It is a strange and sobering experience to read Hofstadter in our own anti-intellectual era. If anything, left-leaning intellectuals' sense of alienation has increased since the 1990s. To challenge anti-intellectualism in American education, the liberal arts and sciences will need to be restored to their central place in the curriculum.

Even though public schools maintain a separation between church and state, non-Christians face social and logistical challenges that threaten their development and academic performance. The challenges may be inadvertent or intentional, observable or discreet, or introduced by students, educators, school policies, or broader society. Educators have…

Presents a successful program for preventing isolation and alienation in early adolescents, developed by The Quest National Center. It uses a multimodal behavior therapy approach that works to combat the delusion of uniqueness many adolescents experience. Lists 11 references. (MD)

Describes The Quest National Center that was formed a decade ago to develop "skills for successful living and learning" in adolescents. The curriculum they have developed is called "Skills for Living," a successful character education program reaching 600,000 students each year. (MD)

Educators can help families overcome adolescent alienation by thoughtfully "mentoring" or advising each youngster throughout high school. While advising cannot substantially change painful conditions in a young person's life, a well-designed advising system can contribute to students' development and involve their families. (MLH)

A study finds that American students are engaged with lessons only 54 percent of the time, due to external preoccupations and uninspired instruction. The Heritage Foundation's "No Excuses" report makes misleading correlations between scores, phonics, and socioeconomic variables. Florida housing prices reflect letter grades assigned to…

A recent study found that kindergartens in Ohio have become skill-based, academically oriented programs that young children can fail. Children are not the only victims; many teachers, principals, and supervisors are experiencing stress resulting from the increasing emphasis on academics in kindergarten programs. Parental and societal aspirations…

As an American alone in Barcelona, Spain, the author came to understand the everyday difficulties faced by her English-as-a-Second-Language students back in California. Being relatively affluent and well-educated is no substitute for being proficient in a foreign language, but practice helps. (MLH)

Outlines the four worlds of childhood and the ways that alienation in adolescents can be counteracted through the creation of interconnecting links. The risks of losing youths to alienating factors caused by institutions, the social structure, and the pressures under which schools and families function is the highest it has ever been. (MD)

As suggested by standard indicators--truancy, dropout rates, graffiti, vandalism, violence--youngsters in small schools rarely display the anger at the institution and its inhabitants that typifies Columbine and many other comprehensive high schools. Educators must cultivate learning communities and qualities (like empathy and compassion)…

Positive Peer Groups (PPG) is a leadership training program that helps alienated and disengaged students bond to school via participation in school-oriented service activities stressing work, discipline, and responsibility. Students form affiliations with peers involved in the same efforts. Results in Ohio schools are encouraging. (MLH)