Career Education Quarterly

Career Educator
An Interdisciplinary Education Journal
Spring 2011
Editor’s Introduction
Welcome to Volume 1, No. 1 of Career Educator. This edition includes four peer
reviewed articles which examine a broad range of pedagogical topics.
The first article examines corporal punishment in Indian schools. Many nations,
especially those in the ‘West’, gradually outlawed corporal punishment in the
educational environment all jurisdictions during the 1980s and 1990s. Moreover, it is
now a criminal offence for an educator to strike a child in many countries. Raj’s article
reminds us that corporal punishment is not outlawed in all jurisdictions in all nations.
She also informs us of the problems which corporal punishment can create in the
educational environment. The second article examines the challenges which confront
many educators who teach ESOL to native Spanish speakers who reside in the United
States (US). The article highlights how Latino immigrants have diversified and enriched
America’s linguistic culture. Spanish is the second most spoken language in the US (after
English) and there are approximately 36 million US residents who speak Spanish as a
native/preferred language. Tilley-Lubbs’s article implicitly informs the reader how
teaching ESOL to native Spanish speakers has become specialist area of ESOL pedagogy
in the US. The article by Elturki et al., examines two views of new literacies. The first is
the Asian view and the second is the view from the Middle East. This article provides a
contribution to knowledge by arguing for the need to create a more general definition of
the notion of ‘new literacies’. This revised definition is explored within this article. The
article by Jericho explores the culture of misogyny which has prevailed at the Australian
Defence Force Academy since this school was founded in 1987. He argues that three
factors explain why the culture of this academy does not exist as a microcosm of the
Australian Defence Force’s (ADF) mainstream culture. Moreover, this article concludes
that the culture of misogyny which prevails at this academy is dominantly influenced by
the mandatory exclusion of women from frontline combat fighting roles in the ADF.
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Career Educator Spring 2011
Table of Contents
Author Article Title
Lavanya Raj Understanding Corporate Punishment in India.

Pages 3–18.
Gresilda Tilley-Lubbs Teaching and Learning for Social Justice: Reciprocal

Relationships in the University and Spanish-Speaking
Communities.
Pages 19–25.
Eman Elturki et al. Building a Definition of New Literacies.

Pages 26–32.
Jyonah Jericho Closing the Civil Military Gap – Sexual Harassment at

the Australian Defence Force Academy.
Pages 34–49.
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Lavanya Raj
Monash University
Abstract
Corporal punishment (CP) and threat of physical violence are common in Indian schools
(Saath Charitable Trust, 2006). In the recent past, a number of reports of physical injury
and death relating to CP have appeared in the Indian media. A recent government
report concluded that two out of every three children in the study sample of 12,447
suffered CP (Kacker, Varadan, & Kumar, 2007). This paper briefly introduces the
condition in India, defines and discusses the implications of CP in general, discusses CP
in specific relation to India, explores the cultural reasons and its roots in the country,
and demonstrates the prevalence and impact on students’ relationships with teachers.
Towards the end of the paper, the passing of the Right to Education Act is discussed as a
background to why it has become important that Indocentric approaches to strengthen
the relationships between teachers and students, and curb abusive CP are developed.
Key words
Corporal punishment, India, Child abuse, Student-teacher relationship
Introduction
Indian research studies report that corporal punishment is a common theme in Indian
schools. Almost all teachers and parents involved in The Campaign to End Violence in
Schools (Plan India, n.d.) admitted that they punish children physically. Many went on
to argue that children cannot be disciplined without punishment. Sinha (2007) wrote to
the then Chief Secretaries of different Indian states that how extreme punishments in
schools were not merely isolated incidents but manifestations of a culture of violence
and insensitivity to children and their rights. Such ongoing concerns and recent reports
of CP taken to extreme lengths and student deaths caused by it in schools have been the
impetus for a review of this situation. Carson and Chowdhury (2000) observe that it is
not uncommon for teachers to use strict and sometimes physical punishment to
maintain order. The physical abuse data collected by Government of India Child Abuse
Report by Kacker, Varadan and Kumar (2007) demonstrates that severe physical
maltreatment is very common in the form of CP that include: slapping/kicking; beating
by stave/stick; pushing and shaking; hitting with hands or a stick; pulling the child's
hair or ears; and asking the child to stand for a long time in extremely uncomfortable
positions. The subjects were from 13 states across the country, belonging to five
different categories including children in family environment, children in schools,
institutions, children at work and street children. Among the 12,447 children aged 5
to18 studied an overwhelming majority of 68.99% of children, of all age groups
reported physical abuse. Among 34% of those children reporting physical abuse by
members other than family, the incidence of physical abuse was reported highest by
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teachers (44.80%). “For the purpose of assessing the incidence of physical abuse
amongst school children, responses from a sample of 3163 children were taken. In all
age groups, an overwhelming majority of children (65.01%) reported being beaten at
school, which means that two out of three children were victims of CP. Out of
those reporting CP in schools, 54.28% were boys and 45.72% were girls” (Kacker et al.,
2007, p. 52). Among the forms used for physical abuse by members other than from
family, 63.67% children reported being slapped/kicked, 31.31% being beaten by
stave/stick and 5.02% being abused by other methods like pushing, and shaking,
15.6% of children physically abused by others reported swelling/ bleeding/ serious
physical injury.
A forewarning that studies such as the above reflects a common theme across the
country and a spout of extreme CP cases in the country has served as the need to
scrutinize this situation. This article focuses on four aspects of corporal punishment in
India: The definition and implication of CP; its prevalence in Indian schools; cultural
reasons and the way forward- teacher–student relationship as a pivotal part of the
process.
Definition and implication
The Oxford English dictionary defines CP as “punishment inflicted on the body;

originally including death, mutilation, branding, bodily confinement, irons, the pillory,
etc” (Oxford English Dictionary, 1989, 5b). Corporal punishment occurs when physical
force is used by someone in a position of authority against someone in his or her care
with the intention of causing some degree of pain or discomfort. Examples provided by
The Campaign to End Violence in Schools (Plan India, n.d.) include: hitting children with
a hand, cane, strap or other object; kicking, shaking or throwing children; scratching,
pinching, biting or pulling hair; forcing them to stay in uncomfortable positions; locking
or tying them up; burning, scalding or forced ingestion.
The UNICEF Committee on the Rights of the Child in the General Comment No. 8 (United
Nations Children’s Fund, n.d.) defines “corporal” or “physical” punishment as “any
punishment in which physical force is used and intended to cause some degree of pain
or discomfort, however light. “Most involve hitting (“smacking,” “slapping,” and
“spanking”) children with the hand or with an implement. In the view of the Committee,
CP is invariably degrading” (para. 2). These acts of smacking, slapping or spanking
children in order to correct behaviour are acceptable by many Indian teachers. The
Impact of Corporal Punishment on School Children: A Research Study (Saath Charitable
Trust, 2006) claims that CP is an accepted way of life in Indian schools and homes. The
study reports that beating with hands and fists, and/or sticks or canes are some of
common methods of disciplining children. Whether or not the intention of physical and
psychological punishment is for correction, it nevertheless leads to a degree of
degradation for the young growing self of the child. In an analysis of studies into the
effects of CP on children, an association between CP, and eleven childhood or adult
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behaviours was found. In this Gershoff’s (2002) study of Corporal Punishment by
Parents and Associated Child Behaviours and Experiences: A Meta-Analytic and
Theoretical Review, ten of 11 behaviours was shown to have negative associations with
physical punishment. Gershoff (2002) revealed that parental CP had associations with
all child constructs: higher levels of immediate compliance (being the only positive
association), aggression, lower levels of moral internalization, mental health problems,
delinquent , criminal and antisocial behaviour, abuse of own child or spouse, victim of
abuse by own parent, and disruption in the quality of parent-child relationship. One
reason as to why many teachers and parents use CP is perhaps because of its immediate
success. Gershoff (2002) uses the observations of Newsom, Flavell, and Rincover (1983)
to make note of the positive side effects of CP in learning in laboratory settings that it
does lead to compliance. Meeting my expectation of the short lived nature of the effect
of physical punishment, the study too termed the compliance to be only short term. This
is significant in this discussion because research shows that the purpose that is set out
to achieve in the real world as in the laboratory world - correction of the behaviour
might not be sustained although it can be achieved momentarily. Research reporting the
occurrence of misbehaviour and learning of negatives ones in the absence of teachers
claim that children who are physically punished learn not to do whatever is punished
for in the adult's presence, rather than learning not to do it at all; and learn to deceive
adults in order to avoid punishment (Linke, 2002). This should raise a questioning
alarm among Indian teachers and school professionals on their common perceptual
content of belief in the ‘positive’ side effects of CP. The findings of Impact of Corporal
Punishment on School Children (Saath Charitable Trust, 2006) study point out that
“many argued that the children cannot be disciplined without punishment” (p. 4) and
one of the commonly raised arguments upholding CP is that it is a “necessary part of
upbringing and education. Children learn from a smacking or beating to respect their
parents and teachers, to distinguish right from wrong, to obey rules and work hard,
without corporal punishment children will be spoilt and undisciplined” (p. 24). Much in
opposition to the commonly held beliefs of positive side effects, there is considerable
amount of evidence that supports the negativity of CP. Adults who had been ‘smacked’
during childhood were one and a half times as likely to have drug or alcohol or
antisocial problems compared with those who had never been slapped or spanked
(Linke, 2002). As in the case of CP at homes there are research findings that point
towards its negative effects in schools too. Newell (1994) claims that studies of
determinant factors leading to bullying at school and later to domestic violence, child
abuse and violent crime. They invariably cite physical punishment and/or other forms
of deliberate humiliation of children as factors. As far as other constructs of student
development that are affected through CP are IQ levels, academic performance,
emotional health, learning and behaviour.
Shahbaz and Shaban (2007) through their experimental study of grade X students
confirmed that students who were awarded CP because they showed a lack of interest
in academic work portrayed negative behaviour and a gradual deterioration in
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academics, whereas students who were managed with psychological treatment
showed developing interest in learning, friendly behaviour and improvement in long-
term scholastic performance. It was reinforcing to find that if CP was awarded
continuously or severely it can lead to post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Hyman,
Zelikoff, and Clarke (1988) state that a wide range of stressors that occur within the
context of normal development may cause PTSD. Common school disciplinary
procedures may have varying affects on children, depending on factors such as the
degree of punitiveness and severity of punishment as well as previous disciplinary
experiences and self-esteem (Hyman et.al., 1988). There exists a consensus between the
notion of CP leading to suicide in some cases and research which indicates the same.
Deykin, Alpert and McNamarra (1985) discuss that there is possible relationship
between rises in suicide rate that correlates with the rise in child abuse. Although the
current discussion does not involve the subject of increase in suicide rates, it holds
frequent news reports that suggest the relationship between suicide and abuse critical
for analysing the effects of CP (e.g., the case of Ramu Abhinav who committed suicide
because he did not want to go to school owing to CP, as the note he left behind
suggests). A fact finding report issued by People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL)
(2003) discusses in length the case of Ramu Abhinav’s suicide and what is likely to be
the school’s contribution to it. The reason why this report is crucial is because it
projects some of the deep seated mindset of a particular institution, including its
management, both which are likely to reflect a culture’s acceptance of physical
punishment. The fact finding mission carried out by PUCL (2003) involved case studies
of eight students of the school and their parents; discussions with Ramu Abhinav's
parents; the school management and director among others. All accounts of the
students and their parents claim a widespread and strong existence of CP in the schools
day-to-day activities. It was evident from these accounts that CP was used as a key
disciplinary procedure through which both boys and girls were beaten if they
misbehaved or scored low marks. There were repeated mentioning of a dark room in
which all the windows are closed and three teachers beat the offending student who
cannot see who is awarding the punishment. One of the student reports of a teacher
who is particularly aggressive in punishing who has often caused wounds in the skins of
students by pinching them. “Students have returned home with welts on their cheeks,
ears, and scale marks on their hands and legs”, claimed a 7th grade student. According
to this report the management overseas physical punishment to be carried out as a
system. The correspondent, the director and headmaster have been reported to punish
students severely. People’s Union for Civil Liberties on meeting with management for
investigating the suicide of Abhinav were neglected as none of the agreed management
members turned up for the meeting.
A study conducted in 1996 by Beautrais, Joyce and Muldre to examine associations

between risks of suicide attempts in young people aged 13 through 24 years and a
series of socio-demographic factors brought to light that childhood experiences like
child abuse led to risks of serious suicide attempts and this increased with the extent of
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exposure to abuse. Although this study discusses child abuse by parents and in general
it prompts us to think whether or not child abuse by teachers might lead to suicidal
tendencies during childhood itself or at a later stage. A recent incident in India involved
a 13-year-old student, who committed suicide in February 2010 has strong evidences
for CP as the reason because he was caned repeatedly at school (Banerjie, 2010).
Research relating to CP and its relationship with lower cognitive ability provides some
compelling data against CP. A Straus and Paschall (2009) study tested the hypothesis
that the use of CP is associated with restricted cognitive development. The study
involved the measuring of cognitive ability at the start of the study and after four years
of 704 children aged 5-9. Although the study involved CP awarded by mothers, the
findings are relevant in the context of school because CP awarded at school also
produces stress that might interfere with cognitive development. It was found that the
more some children experienced CP, the more they fell behind others who were not
spanked. It is noted by the researchers from neurobiological and epidemiological
evidences that early life stress caused due to abuse can result in enduring brain
dysfunctions, affecting health and quality of life. In one of my own personal experiences,
I was hit by my teacher for many days and suffered not only physical pain at a stretch
but also developed a long term dislike to the subject.
The presence of compelling research evidences that punishments can harm physically
and psychologically should not be ignored. However, the present record of reports,
some very recent, in the Indian media indicates the severity of punishments that has led
up to extreme physical conditions and sometimes death. While there is a tendency for
the teachers and management involved to defend their actions by claiming that their
intentions were good and hence not abusive in nature, care must be taken when
accepting such a claim at face value. While the definition of child abuse is abstract and
open to interpretation often resulting in disagreements between professionals (Segal,
1992) the situation in India clamours to investigate several incidents that are
ambivalent in nature. Although there is a myth that there is one uniform phenomenon
that can be referred to as child abuse (Gelles & Cornell 1976), Finkelhor and Korbin
(1988) caution that child abuse is not simply a “culturally relative concept” (pg. 6) as
these acts might exceed the common cultural expectations of disciplining and invite a
substantial if not complete rejection and anger from the society. This caution finds its
relevance in the current incidents and the probable cultural mind set of Indian teaching
community. Even if all punishments do not amount to abuse, the acts discussed in this
paper, the circumstances under which they have taken place and the results they have
caused indeed raise the issue of whether the Indian teaching community acknowledges
that CP involves or can amount to abuse. This disturbance is a welcomed one.
Corporal punishment in Indian schools
In order to understand and address whether or not forms of CP are acknowledged as

abuse by the Indian teaching community or parts of it, the different kinds of
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punishments that are awarded need focus. Impact of Corporal Punishment on School
Children: A Research Study (Saath Charitable Trust, 2006), has recorded such
information by studying the incidence and extent of CP on school children in four
different states in India - Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh. The
study covered 41 schools, corresponding large array of students (1591 students),
teachers, parents, community members, concerned government officials, and others.
Through the study a punishment matrix was created that captured the different degrees
of punishment, from moderate to high to severe alongside the commonness and
uniqueness dimension. It was found that some of the common moderate physical
punishments in the schools studied were ‘hands above the head’, rooster position
(sitting like a rooster), chair position (sitting like a chair), sit ups, and running. The only
unique moderate physical punishment recorded was to ‘stand for long with the nose
touching a wall’. Although these punishments were recorded as being moderate, their
results can be severe if the student was suffering from a physical condition that could
increase pain. The study reported some common ‘high’ physical punishments such as
ear pulling and pencilling which is to keep a pencil between two fingers & twist so that
the student undergoes pain. When hands above the heads, sit ups and running need not
necessarily cause very high levels of pain if the student’s physical condition is healthy,
punishments such as pencilling have a more sinister personality as the pain it might
cause is severe. It is likely that the teacher awarding the punishment carries it out with
this full knowledge and wills the pain to occur. If not one may wonder, why such a
punishment? The study also reported some severe physical punishments in practice
(e.g., making the student ‘stand in the sun’; palming, which is to hit the palm with a
stick; and beating with hands fists, cane, stick, rubber belt, and footwear). Some of these
treatments can lead to severe injury or sometimes even death directly or can be linked
to suicides in which case there is every reason to doubt whether the student was
punished or abused. News reports claim that in February 2003, a school student near
Chennai (an Indian city) fell unconscious for about two hours after her botany teacher
allegedly pounded her with a hardbound book. The student, who received no immediate
medical attention, continues to have problems with her neck and requires
physiotherapy every day (World Corporal Punishment Research, 2003). In 2007, a XII
Standard boy from Udaipur died after reportedly being brutally beaten up by his
teacher. Seventeen-year-old Arpit Kanwariya's invigilator beat him with a bamboo stick
for keeping his 'legs out of the desk' while writing a test. The boy's post mortem report
had confirmed death due to internal injury (Vashishta, 2007). A similar fatal incident
took place in 2009 in which an eleven year old Shanno, slipped into coma and died after
her teacher made her stand in the hot sun, crouching (Corporal punishment kills, 2009).
A very recent incident that is still fresh in the minds of the general public is that of a
school principal in the state of Andhra Pradesh who used red hot wood to scald the
children because they were naughty (Sudhir, 2010).
There is a substantial indifference to the prevalence of CP as a form of abuse in the

country. Nath and Kohli’s observation informed that the lack of focus on child abuse
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may not be indicative of its non-existence but of a general lack of sensitivity to the issue,
is not only found among the public but also professionals responsible for the care of
children (Segal, 1995). The research team involved in the Impact of Corporal
Punishment on School Children (Saath Charitable Trust, 2006) observed that there is an
apparent invisibility of CP in homes and school in India and that the human rights
perspective of the issue never arises at all. This might be changing presently because of
wide coverage of CP cases in the media and the apparent anger by the victims’ families
and general public angst against it.
Roots of child abuse in India
An important rationale for the use of CP has historically been that if pain, injury,
humiliation and degradation are inflicted upon the offender, then it would deter the
person from committing similar offenses in the future (Bhutia, 2006). Since there is
insensitiveness in the manner in which punishment is deployed as an ‘all cure’ strategy I
believe it increases the number of abusive CP which is evident through many reported
cases. Also, an earlier study discussed the Impact of Corporal Punishment on School
Children: A Research Study (Saath Charitable Trust, 2006), which revealed that CP was
an accepted way of life in schools and at homes. In all, the 41 schools and surrounding
communities the team visited, CP stood out as a common theme. Almost all teachers and
parents covered under the study accepted without hesitation that they punish children
physically, and argued that children cannot be disciplined without punishment. The
most common forms of punishments were hitting with hands or a stick, pulling the
child's hair or ears, and asking the child to stand for a long time in extremely
uncomfortable positions. Threat of physical violence was also used as a punishment to
create fear among children; in all the schools the research team visited, there were at
least five beatings per class per day; and “inflicting punishment on children was a part
of the teachers' tool kit or a ‘justified’ extension of the teachers' repertoire” (Saath
Charitable Trust, 2006, pg. 5). The research team saw a stick in the classroom or in
the hands of the teachers everywhere it went. In more than 20 schools the team
visited, the students actually showed or pointed out the stick with which they are
beaten (Saath Charitable Trust, 2006). With evidence such as these, it becomes
important to look at CP as a form of child abuse. Child abuse is the portion of harm to
children that results from human actions that are proscribed, proximate and
preventable, a definition proposed by Finkelhor and Korbin in 1988 to be applicable
across cultures. Using this definition as a background for the current extremities one
can claim that acts discussed in this paper such as hitting with sticks, shoes, pinching,
making the child under the sun etc can amount to abuse because of its negative
valuation, the proximate nature and because there was some other alternative course of
human action that could have been used like dialoguing. DeMause (1998) says in The
History of Child Abuse, “Indeed, my conclusion from a lifetime of psycho historical study
of childhood and society is that the history of humanity is founded upon the abuse of
children. Just as family therapists today find that child abuse often functions to hold
families together as a way of solving their emotional problems, so, too, the routine
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assault of children has been society's most effective way of maintaining its collective
emotional homeostasis” (para. 3). The child as a poison container is one of the
metaphors Lloyd deMause uses in the description of how adults project disowned parts
of their psyche onto the child so that those desires can be controlled outside their own
body by punishing the child. Such descriptions only strengthen the notion that many CP
acts could be child abuse in disguise.
According to Broota and Ganguli (1975), Chawla and Gupt (1979) there is a small
amount of psychological literature in India on the use of corporal punishment in child
rearing and there are no large scale surveys of corporal punishment in the country
(Graziano, Lindquist, Kunce & Munjal, 1992). However there is some evidence for
corporal punishment in the ancient Indian history. Chanakya (c. 350–283 BCE), one of
the greatest political, social and economic figure of Indian history lay down the
dictum,”Lalayat Pancha barsani, dasabarsani tarayat, prapte tu shorase barse putra
mitra badacharet,” which means “indulge the child up to five years, punish him up to ten
years, and when he reaches fifteen, teach him as a friend” (Bhattcharjya, 1938, p. 1).
Chanakya (n.d.) had also specifically mentioned about physical punishment in Niti
Sastra (Rules of Morality), the second chapter – ‘Many a bad habit is developed through
overindulgence, and many a good one by chastisement, therefore beat your son as well
as your pupil; never indulge them’, providing directly a rule to teachers in pupil
management. Child abuse, across the world, and throughout history of mankind has
been rampant. It is not a recent practice: many ancient books contain frequent accounts
of child abuse, but the recognition of the child as a unique organism did not develop
until recently. In most societies, abusive practices that would not be tolerated today
were a part of the life style until the last century (Sari & Büyükünal, 1991). One of the
earliest recorded evidence of physical punishment in India is from the Buddhist story of
a young boy, Sopaka, who was tied to a corpse by his stepfather to be eaten by wolves.
Buddha saves the young boy and preaches to him, perhaps this being one of the earliest
instances of counselling (National Child Protection Authority, n.d., para. 10).
In India, there is a sense of psychological and cultural worship associated with teachers
which is not without appropriate reasons. The indigenous teacher was known as the
Guru and this term is interchangeably used to refer to present day teachers as well. The
pan Indian, Sanskrit term ‘guru’ means the dispeller of ignorance, ‘Gu’ meaning
ignorance and ‘ru’ meaning dispeller (Mlecko, 1982). The indigenous education system
that was founded upon the philosophy of ancient Indian scriptures was characterized by
the total responsibility of the Guru for the wholesome development of the learner
(Rajput & Walia, 2001). This great tradition has continued up to and including present
times, and has major implications for how education and teachers are regarded and as a
template for teachers’ roles in Indian society (Rajput & Walia, 2001). The philosophy
laid four definite obligations – to God, the family, the teacher and the society and greatly
influenced Indian philosophy and tradition regarding teaching and learning and put the
great Guru on the highest pedestal (Rajput & Walia, 2001). It is greatly possible that this
10 | P a g e
high positioning of the Guru and the subsequent acceptance of social sanction of power
is being misused by teachers leading to abusive CP.
Cultural Reasons and Introjects: Adult Children Relationship
The manner in which adult-children relationships is viewed in India is crucial to the

understanding about CP in schools. Although Indian children’s experiences vary
horizontally and vertically owing to the diversity and plurality of Indian society (Raman,
2000), children, traditionally, have been viewed as being dependent on parents and
adults for all decision making purposes. Adults take a great sense of responsibility in
nurturing children and believe that responsibilities end only when their children get
married. Duties and responsibilities are the central characteristic of Indian adult-
children relationships. With children being left to play an essentially passive role
in their own development, perhaps, parents and teachers feel an even greater sense of
responsibility for the child (Bisht, 2008). This sense of responsibility, as the child grows,
owing to the child’s increasing developmental needs takes the form of control. Although
the intention of protection might arise out of love, the style used by large number of
Indian adults tend to use an authoritative approach, which includes psychological and
physical threatening rather than a democratic approach, while this might be changing
presently. A study titled ‘Who Is a Child? The Adults’ Perspective within Adult-Child
Relationship in India’ successfully portrays what seven Indian teachers perceive
children to be. There were clear differentiation in the roles that they ascribed to
children and parents/teachers. The image of the child as one needing constant guidance
and support and the parent/teacher as one who was the provider was apparent in more
than 90% of parent child interactions reported. In the context of this role, most
participants recommended and justified force in some form or the other on the child,
as part of fulfilling their responsibilities. “We as an Indian family would never allow the
child to do whatever he or she wants to. We do have our certain norms that we want our
children to follow. ..and using force for that, I wouldn’t call it unfair,” reported one
teacher (Bisht, 2008, p. 165). Force that does not lead to physical injury might be
needed at times during the teaching or socialization process. However, depending upon
force as the only and prudent option for correction is perhaps the reason behind
abusive corporal punishment. Benatar (1998) opines that CP should be used
infrequently and done so as to inflict pain without injury but he/she points out that
these CP acts are indeed abuses, which is the alarming severity of pain and physical
injury of it in India.
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Power and hierarchy
Social hierarchy is part of the Indian society (Raman, 2000). The society was and is
characterised by different social levels of functioning. Inequality of individuals based on
occupation, sex and life stages, was a part of the Hindu belief system (Mullatti, 1995).
This inequality was/is reflected through several aspects: 1. The Gurukul system of
education, a system that accommodated only boys belonging to priestly castes, 2. The
caste system, a social structure that segregated people based on occupation and charted
the life trajectories of individuals and groups (Raman, 2000), and 3. The British rule that
lasted for more than 200 years that created social and political divisions. Sarangapani
(2003) and Kumar (1989) observe that the mainstream Hindu tradition seems to be
dominated by authoritarian deferential attitudes in adult child relation and
belief in the ignorance of the child which is also manifested in teacher student
relations (Bisht, 2008). This is relevant in our understanding of CP because an external
source always, to a very large extent elicited specific states of existence by thwarting the
position of the weaker. Perhaps the same power dynamics is reflected in the
relationship between teachers and students in the system of CP.
A popular maxim in Hinduism, the main religion in India, reads as, ‘Maatha, Pithaa,
Guru, Deivam’. This translates into Mother, Father, Teacher and God (consciousness or
self-awareness or our real self). Denoting the hierarchy of respect this Hindu philosophy
put the teacher or the Guru even before God, indicating the teacher’s importance in
one’s life. Could this profound philosophy, over time, owing to superficial
understanding, have led to the very authorization teachers bestowed upon themselves
to take full control over the child, even physically? The act of defying a teacher being
considered immoral could in fact drive a teacher to physically ‘correct’ the student. A
teacher who is incapable of accepting questions directed at his/her knowledge, or one
who has been angered is the same teacher who is carrying the ‘Guru’s image’ of
occupying the position next to parents and before god in hierarchy of importance.
He/she has not perhaps earned that position but fell into this cultural introject without
alleviating oneself to it. Of course, teachers who regularly and severely hit pupils are
feared, not respected. Though characteristically, such teachers are unable to distinguish
between the two (Benatar, 1998) as a result straining the teacher student relationship
and affecting students’ learning and performance.
The nucleus of this problem seems to arise from the cultural belief of ‘owning children’.
Parents and teachers in India believe that they are responsible for the children under
their care but they also extend that positive attitude into owning the child completely.
Once the belief that complete ownership of the child does in fact reside in the care taker,
the care taker, in this context, a teacher sets out to control, and manipulate the child
without realizing that ownership need not necessarily be arbitrary and authoritarian.
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The way forward
The Indian Government passed The Right to Education Bill on 4th August 2009.
Becoming one of the 135 countries that provide free and compulsory education to every
child, this bill came to force on 1st April 2010. The bill under Chapter 4, Section 17 (I)
affirms that no child shall be subjected to physical punishment or mental harassment.
Section 17 (II) also states that whoever contravenes the provisions of sub section (1)
shall be liable to disciplinary action under the service rules applicable to such person
(Ministry of Law and Justice, 2009). As expected, unfortunately, there are severe CP
incidents being reported even after the bill being passed like that of a seven year old girl
losing eye sight due to her teacher violently slapping on her face (New Delhi Television
Limited, 2010). Taking into account the time needed for sufficient dissemination of such
a bill to all private and public schools in India that number up to 9,56, 609 (Ministry of
Human Resource Development, Government of India, 2000-01) that includes primary,
middle and higher secondary, one might realize the enormous task involved in its
implementation. No one knows the certainty to which the implementation of the bill will
be successful. Along with this implementation there is a precious realm that must be
addressed to eliminate abusive CP which is that of the teacher-student relationship
because abusive CP cannot be eliminated without addressing this relationship. It is
desired in every educational institution, school, college or university, a close and cordial
teacher student should exist to serve as useful channel of smooth transmission of
knowledge from teachers and students relationship (Ghose, 1989). However this aspect
of educational research continues to be disregarded in modern India. Ghose (1989)
points out that although the importance of teacher student relationship is well
recognized there is no work exclusively on it. There is strong evidence that a better
teacher-student relationship not only improves performance but also is humane and
moral. As Lee, Bryk, and Smith (1993) observed that social interactions of schooling are
not simply a mechanism to accomplish some other aim but rather are education by
itself, there is good reason to believe that teacher student relationship which is built on
interactions not only affects academic performance but also develops healthy human
interactions that are foundations of happiness and well being. While progressive
educational discourse associated with the ideas of Gandhi, Tagore, Gijubhai Dewey,
Piaget and Vygotsky assert the agency of the child and form a significant part of
teacher education courses in India the nucleus of Indian educational practice revolves
around the concept of ‘discipline’ (National Commission for the Protection of Child
Rights, 2008). Stemming from such incomplete beliefs and knowledge many Indian
teachers might be failing to curb abusive CP. Here arises the need for teacher
leadership models addressing teacher student relationship. Teacher leadership reflects
the teacher’s ability to break down barriers in the organization and establishing
relationships so that it improves students’ educational outcomes (Barr & Duke 2004).
Teacher leadership must also reflect in breaking down barriers that exist between the
students and them. In India, this is urgently needed. In the context of managing
classrooms and students, unified attention has to be payed to the Indian teacher student
13 | P a g e
relationship. An Indocentric approach needs to be developed in contrast to the
Eurocentric method of addressing the issue by coercing the notion of individual rights.
A Eurocentric approach might not lend significance to the levels of responsibility Indian
adults and thus Indian teachers hold towards children. In India there are three
distinctive responsibilities of education. One is to build the character of the child, two is
to gain a proper reputation in the society and thirdly to gain a livelihood. These ideas
are well rooted in the minds of adults and teachers. The role of the teacher does not
exist in vacuum and it essentially reflects the belief system of the culture. To function or
develop policies, training modules excluding these patterns of behaviour might not
result in curbing abusive CP. However, there is a sense of positivity in developing
Indocentric approaches because the strength of the Indian adult child relationship lies
in the fact that adult sacrifices and adjustments by and large define it. The adult child
interaction in Indian tradition is conceptualised as ‘Palna, Posna’ – protecting,
nurturing; children are not reared or ‘brought up’ (Saraswathi & Ganapathy, 2002).
This fundamental ethos can be effectively put into use for creating a culture of overt
understanding and accommodation of children and students. Research specific to
creating Indocentric teacher student relationship by accommodating certain Western
principles would then become successful. Understanding the phenomena of teacher
aggression is the first step toward reducing, mitigating or preventing its occurrence
through changes to initial training and professional development for teachers (Riley,
Lewis & Brew, 2010). Thus there is a definite and urgent need to first understand the
Indian sphere of teacher-student relationships and devise policies or teacher leadership
modules that include them in the process rather than exclude them. This probably
would lead to redefining teacher-student relationships in India thus helping teachers
understand the long-term benefits for themselves and the students.
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14 | P a g e
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Teaching and Learning for Social Justice: Reciprocal Relationships in the
University and Spanish-Speaking Communities
Gresilda A. Tilley-Lubbs
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Abstract
This paper examines how teacher candidates develop an understanding of and

appreciation for cultural diversity by engaging in service-learning in an immigrant
community. The setting is a higher education course at a public research university in
the U.S. Students partner with Latino families while reading and journaling about
immigration issues. The study examines the changes in attitudes that occur as
relationships cross socially constructed boundaries of ethnic groups, language,
educational levels, and socioeconomic status. It also explores the intersection of
community service, scholarship, and teaching-and-learning. I submit general proposals
for the inclusion of service-learning programs in Teacher Education programs as a
means of nurturing paradigm shifts in student attitudes toward members of other
cultures.
Introduction
This paper examines how teacher candidates develop an understanding of and

appreciation for cultural diversity by engaging in service-learning in an immigrant
community. The setting is a higher education course at a public research university in
the U.S. Students partner with Latino families while reading and journaling about
immigration issues. The study examines the changes in attitudes that occur as
relationships cross socially constructed boundaries of ethnic groups, language,
educational levels, and socioeconomic status. It also explores the intersection of
community service, scholarship, and teaching-and-learning. I submit general proposals
for the inclusion of service-learning programs in Teacher Education programs as a
means of nurturing paradigm shifts in student attitudes toward members of other
cultures.
Perspectives/Theoretical Framework
By the time many students enter the university, they have identified themselves with
their own groups, often unaware of the lives that people live outside their own groups.
In our society, from the time students leave home to go to school or to participate in any
activity not based in the home, they begin the process of socialization and isolation.
They tend to mingle with others whose ethnic group, language, educational level, socio-
economic status, religion, and academic level are similar to their own (Harro, 2000). By
identifying only with those who are like themselves, they systematically, if
unconsciously, begin the process of ‘othering’ those who are members of groups
19 | P a g e
different from their own. As they grow and mature, the barriers that separate from
other groups strengthen while becoming ever more invisible.
However, if we view higher education as a vehicle for constructive social change and
empowerment, the groundwork is laid for the creation of a new paradigm of education
(Ferguson, 1997) that will involve university students in the community as agents for
social reform. Given the opportunity to enter the community in relationship with
hitherto unknown groups, students have the ability to “push on the existing order of
things” (Greene, 1997, 7), thereby integrating themselves with other people and
crossing the border into social understanding and social change.
As teacher educators prepare teachers to work and serve in the 21st century, we need
to be constantly cognizant that upon graduation, they will enter a diverse world in
which their students, students’ families, and colleagues represent diverse heritages and
socioeconomic backgrounds. If we have imbued our students with a sense of critical
consciousness and social justice, they can be agents of change for creating a better social
order through enhanced understanding of diversity. At the same time they will be
prepared to serve as cultural mediators for families whose understanding of the world
is vastly different from that of the faculty who will teach their children.
Greene (1997) suggests that people who are introduced to reflective or learning
communities will become aware of a dearth of understanding in their own domains, of
the blocks to knowing and questioning. Based on this rationale, we can assume that a
university course that promotes reflection and community involvement informed by
critical discourse can propel students toward a questioning of the social order and a
desire to effect change. By establishing relationships with people in various domains,
students can learn to view the world through a lens that is not limited to the colors and
textures that inform their own narrow worlds. They can see people who are members of
other groups as colleagues in a diverse world. In addition, by interweaving the students
with the community members, the divided relationship that often exists between the
university and the community can only be strengthened.
By creating a space where two diverse populations can come together, dialogue and
communication become possibilities. As Greene (1997) says, the social and the ethical
imagination is “concerned for using ideas and aspirations to reorganize the
environment or the lived situation” (¶11). Change and illumination thrive in the midst
of relationship. We as educators can serve as facilitators for change while society enjoys
the benefits of the critical thinking we have instilled in our students.
Service-Learning
This study looks at a service-learning course as the context for the mutually beneficial
relationships that developed between the teacher candidates and the families. Viewed
as both a philosophy and a methodology (Anderson, Service-learning can be defined as
the joining of two concepts: community action and knowledge situated in academia. The
20 | P a g e
transformative crucible is the reflection that examines the two concepts critically,
investigating the infrastructural causes of inequitable situations in society.
Service-learning is based on the emancipatory, experiential, and democratic learning

theories developed by such educators as Dewey (Flinders & Thornton, 1999) and Freire
(1970). It has its roots in the tenets of Dewey’s pedagogic creed that knowledge of social
conditions, of the present state of civilization, was necessary to properly interpret the
learner’s powers with education as the fundamental method of social progress and
reform.
Service-learning is also informed by critical theory, defined by Cresswell (1998) as the

“heartfelt need to promote social action, to lift the ‘voices’ of marginalized or oppressed
people, . . . to bring about general change in our society” (p. 78).
Service-Learning in Teacher Education
Teacher education has changed considerably in the last twenty-five years, altering many
people’s beliefs about how to structure teacher education programs. Many teacher
educators are concerned with preparing prospective teachers to have a desire to
enhance educational opportunities for all children and youth. Teachers need to be given
opportunities to understand diverse cultures, both in theory and in practice (Cochran-
Smith, 1999; Smylie, Bay, & Tozer, 1999).
Participating in a service-learning program affords teacher candidates the opportunity

to interact with persons from diverse backgrounds, often quite different from their own
(Swick & Rowls, 1997). Teacher education programs that strive to facilitate a caring
disposition (Noddings, 1999) and a concern for social justice issues (Cochran-Smith,
1999) need to encourage student teachers to be in the community so that they cease to
see those from diverse backgrounds as “they.”
A teacher has the capability to effect change in the classroom, in society, and in the
school. Proponents of multicultural education, anti-racist education, and culturally
responsive education believe that teachers can “serve a social mission that would
eliminate racial, ethnic, socioeconomic, and gender-based domination and
subordination” (Smylie, et al., 1999, p. 33). If teachers are to have knowledge of
students, they must know how students develop under various conditions,
understanding the influence of language, culture, ability, family, and community on
student learning and development. They should have opportunities that are grounded
in inquiry, experimentation, and reflection (Smylie, et al., 1999).
Just as teacher candidates need to understand their students and their diverse
backgrounds, some of the other most important goals for teacher education programs
include instilling a commitment to social responsibility, social change, and social justice
(Cochran-Smith, 1999). Part of the role of the teacher is to function as an “activist based
on political consciousness and on ideological commitment to diminishing the inequities
21 | P a g e
of American life” (Cochran-Smith, p. 116). It is important that all teachers value the
knowledge and interests, cultural and linguistic resources that children bring to school
with them. By so doing, teachers can work with the community (Cochran-Smith, 1999;
Freire, 1970; Greenberg & Moll, 1990).
Darling-Hammond (1999) proposes that in order to educate teachers for the next
century, it is necessary to provide a pedagogy that helps students to “think critically,
create, and solve complex problems as well as to master ambitious subject matter
content” as opposed to teaching them to impart routine skills (p. 221). She goes on to
state that in order to succeed at teaching more challenging content to diverse students,
teacher preparation and development programs need to be restructured.
Teaching and Learning for Social Justice: Imagining a New World Order
In keeping with the teachings of McLaren (1998) and Apple (1997), fair education and
opportunity must be for all people, not just for those of the dominant class. Sleeter &
Grant (1997) describes curriculum as a “means of social control,” legitimizing “existing
social relations and the status of those who dominate,” suggesting that “there are no
alternative versions of the world” (p. 281).
Freire (1970) proposed that people could be empowered with the self-respect and
understanding necessary for the creation of a more just social order. He applied his
“pedagogy of the oppressed” to the education of those who are marginalized in society,
thereby giving those who live outside the bounds of upper and middle class society
liberatory potential through participation in the development of the curriculum.
Methods of Inquiry and Data Sources
The overarching objective of this study was to examine the nexus of the relationships
that emerged between university students and community families as the result of the
service-learning course and to then examine the implications these relationships have
for teacher education programs.
The nature of the research necessitated the use of qualitative research methods in a
case study using ethnographic data collecting techniques to examine the meeting of two
disparate cultural communities: the university student and the Latino living in the
community. The setting of the service-learning course presented the opportunity to
observe the interactions of the students and the families by means of studying the
written materials, the interviews, and the discussions generated by the participants.
I used the data I collected from the students and families during the first four semesters
to shape the study I conducted the fifth semester. During that fifth semester, I
interviewed 18 students at the beginning of the semester to examine their backgrounds;
they wrote a reflective journal each week for 13 weeks, a final transformation paper
tracing their journeys in service-learning during the semester, and a PowerPoint
analyzing their experiences as a final exam. Additionally, I met with the class for three
22 | P a g e
hours each week, and I kept field notes regarding the class. I interviewed the Latinos at
the beginning, middle, and end of the fifth semester of the study, because despite my
request for them to journal, only one Latina turned in a journal at the end of the
semester. All the formal taped semi-structured interviews were conducted in the native
language of the interviewee; all were transcribed. Data from the interviews with the
Latinas were translated as necessary in the paper.
I also functioned as an observer, observer-participant, participant-observer, and

participant, depending on the situation. Much data were collected informally in
conversations with the participants in the program during the five semesters. The
interviews and meetings occurred on campus, in homes, in the church where the large
meetings took place, at restaurants, and on the telephone. I kept field notes for all the
meetings and conversations. I sought patterns or significance through direct
interpretation of the data, constantly consolidating, reducing, and interpreting them
(Merriam, 1998).
Educational Importance of the Study
The findings have two sections. First I considered the overall impact of the course for
the students and Latinos who participated in the study during the five semesters. I
examined the reciprocal relationships that emerged as the overarching theme of the
study.
Three supporting themes emerged: 1) an appreciation for and understanding of

diversity resulting from the exchange of linguistic and cultural knowledge, and the
development of cross-cultural friendships; 2) the aspects of a privileged population
working in solidarity with targeted population, demonstrating that students from the
dominant culture could cross various borders to understand, empathize with, and
advocate for oppressed population with resultant changes in perspective resulting in
blurring of Otherness on the part of both groups; and 3) service-learning as a catalyst in
the development of reciprocal relationships through the pairing of disparate groups
resulting in cross-cutting socially constructed boundaries.
In these findings, I sought to provide an understanding of the dynamics of the course,

the study, and the impact of service-learning in a course integrating academic
knowledge, community service, and teaching/learning.
The second section of the findings considered the voices of the 21 teacher candidates
who took the course throughout the five semesters. In addition to corroborating the
above themes, the overarching theme particular to the teacher candidates was that the
course should be required of all teacher candidates. The subthemes in this category can
be organized into four main categories: 1) enhanced understanding of the backgrounds
of diverse students and their family situations in linguistic, socioeconomic, and cultural
terms; 2) transformation of perspective toward diversity; 3) better understanding of
the challenges ESL students face in school from the students’ perspectives; and 4)
23 | P a g e
improved understanding of the complexities and roles of teaching ESL as teacher,
advocate, cultural mediator, friend, mentor, etc.
Implications/Relevance
This paper is intended as a contribution to the larger conversation of understanding

how teacher education programs can prepare teachers for cultural diversity In this
paper, I attempt to demonstrate the efficacy of incorporating a service-learning
program in teacher education as a means of fostering an understanding of diversity,
attention to service, concern for social justice, knowledge of subject area, and
development of critical thinking skills, needs identified in the existing research
(Cochran-Smith, 1999; Smylie, et al., 1999).
The paper also seeks to provide information for teacher educators considering service-
learning programs by examining a course that provides opportunities for interaction
between university students and local immigrant community members as a means of
fostering paradigm shifts in student attitudes toward members of other cultures,
suggesting possible deeper societal transformation as the academy becomes an agent of
change through service-learning in the Spanish-speaking community.
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Building a Definition of New Literacies
Eman Elturki
Washington State University
Reima Abobaker
Tsun-Ju Lin
With innovations in technology emerging every day, many things evolve in response.
Literacy is one of those things that have been affected by technology advancement and
its definition has expanded to include new literacies. Literacy is not limited anymore to
mastering the skills of reading and writing (Lanham, 1995); new literacies include a set
of skills utilized to understand information in any way presented (Lankshear & Knobel,
2006).
Definitions of new literacies are still being conceptualized by scholars. The purpose of
this paper is to describe the variable definitions of new literacies based on perspectives
formed by individual backgrounds to create a more global consensus. Accordingly, this
paper begins by demonstrating two views of new literacies from Asia and the Middle
East, and then it concludes with a proposed, more general definition of new literacies.
Perspectives of New Literacies – A Perspective from Asia
With the rapid increase in development of digital technology and the popularity of the
Internet in recent years in Asia, the conventional term ‘literacy’ is inadequate for the
task of describing the complex learning process that makes people ‘literate.’ The
conventional use of the term cannot fully correspond to the realities of what has
become a technologically enhanced, globalized knowledge exchange in Asia. New
definitions of literacy, also called “new literacies,” have emerged to help researchers
better pinpoint and understand how student learning processes (e.g., new ways of
communicating and understanding information) have changed. If researchers could
fully understand what new literacies are, this would help educators provide more
effective support for contemporary Asian student needs based on their different social
and cultural backgrounds.
The essential components of new literacies
According to Lanham (1995), new literacies extend beyond the conventionally held
view of literacy as the ability to read and write to multiple abilities that enable a person
to communicate coded messages and then acquire knowledge in a variety of formats.
These multiple abilities include the ability to locate important information effectively
and efficiently; being at ease with making meaning and synthesizing; the skills of
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critically analyzing; and the proficiency of creating new ways of transforming the
information within the context of larger social practices. These social practices are
“…often more ‘participatory’, more ‘collaborative’, and more ‘distributed’, as well as less
‘published’, less ‘individuated’ and less ‘author-centric’ than conventional literacies”
(Lankshear & Knobel, 2006, p. 25). Indeed, in many Asian countries such as Japan,
Korea, China, and Taiwan, technologies have been used in a wide range of purposes in
students’ daily life outside the classroom that require them to effectively use the
abilities mentioned above to access whatever information they are looking for. For
instance, when they face problems and have questions (e.g., looking for a recipe for an
authentic Japanese cuisine), many Asian students tend to look for the source and
information online rather than the conventional paper-print. In order to ensure getting
accurate information, they will need to think critically about the various information
posted online. If they cannot find the source, then they would post the question on
Yahoo! Answers and then get what they are looking for from different individuals who
wanted to contribute the information. Obviously, these new ways of communicating and
searching for information require people to use these multiple abilities. The
conventional literacy definition does not discuss these new ways of acquiring
knowledge.
However, that is not to say that conventional literacy cannot emphasize the importance
of social practice, or that conventional reading and writing skills are insufficient today.
Rather, students need to master a wider range of abilities and competencies and then
flexibly apply them in order to make sense of different formats of texts, such as post-
typographic forms of texts. The rise of digital–electronic technology use allows various
ways of producing, distributing, exchanging, and receiving information to generate
knowledge effectively and efficiently; these components must be considered to have a
complete definition of literacy.
The gaps between students and educators
Researchers have investigated new ways of multichannel communications, such as text

messages, instant messaging, e-mail, and communication through social networks
(Levin, Arafeh, Lenhart, & Rainie, 2002) and what skills users use during the
communications. However, there are more issues that need to be addressed based on
students’ social and cultural backgrounds. For instance, in many Asian countries,
technology use has become part of the younger generation’s daily life. Many new
technology devices and software are affordable for schools and families. Because of the
ubiquitousness of technology, students can have multiple opportunities to use different
technologies based on their interests, skills, and need to communicate and convey
information with peers. However, some educators seem to decry the phenomenon as
inappropriate and worthless for educational purposes. The perception of
inappropriateness might be attributed to the lack of understanding from educators of
the countless emerging new technologies, students’ everyday social lives, and the
important role both play in teaching and learning (Zhao & Cziko, 2001).
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In order to bridge the perception gaps between educators and students, research needs
to address the differences and similarities between online and conventional learning
skills, such as reading online texts versus printed texts. Furthermore, it could be
interesting to investigate what skills the users utilize to negotiate meaning when
miscommunication occurs. If researchers could actually observe students’ use of
technology outside the classroom, this might assist educators to get a better
understanding of how to provide modeling and scaffolding to support them in the
learning process (Greenhow, Robelia, & Hughes, 2009) and then help students develop
these multiple abilities. According to the above issues, there is a need to have a clear
and useful new literacies definition that supports pedagogical purposes of using
technology in the classroom. In this way, researchers will be able to emphasize the
importance of integrating technology in education.
Power issue of new literacies
The emergence of a new literacies definition also sheds some light on how to resolve the
achievement gap problem between students in Asia. In the cyberspace environment,
everyone has the opportunity to explore knowledge from their own perspective, given
that the individual’s perception is valid as long as it makes a valuable contribution to
knowledge. One no longer needs a commercial publisher, for example, to arbitrarily
decide if one’s words are worth reading. Many high school and college students in
Taiwan create their own blogs to share the multiple perceptions on their daily life
experiences, such as discussing critical global economic, political, and media issues they
watch on YouTube or TV. They also use blogs as tools to announce important news to
their friends. For instance, when the terrible news of the earthquakes and subsequent
tsunami occurred in Japan, many Taiwanese high school and college students use their
blogs to spread information about Japan tsunami relief donations. Some of them
researched earthquake preparedness and listed the guidelines with pictures to educate
each other since earthquakes commonly occur in Taiwan. Such powerful ways of
sharing information and knowledge allow individuals to express their perspectives.
Researchers believe that the feature of multiple paradigms and perspectives can enforce
equality in power of learning opportunities online (Cummins, Brown, & Sayers, 2007).
However, the issues of equality in power need to be further investigated, including
whether economic status will affect students’ opportunities to access certain types of
technology; whether people who are struggling with languages and lack of knowledge
(e.g., poor writing skills and a lack of online cultural understanding) can still possess the
same authority as others. Cummins and his colleagues (2007) argue that a low-income
and/or language deficiency makes “students benefit less academically from home
computer access than do high-income students” (p. 95). This phenomenon may arise
from teachers’ assumptions about the students’ lack of access to computers at home. If
technology usage can really enforce equality in power, then under what conditions?
These issues obviously need to be further investigated in the research area.
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According to Foucault (1972), power is everywhere. Perhaps scholars should emphasize
the role of ‘agent’ rather than equality in power while examining power issues in
technology usage. According to critical socio-cultural researchers, technology usage can
help students understand absent or restricted knowledge. Based on this, using
technology in learning can play the role of agent that opens “intersections of multiple,
divergent cultural resources and meaning, enables disruption of discursive channels
and boundaries through which students and teachers typically see themselves and
others” (Lewis, Enciso, & Moje, 2007, p. 70). In other words, such distributed and
collaborative creation of power might be the key to empower students’ absent and
extensive knowledge. If there were a definition of literacy that included the essential
role of empowerment in new literacies, it could help researchers to focus on
investigating the power issues mentioned above.
According to the important components and relevant issues mentioned above, ‘new
literacies’ use multiple abilities, especially critical thinking and social collaboration, to
extract meaning from both conventional literacy and new literacies emerging from the
Internet. Such intersections of multiple and divergent meaning-makings can help
students become empowered to achieve more in their lives. The definition reflects the
values and needs of introducing new literacies in education, so researchers and
educators could provide more meaningful and useful tasks to support students’ needs in
Asia, specifically in Taiwan.
Perspective from the Middle East
As educators from the Middle East, specifically Libya, literacy from our perspective is
no longer exclusive to the ability to read and write. It has evolved to include different
literacies which are referred to as new since they keep pace with the trends emerging
over time. In the Information Age, we see new literacies as the ability to speak, read,
and comprehend the language of the information, digital, and multimedia ages
effectively. Moreover, new literacies can be considered as a kind of “social practice”
(Lankshear & Knobel, 2006, p.2) that requires from its practitioners various skills and
abilities to help them communicate effectively through different media of
communication such as the Internet. Those skills and abilities include critical thinking
as well as using media and technology effectively. In addition to that, this social practice
requires the respect of different identities, contexts, and cultures. More can still be
added to the forms and abilities of new literacies. The word new is joined to ‘literacies’
because literacy is dynamic and constantly changing (Coiro, Knobel, Lankshear & Leu,
2008).
New literacies as a social practice
Scribner and Cole (1981) were among the pioneers in sociocultural literacy studies to
view literacy as a social practice (in Lankshear & Knobel, 2006, p. 2). Instead of focusing
on literacy as a cognitive process, it has been investigated in terms of how it is being
practiced within societies. New literacies as social practice cover both daily life
29 | P a g e
practices as well as classroom practices. For instance, different kinds of technologies as
well as digital tools are used on daily basis inside and outside the classroom. However,
in Libya, it can be said that technology is not integrated enough in classrooms; yet it is
considerably used outside the classroom, especially among newer generations. That is
to say, students are being taught with a very traditional mindset where teachers are the
absolute authority and play the role of the information providers. They have some basic
technological tools such as VCRs, CD players, and TVs, but they choose not to employ
them in their instruction. One might argue that those teachers come from a traditional
mindset which is still unable to adapt to technological advancement, let alone use it in
teaching. Students; on the other hand, are the information receivers, whose job is to
record everything that the teacher says without question. It continued this way until
recently when freshly graduated teachers tried to change this process. They started to
make some individual efforts by incorporating what little technology is available for
classroom instruction in an attempt to enhance the students’ learning processes. For
instance, some teachers require their students to research certain topics on the Internet
and incorporate the information they find into a classroom assignment or project.
However, written texts are heavily used in classrooms, whereas the use of electronic
texts is dominant out of the classroom (Semali, 2001). Students outside the classroom
frequently communicate through text-messaging, Facebook, Twitter, and e-mails.
Therefore, teachers need to understand that technology has become part of students’
daily life practices, and it should be incorporated more in the classroom to make
learning appeal to students. Lee (2007) argues that building curriculum and classroom
instruction based on students’ everyday experiences outside the classroom has proved
to be effective in engaging students in critical thinking and making them able to decode
and understand complex readings. Based on what preceded, social practice is one of the
major components that new literacies emphasizes which requires certain abilities such
as critical thinking, effective use of technology, and respect of different contexts and
cultures.
Critical thinking
Social practice requires certain skills so that individuals can interact, communicate,
negotiate meaning and be effective participants. One of those skills is the use of critical
thinking. As mentioned earlier, the Libyan classroom is teacher-centered. Teachers give
little chance to students to question, negotiate, argue, or to be critical thinkers due to
their conception of classroom management. They perceive giving the students too much
opportunity to state their opinions as losing control of the classroom. However, some
teachers nowadays have changed the class culture from a one way street into a more
interactive setting where students are given the opportunity to engage in discussions
with peers and teachers. These teachers have realized that new literacies can enhance
students’ critical thinking and interaction skills which are essential to build well-
educated future generations.
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Effective use of technology
It is widely believed that technology, including the World Wide Web, can play a vital
role in enhancing literacy among students if it were used properly (Cummins, et al.,
2007). Teaching literacy nowadays involves both teaching students how to code and
decode printed texts as well as hyper texts through the utilization of different means
such as visuals and other multimedia resources. In this regard Semali (2001) says that
“through exposure to cutting-edge multimedia, new curricular materials, research
studies, and pressure from both government and industry, teachers are recognizing the
power of new literacies” (p. 1). New generations adapt rapidly and easily to new
methods and tools of presenting information such as technology use in the classroom in
Libya. Contemporary students should have the ability to navigate the Internet
successfully when looking up information. More specifically, as Coiro (2003) described
it when she made a distinction between traditional reading and reading on the internet,
the ability to navigate hyperlinks properly in ways that improve comprehension as well
as knowing how to interact within a specific environment on the internet. Even though
teachers started to use basic kinds of technological tools in Libya, up until now the only
type of text that is used is mainly printed material due to the limited access to the
Internet in schools and universities. However, some students surf the Internet from
their home connections to read online topics related to their interests. The appropriate
use of multimedia and technological tools is one of the major components of new
literacies and more effort should be exerted by educational institutions to familiarize
students with using technology academically.
Respect of different contexts and cultures
The Internet makes the world seem like a small village where people from different
cultures and countries are brought closer together to share and exchange different ideas
and information. It is important for the user to be aware of his/her own task in this
activity and how can one add to this body of knowledge (Coiro, 2003). Since context and
culture are vital components of any social practice, many people from different parts of
the worlds are involved in social networks such as the Facebook. It is very important for
those users to respect, understand, and be open to a variety of cultures. For instance, a
Libyan student following a certain blog has to be aware of the language used in this
context in order to be able to deliver his/her ideas adequately and at the same time
respecting the ideas of others.
Obstacles facing new literacies
It should be mentioned that there are some obstacles that might hinder/prevent a
sufficient utilization of technology in Libyan classrooms. Among those obstacles is the
“digital divide” (Cummins, et al., 2007, p. 94) that separates lower-income from higher-
income students. That is to say, some students have limited or no access to Internet or
computer use in their households due to economic reasons. Students who do not enjoy
this luxury of home computer access would be deprived of benefiting from searching for
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information or working on assignments and projects from home. Additionally, students
who are not familiar with computer use or have no Internet access outside the
classroom might experience difficulties in adapting to the technologies used in the
classroom, unlike those students who use technology regularly outside the classroom.
Another factor that can be seen as an obstacle to technology use in Libyan classrooms is
the teacher’s unfamiliarity with the evolving technologies. Teachers have different
mindsets to those of students. In this space of technology and digital use, teachers are
referred to as “Newcomers” or “Outsiders” whereas students are “Insiders” (Lankshear
& Knobel, 2006, p.34). ‘Outsiders’ means having limited experience with technology
use, and “they cannot understand and respond to the space as insiders do” (Lankshear &
Knobel, 2006, p.34-35). This fact might lead teachers approach technological tools
inappropriately or avoid using them altogether in the classroom. Therefore, through
organizing teacher training workshops, teachers would realize the practicality and
efficiency that new literacies offer.
Conclusion
Based on the two perspectives, a combined definition of new literacies can be

conceptualized as follows: New literacies is not restricted to mastering reading and
writing, but it is also a kind of social practice that requires multiple abilities and skills
such as use of critical thinking, effective use of technology, and respect of different
contexts and cultures. In terms of pedagogy, in both settings in Asia and the Middle East,
teachers need to realize the importance of incorporating new literacies in the classroom
in order to support the newer generations’ mindset. New literacies provide a productive
outlet for contemporary multiple learning styles.
The combined definition above is an attempt to give a concise definition of new

literacies drawn from two different perspectives from Asia and the Middle East that
resulted similarly. Although those perspectives come from two remote places, they
share similar pedagogical issues that require incorporating new literacies into
classroom practices. This might help researchers, educators, and practitioners to get a
better understanding of what new literacies are and the advantages of incorporating
them in the classroom.
References
Coiro, J. (2003, February). Reading comprehension on the Internet: Expanding our

understanding of reading comprehension to encompass new literacies
[Exploring Literacy on the Internet department]. The Reading Teacher, 56(6).
Retrieved February 15, 2011, from
http://www.readingonline.org/electronic/elec_index.asp?HREF=/electronic/RT
/2-03_column/index.html
Coiro, J., Knobel, M., Lankshear, C. and Leu, D. (eds) (2008). The handbook of research on
new literacies. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
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Cummin, J., Brown, K., Sayers, D. (2007). Literacy, technology, and diversity: Teaching for
success in changing times. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.
Foucault, M. (1972). The archaeology of knowledge. London: Tavistock.
Greenhow, C., Robelia, B., & Hughes, J. (2009). Web 2.0 and classroom research: What
path should we take? Educational Researcher, 38(4), 246-259.
doi:10.3102/0013189X09336671
Lankshear, C. & Knobel, M. (2006). New literacies: changing knowledge and classroom
practice. Buckingham, UK: Open University Press.
Lanham, R. (1995). Digital literacy. Scientific American, 273(3): 160–1.
Lee, C. D. (2007). Culture, literacy, and learning: Taking bloom in the midst of the
whirlwind. New York: Teachers College Press.
Levin, D., Arafeh, S., Lenhart, A., & Rainie, L. (2002). The digital disconnect: The widening
gap between Internet-savvy students and their schools. Washington, DC: Pew
Internet and American Life Project. Retrieved April from
http://epsl.asu.edu/epru/articles/EPRU-0208-36-OWI.pdf
Lewis, C., Enciso, & Moje, E. B. (2007). Reframing sociocultural research on literacy. New
York: Erlbaum.
Scribner, S. and Cole, M. (1981) The psychology of literacy. Cambridge, MA: Harvard
University Press.
Semali, L. (2001, November). Defining new literacies in curricular practice. Reading

Online, 5(4). Retrieved April 13, 2011, from
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x.html
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theory perspective. Journal of Technology and Teacher Education, 9(1), 5-30.
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Closing the Civil Military Gap – Sexual Harassment at the Australian Defence Force
Academy.
Jyonah Jericho
University of Sydney
Abstract
This article documents the history of the subjugation of women to men at the Australian
Defence Academy (ADFA) and within the Australian Defence Force’s (ADF) air, naval
and sea corps. In this article, I argue that the maltreatment of women by men at ADFA is
asymptomatic of the chronic civil military gendered gap which persists throughout the
ADF. I further argue that overturning the ADF’s gendered combat policy is essential if
attacks against female personnel perpetrated by male personnel at ADFA are to cease.
Policy makers must understand the three sociological forces which shape the unique
culture of misogyny which prevails at the ADFA. The first factor is the youthful
demographic of the academy’s personnel. The second factor concerns the privilege of
leadership enjoyed by the ADF’s officer corps. All cadets at ADFA are groomed to be
future leaders within the ADF. This privilege of leadership explains why the masculinity
of the officer cadet is an elite (or special) form of masculinity. This elite status has
shaped the peculiar character of the misogynistic culture which prevails at this
academy. Although the ADFA has always existed as a microcosm of the ADF’s broader
culture, these three factors have shaped the peculiar dynamics of male-female power
relations at this academy.
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Introduction
In April 2011, the reputation of the Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA) was
further damaged by public allegations that yet another serious criminal sexual offence
had recently been committed by male personnel against a female officer cadet at this
institution. I refer to the regrettable case of Officer Cadet ‘Kate’. Kate’s story became
front-page news in Australia’s mainstream media in the first week of April 2011. During
this period, Australia’s press reported that a male officer cadet at ADFA had secretly
videotaped and simultaneously broadcasted a voluntary sexual encounter between
himself and ‘Kate’ in a residential hall at the ADFA in Canberra. This act was almost
tantamount to a ‘gang rape’. According to the media, the offender was ostensiblyi aware
that six of his male colleagues in a nearby dormitory were watching this act live on a
computer screen (Australian Broadcasting Corporation 2011).
Sexual, physical and emotional abuse perpetrated by male cadets against male and
female cadets at ADFA has been rife and ongoing since this academy was established in
1987 (e.g. Whittaker 2000). Australia’s Defence Executive has long been aware of the
culture of abuse, humiliation and misogyny which is normalised throughout this
academy. On multiple occasions, certain members of this executive have successfully
discouraged victims from making formal complaints. In many documented instances,
former ADFA cadets have alleged that certain members of ADFA’s Executive have
wilfully concealed criminal evidence that might have resulted in a criminal conviction
against the perpetrators of these crimes. Moreover, they have ostensibly failed to notify
the Australian Federal Police of serious criminal allegations made by the victims of
physical and sexual abuse at this academy. The motives underpinning this behaviour
have not been fully established (e.g. see ADFA 1998). It is most likely ADFA’s executive
leadership has sought to avoid embarrassing negative publicity. Such negative publicity
could further damage the poor recruitment and retention rates reported by this
academy and the ADF’s tri-service units. There is no evidence ADFA’s Executive
Committee has promoted or condoned such criminal behaviour (see Australian
Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) 2011a; 2011c).
Physical and sexual assaults committed at Australia’s military colleges are not a new
phenomenon. Public records confirm they have been rife in the other military training
academies which predate the establishment of ADFA. This includes Royal Military
College Duntroon and the infamous Puckapunyal army training barracks. The
normalised culture of ‘bastardry’ which occurred at Puckapunyal barracks during the
1960s and 1970s comprises a dark chapter in Australia’s military history (Foreign
Affairs Defence and Trade Committee 1994; Woodford 1998; Cawhill 2001; Evers
2006).
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Civil military gap
The culture of misogyny and male privilege which prevails at ADFA and in large pockets
of the ADF is no longer passively supported by Australia’s mainstream civil society (see
Burton 1996; Woodford 1998). Australia’s society has gradually accepted that women
play a vital role in Australia’s armed forces (Davison 2007). Australia’s civil society has
traditionally accepted that the ADF is in some ways an exceptional institution. The ADF
is the only institution who owns weapons which are capable of mass killing another
nation’s military personnel and causing the mass destruction of another nation’s
infrastructure. A civil-military gap has been tolerated insofar as this divergence is
necessary to maintain the ADF’s preparedness to fight a brutal war of survival (Smith
1995). This argument is consistent with Morris Janowitz’s famed ‘pragmatic
professionalism’ model of civil military relations which is dominant in most democratic
nations (Janowitz 1971).
The exceptional status of the ADF’s functional role is not a theoretical argument (see
Smith 1995). A civil military gap is a reality of Australia’s civil military relations. For
example, the ADF has been granted multiple statutory exemptions from Australia’s
federal anti discrimination legislation. These include exemptions to parts of the Sex
Discrimination Act (1984), Disability Discrimination Act (1992) and Age Discrimination
Act (2004). These exemptions have been granted on so-called operational effectiveness
grounds (see Smith 1995). For example, the ADF may enforce mandatory age
retirement in all operational units, including its chaplaincy. The state has deemed that
youth is a bona fide criterion which is essential to maintain a fit and agile fighting force.
By contrast to the ADF, mandatory age retirement has been outlawed in virtually all
domains of Australia’s civil public service within local governments, state/territory
governments and the federal government (Chapman 1999; Human Rights and Equal
Opportunity Commission 2000).
Over the past decade the gap between Australia’s civil and military societies has
gradually converged. For example, in 2009, Australia’s separate military justice system
was declared unconstitutional by Australia’s judiciary. Moreover, the ADF’s exemption
from hiring personnel with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus was overturned by
Australia’s Federal Court, despite fierce resistance from the ADF. Women such as Air
Vice Marshall Julie Hammer and Air Commodore Tracey Smart have been appointed to
senior executive leadership positions in this traditionally male dominated service.
Despite these social developments, women’s participation in this service remains low.
Women account for less than 15% of all personnel employed by the ADF (Gulam 2004;
Hammer 2008; ADF 2010).
Prior to the 1990s, most Australians did not support the integration of women into the
ADF’s regular forces. The subjugation and abuse of female ADF personnel by male ADF
personnel was rarely reported in Australia’s mainstream media. Women’s presence in
36 | P a g e
this force was still regarded as a taboo subject. Most Australians were therefore not
aware of the problem. Moreover, most Australians did not believe women should be
working in frontline or combat support roles (see Australian Army 1978; Foreign
Affairs Defence and Trade Committee 1994; Campbell 2000; Spurling 2000).
Since Australia ratified the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All forms of
Discrimination against Women in 1981, Australian women’s role in the family and
economy has gradually become less subordinate to men. For example, women’s
presence in Australia’s work sector has increased considerably. Women presently
account for around 46% of the total labour force. Moreover, over the past decade,
women’s participation in non traditional areas such as Engineering and Medicine has
continued to grow at higher rates than the growth in the total labour force (Kwek
2011). The gendered division of labour and power within the traditional heterosexual
nuclear family has also gradually become ‘de-gendered’ during this timeframe. For
example, many fathers choose stay at home to look after their child/ren while their
female partner willingly earns the family wage. A visible number of Australian brides
have not adopted their male partners’ surnames. A growing number of married women
have refused to include the words ‘obey [their husband] in their wedding vows (e.g.
Burton 1996; Summers 2002).
Similar gendered developments have been witnessed in Australia’s military society over
this period. For example, women were integrated into fast jets as military combatants
during the early 1990s. Moreover, they were also appointed as commanders of naval
ships for the first time during this period. These developments reflect Australian
society’s growing intolerance of the civil-military gender gap. This argument is evident
by the growing public discourses which call for full gender equality in the ADF. This
growing intolerance does not mean a civil military gender gap does not exist. This gap
persists, and women still remain subordinate to men throughout this service (Burton
1996; Bridges 2005; Davison 2007).
The state
State sponsored discrimination against the female gendered body remains rife in the
ADF. Section 43 (a) of the Commonwealth Sex Discrimination Act (1984) authorises the
ADF to exclude women from eight employment categories which remain classified as
“Direct Combat” roles (Attorney General’s Department 1984). Women remain excluded
from working as naval clearance divers in the naval corps and as ground defence
officers and air defence guards in the ADF’s air corps. Women are excluded from
working as combatants in the ADF’s Special Operations corps. They are also excluded
from working as combatants in the Australian Army’s Infantry, Armour, Artillery and
Combat Engineer corps (Dunn 1998).
37 | P a g e
The rationale offered by policy makers to defend this policy is complex and disputed
(Bridges 2005). The social, cultural, political, biological factors and occasionally
economic justifications offered by defence and government sources are frequently
contradictory (e.g. Australian Army 1978; Smith 2000; Segal et al. 2002). It is not the
intention of this paper to reconcile this intriguing debate. Suffice to say, that over the
past decade, the ostensible limitations of the performance and functions of the female
gendered body have emerged as the dominant factor that accounts for the persistence
of this policy. In simplified terms, the ADF Executive and the state remains deeply
concerned that the average female body and mind is too fragile to perform competently
when exposed to the gruelling physical and emotional demands of frontline warfare in
face-to-face (i.e. body-to-body) combat situations. To integrate the ‘weak’ gendered
body and mind into the combat ranks could ostensibly risk Australia’s national security
situation (e.g. Davison 2007; Defence Science and Technology Organisation 2009).
Women have never participated in the ADF on equal terms with men at any time since
Australia became a federated nation in 1901 (Bridges 2005; Davison 2007). Australian
women first served on the frontline as sailors in 1991 during the Gulf War. This is
consistent with the observation that women have been integrated into so-called
“pushbutton” combat roles, which engage mass killing and destruction from a distance,
using technological weapons. Prior to 1991, Australian women had never served in
direct combat roles at any time in the ADF’s history (Smith and McAllister 1991;
Bomford 2001). The enactment of section 43 (a) of the Sex Discrimination Act
formalised a regulation that had been longstanding defence policy since the Australian
Army fought in the Boer War at the turn of the Twentieth Century. Australian women’s
contribution to the Boer War and First World War was limited exclusively to nursing
sisters. These roles positioned Australian women as healers of the nations’ men. These
army nurses only held honorary officer rank. This status meant that all women were
subordinate to all men in this force (McWatters 2005).
The social and cultural implications of upholding this gendered division of military
labour are by no means inconsequential. The myth of the brave ANZAC Digger combat
army warrior is central the Australian nation’s military history and cultural narratives.
This myth positions men as the masculine creators of the Australian nation. As the
nation’s frontline warriors, men are imaged as makers of their nation’s history. Women
are simultaneously imaged in binary feminised subordinate roles in Australia’s cultural
images. Consequentially, men have historically enjoyed a privileged status in Australia’s
cultural images and narratives (see Pettman 1996). For example, images of Australia’s
military women are largely absent from Australia’s cultural images which celebrate
ANZAC Day. The dominant focus of the ANZAC story is on the frontline combat soldier,
the all-male army/ANZAC Digger. Prior to the 1980s, Australian women’s contribution
to the nation’s war effort was mostly ignored by historians and Australia’s media. This
includes the contributions and sacrifices the ADF’s nursing sisters have contributed to
38 | P a g e
every major war Australia’s defence force have fought since Federation (Bomford
2001).
Australia’s all-male combat soldiers continue to enjoy an elite form of citizenship into
the new millennium. This argument is evident from the all-male composition of the
ADF’s combat forces that have made valiant sacrifices for their nation in the Afghanistan
and Iraq ‘Wars’ over the past decade. No women are listed among the dozens of
fatalities the ADF has recorded in the Afghanistan War and Iraq War (Australian War
Memorial 2011). Defending this domain of all male privilege provides the dominant
explanation for why a visible number of male ADF personnel have long remained
ferociously resistant to the notion of admitting women into combat roles (e.g. Burton
1996; Bridges 2005).
2011 marks the year where public discourses have made the connection between the
mandatory exclusion of women from military combat with the culture of misogyny
which prevails in ADFA and the ADF’s army, naval and air corps. When the story of
Officer Cadet “Kate” initially became public, Australia’s Defence Minster Stephen Smith
immediately announced there would be an investigation into the legitimacy of
preserving the ADF’s gendered combat policy. Smith made a direct connection between
the diminished status of women in the ADF’s combat ranks and the diminished status of
women at ADFA and within the ADF’s air, naval and army corps. Moreover, Smith made
a direct link between the persistence of this policy and the culture of misogyny and
abuse which prevails at ADFA (e.g. Smith 2011).
Under the radar
Statutory discrimination is also imposed on women in the Royal Australian Air Force’s
spray painting units. Since 1984, there has been a virtual absence of debate in the public
arena about the merits of excluding women from so-called “embryo toxic” employment
categories in the Royal Australian Air Force. Section 43 (b) of the Sex Discrimination Act
authorises the ADF to exercise its discretion to refuse to hire women as surface finishers
and electroplaters. During this period, the ADF has not hired one female officer in these
employment categories. The rationale for this policy is that the toxic fumes which spray
painters are exposed to will likely damage women’s embryos and foetuses. No mention
is made of the effects these fumes may have on men’s reproductive cells. At face-value,
this policy may seem well intentioned, as it is ostensibly intended to protect the unborn
baby. A closer inspection of this policy reveals that is unfairly discriminates against all
Australian women and diminishes the free agency of the nation’s women on a number
of levels (see Anderson 1997).
The rational underpinning Section 43 (b) assumes all female ADF personnel are fertile.
It also assumes they all wish to become mothers at some point in the future. These
stereotypes about gender roles, biological essentialism and the gendered body are no
39 | P a g e
longer accepted by mainstream Australia’s mainstream society or other Westernised
societies (see Burton 1996; Connell 2009). Women have the right to have the same
employment choices which are offered to the nation’s men. This includes their right to
be placed in harm’s way if it is their wish to do so. Many women have no desire to
procreate, as evidenced by the large number of women who undergo voluntary elective
surgery each year to have their fallopian tubes tied. Some women are born infertile and
have no desire to employ medical intervention to become fertile. Some young women
are post menopausal and have no desire to seek medical intervention to reverse this
process (e.g. see Connell 2009).
Section 43 (b) of the Act makes no allowance for these women. This section draws on
the stereotypes that all women are the chosen bearers of the nation’s sons and
daughters and it is their duty to perform this task on behalf of their nation (see Pettman
1996). Moreover, this policy suggests it is the role of strong and protective all-male
warrior to defend women’s fragile and vulnerable bodies by engaging in such risky
occupational categories (see Young 2003). The replication of these rigid gender roles
does not empower women. The persistence of this policy images women’s uteruses as
state property. This policy perpetuates blatant state sponsored gender discrimination.
The state controls women’s bodies and subjects them to ongoing surveillance in a
manner which is not reciprocated toward the male martial body (see Foucault 1978;
Summers 1999).
I argue that the exclusion of women from embryo toxic employment categories has
probably been driven in part by the elite masculine prestige of Australia’s supersonic
aircraft squadrons. Supersonic fighter and bomber pilots are among the most esteemed
personnel in many nations’ armed forces, including the ADF (see Burton 1996). These
personnel are often deployed as the first line of defence during live warfare. The
prestige of the supersonic fighter aircraft is symbolised by its paint work. In the ADF,
this paintwork remains an all-male cultural construct. Excluding women from working
as air force spray painters thereby perpetuates the masculine hegemony of Australian
nation’s prestigious supersonic fighting force. Although the ADF’s fighter pilot roles
have been open to women since 1992, not one woman has been admitted into this
occupational role (see Davison 2007; ABC 2011b). This argument/topic is worthy of
future research, as there is a virtual absence of data in this area.
Context and history
Persistent sexual and physical attacks perpetrated by male personnel against female
personnel at ADFA are asymptomatic of the ADF’s universal male dominated culture
(see Evers 2006). The ADFA is a microcosm of the ADF (see ADFA). This argument is
evident by the observation that sexual attacks perpetrated by male personnel against
female personnel have also been rife in the Australian Defence Force (ADF) since
women were integrated into the mainstream ranks during the 1970s. This history has
40 | P a g e
been documented beyond doubt (see Smith and Minson 1997). The culture of
physical/emotional abuse and sexual harassment that is normalised in the ADF/ADFA
has been documented by at least six official defence reviews since 1994. These reviews
include:
• The Bryson Report (Professor Lois Bryson) (see Bryson 1994)

• The Burton Report (Dr Clare Burton) (see Burton 1996)
• The Foreign Affairs Defence and Trade Committee Review (Senate Standing Committee
on Foreign Affairs 1994).
• The Quinn Report (Major Kathryn Quinn) (see Quinn 1996)
• The Grey Report (see ADFA 1998).
• The Campbell Report (Lieutenant Colonel Linda Campbell) (Campbell 2000).
These reports consistently document how a systemic culture of misogyny, sexual

violence, male elitism and hegemonic masculinity has historically existed in all services,
especially in the Royal Australian Navy (e.g. see also Agostino 2003). Public testimonies
provided by retired ADF personnel suggest this culture of abuse has prevailed
throughout the ADF and ADFA during the new millennium (e.g. Australian Broadcasting
Corporation 2006; Evers 2006).
A common theme which prevails in these reports and testimonies is that male
personnel commit the worst forms of physical, emotional and sexual harassment
against female personnel when they are embedded into isolated frontline fighting
environments. Two dominant factors explain this phenomenon. The first explanation is
that female personnel are temporarily isolated from those institutions that normally
protect them from ongoing violence perpetrated by male personnel. These institutions
include the military police and defence counsellors. Sexual assaults perpetrated by male
personnel against female personnel are often opportunistic attacks where the aggressor
takes advantage of women’s isolation. In some cases, the perpetrators are fuelled by the
‘excitement’ of engaging in brutal and uncivilised acts of large scale violence during the
calamitous environment of live warfare (e.g. Foreign Affairs Defence and Trade
Committee 1994; Campbell 2000).
Assaults against female personnel are also partly explained by the culture of hegemonic
masculinity which prevails in the ADF – especially in this force’s prestigious combat and
combat support units. These sorts of assaults often motivated by a desire to
demonstrate power over women as opposed to a desire to realise sexual gratification
(e.g. Burton 1996; Agostino 2003). Physical and sexual assaults against women in these
workspaces are often perpetrated by male combatants as a way to symbolise male
dominance in the ADF’s frontline work spaces. These acts epitomises men’s rejection of
women’s gradual integration into these functional work spaces. Most aggravated
physical and sexual assaults committed against female are committed by rank-and-file
personnel and not the force’s officers. This might be partly explained by the stereotype
41 | P a g e
image of the so-called “officer and a gentlemen” phenomenonii (Smith and Minson
1997).
ADFA context
This historical pattern causes me to consider why physical, sexual and emotional
assaults perpetrated by male cadets have at ADFA have persisted since 1987. In many
ways, the culture and work environment of ADFA differs significantly from the
operational environments and culture of the ADF’s operational frontline units. For
example, all cadets at ADFA hold honorary officer rank. When these officer cadets visit
other military bases, they dine in the officers’ messes and lodge in the officers’ quarters.
ADFA cadets are rarely integrated into live frontline combat environments. Virtually all
sex attacks perpetrated by ADFA cadets against their colleagues are committed at
ADFA’s university campus in Canberra (see ADFA 1998; Evers 2006; Australian
Broadcasting Corporation 2006). ADFA is also technically the least masculinised branch
within the ADF. There are no academic facilities within ADFA where women remain
excluded from integration. In 2011, female cadets accounted for around 23% of all
officer cadets. This figure is in stark contrast to the gender composition of the tri-
services. Around 10% of all army personnel are female. Women comprise around 18%
of personnel in the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force
(Australian Defence Force 2010; Kwek 2011).
This paper surmises that three sociological phenomenon explain why a unique culture
of misogyny has prevailed at ADFA. These phenomena include the privilege of male
leadership, the notion of ‘elite masculinity’ and the youthful demographic of this branch.
The first two factors overlap considerably.
Leadership privilege
Since Australia became a federated nation in 1901, no woman has ever been appointed
Chief of the ADF. Moreover, not one female has ever been appointed to this force’s
Executive Council. The exclusion of women from combat service has been the most
decisive factor that accounts for the hegemonic masculinity of this nation’s fighting
force and its senior executive ranks. Combat experience is virtually a mandatory
requirement for promotion through the ADF’s most senior executive ranks (Bridges
2005). Australia’s highest ranking female defence officer Air Vice Marshall (retired)
Julie Hammer failed to smash the glass ceiling of the ADF’s male dominated culture.
Without combat experience, engineer Julie Hammer was only able to reach ‘two star’
general status, despite her obvious brilliance and the long list of accomplishments she
achieved during her stellar 32 year military career (see Hammer 2008).
Australia’s military colleges have likewise displayed masculine hegemony throughout

Australia’s military history. Since federation, only one woman has ever been appointed
42 | P a g e
to lead a military college. The appointment of Julie Hammer as Commander of ADFA in
2002 may be viewed as a tokenistic and ‘knee-jerk’ response to deflect public criticism
of the male dominated culture of this academy. Hammer’s tenure as head of ADFA
endured for a period of less than two years. Moreover, no female personnel are
currently members of the ADF’s executive council (see Hammer 2008; ADFA 2011).
The culture of misogyny which prevails at ADFA is asymptomatic of women’s

diminished status within ADFA and the ADF’s tri-services. The culture of abuse against
female cadets at ADFA is on par with the levels of abuse which has been targeted
toward female personnel in the ADF’s air, naval and army corps. A factor which has
exacerbated this culture of abuse is the exceptional performance of female cadets at this
academy over the past 24 years. Since 1987, female personnel have graduated as course
dux in around 50% of the total cohorts which has passed through ADFA. However,
women have accounted for around only one in five recruits at ADFA during this period.
Statistically, women have significantly outperformed their male colleagues at this
academy (e.g. Smith and McAllister 1991; ABC 2006).
Women’s success at ADFA has come at a price. A visible number of male officer cadets
have been threatened by women’s above average performances across most subjects at
this academy. Women’s success at ADFA threatens to feminise the ADF’s officer ranks.
Those who excel at ADFA tend to be gain accelerated promotions through ranks. The
feminisation of the ADF’s leadership ranks for many is viewed by many male officer
cadets as a serious threat to the hegemonic masculine construction of the ADF’s officer
corps. This threat to men’s privileged status provides a partial though consequential
account for why ADFA’s successful female officer cadets have been subjected to the
most vicious forms of physical, emotional and sexual attacks perpetrated by male
personnel (e.g. Woodford 1998; ABC 2006).
Elite masculinity
The male dominant culture of ADFA’s campus is an elite form of masculinity (see ADFA
1998). This masculinity is a vastly different to the masculinity of the ‘rugged’
masculinity of the ADF’s combat corps. By contrast to ADFA’s cadet population, the
ADF’s combat corps is comprised overwhelmingly of non officer personnel. These
personnel are trained to work in the most physically and mentally demanding
conditions of military service. Moreover, the combat corps normally accounts for the
highest number of casualties and fatalities in most military campaigns. The brutality of
the conditions within this service explains why a differentiated type of masculinity, a
‘rugged’ masculinity, exists within the ADF’s combat ranks (see Burton 1996, Agostino
2003).
By contrast to the ADF’s combat corps, all ADFA cadets hold officer rank and most
graduates many will not be admitted into direct combat units. Around half of all
43 | P a g e
graduates are integrated into ‘back-office’ managerial roles within administrative and
combat support units such as the intelligence corps, medical corps, supply corps and
engineering corps. The elite masculinity of the ADFA’s culture is defined by this
exclusivity. All ADFA personnel are groomed to be future university graduates and
leaders. Assaults committed against female personnel at ADFA may be viewed as a
concerted attempt to preserve the elite masculinity of the ADF’s officer ranks. The
officer ranks are the functional work space where power is most concentrated in the
ADF. Only those with officer rank may be appointed to the ADF’s Executive Council.
Moreover, the relationship between this council and the Australian Government is the
dominant structure which defines Australia’s civil military relations. The abuse of
female personnel may be therefore be viewed as an attempt to maintain the masculine
hegemony of Australia’s civil military relations – a key power structure in Australia’s
political affairs (see Burton 1996; ADFA 1998; Smith 1998).
Youth
A factor in the history of ADFA’s peculiar history of misogyny is the relatively youthful
average age of its officer cadets (Woodford 1998). The average age of ADFA’s first year
cohort is around 19 years old. The average age of an ADFA cadet is around 21 years old.
By contrast to ADFA, the average age of the ADF’s tri-services personnel is around 30
years old. Moreover, most of the ADF’s recruits have accumulated at least a few years
worth of work experience as adults prior to joining this service. By contrast to the ADF,
most ADFA cadets enter ADFA straight from high school. Most of these cadets have little
or no work experience working in the adult work sector (e.g. see ADFA 1998; ADF 2010;
Australian Pacific Defence Reporter 2011)
Many of acts of physical and sexual abuses which occur at ADFA reflect the relative
immaturity of its officer cadets. Many of the degrading acts which are perpetrated by
male personnel (against mostly female personnel) are similar to so-called acts of
‘hazing’ which remain commonplace in Australia’s residential university colleges. In
Australia’s civil and military colleges, these acts are frequently perpetrated by senior
residents against first year cadets. These acts perpetuate a tradition which subjugates
the academy’s first year residents for no reason other than their junior status and their
average lower age (see Woodford 1998). So-called acts of ‘hazing’ which occur at ADFA
are not tolerated within the ADF’s tri-services. Such behaviour is regarded as juvenile
and is self-regulated by the ADF’s work force (see ADFA 1998; Australian Pacific
Defence Reporter).
Towards a solution
State sponsored gender discrimination remains rife in the ADF. This discrimination is
rarely necessary to maintain the ADF’s operation effectiveness. This civil military gap
reflects how the ADF’s all male executive remains obsessed with preserving the
44 | P a g e
hegemonic masculinity and male privilege throughout this service. Excluding women
from military combat roles is morally bankrupt as it subjugates women to men in the
ADF (including ADFA). This policy simultaneously images women as second class civil
citizens and second class military personnel (e.g. Burton 1996; Pettman 1996). Until the
Australian Government overturns its ban on women working in combat, the culture of
misogyny and sexual abuse against women (perpetrated by men) will prevail at
ADFA/ADF. The Australian Government must also annul Section 43 (b) of the Sex
Discrimination Act which bans all women form working in spray-painting roles in the
RAAF. Women have a right to work in these roles if they are advised of the risks and
agree to waiver the ADF’s legal liability. This policy dis-empowers women as it
stereotypes women’s bodily capacities and narrows their free agency to make the same
life choices as men.
The Bryson Report, The Burton Report, The Grey Report, The Quinn Report and The
Campbell Report have already investigated the issues raised in this article. Despite this,
a culture of misogyny and abuse against women persists in the ADF and ADFA. Until all
forms of legislative and policy based gender discrimination are eradicated, a visible
number of women shall continue to be abused and marginalised by men in the ADF and
the ADFA. Policy makers must address the peculiar circumstances that shape the
culture of misogyny which prevails at ADFA. These include the issues of youth, the
privilege of leadership and the culture of elite masculinity which prevails in this service.
Many of the issues raised in this paper translate into the culture of homophobia which
prevails in the ADF and the ADFA. This issue should not be overlooked by policy
makers. I shall consider this issue in other research papers.
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Endnotes
iThe full details of this criminal case have not yet been reviewed by Australia’s Federal Magistrates Court.
ii
Junior and senior ADF Officers have on occasion bullied and abused female personnel. For example, they
have used emotional ‘blackmail’ to promise women special favours if they engage in sexual acts. However,
physical and sexual assaults committed by officers have been relatively less common (e.g. ADF 1994;
ADFA 1998; Agostino 2003).
49 | P a g e

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Lavanya Raj Understanding Corporate Punishment in India.

Gresilda Tilley-Lubbs Teaching and Learning for Social Justice: Reciprocal

Eman Elturki et al. Building a Definition of New Literacies.

Jyonah Jericho Closing the Civil Military Gap – Sexual Harassment at

Corporal punishment, India, Child abuse, Student-teacher relationship

Definition and implication

The Oxford English dictionary defines CP as “punishment inflicted on the body;

A study conducted in 1996 by Beautrais, Joyce and Muldre to examine associations

Corporal punishment in Indian schools

In order to understand and address whether or not forms of CP are acknowledged as

There is a substantial indifference to the prevalence of CP as a form of abuse in the

Roots of child abuse in India

Cultural Reasons and Introjects: Adult Children Relationship

The manner in which adult-children relationships is viewed in India is crucial to the

Chanakya. (n.d). “Niti Shastra”. Retrieved from

Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India. (2000-01). Total

Mullatti, L. (1995). “Families in India: beliefs and realities” Journal of Comparative

Oxford English Dictionary. (1989). “Corporal punishment” Retrieved from

Rajput, J.S., & Walia, K. (2001). “Reforms in teacher education in India”

Saath Charitable Trust. (2006). “Impact of Corporal Punishment on School Children: A

Saraswathi, T.S., & Ganapathy, H. (2002). “Indian parents’ ethnotheories as reflections of

Shahbaz, M., Shaban, M. (2007). “Effects of corporal punishment and psychological

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This paper examines how teacher candidates develop an understanding of and

This paper examines how teacher candidates develop an understanding of and

Service-learning is based on the emancipatory, experiential, and democratic learning

Service-learning is also informed by critical theory, defined by Cresswell (1998) as the

Service-Learning in Teacher Education

Participating in a service-learning program affords teacher candidates the opportunity

Methods of Inquiry and Data Sources

I also functioned as an observer, observer-participant, participant-observer, and

Educational Importance of the Study

Three supporting themes emerged: 1) an appreciation for and understanding of

In these findings, I sought to provide an understanding of the dynamics of the course,

This paper is intended as a contribution to the larger conversation of understanding

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Perspectives of New Literacies – A Perspective from Asia

The essential components of new literacies

The gaps between students and educators

Researchers have investigated new ways of multichannel communications, such as text

Power issue of new literacies

Perspective from the Middle East

New literacies as a social practice

Respect of different contexts and cultures

Obstacles facing new literacies

Based on the two perspectives, a combined definition of new literacies can be

The combined definition above is an attempt to give a concise definition of new

Coiro, J. (2003, February). Reading comprehension on the Internet: Expanding our

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Under the radar

Context and history

• The Bryson Report (Professor Lois Bryson) (see Bryson 1994)