"Life reform" is an umbrella term used for describing the movements critical of modernisation whose main features were the desire to return to nature and naturalness, to self-healing and finding lost integrity again. They also have close ties to the educational reforms of the time. These movements were particularly active in the German,…

In the 1920s,in the environment of emerging brutal capitalism, exclusion and ghetto benches, on the initiative of avant-garde architects from the Praesens group and Polish socialists built a housing estate in Zoliborz, the ambition of which was to teach people how to dwell. Soon it turned out that the founders of the housing cooperative were, as…

The aims of education, and the appropriate means of realising them, are a recurring preoccupation of utopian authors. The utopian socialists Robert Owen (1771-1858) and Charles Fourier (1772-1837) both place human nature at the core of their educational views, and both see education as central to their wider objective of social and political…

This article is the first of two which will give an account of the history of the education departments of the kibbutz movements in Israel and highlight their uniqueness and achievements. They dealt with all types of educational activities at all ages and in all spheres: kindergarten teachers, teachers, "metaplot" (plural form of…

The uniqueness of the Kibbutz Artzi "social movement" of educators is illustrated and summarized in two articles: (1) The first (previous) article, "The Education Department of the "Kibbutz Artzi" as leader of "a social movement of educators" (1926-2000) influencing the environment in the sphere of formal…

Describes differences between the high principles and realities of several attempts to establish communities based on theoritical equality of the sexes by Robert Owen. Reveals women continued to perform traditional female roles and household tasks. Argues that dichotomy between theory and practice contributes to failure of such utopian societies.…

Concern exists that youth leaving the kibbutz have no occupation skills needed to secure work in the outside world. In a survey, two opposing hypotheses were examined: (1) kibbutz-born persons will be unable to adapt to outside life because of educational limitations; and (2) because of their education, kibbutz-born persons will display…

This examination of the educational purpose in the kibbutz and issues of creating a common ideology illustrates how deeply learning is a part of the larger environment in the society and how the special features of the kibbutz educational program work. Includes an honest assessment of advantages, strains, and problems of this program. (Author/RK)

Author outlines ideas prevalent in China on child-rearing. (DS)

Increase in the number of individuals pursuing postsecondary schooling involves economic and social costs to the kibbutz. "Educational revolution" in the kibbutz refers to growing aspirations of the kibbutzim toward higher education. Measures taken by the kibbutz movement and individual kibbutzim to counteract the problems created by the…

The Great Leap Forward disaster, characterized by a collapse in grain production and a widespread famine in China between 1959 and 1961, is found attributable to a systemic failure in central planning. Wishfully expecting a great leap in agricultural productivity from collectivization, the Chinese government accelerated its aggressive…