Indicates that while middle-class preschool children may not have fully developed concepts of linguistic terms used in an instructional setting and may not be able to indicate word-by-word matching of spoken and written words, they do have a functional concept for the purpose of reading and writing. (FL)

The Peoples College of Law in Los Angeles, where accreditation is eschewed, racial and sexual quotas enforced, and previous academic records count less than a working-class background, is described. (Author/MSE)

At the end of two decades of integration efforts, America's urban schools have been completely re-segregated by White flight to the suburbs, and our nation is still blighted by a deep-seated segregationist mentality among Whites who continue to dread contact with the Black and the poor. (Author/SJL)

Princeton University (New Jersey) is planning to replace loans with grants for students with annual family incomes under $40,000, and will stop considering the value of the family's home in determining need for most families with incomes under $90,000. The move will likely give the institution a competitive advantage in attracting low- and…

Examined the speech of middle- and working-class black and white parents to their preschool children during picture identification, free play, and a meal. The study found the groups similar in the level and form of parental labeling and different in the information supplied by parents, parental direction of child behavior, and parental sensitivity…

Discusses the struggles of middle- and lower-class black women to use social programs and affirmative action mandates to advance their status. Examines ways their struggles have affected their self-perceptions and relationships with each other. (Author/JS)

Congress will consider reauthorization of the Higher Education Act this summer. From our changing population will emerge the leaders of tomorrow. They are too important a resource to relegate to second-class citizenship because of a lack of access to education caused by inadequate federal support for financial aid. (MLW)

Examines middle-class child-rearing philosophies and practices and their effect on children's academic success. Suggests that middle-class parenting practices reflect a coherent set of cultural beliefs about the relation of the individual to the group and about the parents' role in bringing children into the group. Suggests that these beliefs…

Examined the academic, psychological, and family patterns of 200 middle class dropouts and their reasons for dropping out. Proposes that school, psychological, and family factors are not separate but rather coexist and interact in the creation of this social problem. In addition, these factors interact with larger sociocommunal and sociopolitical…

Three decades after massive government commitment to financial aid, minority and low income access is declining and aid going to middle class students. Policies and political deadlock have worsened the situation of those in need, and hard choices must be made if college access is to be restored without greater expenditures. (SK)

These volumes offer a blend of genres, authors, and purposes. Specific portraits are provided for each volume in chronological order. The central historical and educational values are in the view that the books give of the world of petit-bourgeois African-American women at the turn of the century. (SLD)

Louisa May Alcott's "Work: A Story of Experience" (1873) examines, challenges but ultimately accepts the gendered construction of the feminized century. The novel depicts the ambivalence that Americans, especially middle-class northern white women, felt in regard to the proper roles of women and men. (SLD)

Three recent books that deal with China's continuing quest to create a workable educational system address the evolution of teacher education, the position of ethnic minority groups in higher education, and the historical social consequences of educational policies. Taken together, the works indicate the institutionalization of Western-style…

Ethnographic data from a black middle-class Chicago neighborhood indicate that dense social networks fostered by residential stability facilitate informal supervision of neighborhood youth and enhance formal crime-prevention activities. Nevertheless, inclusion of gang members and drug dealers in networks of law-abiding kin and neighbors thwarts…

Research on African American students' low academic performance has focused on Black adolescents, who, like most American adolescents, exhibit oppositional attitudes. In contrast, an ethnographic study of two all-Black elementary schools suggests that middle-class Black children begin school very much achievement-oriented and engaged, and that…