This column briefly describes the Council for Exceptional Children's Political Action Network (CEC-PAN), its activities, and history. The author, the current president of CEC, recounts her personal experience in serving as PAN coordinator for Arizona and in lobbying members of Congress. (DB)

A model presidential nominating convention gathered 4,000 students from three states in May 1984 and selected Gary Hart as the Democratic nominee. Preconvention training prepares students to run the convention themselves while learning the political process in action. (MD)

By building credibility and using their expertise, educators can influence education policy at the state and federal levels. Appended is a list of federal telephone numbers to call for information and to reach legislators. (MLF)

Proposes that English teachers have an obligation to give more attention to how language can be used in politics. Examines the characteristics of the basic political message. Offers eight suggestions for classroom exercises. (RL)

A high school teacher describes efforts to develop a comprehensive gifted education program while recognizing political realities. The program emphasized use of before-school and after-school periods rather than pull-out, addressed the burdens rather than blessings of high capability, focused on the underachieving gifted, and tried to avoid…

Describes a course offered on the political economy of national security. Discusses the objective of the course as the introduction of major economic issues associated with national security. Outlines lecture topics, course readings, and class format. Evaluates course weaknesses and strengths. Includes course assignments and requirements. (RW)

How some nations are motivated by political or geo-political considerations when denouncing human rights abuses is examined. Examples from US and Russian foreign policies are discussed. (RM)

An issue of importance to educators deals with how textbooks are chosen and published. This topic is discussed as a part of a larger theoretical debate about cultural processes and products. (DF)

Describes the experiences of four superintendents who put upholding the law--and satisfying their own conscience--ahead of political pressure. (MLF)

The University of Minnesota Alumni Association has developed from a fraternal organization into a credible and active force in campus and state higher education policy. Networking, careful selection of issues, and clear communication with the college administration have been keys to the group's success. (MSE)

The charge that there is thought control and intimidation in the college classroom must be examined more closely. There are times when politics overtakes "correctness" on the campus, but it is more often the students intimidating the teachers, through choice of courses, than the other way around. (MSE)

Attitudes expressed by participants of a 1992 conference on the politics of multilingualism, particularly in the new European context, are summarized. Issues addressed include the role of French as a universal language, the concept of national identity, and the relationships between language and world view and between language and political…

Efforts of educational interest groups to defeat merit pay for Pennsylvania teachers during 1983-1986 are explored in this case study. Political systems theory and allocative theory provide the conceptual framework. Deutsch's (1973) outline of variables that affect the course of conflict was used to organize indepth personal interviews and a…

Examines four simulation games used in higher education to teach the role of elections in promoting governmental responsibility, the effects of imperfect accountability on governmental policy, and ways to make governments more accountable. These games simulate interest group lobbying, political party formation, bureaucratic policy making, and…

Discussed is the value of integrating the study of technology and society. Topics include political theory of spontaneous social orders, paradoxical nature of the theory in historical and in contemporary contexts, uses of spontaneous order theory with feedback technologies, and the comparison of feedback technology with two different spontaneous…