buzzing confusion." In his view, the infant could not differentiate the sensory experiences which pervaded his environment. That was the infant of 1890. Today's infant is seen as a highly receptive and actively responsive organism whose sensory-perceptual and learning capabilities are just beginning to be experimentally investigated and understood.

Compensatory education and social justice

Abstract: In past generations, as today, it is true that "the world is in chaos. Our own country faces the most menacing social and economic problems it has ever known. Where can it look for salvation?... Certainly we can hope to do nothing to stave off the collapse of Western civilization if we remain absorbed in the frivolous and irrelevant occupations that consume the attention of many scholars and many faculties."1

The Community College President.

Abstract: The college president has been the object of more discussion than any other position in higher education. The literature is replete with articles and books which vary from personal reminiscences through descriptions to serious analyses. Officeholders have been pictured as tyrants, authoritarian figures, timid and indecisive followers, as well as organizational leaders of great stature and strength. Each of these views has some validity, depending upon the personality of the individual officeholder and the particular time and place. It is my purpose to (1) define the concept of role, (2) describe some parameters of the president's role, and (3) place the office in its organizational context.

The Politics of Curriculum Change.

Abstract: (1972). The politics of curriculum change. Peabody Journal of Education: Vol. 49, No. 4, pp. 295-299.

Ralph W. Tyler: The Man and His Work.

Abstract: (1972). Ralph W. Tyler: The man and his work. Peabody Journal of Education: Vol. 50, No. 1, pp. 68-74.

In Search of a Transactional Model for Educational Intervention: Reactions to Farber and Lewis.

Abstract: Sociologists Bernard Farber and Michael Lewis ask from a social system perspective, "Why have compensatory educational programs failed?"l They maintain that the assumptions underlying the basic idea of compensatory education are faulty and that the espousal of the compensatory strategy "is largely determined by the presence of potent needs and interests in modern American Society."2 They call for educators to become independent field teachers and assert:

Field teaching: A social history

Abstract: Development of field teaching as an alternative form of education is an extension of the effort to provide formal education for handicapped and gifted children and adults who have been excluded from appropriate education in the United States. This effort is a continuing expression of the social movements generated by Dorthea Dix, Samuel Gridley Howe, and Jane Addams. One contemporary effort in the development of this alternative was conducted at the Institute for Research on Exceptional Children (IREC), University of Illinois, under the directorship of Samuel A. Kirk. Beginning with its founding in 1951, the IREC faculty and students were concerned with understanding how people develop so that abnormal patterns might be modified in order to increase each person's life chances. The constant focus of research and related demonstrations was upon ways in which classroom teachers might be prepared to work with people called exceptional.

Person‐centered evaluation builds positive self‐concepts

Abstract: Teachers do not care about the total development of children. They treat kids as non-persons who are to be indoctrinated with cognitive information of little personal meaning. Only superficial attention is given to the unique humanness possessed by each child. The classroom stands as a fortress preventing the intrusion of reality, while present evaluation practices serve as weapons to shatter the self-concept of children-destroying the key to constructive intellectual and social development. The possibilities for a child to develop a positive self-concept are extremely limited unless teachers and other authority figures perceive the child as a significant individual. Unfortunately, this is not the case in many classrooms. Frymier collected data from 3,000 teachers about the way 54 specific aspects of education were viewed, The items were rated on a five point scale and arranged in hierarchical order. One of the findings was that "there was not a single item about children which was above the midpoint."' This indicates a negative view of children in relation to other factors found in the school setting. Data such as this is shocking to say the least, but more important, the information emphasizes the necessity for a comprehensive analysis of all components existing in the educational environment. Educational institutions exist to facilitate learning for all students regardless of their status in society. In reality then, we must begin to accomplish positive results

Surviving, More or Less.

Abstract: (1972). Surviving, more or less. Peabody Journal of Education: Vol. 49, No. 2, pp. 126-137.

A Significant Innovation in Nursing Education.

Abstract: Innovation, a method of using knowledge in new arrangements or configurations, is not an isolated or an esoteric process that happens without reference to other events and traditions. Innovation is neither a solitary occurrence nor does it take its course in a vacuum. For an event to be genuinely innovative, it must have considerable effect on the total system in which it occurs. The more measurable and pronounced the innovative act is for the ultimate effectiveness of the target system, the greater is the social value of the innovation.

Improving the Spelling Program.

Abstract: (1972). Improving the spelling program. Peabody Journal of Education: Vol. 49, No. 4, pp. 285-289.

The problem of grammaticality

Abstract: Grammar is in trouble and needs help. The problem is in the empirical foundations of grammatical theory construction. One writes a grammar on the basis of what are called grammaticality judgments. One judges, for example, that a sentence like (1): (1) Fred is in debt to the tune of $500,000. is part of English, and has a particular meaning and structure, whereas a sentence like (2): (2) Fred is in debt to the song of $500,000. is not part of English, and one constructs a grammar so as to account for these and potentially countless other such judgments. As grammarians over the past fifteen years have probed ever deeper into the workings of English, the kinds of examples for which grammaticality judgments have been required have become increasingly complicated and in some cases highly contrived. For such examples, we are now finding that it is not possible by introspection or by asking one's friends or by sending out questionnaires to obtain judgments that are reliable about the grammar of those sentences. Let me cite for illustration a particular interesting set of examples, based on the work of Jorge Hankamer.' Hankamer points out first that there are two separate

A Sociological Classification of Literary Types.

Abstract: English departments around our country are in a lot of trouble. Members of these departments who have spent years preparing carefully detailed survey courses in English or American literature, researching the major or minor figures of a particular period, or ceaselessly reexamining the great books of the Western world are discovering that we as instructors are obsolescent, even obsolete. We are being voted out under the elective system, in fact tuned out by a generation of students brought up with the bedroom TV, the drive-in movie, the car radio, who knew intimately the comings and goings of Archie Bunker or Joan Baez, but don't know Chaucer or Milton and couldn't care less.

Tenri University: A religious approach to international education

Abstract: (1972). Tenri University: A religious approach to international education. Peabody Journal of Education: Vol. 49, No. 4, pp. 300-306.

Children See Themselves as Others See Them.

Abstract: How can elementary school children be assisted by schools to monitor their behavior independently? This question prompted us to examine the past processes by which we controlled the children in our classrooms. The methods we had used were difficult to face; yet in all honesty we had relied upon them exclusively. We were present, we scolded, we looked crossly at kids, we kept them after school, we pleaded, we reasoned, we used grades, we praised, we used privileges, we smiled, we laughed, we used parents, we ignored, and sometimes we used the principal to control behavior. We did a lot of things, but what did the child do? The child's role in monitoring his behavior was always subordinate to an authority figure. Actually the child did not have to evaluate his behavior as this was done for him by the teacher. A child could behave in school in a given way for quite some time, and not be particularly conscious of his behavior until the teacher suddenly brought it to his attention. At that point the child had a decision to make. The decision was like a moment of truth.

Education of the deaf as viewed from the rehabilitation perspective

Abstract: 1The statistical data cited in this section are rough estimates. More precise figures have not been ascertained. Exact figures are available for state residential schools, but they enroll only one half of deaf pupils. Furthermore, educational opportunities for deaf students are expanding. Post-secondary programs now number over 20. The 1972 Amendments to the Vocational Rehabilitation Act include a proposal to establish comprehensive regional training centers for deaf adults which would eventually enroll 2,000 students. 2Office of Demographic Studies, Academic Achievement Test Performance of Students in Schools and Classes for the Hearing Impaired: United States, Spring, 1969 (Washington, D.C.: Gallaudet College, 1969).

Field Teaching and the Social Process.

Abstract: The primary theses of the five articles contained in the January 1972 issue of the Journal are the malignant effects the present system of education has upon the children it attempts to educate. Four of the articles deal in some manner with the Neighborhood Learning Center as an alternative form of education. The lead article by Farber and Lewis on why the entire concept of compensatory education is fallacious is the most provocative and cogent. Even though many of the arguments presented in this paper appeared in other publications by the authors, their review is both timely and significant. The authors argue that compensatory education programs have been historical failures, dating from the end of the eighteenth century. The question posed by Farber and Lewis is why then do these programs persist and indeed, as witnessed by the last ten years, proliferate? In answer to the above this reviewer suggests the following. All democratic societies profess that one of their desired ends is that its citizens be afforded opportunities for education. Yet few are willing to define the educational process as occurring outside the classroom perspective. Those democratic societies characterized as heterogeneous and comprised of many ethnic and racial groups with varying amounts of education are faced with the challenge of establishing free and open social institutions and the opportunities for all to receive an education commensurate with their ability, unhampered by societal constraints. The accomplishment of the latter theoretically facilitates the enjoyment and appreciation of the benefits accruing from the democratic process. However, when education is viewed only in the strictest sense (i.e., learning the three Rs) and interpreted as belonging exclusively to the school system,