American Educator
Winter 2002

 

Table of Contents

Notebook

Heroes for Our Age
How Heroes Can Lift Our Students' Aims and Spirits
By Peter H. Gibbon

"With heroes, we confront crisis and experience terror ... experience the extraordinary, and expand our notion of what it means to be human." The study of heroes was once central in schooling and it helped students "find the good to be imitated and the evil to be avoided." Our notion of heroes has changed since then, but not our need for them.

Attracting Well-Qualified Teachers to Struggling Schools
By Cynthia D. Prince

For decades America's teachers accepted equal pay for unequal work. It's time to recognize—and compensate—those who commit to the nation's toughest schools.

Using Well-Qualified Teachers Well (PDF) (HTML)
The Right Teachers in the Right Places with the Right Support
By Julia E. Koppich

Turning around the most troubled schools takes well-qualified teachers—and much more. In New York City, the Extended Time Program is doing a lot of things right—and scores are rising consistently in the toughest schools, among the most challenging students.

Ask the Cognitive Scientist
Inflexible Knowledge: The First Step to Expertise
By Daniel T. Willingham

Getting students to apply their knowledge in new situation is important—and a sign of growing expertise. But, says the cognitive scientist, reaching this goal generally requires that students have a large store of knowledge on the relevant topic. Just knowing how to "solve problems" or "apply knowledge" won't do the trick.

Toying with Lives
The Scandalous Plight of China's Toy Workers
By Robert A. Senser

About half of U.S. toys are made in China—mainly by young omen who work 12- to 20-hour shifts, seven days a week, amid sickening vapors, under draconian rules.

Worker Protests Spread, Despite Repression and "Official Unions"
By Robert A. Senser

Creating Political Space to Defend Chinese Workers
Remarks by Han Dongfang