This book offers an examination of the related topics of school prayer and character education in the United States, advocating for their return to public schools. According to William Jeynes, the lack of both school prayer and consistent moral instruction in our schools has had devastating consequences both for our education system and for the nation as a whole. In A Call for Character Education and Prayer in the Schools, Jeynes makes a compelling case for restoring moral instruction and nonspecific religious moments to the classroom as a way of restoring a much needed moral grounding in American society in general. A Call for Character Education and Prayer in the Schools traces the history of character education in the public schools, including coverage of leading advocates of their inclusion from Thomas Jefferson to DeWitt Clinton to Horace Mann. Jeynes then offers a broad survey of the country since the Supreme Court decisions of 1962 and 1963, asserting that most of America's greatest problems are moral in nature, and could be addressed by making moral instruction and a focus on the spiritual a part of our young citizens' school lives.

This book offers an examination of the related topics of school prayer and character education in the United States, advocating for their return to public schools. According to William Jeynes, the lack of both school prayer and consistent moral instruction in our schools has had devastating consequences both for our education system and for the nation as a whole. In A Call for Character Education and Prayer in the Schools, Jeynes makes a compelling case for restoring moral instruction and nonspecific religious moments to the classroom as a way of restoring a much needed moral grounding in American society in general. A Call for Character Education and Prayer in the Schools traces the history of character education in the public schools, including coverage of leading advocates of their inclusion from Thomas Jefferson to DeWitt Clinton to Horace Mann. Jeynes then offers a broad survey of the country since the Supreme Court decisions of 1962 and 1963, asserting that most of America's greatest problems are moral in nature, and could be addressed by making moral instruction and a focus on the spiritual a part of our young citizens' school lives.

The field of social studies is unique and complex. It is challenged by the differing perspectives related to the definition, goals, content, and purpose of social studies. Contemporary Social Studies: An Essential Reader discusses the contemporary issues surrounding social studies education today. Contemporary Social Studies: An Essential Reader encourages and inspires readers to think. The chapters included in this volume are written by prominent scholars in the field of social studies. The collection inspires and provokes readers to reconsider and reexamine social studies and its contemporary state. Readers will explore the various critical topics that encompass contemporary social studies. This collection provides readers with rich chapters which are sure to be cited as key works. Compelling and accessible, this collection brings to light the critical topics relevant to contemporary social studies and is sure to serve as a cornerstone and seminal text for the future.

Christianity regards teaching as one of the most foundational and critically sustaining ministries of the Church. As a result, Christian education remains one of the largest and oldest continuously functioning educational systems in the world, comprising both formal day schools and higher education institutions as well as informal church study groups and parachurch ministries in more than 140 countries. In The Encyclopedia of Christian Education, contributors explore the many facets of Christian education in terms of its impact on curriculum, literacy, teacher training, outcomes, and professional standards. This encyclopedia is the first reference work devoted exclusively to chronicling the unique history of Christian education across the globe, illustrating how Christian educators pioneered such educational institutions and reforms as universal literacy, home schooling, Sunday schools, women’s education, graded schools, compulsory education of the deaf and blind, and kindergarten. With an editorial advisory board of more than 30 distinguished scholars and five consulting editors, TheEncyclopedia of Christian Education contains more than 1,200 entries by 400 contributors from 75 countries. These volumes covers a vast range of topics from Christian education: History spanning from the church’s founding through the Middle Ages to the modern day Denominational and institutional profiles Intellectual traditions in Christian education Biblical and theological frameworks, curricula, missions, adolescent and higher education, theological training, and Christian pedagogy Biographies of distinguished Christian educators This work is ideal for scholars of both the history of Christianity and education, as well as researchers and students of contemporary Christianity and modern religious education.

A comprehensive source that demonstrates how 21st century Christianity can interrelate with current educational trends and aspirations The Wiley Handbook of Christianity and Education provides a resource for students and scholars interested in the most important issues, trends, and developments in the relationship between Christianity and education. It offers a historical understanding of these two intertwined subjects with a view to creating a context for the myriad issues that characterize—and challenge—the relationship between Christianity and education today. Presented in three parts, the book starts with thought-provoking essays covering major issues in Christian education such as the movement away from God in American education; the Christian paradigm based on love and character vs. academic industrial models of American education; why religion is good for society, offenders, and prisons; the resurgence of vocational exploration and its integrative potential for higher education; and more. It then looks at Christianity and education around the globe—faith-based schooling in a pluralistic democracy; religious expectations in the Latino home; church-based and community-centered higher education; etc. The third part examines how humanity is determining the relationship between Christianity and education with chapters covering the use of Christian paradigm of living and learning; enrollment, student demographic, and capacity trends in Christian schools after the introduction of private schools; empirical studies on the perceptions of intellectual diversity at elite universities in the US; and more. Provides the breadth and depth of knowledge necessary to gain a sophisticated and nuanced understanding of the complex relationship between Christianity and education and its place in contemporary society A long overdue assessment of the subject, one that takes into account the enormous changes in Christian education Presents a global consideration of the subject Examines Christian education across elementary, secondary, and post-secondary levels The Wiley Handbook of Christianity and Education will be of great interest to Christian educators in the academic world, the teaching profession, the ministry, and the college and graduate level student body.

Are public charter schools more effective than traditional public schools? This book provides quantitative evidence to answer this question and considers a better way to undertake a policy of school choice. School Choice: A Balanced Approach is the most comprehensive examination of traditional public schools, public charter schools, and faith-based schools that has ever been undertaken. By considering and comparing the overall data on these three types of educational systems, it provides insight on likely outcomes of school choice programs. The author's objective is not to advance any particular agenda, but rather to provide readers with an unbiased analysis of research that has been embraced by both the G.W. Bush and Obama administrations that will allow for fresh thinking and the betterment of American education as a whole. Author William H. Jeynes, PhD, asks vital questions regarding the school choice issue that are often overlooked: Which specific programs of school choice are likely to work, and which would likely fail? Is school choice really a boon for the private sector? How might the implementation of school choice programs increase or decrease the financial burden on government budget deficits? This book carefully addresses a relevant topic that ultimately affects every American, making it essential reading for everyone from government officials and educators to students and the general public.

In this book Peter Smagorinsky and Joel Taxel analyze the ways in which the perennial issue of character education has been articulated in the United States, both historically and in the current character education movement that began in earnest in the 1990s. The goal is to uncover the ideological nature of different conceptions of character education. The authors show how the current discourses are a continuation of discourse streams through which character education and the national purpose have been debated for hundreds of years, most recently in what are known as the Culture Wars--the intense, often passionate debates about morality, culture, and values carried out by politicians, religious groups, social policy foundations, and a wide range of political commentators and citizens, in which the various stakeholders have sought influence over a wide range of social and economic issues, including education. The centerpiece is a discourse analysis of proposals funded by the United States Department of Education's Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI). Discourse profiles from sets of states that exhibit two distinct conceptions of character are examined and the documents from particular states are placed in dialogue with the OERI Request for Proposals. One profile reflects the dominant perspective promoted in the U.S., based on an authoritarian view in which young people are indoctrinated into the value system of presumably virtuous adults through didactic instruction. The other reflects the well-established yet currently marginal discourse emphasizing attention to the whole environment in which character is developed and enacted and in which reflection on morality, rather than didactic instruction in morality, is the primary instructional approach. By focusing on these two distinct regions and their conceptions of character, the authors situate the character education movement at the turn of the twenty-first century in the context of historical notions about the nature of character and regional conceptions regarding the nature of societal organization. This enlightening volume is relevant to scholars, practitioners, policymakers, and students across the field of education, particularly those involved in character education, moral development, discourse analysis, history and cultural foundations of education, and related fields, and to the wider public interested in character education.