The educational aims of religious education (RE) in the UK as evinced, for example, by Ofsted have been couched in the language of meaning making. Based on an ESRC funded three-year ethnographic study of 24 schools across the UK, this essay represents one attempt to interrogate how such meanings are shaped, or indeed fail to be shaped, in the…

In late 2009, the author first spoke with several tribal college students in Denver, Colorado, where they gathered to celebrate their achievements at the American Indian College Fund 20th Anniversary Gala. These students have unique interests and different goals, but they are united by two factors: (1) each one is a recipient of an American Indian…

Suggests that scholars from eastern Europe and from the West have a lot to learn from each other. Explicates this generalization through three personal experiences with eastern scholars, scholarship, and students. Concludes that in eastern Europe, history has not ended: the past and the future are being struggled with still. (RS)

Four contexts that are important to the quality of college instruction are discussed, including faculty scholarship, student characteristics and attitudes, what the faculty know and practice about learning and teaching, and the presence or absence of a community for learning. (MSE)

Presents and discusses the comments of graduate students in varied disciplines on their personal journeys through graduate school, as they work toward their professional goals as scholars. Key issues include the need to adapt to new values, confusion about mixed messages, need for support, and lack of knowledge about faculty life. Implications for…

Literature and liberal arts college students' early research experience usually stresses methodology and is carefully structured and supervised. In advanced work, students must begin to develop habits of critical thinking, personal involvement with their material, and development of a metacritical attitude. (MSE)

This commentary continues a dialogue which began among literacy teacher educators attending an alternative format session about mentoring in the academy at a national conference. Literacy teacher educators participated in an informal discussion centered on the nature of mentoring in the academy for doctoral students, untenured professors, and…

A survey of student services staff, merit scholarship recipients, and a sampling of administrators, faculty, and students at a large land-grant institution concerning no-need scholarships shows the aid is seen as useful and monies used for it should not reduce amounts available for need-based scholarships. (MSE)

This study examined the academic and social integration of black students, all of whom were recipients of scholarships in a science and math scholarship program for black students at the University of Maryland (Baltimore County). The Meyerhoff program provides a range of support in addition to the scholarship support including study groups and…

Commonly held misconceptions about what a college must do or provide to recruit and retain minority groups students are discussed, including ideas about program design, course offerings, student aid, minority faculty members, and support services. (MSE)

Excerpts from the ruling of federal district court Judge Harold L. Murphy outline steps that Alabama should take to desegregate its public colleges, and include comments on why many white students do not attend black colleges, the transfer of programs from white to historically black institutions, and use of scholarships to attract white students…

Reviews historical trends in the academic abilities of education majors, considers the importance of such abilities in teachers, suggests factors affecting attitudes toward educational careers, discusses past proposals for attracting academically superior students to teaching, and suggests offering forgivable loans to superior students who will…

An undergraduate student and a college faculty member describe the benefits and challenges of working together on a textbook. Although some of the consequences of their collaboration were anticipated, several of the most valuable aspects surprised them both. They both concluded that the challenges of an undergraduate student research assistantship…