Transforming America

Robert A. DeVillar, Professor of Education at Kennesaw State University, received a BA in Latin American studies, an MA in ethnic studies, and an MA and PhD in education from Stanford University. He has held tenured faculty and leadership positions within the several university systems. As a year-long Fulbright Scholar at the Center for Social Science Research at the University of Colima, Mexico, he conducted and later published research on indigenous economic, educational, and immigration issues. Other published research includes work in Belize, China, Costa Rica, Ecuador, and Mexico, and various books, journal editorships and articles.Binbin Jiang is Professor in the Department of Educational Leadership of the Bagwell College of Education at Kennesaw State University. Educated in both China and the United States, Dr. Jiang has over 20 years of experience in teaching, research, and educational administration in both countries, as well as in professional development for K-16 teachers from Mexico, Japan, China, and the United States. Her research focuses on effective teaching and leadership in multicultural education, international education, cross-cultural contexts, second and foreign language learning settings, and the preparation of educational leaders and programs.

«In this provocative study, Robert A. DeVillar and Binbin Jiang examine the pressures of societal schooling practices, race-based asset accumulation, multicultural education, and metacultural cohesion. I found the book to be the most authoritative work by far on the subject and a landmark. I highly recommend it and applaud its originality.» (Ashok K. Roy, Assistant Vice President for Finance and Associate Professor of Asian Studies, Kennesaw State University)«DeVillar and Jiang offer a set of well-researched prescriptions for comprehensive and systemic reform in the United States. Their ideas are rooted in an understanding of the complex social and economic challenges confronting American schools. Unlike so many of the policies emanating from Washington and state legislatures, their ideas are sound, practical, and should be heeded if we want to avoid the disaster that awaits us if we fail to bring about the changes that are needed in American schools. Every policy maker who says they want to ‘fix’ our schools should read this book!» (Pedro A. Noguera, Peter L. Agnew Professor of Education, Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Development, and Executive Director, Metropolitan Center for Urban Education, New York University)«In this timely and well-conceived book, DeVillar and Jiang persuasively argue that greater United States global competitiveness and economic well-being can only come about if this nation’s ‘culture of conflict,’ particularly around race and ethnicity, becomes a ‘metaculture of cohesion.’ Through a compelling analysis of current demographics and economics, this country’s history of racism, and oppressed groups’ unrelenting struggles for equality, the authors courageously and ethically show the way for improving U.S. global standing: eradicate racism once and for all, radically improve the educational opportunities of poor and non-white students, and authentically unify as a people regardless of skin color, social class, or time of arrival to the U.S.!» (Lilia I. Bartolomé, Professor, Department of Applied Linguistics, University of Massachusetts, Boston)