This dissertation research combines archival data and historical methods and analyzes how schooling and education in Greece between 1834 and 1913 sought to shape a Greek national identity. The goal of this project is to present a historical analysis, that has thus far been absent from scholarship on the subject, and to convey how the adoption of a common national history in Greece, with roots to ancient Greece, assisted in the shaping of a Greek national identity. The timeframe this project examines is significant because it covers an important portion of Modern Greek history. The beginning of the modern state of Greece and the opening of the first Greek schools occurred in 1834, while 1913 represents the end of the Balkan Wars and the expansion of Greek schools and a Greek identity into newly claimed parts of Greece. The years between 1834 and 1913 were a time of major social, political, and cultural changes in the state of Greece that helped to facilitate the formation of a Modern Greek national identity. Greek government legislation, textbooks, teachers manuals, curriculum guidelines, opinions, and other writings from and about this time period, provide the historical, social and cultural contexts analyzed in this dissertation. By focusing on these archival materials, this project contributes to the history of education, cultural and educational policy studies, comparative and international education, national identity formation, Modern Greek history and more broadly, European history.
Posts Tagged ‘Education’:
Feminism and Pragmatism: Change toward a More Inclusive Philosophy of Higher Education
I begin with a quotation from Virginia Held, taking this as a point of departure: “Few feminists identify ourselves specifically as pragmatists, but perhaps most of us could offer more support for pragmatism at its best than most pragmatists realize.”1 Though a passing remark, Held has raised an intriguing question. Could feminism and pragmatism offer to each other mutual support? Do they already? And if the philosophies can be demonstrated to be compatible, what are the possible gains in philosophy particularly and—especially for women—through change in higher education generally? I survey pragmatists Charles Peirce, William James, and others, though I concentrate on John Dewey. Similarly, I include feminists Carol Gilligan and Charlene Haddock Seigfried, though the schema suggested by Mary Field Belenky, Blythe McVicker Clinchy, Nancy Rule Goldberger, and Jill Mattuck Tarule,2 and as built on William Perry, provides a critical focus. In turn, I crosstabulate a feminist epistemology, taking one-way tables based on Belenky et al. and Ann Stanton, and overlaying the educational philosophy of Dewey. Important in shaping my dissertation is Shulamit Reinharz: “In feminist research … the problem is frequently a blend of an intellectual question and personal trouble.”3 What makes my “problem” concrete is a recent Columbia University study documenting significant gender imbalance among Ph.D. graduates and tenured faculty.4 Further, many feminist researchers, by their own admission, define problems but stop short of developing solutions. In contrast, I lay groundwork in feminist, pragmatist, and educational philosophy, describe a “femisophical” approach, and sketch a School of Womens Studies and Research. In addition, I point to two fruitful and already existing models, the Consortium of Academic Health Centers for Integrative Medicine and and Liberal Education and Americas Promise . I conclude that feminism and pragmatism are, indeed, compatible and mutually supportive. I substitute translate for transform , however, as a more constructive key to instituting change toward a more inclusive philosophy of higher education. Further, I argue that there are substantive and widely general benefits, both for men as for women, and that these are consistent with the social and intellectual ideals currently acclaimed for liberal education. 1Virginia Held, Feminist Morality: Transforming Culture, Society, and Politics Chicago: University Press, 1993), p. 25. 2Mary Field Belenky, Blythe McVicker Clinchy, Nancy Rule Goldberger, and Jill Mattuck Tarule. Womens Ways of Knowing: The Development of Self, Voice, and Mind. New York: Basic Books, 1986. 3Shulamit Reinharz, Feminist Methods in Social Research New York: Oxford University Press, 1992), pp. 259–260. 4James Applegate, Lucy Drotning, Nancy Gajee, Jean Howard, Kim Kastens, Janet Metcalfe, Denny Partridge, Maria Pilar Rodriquez, and JoAnn Winsten, Advancement of Women through the Academic Ranks of the Columbia University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences: Where Are the Leaks in the Pipeline? Columbia University, Commission on the Status of Women, Nov. 2001).
An analysis of the effects of sacred and secular moral education on moral behavior in American public education
Purpose, scope, and method of study. Three related aspects of sacred and secular moral education were investigated predominantly through a comprehensive analysis of historical primary sources. First explored was the historical perspective of Christianity and morality in the founding of the nation and how this perspective shaped moral education in the early Republic. Second, comparison was made of moral education, as it existed within the theological framework of Christianity and the Bible, with moral education, as it existed apart from this framework, to determine how these two approaches to moral education affected moral behavior in the life of the student. Third examined was the renewed concern that Christianity and traditional moral values are the solution to the moral decline among youth. Findings and conclusions. The results indicated that the most effective approach to confronting moral decline in America resides in the interrelationship between Christianity, morality, and a shared moral culture. A secular moral framework gives no voice to the learners faith, neither recognizing its power to motivate right action or its connection to moral training in the home, church, and community. In the traditional public school classroom, the varying worldviews of multiple stakeholders are the filter through which a set of secular, universal values is determined and cultivated. This practice fails to provide the learner with a moral worldview that remains constant across the varying domains the learner occupies. When a common worldview is shared by a social network in the varying domains of the learners life, it yields the most sustainable results for moral behavior. For most American youth, morality is grounded in Christian, biblical principles. The Christian faith provides young people with a consistent moral guide for discerning right from wrong and creates community networks that play a vital role in cultivating self-government in the life of the learner. Student moral development is best served when educators create a comprehensive approach to moral development that includes the Christian moral framework in the context of a shared moral culture.
Do the sexual assault messages of a peer-led, theatrical, health education program impact the male and female rape myths acceptance of first-year students at a large, urban, private, east coast university
College campuses are at-risk environments for sexual assault CDC, 2004). This quantitative study assessed students attitudes about sexual assault before college study 1), as well as and whether a theatrical intervention upon arrival produced changes in student attitudes generally, and according to their gender, ethnicity and sexual orientation study 2). Female and male rape myth acceptance was measured using the Rape Myth Acceptance Scale, Burt, 1980), and the Male Rape Myths Scale, MRMS, Kerr Melanson, 1999). At baseline n＝814), over 90% of students accepted at least one rape myth statement on each scale. Following the intervention, there was improvement in total scores on both scales. There were also differences on the basis of students gender, race and sexual orientation. This study demonstrated that rape myth acceptance continues to exist on college campuses. Colleges should cater their messages to specific groups on campus with the hope of preventing future victimization.
Economic analysis of child health and education in rural Vietnam
This dissertation investigates the causal link between early childhood health status and subsequent education outcomes. Its analytical approach focuses on the household as a decision making unit that invests in child health and education and takes into consideration those unobserved individual, household and community heterogeneities that might cause child health to be endogenous. The empirical analysis utilizes the fixed effects instrumental variables estimation method to obtain consistent parameter estimates of the effect of child health on education. The estimation overcomes the identification problem by using weather shock experienced during the birth year of a child to obtain an exogenous variation in child health. The estimates with household survey data from Vietnam reveal a significant effect of early childhood health status on schooling outcomes. The estimates suggest that considerable attenuation bias in the child health effect occurs when the endogeneity of child health is ignored. The estimates suggest that a nutrition intervention program will result in an empirically meaningful reduction in school entry delay and an improvement in schooling progress through grades.
The impact of cross-border flows on markets for labor, higher education, and goods and services
The essays of this dissertation examine the determinants of cross-border flows, in the form of immigrants and foreign aid, as well as the impact of those flows on receiving markets. The first essay finds that the composition of immigrant inflows into local markets is a significant determinant of native college enrollment. Theory predicts that increases in relatively unskilled immigrant labor will raise the private return to higher education, while increases in immigrant students will lower the private return. A flexible supply of college enrollment slots amplifies the former effect and mitigates the latter. I find that native college enrollment rates increase in states experiencing inflows of relatively unskilled immigrant labor but do not significantly decrease in response to immigrant student inflows. This native response implies both flexible college supply in the long-run and native college demand that is fairly wage-sensitive. The second essay, written with Dean Yang, shows that foreign aid inflows do not significantly affect the long-run economic growth of recipient countries. We examine natural disasters and whether aid flows to recipients change when their aid competitors experience disaster shocks. Utilizing this variation in aid inflows with an instrumental variables strategy, we show that aid increases recipient per capita GDP growth in the short- to medium-run due to increased household consumption. However, we find no effect of aid on proxies for human capital investment and factor productivity, nor do we observe any direct impact of aid on long-term growth. The final essay investigates the self-selection of migrants and whether higher educational quality and informational asymmetries influence migratory patterns by altering the return to skill and the expected wages of migrants. In a theoretical framework, I examine the nature of individuals jointly determined decisions of educational and employment locations. Using proxy data on worldwide college quality and the extent of information flows across borders, I find no evidence that either measure significantly influences the share of high-skilled immigrants acquiring college education in the United States. Despite potential measurement error in the proxies, I interpret this finding as evidence against the models explanation for migrant self-selection.
500 Maori PhDs in five years: Insights from a successful indigenous higher education initiative
With this thesis, I present a case study of the effort to graduate 500 Maori doctorates in five years in New Zealand in order to advance our understanding of a successful Indigenous higher education initiative. By paying careful attention to contextual factors, I describe the theoretical and practical significance of this effort and discuss the implications for higher education and for Alaska Native doctoral development. Through the presentation of data, I explore why such an effort was desirable for Maori, how this initiative was made possible, and what kinds of changes it has inspired. I argue that the goal of supporting the development of 500 Maori PhDs is fundamentally aspirational and focused on generating success through establishing right relationships as specified in Maori cultural understandings and beliefs about creation, or cosmogony. Maori culture and cosmogony serve as foundation for inquiry and allows for an alternate conception of scholarship that is not based in academic disciplines or tertiary education institutions. The Maori doctoral development initiative has inspired similar efforts to develop Indigenous doctorates in First Nations communities in Canada, Native Hawaiian communities, and Alaska Native communities. As such, this study seeks to provide information about how this initiative emerged and took hold to those interested and involved in Indigenous higher education development. Case study data include: institutional documents and archival records； data from interviews with 44 initiative leaders, participants, and university administrators； and participant observation data from gatherings of Maori scholars. I draw on analytic methods from grounded theory, including: open and axial coding, data displays, and the constant comparative method. In order to come to a full understanding of the particularities and resonant qualities of this case, I also draw on existing research on Maori social and political movements, Indigenous higher education, and the history of universities and scholarly development. Through this dissertation, I hope to engage Maori people, Alaska Native and Indigenous leaders, and higher education researchers in a conversation about how the Maori doctoral development effort might inform our understandings about higher education development in an Indigenous context.
Idols of the tribes: An intellectual and critical history of 19th and 20th century Mormon Studies
Idols of the Tribes: An Intellectual and Critical History of 19th and 20th Century Mormon Studies is an intellectual history of Mormon Studies from the early 1830s, when Mormonism arose, to today. Idols of the Tribes, however, is more than simply an intellectual history of polemical, apologetic, sociological, and historical approaches to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is also, on another level, a history of American intellectual culture and academic culture and, on another level, an essay in the sociology of knowledge.
Chinese engineering students’ cross-cultural adaptation in graduate school
This study explores cross-cultural adaptation experience of Chinese engineering students in the U.S. I interact with 10 Chinese doctoral students in engineering from a public research university through in-depth interviews to describe 1) their perceptions of and responses to key challenges they encountered in graduate school, 2) their perspectives on the challenges that stem from cross-cultural differences, and 3) their conceptualization of cross-cultural adaptation in the context of graduate school. My findings reveal that the major challenges participants encounter during graduate school are academic issues related to cultural differences and difficulties of crossing cultural boundaries and integrating into the university community. These challenges include finding motivation for doctoral study, becoming an independent learner, building a close relationship with faculty, interacting and forming relationships with American people, and gaining social recognition and support. The engineering students in this study believe they are less successful in their social integration than they are in accomplishing academic goals, mainly because of their preoccupation with academics, language barriers and cultural differences. The presence of a large Chinese student community on campus has provided a sense of community and social support for these students, but it also contributes to diminishing their willingness and opportunities to interact with people of different cultural backgrounds. Depending on their needs and purposes, they have different insights into the meaning of cross-cultural adaptation and therefore, and choose different paths to establish themselves in a new environment. Overall, they agree that cross-cultural adaptation involves a process of re-establishing themselves in new academic, social, and cultural communities, and adaptation is necessary for their personal and professional advancement in the U.S. They also acknowledge that encountering and adjusting to cross-cultural challenges allow them to grow as a person and develop a new sense of self and identity, and negotiating cultural differences help them gain a deeper understanding of their own and other cultures. These findings offer insights into understanding the interconnections among international students academic life, socialization, and cross-cultural adaptation.
Gatekeepers of local history instruction: An investigation into instructors’ backgrounds, decisions, and practices using The Making of Milwaukee curricular materials
This study investigated the types of instructors who teach local history, factors affecting their instruction in the communitys past, and instructional practices employed to educate students about a localitys history. It examined teachers implementation of items from The Making of Milwaukee MOM) project which included a book, DVD series, curriculum, and website. Ninety-one users of the MOM resources completed a survey about themselves and their instruction which revealed differences at the elementary, middle, and high school levels leading to case studies involving interviews and document analysis with 11 frequent users of the MOM materials. Instructional portraits were written of each case study participant, and Thorntons 1991) metaphor of social studies teachers as “curricular-instructional gatekeepers” was applied to understand their decisions and practices. A profile of local history instructors indicated that local history is taught at all ages but was most prominent at the third grade level with instructors who had personal connections to the community, either 15 years or less of teaching experience, and a masters degree with no training in local history. Teachers backgrounds and external factors, including instructors perceptions of colleagues, students interests and abilities, and the compatibility and workload of the MOM materials, also affected their choices of learning goals, teaching methods, and assessments. The most significant factor affecting teachers decisions advancing or restraining their local history instruction appeared to be instructors conceptualizations of curricular obligations affecting their perceptions of freedom to spend time on the communitys past which revealed a framework with four different types of gatekeepers from the case study participants: commissioners, administrators, guardians, and an independent. The framework suggests that gatekeeping may not be as individualistic as portrayed by Thornton and allows social studies teachers to reflect on their own classroom instructional decisions. Mandating instruction, coordinating collaboration within schools and districts, promoting professional development opportunities, and designing flexible materials appealing to a wide range of instructors like the MOM resources could increase the role of local history in the classroom but also have limitations as well. More research involving in-depth case studies is needed to investigate local history instruction beyond an urban environment.
