Catherine Cornbleth

Teachers in Teacher Education: Clinical Faculty Roles and Relationships

Among the proposed responses if not solutions to the variously identified problems of U.S. education and teacher education is the creation of clinical faculty positions in teacher-education programs. Clinical faculty are outstanding, experienced elementary and secondary school teachers who work with college and university teacher-education programs. In this article, we examine the roles and relationships of clinical faculty in university teacher-education programs to understand better (a) how clinical faculty might contribute to the improvement of teacher education, and (b) obstacles to clinical faculty becoming a regular part of teacher-education programs. We begin by surveying the current roles of clinical faculty and their relationships with other players in teacher-education programs. Then we sketch a brief history of clinical faculty to provide perspective on the present. We conclude by critically reexamining roles and relationships and by considering implications for teacher-education reform with emphasis on the obstacles to institutionalization of clinical faculty programs.

Images of America: What Youth Do Know About the United States

Interviews with a diverse group of juniors and seniors from three secondary schools in the northeastern United States revealed substantial agreement in their images of America. Three themes predominated: inequity associated with race, gender, socioeconomic status, or disability; freedom including rights and opportunities; and diversity based on race, ethnicity, culture, and geography. Three additional themes were voiced by at least one third of the students: America as better than other nations, progress, and the American Dream. Crosscutting these themes were a sense of individualism or personalization and an incipient critique and/or activism expressed by more than 30% of the students. Sources of or influences on students’ images of America also were investigated as were changes over time. Although not overly positive, what students do know about the United States is both realistic and generally supportive of the nation-state. There are, however, grounds for concern insofar as the major themes about which students agree play out differently for different individuals and groups, masking deep societal tensions and fissures.

An Exchange of Views on "The Great Speckled Bird"

Gilbert T. Sewall (12/9/93) President, Center for Education Studies, American Textbook Council. Henry Kiernan (11/29/93) Supervisor of the humanities at the Southern Regional High School district in Manahawkin, NJ and associated with the National History Standards Project at UCLA. Peter Sgroi (11/25/93) Teacher of American history, New York, secondary level. N.B. (Tad) Martin (12/13/93) Retired history teacher, member of the Educational Excellence Network (cofounded by Diane Ravitch and Chester Finn) and the National Council for History Education. Bill Honig (n.d.) Former California State Superintendent of Instruction. Diane Ravitch Assistant secretary of education and director of OERI in the Bush administration.

Book Reviews: Partial Knowledge

H istorically, schooling has served the purposes of cultural transmission, and the culture transmitted has been primarily that of dominant groups. It is widely recognized that members of culturally influential and dominant groups have established and shaped the public school system and its curricula as we have come to know them. Some 30 years ago, in Culture Against Man, anthropologist Jules Henry observed that schools are intended to teach young people to be stupid—not out of conspiratorial intent to squelch intelligent inquiry but simply to conserve the culture, because no culture can withstand widespread interrogation or creativity