Volume 2019 No. 3

When is a ‘University’ not a ‘University’? – A Changing Concept

Richard Pring, University of Oxford, UK

Feminization of 21st Century Philanthropy

Linda M. Plunkett, South Carolina, US

International Test Score Comparisons: What’s Wrong with the American Public Education System?

William A. Owings, Old Dominion University and Leslie S. Kaplan, Virginia, US

An Empirical Study on Female Population Projection in India

Arzoo Mustafi, Patna University, India

The Problem with Evidence: Public Schooling Is About a Place, Its History, and the Lifeworlds of Those Involved

Christine Salmen, University of Vienna, Austria

When is a ‘University’ not a ‘University’? – A Changing Concept

Richard Pring, University of Oxford, UK

The changing nature of ‘university’, as that is currently experienced in Britain, raises issues about the educational aims and values which universities are understood to promote as they’ respond to wider social changes, economic usefulness, government control, marketisation and the digital revolution. But is this ‘changing nature’ not an example of what Wittgenstein referred to as ‘philosophical problems arising when language goes on holiday’? Although the paper focuses explicitly on the developments taking place in England, the conceptual issues it raises have more general application.
Pring_R.pdf
Adobe Acrobat document [337.0 KB]

Feminization of 21st Century Philanthropy

Linda M. Plunkett, South Carolina, US

Philanthropy is no longer the domain of wealthy men. At its essence, philanthropy is a gift of time, talent, or treasure to benefit others, and women of all cultures and races are becoming some of the most powerful philanthropists in the world.
This paper theorizes that women, in fact, may be the leaders in the field of philanthropy for three reasons: powerful giving, empathetic giving, and connected giving. With women on a trajectory to control two-thirds of the wealth in the U.S. by 2030, their compassionate natures and collaborative work efforts will be major influences in 21st-century giving.
Plunkett L.M^.pdf
Adobe Acrobat document [312.2 KB]

International Test Score Comparisons: What’s Wrong with the American Public Education System?

William A. Owings, Old Dominion University and Leslie S. Kaplan, Virginia, US

U.S. students’ international test scores are panned by politicians and the media. It is often said that America spends more on education than any other country yet compares poorly on international tests (CBS News, 2013). Both statements are untrue (Owings & Kaplan, 2020). A closer look at how education functions in the United States as compared to OECD countries reveals a complex picture. The 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution makes U.S. education a federal interest and a state responsibility, carried out locally. The wide variance in state requirements for (a) preschool access, (b) compulsory attendance, (c) required lengths of the school day and year, (d) courses and credits required for high school graduation, (e) education funding, and (f) and child poverty rates help explain Am
Owings_Kaplan.pdf
Adobe Acrobat document [391.6 KB]

An Empirical Study on Female Population Projection in India

Arzoo Mustafi, Patna University, India

Since 1952, India has undergone demographic as well as economic changes of historic proportions. Demographically, India has transformed itself from a "demographic transitional" society, where reductions in mortality led to rapid population growth and subsequent decreases in fertility led to a slower population growth, to a "post-transitional" society, where life expectancy has reached new heights, fertility has declined gradually, and rapid population ageing is on the horizon. In the not-too-distant future—in a matter of a few decades—India’s population will start to shrink, an unprecedented demographic turn in Indian history in the absence of major wars, epidemics or famines.
The article delineates projected demographic changes in the age structure of India’s population and point
Mustafi_A .pdf
Adobe Acrobat document [862.0 KB]

The Problem with Evidence: Public Schooling Is About a Place, Its History, and the Lifeworlds of Those Involved

Christine Salmen, University of Vienna, Austria

Accountability as the ultimate rationale for education reform premises its efforts on equitable student achievement that results from quality schooling and teaching. However, historically stable achievement gaps expose this policy as failing by its own measure.
I argue that three narrowings of student achievement lead to conceptual limitations of the functions of schooling and the breadth of what students achieve in schooling as well as the attribution of so-called student achievement to schooling alone. Second, I show the two-fold misconstruction of achievement gaps that claim to reflect individual differences but are a mirror image of gaping historical disparities in funding, resources, education experiences and economic security that have accumulated. I conclude that research and polic
Salmen_C.pdf
Adobe Acrobat document [297.7 KB]

Volume 2019 No. 3

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