(2009). Herouxville's Afghanistan, or, Accumulated Violence. Review of Education, Pedagogy & Cultural Studies, v31 n2-3 p177-200. This essay explores the cultural-pedagogical logic of what the author calls the perlocutionary effect of transcendence that the "discourse of the West" produces. This discourse provides a fortified interiority beyond history, but also a door through which racisms, imperialisms, and fascisms of the past can possibly return. The second part of this essay situates the author's discussion of the Herouxville Declaration and the Reasonable Accommodation Debate (as well as the response of the Bouchard-Taylor Commission to them) in relation to the postwar cultural political formation over which a new hegemonic, national identity crystallized. The author also underscores here that, precisely as a hegemonic formation, whatever real and imaginary egalitarian policy content it possessed (or enshrined in the limited form of the Charter guarantees), this was a reaction of crisis management in the face of the struggles of the past; not only to second wave feminism in Canada and elsewhere… [Direct]
(2010). Approaching Gender Parity: Women in Computer Science at Afghanistan's Kabul University. ProQuest LLC, Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Maryland, College Park. This study explores the representation of women in computer science at the tertiary level through data collected about undergraduate computer science education at Kabul University in Afghanistan. Previous studies have theorized reasons for underrepresentation of women in computer science, and while many of these reasons are indeed present in Afghanistan, they appear to hinder advancement to degree to a lesser extent. Women comprise at least 36% of each graduating class from KU's Computer Science Department; however, in 2007 women were 25% of the university population. In the US, women comprise over 50% of university populations while only graduating on average 25% women in undergraduate computer science programs. Representation of women in computer science in the US is 50% below the university rate, but at KU, it is 50% above the university rate. This mixed methods study of KU was conducted in the following three stages: setting up focus groups with women computer science… [Direct]
(2012). The Effect of Village-Based Schools: Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial in Afghanistan. NBER Working Paper No. 18039. National Bureau of Economic Research We conduct a randomized evaluation of the effect of village-based schools on children's academic performance using a sample of 31 villages and 1,490 children in rural northwestern Afghanistan. The program significantly increases enrollment and test scores among all children, eliminates the 21 percentage point gender disparity in enrollment, and dramatically reduces the disparity in test scores. The intervention increases formal school enrollment by 42 percentage points among all children and increases test scores by 0.51 standard deviations (1.2 standard deviations for children that enroll in school). While all students benefit, the effects accrue disproportionately to girls. Evidence suggests that the village-based schools provide a comparable education to traditional schools. Estimating the effects of distance on academic outcomes, children prove very sensitive: enrollment and test scores fall by 16 percentage points and 0.19 standard deviations per mile. Distance affects girls… [Direct]
(2013). Discrepancies in Military Middle-School Adolescents' and Parents' Perceptions of Family Functioning, Social Support, Anger Frequency, and Concerns. Journal of Adolescence, v36 n1 p1-9 Feb. Previous literature suggests that adolescents' and parents' perceptions of family functioning are typically quite disparate and that perceptual discrepancies increase when a family is under stress. During the years of deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan adolescents in military families have faced uniquely stressful circumstances which may exacerbate difficulties commonly experienced during adolescence. For this study 91 middle-school adolescent-parent dyads from U.S. Army families were surveyed about their perceptions of family functioning, social support, the adolescent's frequency of anger, and the adolescent's concerns. Findings indicated significant differences in parents' and adolescents' matched ratings for all variables except adolescent concerns. Adolescent-parent perceptual discrepancies were greatest for families who had never experienced deployment and during or following the first deployment. The results of this study may be useful to those supporting military families as… [Direct]
(2014). R. Freeman Butts: Educational Foundations and Educational Diplomacy. British Journal of Educational Studies, v62 n1 p1-17. R. Freeman Butts was an American historian and philosopher of education who died in March 2010. This paper will investigate Butts' various roles and writings and ask the question: why is Butts important to the contemporary generation of teacher educators and teachers? This paper will argue that the breadth of Butts' work builds connections and is a very positive model for sub-disciplines in education. Firstly, it is critical to examine Butts' contribution, as Butts provokes teachers to inquire about the "context of education," rather than simply the "how to" of teaching and the question of classroom management. Additionally, it is significant to for educators to study Butts' life and works as they embody the essence of service–in his case, as an education diplomat. He started with what former US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton calls "the conversation," and this led eventually to projects such as the Afghan Project to bring development to Afghanistan… [Direct]
(2012). Emotions, Public Opinion, and U.S. Presidential Approval Rates: A 5-Year Analysis of Online Political Discussions. Human Communication Research, v38 n2 p121-143 Apr. This article examines how emotional reactions to political events shape public opinion. We analyze political discussions in which people voluntarily engage online to approximate the public agenda: Online discussions offer a natural approach to the salience of political issues and the means to analyze emotional reactions as political events take place in real time. We measure shifts in emotions of the public over a period that includes 2 U.S. presidential elections, the 9/11 attacks, and the start of military action in Afghanistan and Iraq. Our findings show that emotional reactions to political events help explain approval rates for the same period, which casts novel light on the mechanisms that mediate the association between agenda setting and political evaluations…. [Direct]
(2012). Veterans' Transitions to Community College: A Case Study. Community College Journal of Research and Practice, v36 n10 p775-792. Veterans on college campuses are not new; however, the recent influx of veterans returning home from war-time service present challenges to the colleges they attend. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to examine the transition process experienced by veterans leaving military service and attending community college for the first time. This study sought to understand the process veterans experience as they leave overseas deployment in support of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and negotiate the various changes such a transition entails. Using Schlossberg's (1984) Theory of Adult Transitions as the guiding framework, three themes emerged regarding how veterans manage this transition: academic experiences, personal relationships and connections, and benefit bureaucracy. These findings could be used to help community colleges better serve this special population…. [Direct]
(2017). Role and Identity Adjustment and the Experience of Liminality in Veterans Seeking Higher Education: A Qualitative Investigation. ProQuest LLC, Psy.D. Dissertation, William James College. Many U.S. service members who repatriate following military service in Iraq and Afghanistan seek educational benefits proffered by the Post-9/11 Veterans Education Assistance Act of 2008. Student-veterans are a diverse and unique population within university settings, and there is much to be learned about factors that may influence their rates of retention and graduation, as well as best practices to support such individuals. The purpose of this study was to explore the transitional experiences of post-deployment student-veterans to better understand the bi-directional influence between individual reintegration processes and experiences within higher education. The anthropological construct of "liminality" was explored to facilitate a more nuanced awareness of the complex transition from military to civilian life, from warrior to student. The researcher interviewed 12 veterans who attended college following military service. Consensual Qualitative Research (CQR) methodology… [Direct]
(2012). Anger and Postcombat Mental Health: Validation of a Brief Anger Measure with U.S. Soldiers Postdeployed from Iraq and Afghanistan. Psychological Assessment, v24 n3 p661-675 Sep. The involvement of anger in the psychological adjustment of current war veterans, particularly in conjunction with combat-related posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), warrants greater research focus than it has received. The present study concerns a brief anger measure, Dimensions of Anger Reactions (DAR), intended for use in large sample studies and as a screening tool. The concurrent validity, discriminant validity, and incremental validity of the instrument were examined in conjunction with behavioral health data for 3,528 treatment-seeking soldiers who had been in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. Criterion indices included multiple self-rated measures of psychological distress (including PTSD, depression, and anxiety), functional difficulties (relationships, daily activities, work problems, and substance use), and violence risk. Concurrent validity was established by strong correlations with single anger items on 4 other scales, and discriminant validity was found against anxiety… [Direct]
(2013). When a Parent Is Injured or Killed in Combat. Future of Children, v23 n2 p143-162 Fall. Since the U.S. military began fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan in 2002, approximately two million military children have seen a parent deploy into harm's way at least once, and many families have experienced multiple deployments. Most deployments end with a parent's safe return home, but more than 50,000 service members have been physically injured in combat, and even more are later diagnosed with traumatic brain injury (TBI) or posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). In the worst case, deployed parents do not return at all. This article examines the impact on dependent children of deployments that result in visible or physical injuries (for example, amputations or burns); invisible injuries, including TBI and PTSD; and a parent's death. Seven recommendations for service providers and policy makers are detailed. The article concludes that ultimately more research is needed to evaluate the effectiveness of existing programs and disseminate the findings so that… [PDF]
(2012). Comparing Marital Status and Divorce Status in Civilian and Military Populations. Journal of Family Issues, v33 n12 p1572-1594 Dec. Since military operations began in Afghanistan and Iraq, lengthy deployments have led to concerns about the vulnerability of military marriages. Yet evaluating military marriages requires some benchmark against which marital outcomes in the military may be compared. These analyses drew from personnel records from the entire male population of the active components of the U.S. military between 1998 and 2005, and from the Current Population Surveys from the same years, to compare the likelihood of being married or divorced between service members and civilians matched on age, racial/ethnic composition, employment status, and education. Results indicate that service members are significantly more likely to be married, but are not more likely to be divorced, than civilians with matched characteristics. These patterns have not changed substantially since the current conflicts began. (Contains 2 tables.)… [Direct]
(2009). The Rehabilitation Paradox: Street-Working Children in Afghanistan. Diaspora, Indigenous, and Minority Education, v3 n1 p4-20 Jan. International humanitarian intervention in Afghanistan reflects a policy discourse of "rehabilitation," which is very evident in relation to nongovernmental organization (NGO) projects for street-working children. Through analysing national and international policy, professional perceptions of the children, and field visits to see how policy relates to practice in NGO projects in Kabul, this article argues that the discourse is a "rehabilitation paradox." The international goal is to return "minority" children, who are numerically the majority, to a "mainstream," which is either mythical or a transient international elite. John Gray argues that Western utopianism explains the misguided nature of recent international military interventions, and this article extends that argument to rehabilitation. Without a concept of rehabilitation, "intervention" can be an act of wanton destruction. Policymakers need to be aware of how education can… [Direct]
(2011). The Benefit of Negative Examples: What We Can Learn about Leadership from the Taliban. Journal of Leadership Education, v10 n1 p145-152 Win. Approximately four months ago the author was sitting at his desk at the Air Force Academy preparing a course in leadership that he would be teaching during the fall semester. Then, something happened that would have a drastic impact on his professional life as an educator and a military officer. He was informed that he would be deploying to Kabul, Afghanistan, for the next six months to support Operation Enduring Freedom. At first, he was a little taken aback by the opportunity since he had planned a summer of lesson prepping and writing, as he has found this to be the best time for such endeavors. However, after a little reflection, he quickly realized what a great opportunity for him to grow as an educator by giving him a chance to see leadership from different perspectives. As he got to Afghanistan he quickly realized not only were there examples of good leadership, but negative as well. What he is referring to here is the Taliban and how that organization is organized and… [PDF]
(2014). Continuity Education in Emergency and Conflict Situations: The Case for Using Open, Distance and Flexible Learning. Journal of Learning for Development, v1 n3. Emergency and conflict in countries such as Syria, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan have made us more aware of the long-term serial disruption and psychosocial damage faced by people caught up in emergency and conflict areas. Open, distance and flexible learning (ODFL) has sometimes been employed in these regions to maintain a degree of continuity in education. For the most part, however, this role has been ad hoc, short-term, and often bearing limited relation to the psychosocial and educational needs of the displaced or traumatised populations it serves. But could ODFL play a more planned, significant and relevant role in emergency and conflict regions and if so, how? This paper will address this core question. We identify particular aspects of ODFL programmes, which are especially useful in reaching and extending basic and secondary education to hard-to-reach children and those in emergency and conflict contexts. Through a specific case study of the recent conflict in… [PDF]
(2018). Military Education and the British Empire, 1815-1949. University of British Columbia Press Common military education was the lifeblood of the armies, navies, and air forces of the British Empire. It permeated every aspect of the profession of arms and was an essential ingredient for success in both war and peace. Yet much military history overlooks external factors and influences such as education, which shape armed forces. "Military Education and the British Empire" is the first major scholarly work to address the role of military education in maintaining the empire throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Bringing together the world's top scholars on the subject, this book places distinct national narratives — Canadian, Australian, South African, British, and Indian — within a comparative context. The contributors examine military education within the British Empire as a generator of institutional knowledge, as a socializing agent, and as an enhancer of interoperability. Moreover, this volume explores the importance of professional military… [Direct]