Denials of Transportation Worker Identification Credential from the Transportation Security Administration

An interesting article appeared in today’s New York Times about international oceanography graduate students from M.I.T. being denied a Transportation Worker Identification Credential from the Transportation Security Administration to work around ships and docks. Additionally, the letter these students received stated that it was “determined that you pose a security threat.” One student, Wilken-Jon von Appen who is a 23 year old student from Germany, is funded by a $65,000 grant from the National Science Foundation.

Data and Research on U.S. Multicultural Students in Study Abroad

Gayle Woodruff from the University of Minnesota and I are co-chairing a session at the upcoming NAFSA: Association of International Educators conference in Washington, D.C. entitled Data and Research on U.S. Multicultural Students in Study Abroad. The following is an abstract of your proposal:

Increasing emphasis has been placed on recruiting under represented U.S. students from diverse
backgrounds to study abroad Most programs are based upon an anecdotal understanding of this
student population. This presentation reveals current trends and gaps in data and research on U.S. multicultural students and their participation in study abroad.

Holocultural Testing

This is the first of several posts where I will briefly review the works of comparative education scholars and place them along an epistemological spectrum. For this post, I’m looking at holocultural testing.

Herzog, J.D. 1962. Deliberate Instruction and household Structure: A Cross-Cultural Study,” in Scientific Investigation in Comparative Education, ed. M.A. Eckstein and H.J. Noah, 251-292. London: Collier Macmillian.

In what Erwin Epstein considers a “fringe epistemology” on the spectrum used in this essay, John Herzog approach falls within the holocultural testing approach to comparative education. Holocultural testing, while surprisingly influenced by anthropology, is very nomothetic in its approach to comparative education. Herzog employs a unique cross-cultural method in analyzing the Human Relations Area Files (HRAF). In the discussion of the basic theoretical orientation implemented in his research, Herzog regards the institutions of a culture “first as ‘maintenance systems,’ through which the culture makes its ecological adjustments; and second as ‘cultural solutions’ to the psychological problems which the maintenance arrangements produce. The maintenance systems of a society also affect its techniques of child training, and thus the processes of socialization which its children experience.”[1] Herzog describes the interplay of maintenance systems and socialization practices and mentions that “maintenance systems influence the nature of the projective institutions which a society may have; but the psychological outcome of a society’s child-training also strongly influence the nature of these institutions.”[2] While Herzog’s work is on the fringe of the nomothetic approach to comparative education there are others such as Erwin Epstein and David Zern, among others, who have also produced works under this theoretical approach.

[1] Page 260.
[2] Page 261.

Six Afghan exchange students flee to Canada

As reported in several news outlets and in Today's Toronto Star, six exchange students from Afghanistan who are participants in the U.S. Department of State's Youth Exchange Program (YES) fled to Canada three weeks ago seeking assylum. This, of course, puts the YES program in jeopardy and reduces the United State's public diplomacy efforts. You can access the Toronto Star article here.

The Future of Soft Power and International Education

At the upcoming NAFSA: Association of International Educators conference in Washington, D.C. I'll be presenting as part of a panel on the future of soft power and international education with my colleagues Jed Willard and Bryan McAllister-Grande (chair). Following is the abstract of our session:

Soft power allows nations to achieve goals without military force. Explore the history and perceived decline of American soft power and the ethics/tactics of international educator involvement. Participants from all knowledge communities are invited to contribute during the presentation and to ongoing research. Non-U.S. soft power perspectives are especially welcome.

Center for Capacity Building in Study Abroad

NAFSA: Association of International Educators and NASULGC, National Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges begin an interesting collaboration as they co-found the Center for Capacity Building in Study Abroad. More information on this new initiative are available at www.studyabroadcenter.org.

Comparative Education Epistemological Spectrum

Epistemological debates on the production of knowledge have existed for centuries. In 1817, Marc-Antoine Julien’s Esquisse et vues préliminaires d’un ouvrage sur l’éducation comparée[1] was published and the field of comparative education was established. In his seminal work, Julien writes, “researches on comparative education must furnish new means of perfecting the science of education.”[2] Comparativists heed this challenge proposed by Julien and, as the field of comparative education has developed and grown, scholars across the globe approach the study of education from a variety of different theoretical and methodological perspectives. Comparative education scholars range in their theoretical or epistemological approaches, from extreme positivism to extreme relativism, to understanding international issues of education. Additionally, comparativists actively engage, critique and challenge one another, in both the scholarly literature of the field and during academic conferences and related events/venues, on their epistemological and methodological positions.

Throughout the next several weeks I will review and rank the academic work of twelve authors or group of authors along a comparative education epistemological spectrum. The spectrum I will be working from for this analysis was produced by Erwin H. Epstein.[3] Justification for author(s) placement along the spectrum will be provided primarily in the form of direct citation or quotation from the text of the author’s work that is being reviewed. The various epistemological approaches on the spectrum that I will review, from extreme positivist to extreme relativist, include: holocultural testing; positivism; cross-national analysis; historical functionalism; national character analysis; relativism; and, postmodern discourse.

[1] Plan and Preliminary Views for a Work on Comparative Education is the English translation of Julien’s original work in French.
[2] Julien, M.A. 1817. Esquisse et Vues Préliminaires d’un Ouvrage Sur l’éducation Comparée, in ELPS 457 Comparative Theory spring 2006 course packet, Loyola University Chicago, ed. E.H. Epstein, 30-49. Chicago: Loyola University Chicago.
[3] Epstein’s comparative education epistemological spectrum was distributed to registered students in his ELPS 457 Comparative Theory course in spring 2006.