Presents a secondary school simulation activity to help students understand major concepts underlying affirmative action programs. Includes student objectives and step-by-step instructional procedures. Provides a student handout and supplemental data table. (CFR)

Describes limitations of a Western, individualistic perspective on psychological theory. Summarizes research and theory regarding how personality may be shaped differentially by individualistic and collectivist cultures. Describes strategies for teaching about the impact of culture on personality. (CFR)

Describes the demographic, social, and political variables influencing the development of young children; their relationship to the need for comprehensive services; and the need for early childhood educators who possess competencies to serve diverse groups of young children, including those dealing with poverty, violence, cultural diversity,…

The Urban Experience program at one British college provided a two-week residential experience involving daily placements in urban schools and in social service and other caring agencies so preservice teachers would have a broader picture of the social factors impacting students and an understanding of ethnic and cultural diversity. (SM)

Results of interviews with 24 minority undergraduate teacher education students on predominately white campuses, as well as reviews of documents and interviews with faculty, indicate that these students want to teach within their own ethnic communities and that the teacher education programs lack significant cultural relevance. (39 references)…

Results are presented of a national survey of state policies regarding identification of gifted students from special populations (culturally diverse families, economic disadvantagement, or gifted students with disabilities). Also considered is a followup study on the implementation of state policies in Ohio, Arkansas, and Texas. Future policy…

Examines the growing influx of English loan words in Japanese, describing the structural and semantic changes that English loans go through in their Japanization process and the roles that they are expected to play. The social factors that drive the influx are also examined. (seven references) (MDM)

An unnatural, selective school crisis envelopes the poor, the cities, and Latino and African American communities. Structures of privilege and oppression apparent in the larger society are mirrored in schools. The perspectives of principal Deborah Meier, novelist Toni Morrison, and poet Adrienne Rich lend credence to empowerment and…

Contends that the relationship between developed and developing nations' scholarship may be characterized as a type of ideological dependency. Discusses the different approaches to the use of sociological research and knowledge in developed and developing nations. (CFR)

Young children from five ethnic groups completed surveys about self-concept, self-esteem, racial awareness, and knowledge of racial terms, attitudes, and preference. Anglo-American children had a viable self-concept. Most children were highly aware of distinct ethnic differences and liked all colors. Most minority children chose friends outside…

The College of Wooster (Ohio) has instituted a required one-semester freshman seminar, designed to teach students critical writing and thinking skills, and focusing on racism and sexism in U.S. society. Critics see the seminar as a left-wing attempt to ensure "political correctness." (DB)

Investigates the influence of ethnic cultural background and multicultural interaction for 120 males drawn from Aboriginal, Anglo-Saxon, Chinese, and Lebanese cultural communities in Australia. Responses to the Work Cognitions Questionnaire reveal differences in the structure of achievement goals and work values for the 4 groups of 30 subjects…

Investigates cross-cultural differences in values and attitudes toward nuclear war between 336 Caucasian and 67 American Indian adolescents in the rural Pacific Northwest. Implications of value ranking differences and differing attitudes about nuclear war, the nuclear freeze, and escalation of war are discussed in their cultural contexts. (SLD)

Investigates the relationship of children's self-understanding to social class, community type (modern or traditional), and teachers' ratings for 73 12 year olds in Reykjavik (Iceland) and 21 12 year olds in traditional villages in Iceland. Children in higher social classes offer more psychological descriptions. The inadvisability of generalizing…

Family interaction and home socialization concerning education issues were described for six Mexican-American families in California with six children in grade two. The strengths of the families have important relevance for education, regardless of the different ways the parents exercised their roles, particularly with regard to homework. (SLD)