Session 5A : The Role of Education
Chair: Inna Geoghegan

There is Hope for Closing the Gap
Rosa Fagundes
Metropolitan State University, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA

This presentation is about the context where higher education is delivered, its practical functions, and its role in a specific segment of society: two geographically different urban settings but sharing similar characteristics of inequality in access to education, challenges to traditional models, and the ultimate goal of social justice to the urban youth.
The presenters bring an international perspective and extensive work experience. Dr. Rosa Fagundes, originally from Brazil, has been working with teacher preparation programs. Dr. Neela Trivedi, originally from India, has worked in the area of special education.
The presenters will start with a brief description of some characteristics in American urban cities: great influx of immigrants, social and economical issues, linguistic and cultural diversity, and inclusion of special education students in mainstream classrooms. Supporting evidence will be provided, such as statistics and references to publications. Next, the presenters will discuss the consequences of such changes and the implications for one specific higher education institution.
The cities are: the Twin Cities ( Minneapolis and Saint Paul ) and New York City . What both have in common is Hope : hope for urban children; hope for closing the gap; and why is so important to work in with autistic children, for example.
Pressured “to do something” the newly designed Urban Teacher Program has the major goal to prepare teachers who can build on the talents and resiliency of diverse urban learners for success in school and life. It was developed in collaboration with educators from public schools and with two community colleges, and it is generously supported by several foundations interested in effective teachers who can meet the needs of urban youth.
Finally, the presenters will share what has worked well, challenges and opportunities for improvement, and will welcome feedback from the audience.

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Liberal Arts Education and the Foundations of Democracy
Eric Weber
Department of Philosophy, Southern Illinois University Carbondale, Carbondale, IL, USA

In America there is no doubt that students often go to college to be more competitive on the job market. So naturally, these students come to wonder how it is the courses they are required to take relate to their ultimate goal of securing a lucrative career. While there are many ways to answer such students and critics of liberal arts education, I intend to focus here on what I believe to be the strongest and most fundamental reason for the diverse courses and subjects of liberal arts education. In any society in which the power of government and law is said to come from the people, in any democracy, education is one of the most important endeavors it must undertake. To be clear, I am referring to democracy here as a source of power and legitimacy for law, not as a political process of counting votes. In this sense, the United States is a democracy in terms of the source of political legitimacy, and a democratic republic in terms of its political process. So, if I make my case clearly enough, it will be evident that education, especially liberal arts education, plays a fundamental role in the very legitimacy of the democratic social system, and thereby of democratic governments.

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The Impact of the Bologna Process on the Design of H.E. Programmes in Europe
Frank McMahon
Dublin Institute of Technology, Ireland

No abstract is presently available