The politics of education

Four WSU educators will talk about “Phonics, Ebonics and the Politics of Education” as part of an effort to get faculty from different areas on campus talking about common interests. The panel, hosted by WSU’s council on interdisciplinary activities, will meet 3-5 p.m. Friday, April 23, in the Ulrich Museum.

Schools are faced with much pressure to return to the basics while also providing learning environments that recognize and encourage diversity. Important decisions regarding special education, magnet schools, the nature of curriculum and many other issues are influenced by these tensions, and these decisions are becoming increasingly political.

Panelists Tina Bennett-Kastor, English professor; Anna Chandler, assistant professor of minority studies; Tonya Huber, associate professor, curriculum and instruction; and Claradine Johnson, associate professor emeritus of educational administration and longtime Wichita school board member, will discuss these issues.