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The Cultural Work of Learning Disabilities

Stanford University, School of Education, 485 Lasuen Mall, Stanford, CA 94305-3096; rpmcd{at}stanford.edu. His work includes studies of social interaction and learning in classrooms. He is currently documenting the history of ideas such as genius, intelligence, and literacy

Shelley Goldman, Professor of Education

Stanford University, School of Education, 485 Lasuen Mall, Stanford, CA 94305-3096; sgoldman{at}stanford.edu. Her research interests include issues of access and equity and the use and integration of technology and multi-media for teaching and learning, in formal and informal settings, especially as related to mathematics

Hervé Varenne, Professor of Education

Teachers College, Columbia University, 378 Dodge Hall, Box 115, New York, NY 10027; hhv1{at}columbia.edu. His scholarly interests include culture and education with special attention to comparative and historical conditions, as well as polity theory, particularly as it applies to families

Culturally and educationally, the United States specializes in the production of kinds of persons described first by ethnic, racial, and linguistic lines and second by supposed mental abilities. Overlaps between the two systems of classification are frequent, systematically haphazard, and often deleterious. An examination of classrooms around the country shows shifting currents of concern and tension that invite the attribution of labels for mental and/or minority-group status. This article introduces a language for a cultural analysis—a language of people interpreting the interpretations of others—and pursues an example from a classroom where both the good sense and the dangers of categories for learning-disabled and minority-group status are on display.

Educational Researcher, Vol. 35, No. 6, 12-17 (2006)
DOI: 10.3102/0013189X035006012


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