Fertilizers, Pills & Magnetic Strips: The Fate of Public Education in America

Gene V Glass, Director of Research and Policy at CARDET,  and Regents' Professor of Education Policy Studies and Psychology in Education at Arizona State University, has recently published a book which has already received outstanding reviews.  "We shape our tools and then they shape us." With these words, Kenneth Boulding captured one of the great truths of the modern world. In Fertilizers, Pills, and Magnetic Strips, published by Information Age Publishing, Glass analyzes how a few key technological inventions changed culture in America and how public education has changed as a result. Driving these changes are material self-interest and the desire for comfort and security, both of which have transformed American culture into a hyper-consuming, xenophobic society that is systematically degrading public education.

Members of the CARDET team participated at the American Educational Research Association Conference in New York, March 24-28, 2008 with the presentations below. These papers are available upon request. 

Avraamidou, L. (2008). The Use Of Handhelds in School Science: A Water Quality Study. Paper accepted for presentation at AERA, New York, March 2008.

Glass, G. V (2008). AERA's Role: Disseminating Facts or Nurturing Debate? In Session: Improving Research Use: Evidence-Based Strategies and New Media Opportunities. Paper to be presented at AERA, New York, March 2008.

Solomou, M. & Vrasidas, C. (2008). Commercial Computer Games in Education: Age of Mythology in Ancient Greek History Lessons. Paper accepted for presentation at AERA, New York, March 2008.

Conference on Challenges of EU27 Development Policy with a Technical Seminar on the European Development Fund. Brdo, Slovenia, 17-18 February 2008

CARDET participated in the conference on “Challenges of EU27 development policy” on 18 February 2008 at Brdo, Slovenia. The Cyprus Ministry of Foreign Affairs, invited CARDET to participate in the event, since there was a provision for NGOs to be represented in this discussions. The conference provided the opportunity for an open discussion on the challenges the EU development policy is facing. Topics discussed included aid effectiveness, division of labor, funding mechanisms as well as children and women in armed conflicts with particular reference to EU development policy. An informal discussion on future organizational aspects of EU development policy took place during a working lunch.