Biological Determinism and the Ideological Roots of Student Classification

1983 ◽  
Vol 165 (2) ◽  
pp. 175-191 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven Selden
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Early 20Th Century ◽  
Social Equality ◽  
Immigration Restriction ◽  
Biological Determinism ◽  
Political Issues ◽  
Historical Relationship ◽  
Student Classification ◽  
The Ideal

The issue of student classification was historically tied to the popular eugenics movement in the early 20th century. Supporters of this movement envisioned the ideal society as a biological meritocracy. They assumed that human betterment could take place only through controlled breeding. Biology would determine the human future. In the 1920's and 1930's this belief in biological determinism was joined with the assumption of differential biological worth. This combination of ideas supported programs of racial discrimination, immigration restriction, and student classification. The paper focuses upon the ways in which notions of differential biological worth were repeated, refined, and reintroduced as a basis for educational policy and for student classification. The work and influence of the eugenists and student classifiers Alfred E. Wiggam, H. H. Goddard, and Leta Hollingworth are analyzed. The paper proposes that the contemporary educator's emphasis upon student classification generally ignores the historical relationship between biological determinism, student classification, and the broader political issues of social justice and social equality. They are issues that are ignored at society's peril.

scholarly journals Cults, Crosses, and Crescents: Religion and Healing from Colonial Violence in Tanzania

Religions ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 519
Author(s):  
Nancy Rushohora ◽  
Valence Silayo
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Cultural Heritage ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Social Role ◽  
Early 20Th Century ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Local Religion ◽  
Colonial Violence ◽  
Colonial Government

More often than not, Africans employed local religion and the seemingly antagonistic faith of Christianity and Islam, to respond to colonial exploitation, cruelty, and violence. Southern Tanzanians’ reaction during the Majimaji resistance presents a case in point where the application of local religion, Christianity, and Islam for both individual and community spiritual solace were vivid. Kinjekitile Ngwale—the prominent war ritualist—prophesied that a concoction (Maji) would turn the German’s bullets to water, which in turn would be the defeat of the colonial government. Equally, Christian and Islamic doctrines were used to motivate the resistance. How religion is used in the post-colonial context as a cure for maladies of early 20th-century colonialism and how local religion can inspire political change is the focus of this paper. The paper suggests that religion, as propagated by the Majimaji people for the restoration of social justice to the descendant’s communities, is a form of cultural heritage playing a social role of remedying colonial violence.

The Alcaic Odes of Horace and Greek Poems of the Early 20th Century

2021 ◽  
Vol 60 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 149-170
Author(s):  
Hisham A. Darwish
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
Early 20Th Century ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
Political Issues ◽  
Common Features ◽  
Modern Greek ◽  
Shed Light

SummaryThis article is concerned with shedding light on two examples of influence between Horace and the Greek poets, both ancient and modern. The aim of this paper is to shed light on several parallel aspects between two of the Alcaic odes of Horace and two modern Greek lyric poems by Constantine Cavafy and Angelos Sikelianos, respectively. Subsequently, I show, within the wider framework of inter-textuality, a subtle example of the utilization and re-utilization of lyric elements that are originally ancient Greek in nature by the Latin and modern Greek poets. In my argumentation, I will rely on textual similarities, as well as on the views expressed by scholars in non-comparative contexts The paper is divided into two parts. In the first part, I compare Horace’s carm. 2. 3 with Cavafy’s Ithaka. The most important points of comparison in this section are three common features: instructive tone, the epicurean tendency and the melancholic end. In the second, I compare Horace’s carm. 1. 37 with Sikelianos’ Dithyramb. The most important points of comparison in this section are three common features, namely, the connection of the Bacchic ecstasy to political issues, the connection of the Dionysiac spirit to the struggle against the national enemy and the association of Bacchic frenzy with hunting and chase.

Teaching critical thinking as a vehicle for personal and social transformation

2018 ◽  
Vol 100 (1) ◽  
pp. 32-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raz Shpeizer
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Critical Thinking ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Educational System ◽  
Social Transformation ◽  
Social Dimensions ◽  
Latent Form ◽  
The Ideal ◽  
Critical Thinking Pedagogy

During the second half of the 20th century, a new pedagogical movement emerged, which centered around the concept of critical thinking. While the movement soon became a significant player in the pedagogical field, its proponents continued to develop the theoretical and practical aspects of critical thinking, aiming to transform it into a full-fledged pedagogical ideal. However, at least two major issues have remained unresolved in critical thinking pedagogy. The first is the desired nature of the relation between the cognitive, moral, and social dimensions of critical thinking. The second involves the grave difficulties, many times accompanied by lack of success, encountered by teachers and educators who wish to promote critical thinking education. Therefore, in this paper, I examine the evolution of the ideal of critical thinking, arguing that from the outset it has contained—even if only in latent form—ethical, moral, and social elements, and thus these elements need to be explicitly integrated into the ideal. I then demonstrate the implementation of this broadened ideal of critical thinking in teacher education and offer a further expansion of the ideal, which strengthens its relationship to the notion of social justice, while, at the same time, suggests a way of improving the implementation of critical thinking education in the overall educational system.

Rokeya Sakhawat Hosain's Gyanphal and Muktiphal: A Critique of the Iconography of the Nation-as-Mother

2000 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 203-216
Author(s):  
Kalyani Dutta
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
Early 20Th Century ◽  
Education Of Women ◽  
The Ideal

Our focus is more specifically textual as we attempt a recovery and celebration of early feminist writings. We are introduced to two allegorical fables by the early-20th-century Bengali educa tionist and writer, Rokeya Sakhawat Hosain. Hosain's stories are feminist critiques of anti- colonial nationalism, which are still relevant and continue to delight with their irony and pene trating intelligence. In these two stories we find the ideal and the weak mother of the nation dealt with allegorically, the polemical purpose being to advocate the education of women in the interests of building a strong society and nation.

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