James G Dwyer Boeken

In Homeschooling: The History and Philosophy of a Controversial Practice, James G. Dwyer and Shawn F. Peters examine homeschooling’s history, its methods, and the fundamental questions at the root of the heated debate over whether and how the state should oversee and regulate it. The authors trace the evolution of homeschooling and the law relating to it from before America’s founding to the present day. In the process they analyze the many arguments made for and against it, and set them in the context of larger questions about school and education. They then tackle the question of regulation, and they do so within a rigorous moral framework, one that is constructed from a clear-eyed assessment of what rights and duties children, parents, and the state each possess. Viewing the question through that lens allows Dwyer and Peters to even-handedly evaluate the competing arguments and ultimately generate policy prescriptions. Homeschooling is the definitive study of a vexed question, one that ultimately affects all citizens, regardless of their educational background.

Human character is best described by telling stories about people. The Lent Factor describes forty very different people - one for each day of Lent - who have a special quality about them, and uses their stories to reflect on how faith and character are connected. A theme from each brief story is illuminated by reflection on a scene, passage or word from the Bible. The appropriateness of the use of a cross to mark out the 'X' factor within human beings becomes the more pertinent as the journey through Lent approaches Holy Week and Easter. The cast list includes Edith Cavell, Philip Toynbee (father of Polly), U.A. Fanthorpe, Dorothy Sayers, Charles Wesley, Rabbi Hugo Gryn, Julian of Norwich, Kathleen Ferrier, Eva Peron and many others from different backgrounds and diverse periods of history, some famous and some entirely unknown.

Focusing on the inter-generational cycle of poverty and dysfunction in urban ghettos, the book offers a child-centered perspective that blends extensive information with in-depth normative analysis. It explores how these systemic issues affect children and highlights the importance of understanding their experiences to address broader societal challenges.