'This book is a must-read for parents and educators who want to refocus children's attention to one of the greatest secrets to long-term happiness - discovering the extraordinary in the ordinary' - Jessica Joelle Alexander, co-author of The Danish Way of Parenting Children of the last twenty years have grown up in an increasingly frenzied and demanding environment so that, on one hand, education has been rendered more complicated, and on the other, the essentials have been lost to view. In order to ensure their future success, parents often feel that they must fill their children's schedules with endless activities that cause leisure, spontaneous activity, and the experience of nature, beauty and silence, to fade out of their lives. This veritable race toward adulthood distances children more and more from the natural laws of childhood. A constant stream of loud and flashy stimuli disturbs the only true and sustainable learning that exists in them: that of calmly and quietly discovering the world for themselves and at their own pace, with a sense of wonder that goes beyond mere curiosity for the unknown or interest in novelty. In a world such as this, it can be a daunting task for a parent or educator of young children to discern how to best raise their children. Catherine L'Ecuyer offers clarity, drawing attention to the findings of many studies of the last few decades on the effects of screen use, overstimulation and mechanistic approaches to education on young children, and suggests time exploring the real world, more silence and the 'Wonder Approach' as remedies. Learning should be a wondrous journey guided by a deep reflection on what the natural laws of childhood require: respect for children's pace and rhythms, innocence, sense of mystery and thirst for beauty.

In the 1990s Canadian universities experienced an aggressive campaign of corporatization. Universities for Sale offers suggestions on how to resist corporatization. Neil Tudiver shows how scholarly independence has, in recent years, been eroded to a point of crisis. Left unchecked, corporations play a larger and larger role in deciding which fields of study survive and which will disappear. He looks at how professors defend free inquiry against the pressures of economic expediency. Universities for Sale is a penetrating analysis of the ongoing issue of corporate influence on Canada's universities.

Takes on the daunting task of "reactualizing Lenin," arguing provocatively for the subversive power of the discredited "signifier" known as "Lenin." Remarkable verve, sophistication, and charisma to topics that might otherwise turn dogmatic.

Utopian Pedagogy is a challenge to the developing world order that will stimulate debate in the fields of education and beyond, and encourage the development of socially sustainable alternatives.

As public intellectuals academics formulate specialized knowledge to become understandable and relevant for people outside of the specialty. There are two main forms of such intellectual activity: dissemination and debating. Scientific knowledge is a cultural value in its own right and also of importance in public discourse. Due to the complexity of the challenges facing modern societies the intellectual role of individual academics and scholarly institutions is increasingly important with mass education and new media techniques expanding the public sphere. It has become more important that specialists popularize also for specialists in other fields. Challenges such as climate change or social integration requires knowledgeable citizens and broad public discourses integrating specialized knowledge from several disciplines. Contemporary challenges in Western Europe, Scandinavia and the US are discussed. The historical perspectives are followed back to early Modernity. The cases include contributions on Holberg, the Myrdals and Boas. There are contributions on the recent transformations “East of the Elbe” and the challenges facing scholars in Turkey and India. The main focus of the book is on social scientists but the issues discussed are of general interest for all kinds of academics and for people interested in the cultural and political relevance of science.