America's schools were founded on the principle that a democratic nation needed informed, active, and knowledgeable citizens in order to realize the promise of democracy. Over the last 400 years, we have lost our way. Today's schools do a poor job of preparing our students to be engaged, open-minded, and purposeful participants in a system of…

Today's youths seem to be facing more obstacles and receiving less direction than ever before. Rather than just focusing on trouble prevention and deterrence, many youth development and preparation programs are striving to help youths develop the necessary assets, skills, and qualities to become productive and satisfied adults, as well as…

This bulletin contends that before a school can implement an effective program for fighting drug abuse it must first examine a series of questions: What do we mean by "abuse"? What characterizes young people at risk for this dangerous behavioral pattern? Do we distinguish between drug "abuse" and drug "use"? Does the "Just Say NO!" message work?…

This publication contains 36 short essays on the reauthorization of the National and Community Service Act. It begins with two introductory papers: "Visions of Service: The Future of the National and Community Service Act" (Sagawa, Halperin) and "Historical Background: An Overview" (Sagawa). Section I, Why Service?, contains 15…

This report summarizes discussions of a working group meeting on the continuing education needs of early primary school leavers in Asia and the Pacific. An introduction summarizes the welcoming addresses. Chapter 1 presents highlights of experiences of these countries in providing continuing education to school leavers: Bangladesh, China, India,…

The theme of this collection of 17 monographs is defined as the "senior year experience," that final period of the undergraduate experience leading to entry into graduate school or the workplace. Part 1, "Understanding the Unique Needs of Today's Seniors," examines the characteristics and needs of senior as they make the…

This booklet examines the definition of the term "empowerment" according to academics and policymakers and the relevance of empowerment to achieving social inclusion at the national and European Union levels. The findings of a study of the theory and practice of empowerment in five Integra projects in Ireland are reviewed and used to…