Student opinion of the value of student evaluations     

Mordechai Miron  Esther Segal 《Higher Education》1986,15(3-4):259-265

This is an empirical investigation of student attitudes towards evaluation of instruction questionnaires. A 13-item attitude questionnaire was administered to 440 students in the Schools of Law and Engineering at Tel-Aviv University. Results indicated that students generally considered evaluation of instruction of value and were willing to participate in subsequent evaluations. They felt their evaluations were significant in influencing faculty promotion and selection; however, they were uncertain of their effect on improving the level of instruction. Criteria relevant for evaluation were the course work-load and instructor's grading policy; the instructor's academic status or talent for entertaining was of little importance. Students' academic expectations or self-definition made little significant difference either in attitude toward evaluations or in choice of rating criteria. However, students with high academic expectations were less ready to make evaluations, were unsure whether evaluation was part of the students' domain, and granted greater weight to the instructor's rank - all of which could indicate their identification with the norms of the academic world.  相似文献   

Teachers as Absurd Heroes: Camus’ Sisyphus and the Promise of Rebellion     

Mordechai Gordon 《Educational Philosophy and Theory》2016,48(6):589-604

Inspired by Camus’ portrayal of Sisyphus, this essay examines the act of teaching as an absurd profession, one that faces numerous obstacles and challenges and continually falls short of its intended goals. I begin my analysis by demonstrating that Camus’ understanding of the absurd was heavily influenced by Nietzsche’s conception of nihilism. I argue that for Camus the sense of absurdity comes from the conflict between humans’ longing for order and meaning and the disorder and meaninglessness that we experience in our daily lives. Next, I show that Camus’ understanding of absurdity can help us make sense of the recent wave of educational reform. More fundamentally, I argue that that the existential conditions of schooling that many teachers have to negotiate daily are themselves absurd in Camus’ sense of the term. In the last part of this article, I take a close look at how a number of teachers are attempting to resist and even rebel against the new educational mandates.  相似文献   

Caught between cultures: case study of an “out of school” ethnic minority student in Hong Kong     

Miron Kumar Bhowmik  Kerry J. Kennedy 《Asia Pacific Journal of Education》2017,37(1):69-85

This paper reports a case study on Maneesha Rai, a Nepalese girl living in Hong Kong and an “out of school” student. Based on in-depth interviews, a case was constructed of her previous school days and current “out of school” days. These provided a vivid picture of her life and several themes were created using schema analysis that help explain the reasons for her “dropping out” of school after Form Five. It has been common to attribute school failure for ethnic minority students in Hong Kong to problems with Chinese language education. Yet Maneesha’s case study shows that her experience of failure in other subjects such as Mathematics and Science contributed to her lack of successful schooling. Maneesha’s school failure was more than simply a consequence of academic failure. Rather, there were many other interrelated factors such as peer and community factors, dropout history in the family, racism, differences in schooling culture found that contributed to her school failure. In addition, Maneesha, like many of her ethnic minority friends, enjoyed the freedom afforded her in Hong Kong, but it seemed such freedom also meant inadequate attention from her teachers.  相似文献   

The “good professor” as perceived by university instructors     

Mordechai Miron 《Higher Education》1985,14(2):211-215

The purpose of this study is to answer the question: What is the Israeli instructor's conception of a “good university professor?” The study deals with the instructor's conception of the characteristics of the “good professor” with regard to the department in which he is teaching. A sample of 51 instructors from two departments were asked to select the three most important characteristics of a “good university professor” from a list of fifteen. It was shown that instructors attached primary importance to the professor's ability to spark intellectual growth. Of secondary importance was his method of instruction. The professor's traits connected to his academic status and his personality were of relatively little concern. There was unanimity among instructors from the two departments in their conception of what a “good professor” should be. They singled out characteristics that fall under the heading of delivery. A disparity exists between the instructor's conception of the “good professor” and the students' conception.  相似文献   

Educational integration for persons with handicaps: a conceptual discussion     

Hiroshi Katoda  Gary Miron 《欧洲特需教育杂志》2013,28(2):126-135

ABSTRACT

Presented is a discussion of the trend toward educational integration of persons with handicaps and a review of some of the concepts and definitions relevant to this pursuit. Persons with handicaps have systematically been denied their human rights and privileges throughout history. Today the main issue in education for persons with handicaps is integration, which is a means by which to forward the goals of normalization. Education for persons with handicaps, if we consider the philosophy of normalization, and adhere to the notion of educational integration, should reflect and be based upon extensive interaction among pupils with handicaps, their teachers, support staff, peers and families.  相似文献   

Education for Persons with Handicaps in Japan,the USA and Sweden     

Gary Miron  Hiroshi Katoda 《Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research》2013,57(3):163-178

Abstract

This paper deals with educational provision for persons with handicaps and the trend toward educational integration. The cases of Japan, the USA and Sweden are considered and compared. While the development of treatment for persons with handicaps is not very different among these three countries, there are obvious differences in the implementation and acceptance of integration among them. Sweden seems to have adapted best to the philosophy of normalization and the process of integration, while in Japan, and to a lesser extent the USA, the debate and conflict that arose with their introduction and development was much more intense and remains heated even today.  相似文献   

For the Love of Our Children: Hannah Arendt,the Limits of Freedom and the Role of Education in a Culture of Violence     

Mordechai Gordon 《Educational Studies A Journal of the American Educational Studies Association》2015,51(3):209-222

This essay critically examines the underlying assumptions about freedom and democracy at the basis of those like the NRA who argue that the United States does not have a gun problem and that the second amendment protects citizens' rights to own any gun they wish. Inspired by Hannah Arendt's political philosophy, the author first discuss three problematic notions of freedom—free will, sovereignty and liberation—and show how they have been appropriated by the NRA and other pro-gun organizations to justify their agendas. Adopting Arendt's conception of political freedom, he then demonstrates how it is integrally related to the notions of civic responsibility and plurality. In the last part of this essay, the author introduces Arendt's understanding of educational authority, which she defined as assuming responsibility for our common world. He argues that this notion of educational authority can help us address the issue of the role that education ought to play in a culture that glorifies violence.  相似文献   

Mothers' parenting practices and adolescents' learning from their mistakes in class: The mediating role of adolescent's self-disclosure     

Guy Roth  Tali Ron  Mordechai Benita 《Learning and Instruction》2009,19(6):506-512

This study examined 126 students' (14–16 years of age; 66 females) perceptions of self-disclosure to their mothers with respect to their mistakes in class activities. Specifically, we hypothesized that self-disclosure would predict adolescents' ability to learn from mistakes they made in classroom tasks. In addition, we hypothesized that perceived mothers' love withdrawal would correlate negatively with adolescents' self-disclosure, whereas perceived autonomy support would correlate positively with self-disclosure. Further, we hypothesized that the effect of mothers' parenting practices on adolescents' ability to learn from their mistakes would be mediated by adolescents' self-disclosure of their school experiences. Results, using SEM analyses, showed the importance of mothers' autonomy support for adolescents' self-disclosure and learning from their mistakes in classroom tasks.  相似文献   

Childhood sexual abuse as a predictor of birth-related posttraumatic stress and postpartum posttraumatic stress     

Rachel Lev-Wiesel  Shir Daphna-Tekoah  Mordechai Hallak 《Child abuse & neglect》2009,33(12):877-887

ObjectiveTo investigate the extent to which childbirth may function as a retraumatization of childhood sexual abuse, and may exacerbate postpartum posttraumatic stress reactions.MethodsData was obtained from a convenience sample of 837 women in mid-pregnancy, at 2 and 6 months following childbirth. Three groups were drawn from this sample: women who experienced childhood sexual abuse (CSA), women survivors of trauma other than CSA, and women who reported no-trauma experiences.ResultsPTSD subcategories of intrusion and arousal were increased in the CSA group following childbirth, although the overall PTSD score did not increase following childbirth in any of the groups CSA survivors scored higher at all data collection time points.ConclusionsCSA is a traumatic event that has greater negative long-term effects than other traumas in the population of pregnant women.Practice implicationsIdentifying women who are survivors of CSA early in their pregnancy and establishing a risk assessment may significantly reduce delivery complications and consequently mitigate postpartum PTS outcomes.  相似文献   

Friendship,Intimacy and Humor     

Mordechai Gordon 《Educational Philosophy and Theory》2014,46(2):162-174

Abstract

A review of the literature in philosophy in the past 20 years indicates that relatively little has been written on the connection between friendship, intimacy and humor. This article is intended to begin to address the neglect of this topic among philosophers by focusing on some interesting aspects of the relationship between friendship, intimacy and humor. The author begins his analysis by examining the different types of friendships while highlighting the characteristics of the particular kind of friendship that involves intimacy. The second part of this article discusses the concept of intimacy, which has not received much attention among philosophers. Next, the author takes a close look at the issue of humor while distinguishing it from both joking and laughter. He then moves to the heart of this article, which focuses on the question of: how can humor enhance intimacy in friendship? In the final part of this article, the author briefly outlines some educational implications that can be gleaned from the analysis of the relationship between friendship, intimacy and humor.  相似文献