Several problems facing the new US Department of Education (ED) even before it officially begins to function in May 1980 are identified. These include staffing, organizing, and preparing a budget for fiscal 1981. Education programs from other cabinet departments, now under ED jurisdiction, are listed. (JMF)

The student vote can very well determine the outcome of the 1972 presidential elections. (HS)

The protest movement today has altered all conflicts and discussions, so that difficulties that formerly were considered private matters (such as conflicts between student and teacher, worker and employer) now claim political significance, to be justified with political concepts. (Author)

Describes the current debate going on in Chinese political and educational circles regarding the quality of university education since the Cultural Revolution. Those being singled out for their bourgeois line are critical of such practices as nonacademic selection criteria and the weight given to practical experience in the shortened courses. (JT)

Mary Berry's speech suggesting that America had much to learn from Chinese education prompted a sharply critical letter from Albert Shanker, head of the American Federation of Teachers. Parts of the speech and the subsequent exchange with Shanker are reprinted here. (LBH)

City Lights Books of San Francisco has served as a literary meeting place, as a bookstore that concentrates on serious literature--especially poetry, as a publisher of significant voices such as those of Allen Ginsberg and Charles Bukowski, and as an institution with a political conscience. (JMD)

Jimmy Carter's conception of the role of education, his approach to the process of reform, and his method of policy formation are discussed in the light of the status of education in Georgia. (LBH)

The eruption on college campuses last spring caused many members of the academyto re-examine themselves and the truths they had so long lived by. (Editor)

The debate over the nature of the relationship between politics and education is continued by a United States senator and the president of the University of Massachusetts. (LBH)

The credibility of social science research suffers, it is suggested, when a preliminary report in need of scholarly review and clarification is rushed prematurely to the public in the midst of an intensely political debate about public support for private schools. The Coleman II report is cited as an example. (MLW)

Reactions to the Heritage Foundation report on the federal role in postsecondary education include "Reagan, Regulations, and Relief" (Sheldon Steinbach); "Balancing the Governed and the Government" (Robert M. Rosenzweig); and "Principles in the Debate on Regulation" (Robert C. Andringa). A summary of the foundation…

The status and activities of the Center for Strategic and International Studies and its ties to Georgetown University are described. CSIS serves as a kind of open university for policy makers, outlining the issues and policy choices that the U.S. will face in the future. It maintains a professional staff of 25, has a politically conservative…

Ties between the Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace and the Reagan administration are discussed. Although established as a research library, the institution became increasingly political after World War II, and is known for its political publications. It is also one of the world's great depositories of historical materials and…

The need for effective lobbying in Washington by Black colleges and the shortcomings of present activities are outlined. Specific actions regarding Title III funds for developing institutions are among the lobbying needs assessed. (JMF)

The relationship between work and education in the People's Republic of China is discussed. Parallels between Confucian and Maoist views of education, the Maoist view of education as an instrument to overcome the inequities in society, and work in education as an agent of moral improvement are described. (MLW)