Books
Archived article from May 3, 2002
Page 2 of 4
for classes during their first year to maintaining relationships with professors after graduation. Advice on making the most of classroom and office hours, asking for recommendations and finding an adviser are also included.
--Bill Glovin
The beginnings of progressive education
On the heels of the suffrage movement came a host of unheralded women who had a significant impact on education. "Founding Mothers: Women Educational Leaders in the Progressive Era" (Palgrave), co-edited by Alan R. Sadovnik, a professor of education on the Newark campus, and Susan F. Semel, a professor of education at City College of New York, is aimed at acknowledging these women's contributions to so many of the educational policies and practices that exist today.
Some of the women reformers helped shape educational organizations and movements; others developed innovative independent schools geared to middle-class children. They worked in public and private schools, teachers' unions, museums and universities, and their contributions range from using Freudian psychology in the classroom to fighting for racial equality in education.
The editors have organized the book into profiles that look at the women's lives and schools or movements. Included are Carolyn Pratt, the founder of the City and Country School, who emphasized the idea of self-expression and growth through play; Margaret Naumburg, founder of the Walden School, who believed in "individual transformation"; and Flora Cooke, the first principal of the Francis W. Parker School in Chicago. Other chapters profile women who founded well-known schools such as Dalton (Helen Parkhurst), Putney (Cermelita Hinton) and the North Carolina-based Palmer Institute (Charlotte Hawkins Brown), a school for African-American children.
Many of these women reformers, the editors point out, were driven, tenacious, individualistic and charismatic -- qualities more apt to flourish in private settings than in large, bureaucratic public institutions. The editors make the connection between these reformers' accomplishments and the increasing popularity and effectiveness of alternative and charter schools today, but warn that starting and running a school generally require "superhuman efforts of the leader."
Sadovnik and Semel, who previously collaborated on "Schools of Tomorrow, Schools of Today: What Happened to Progressive Education" (Peter Lang), partly use their introduction and conclusion in "Founding Mothers" to speculate that women's contributions have been overlooked because they often worked outside the public school system and mostly applied their theories quietly as teachers or leaders, rather than as high-profile public school administrators or university professors. Nevertheless, all led remarkable lives, the editors note, and their legacies are embedded in education today.
--Bill Glovin
Service with a smile?
Not happy with the restaurant service? You may want to think twice before stiffing the waitress. The result could be much more than a dent in her pocketbook; it could negatively affect her feelings of self-worth and her emotional balance as well, according to a new book, "Juggling Food and Feelings: Emotional Balance in the Workplace" (Lexington Press, 2002).
Authored by sociologist Mary Gatta, the book explores the methods servers use to manage and rebalance their emotions when confronted with workplace stressors such as tip loss, angry customers and overzealous managers.
"Emotional balance doesn't happen naturally. We have to work at it constantly, which is why it's so easy to be thrown off balance," says Gatta, director of research and analysis at the Center for Women and Work.
"Maintaining emotional balance is important for everyone, but particularly for those in the service sector where pay is low, stress is high and a major part of the job is emotional labor," Gatta continues. "Servers earn tips based on how they interact with customers and the service they are selling. If they aren't controlling their emotions, tips will suffer because a portion of the tip comes from their presentation of self."
continued...
< Previous
Page 2 of 4
Next >
|
