Explores narratives given by a group of British students on their future career aspirations, attending particularly to diversity. Offers an analysis of the self that is highly fractured, and reveals that inner diversity may account for contradictory student narratives. Suggests implications for an alternative feminist critical pedagogy that…

Describes the Israeli education system focusing on the unequal access to education for children of Middle Eastern origin, the creation of secondary education that was expected to eliminate the cultural gaps and equalize educational opportunities, and the use of parental choice as a means of freeing the schools from bureaucratic bonds. (CMK)

Notes storybook reenactments by 15 kindergarten children from working-class were transcribed and coded. Compares with the results from 24 children from middle-class homes. Finds the children in the present study did not show the same developmental progression as the children from the middle-class homes and, in fact, 11 of the 15 children did not…

Although most people believe that schools exist to help children learn and achieve, some wonder why children's instruction must be hurried and why kindergarten is becoming so academic. Full-day programs, which accommodate parents' work schedules, are now commonplace; they may benefit some disadvantaged kids more than their affluent counterparts.…

Describes the author's experiences and thoughts about being black and attending Yale University during the school's early years of racial integration. The author also highlights black, middle-class development and its promise for the future of blacks in America. (GR)

Asks seventh-grade boys (in a middle-class school and a school where 82% of students were eligible for Chapter 1 funding) about comic book reading. Finds that those who reported more comic book reading also reported more pleasure reading in general, greater reading enjoyment, and reading more books. Finds no difference in frequency of comic book…

Of all Australian secondary schools in the current period, the government comprehensive high school is in most difficulty. This article looks at the developing fate of this school in terms of middle class social practice in relation to changing schooling loyalties. The recent work of Michael Pusey, Stephen Ball, Janet McCalman, Richard Teese and…

Reacts to articles by Alan Kerckhoff, Maureen Hallinan, and Adam Gamoran in the 2001 theme issue of Sociology of Education. Evaluates articles and conclusions presented by these authors and responds to their arguments. Presents a detailed rebuttal to the article by Gamoran and disagrees with Gamoran's conclusions. (CAJ)

One possible source of variation in children's mathematical abilities upon entry to school may be the social support of early number skills children receive in the home. In the present study, we explored parental support of preschoolers' counting in the context of an everyday activity and whether parental ability to provide aid is influenced by…

At a small private liberal arts school such as Clark University, students are familiar with people from upper middle class backgrounds. Either they themselves are from upper middle class families or, if they are from working class or lower middle class backgrounds, they are acquainted with more affluent peers. Clark students have a clear image of…

This analysis is about the role of poverty in school reform. Data from a number of sources are used to make five points. First, that poverty in the United States is greater and of longer duration than in other rich nations. Second, that poverty, particularly among urban minorities, is associated with academic performance that is well below…

"Here I am Now!" is the title a multi-ethnic group of immigrant and refugee undergraduate students and neighboring urban Vietnamese and Cambodian refugee youth gave to their participatory photography installation. The exhibit was the culmination of undergraduate students' participation in a series of Community Service-Learning (CSL) courses…

The education and economic status of Blacks and Hispanics is the foremost crisis facing the United States today. The viability of this nation as a participant in the global economy is directly related to its solution. Supporting these statements is a demographic analysis of the current economic and education situation. The following related topics…

Communicative competence is defined as "...the ability to use appropriate speech for the circumstances, and when deviating from what is normal to convey what is intended." A study was undertaken to show that children's sociolinguistic communicative competencies and incompetencies can be identified and described in components of the "Ways of…

The development of social cognitions about classroom life and their potential influence on children's classroom behavior were studied. Each of 360 first and fifth grade children from schools in middle class and working class neighborhoods were interviewed using booklets illustrating classroom behavior. The results indicated that children do…