In Boston, twelve-year-old student David Spritzler faced disciplinary action from his school for his vocal questioning of the Pledge of Allegiance, which celebrates liberty and justice for all. The boy's concerns were not taken by the teacher as an opportunity to engage the class in a discussion of the country's problems, such as homelessness, which could be seen just outside on Boston's streets. Across the river at prestigious MIT, a linguist student told her colleague that she could not take time to read literature outside of theoretical linguistics if she wanted to be a top scholar in her field. Even essays that linked linguistics to its historical and social context fell outside her diligent pursuit of theory.What do these two seemingly disparate events have in common? According to Donaldo Macedo, they are part of an educational legacy that stifles critical thinking in favor of indoctrination and specialization. Our educational system has lost sight of its responsibility to prepare students in the kind of broad, critical thinking necessary for responsible citizenship.

Literacies of Power illustrates the many ways American schools, media, and other social institutions perpetuate ignorance. In this new, expanded edition, Donaldo Macedo shows why so-called common culture literacy is a form of dominant cultural reproduction that undermines independent thought and goes against the best interests of our students. Offering a wide-ranging counterargument, Macedo shows why cultural literacy cannot be restricted to the acquisition of Western heritage values, which sustain an ideology that systematically negates the cultural experiences of many members of society—not only minorities but also anyone who is poor or disenfranchised. Macedo calls on his own experience as a Cape Verdean immigrant from West Africa who had to surmount the barriers imposed by the world’s most entrenched monolingual system of higher education. His eloquence in this book is testimony to the very idea that critical thinking and good education are not and must not be culturally or linguistically bounded. A new concluding chapter by the author critically challenges the crucial role of schools in “the manufacture of consent” for the war in Iraq and the Patriot Act, and the “charitable racism” that is too often evident in the field of ESL. In essays new to this edition, well-known and respected educators Joe Kincheloe, Peter McLaren, and Shirley Steinberg share their insights on Macedo’s message, complementing Paulo Freire’s foreword to the original edition.

Freire and Macedo analyse the connection between literacy and politics according to whether it produces existing social relations, or introduces a new set of cultural practices that promote democratic and emancipatory change.

How can Paulo Freire s progressive and vital contributions to curriculum planning can be made more relevant today for educators, policy makers and anybody involved in education? This book provides a necessary framework as it articulates significant questions. The first deals with Freire s positions on curriculum planning, the second is devoted to the historical development and the character of his perspective on curriculum planning, and the third refers to the ways his perspective compares to others, as well as to its contemporary value. Freire s perspective comes into direct conflict with traditional views on curriculum planning, the content of which represents what is perceived as the highest expression of Western civilization. Freire also breaks with the dominant perspective of social efficiency on curriculum planning whose main aim is to supply, via behavioral objectives, the knowledge and skills deemed necessary for the efficient function of the economy and the society, treats learners as passive receivers of knowledge, and assigns to curriculum a technical character disarticulated from social, political or ideological conflicts. In addition, he does not focus on studying the learner in an abstract or a-historical framework, nor does he adopt an individualistic interpretation which fetishizes spontaneity. In contrast to traditional perspectives on the curriculum, Freire provides a fertile ground for teachers and any others who seek to transform schools and improve student s learning and lives."

'[P]erhaps the best analysis of the English-only movement in the US and the ramifications worldwide of language policies favouring English ...It displays a dazzling grasp of the many meanings of language and the politics that underlie language policy and educational discourse.' Stanley Aronowitz, City University of New York 'In the present political climate, racism and classism often hide behind seemingly technical issues about English in the modern world. The Hegemony of English courageously unmasks these deceptions and points the way to a more humane and sane way to discuss language in our global world.' James Paul Gee, University of Wisconsin, Madison The Hegemony of English succinctly exposes how the neoliberal ideology of globalization promotes dominating language policies. In the United States and Europe these policies lead to linguistic and cultural discrimination while, worldwide, they aim to stamp out a greater use and participation of national and subordinate languages in world commerce and in international organizations such as the European Union. Democracy calls for broad, multi-ethnic participation, and the authors point us toward more effective approaches in an increasingly interconnected world.

-- New from the author of the million-selling Pedagogy of the Oppressed -- In an era when teachers and states are resisting high-stakes testing, this new book from world-renowned author Paulo Freire could not be more timely. Freire's uplifting message u

Perhaps no other historian has had a more profound and revolutionary impact on American education than Howard Zinn. This is the first book devoted to his views on education and its role in a democratic society. Howard Zinn on Democratic Education describes what is missing from school textbooks and in classrooms-and how we move beyond these deficiencies to improve student education. Critical skills of citizenship are insufficiently developed in schools, according to Zinn. Textbooks and curricula must be changed to transcend the recitation of received wisdom too common today in schools. In these respects, recent Bush Administration and educational policies of most previous US presidents have been on the wrong track in meeting educational needs. This book seeks to redefine national goals at a time when public debates over education have never been more polarised--nor higher in public visibility and contentious debate. Zinn's essays on education-many never before published--are framed in this book by a dialogue between Zinn and Donaldo Macedo, a distinguished critic of literacy and schooling, whose books with Paulo Freire, Noam Chomsky and other authors have received international acclaim.

Addressing ethnic cleansing, culture wars, human sufferings, terrorism, immigration, and intensified xenophobia, "The Globalization of Racism" explains why it is vital that we gain a nuanced understanding of how ideology underlies all social, cultural, and political discourse and racist actions. The book looks at recent developments in France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Portugal, Spain and the United States and uses examples from the mass media, popular culture, and politics to address the challenges these and other countries face in their democratic institutions. The eminent authors of this important book show how we can educate for critical citizenry in the ever-increasing multicultural and multiracial world of the twenty-first century. Contributors are: David Theo Goldberg, Loic Wacquant, Edward W. Said, Zygmunt Bauman, Peter Mayo and Carmel Borg, Anna Aluffi Pentini and Walter Lorenz, Peter Gstettner, Georgios Tsiakalos, Franz Hamburger, Julio Vargas, Lena de Botton and Ramon Flecha, Concetta Sirna, Jan Fiola, Joao Paraskeva, Henry A. Giroux. It explores new forms of racism in the era of globalization.

Perhaps no other historian has had a more profound and revolutionary impact on American education than Howard Zinn. This is the first book devoted to his views on education and its role in a democratic society. Howard Zinn on Democratic Education describes what is missing from school textbooks and in classrooms-and how we move beyond these deficiencies to improve student education. Critical skills of citizenship are insufficiently developed in schools, according to Zinn. Textbooks and curricula must be changed to transcend the recitation of received wisdom too common today in schools. In these respects, recent Bush Administration and educational policies of most previous US presidents have been on the wrong track in meeting educational needs. This book seeks to redefine national goals at a time when public debates over education have never been more polarised--nor higher in public visibility and contentious debate. Zinn's essays on education-many never before published--are framed in this book by a dialogue between Zinn and Donaldo Macedo, a distinguished critic of literacy and schooling, whose books with Paulo Freire, Noam Chomsky and other authors have received international acclaim.

Essays by some of the world's leading educators provide a revolutionary portrait of new ideas and developments in education that can influence the possibility of social and political change. The authors take into account such diverse terrain as feminism, ecology, media, and individual liberty in their pursuit of new ideas that can inform the fundamental practice of education and promote a more humane civil society. The book consolidates recent thinking just as it reflects on emerging new lines of critical theory.