This article looks at various cases of the Supreme Court's most recent term. In contrast to the 2006-2007 term when the Supreme Court was regularly split 5-4, during this last term, the justices have formed surprising coalitions in cases considered highly controversial. For example, it was the so-called liberal bloc's Justice Stevens who wrote the…

Elections are decided by the reaction of voters to issues and candidates and the decisive influence on an individuals voting preference is the degree of his education. (Author/RK)

The "International Society for the Social Studies (ISSS) Annual Conference Proceedings" is a peer-reviewed professional publication published once a year following the annual conference. The following papers are included in the 2015 proceedings: (1) Local History and Local Culture at the Core of Elementary Social Studies Curriculum (C.…

This year's rollercoaster primary elections and the pending national election, with an anticipated record voter turnout, provide the perfect backdrop for an examination of the questions: (1) Who can vote?; and (2) Who will vote? Historically, the American government refused voting rights to various groups based on race, gender, age, and even…

A paramount duty of education is to prepare young people for their role as citizens in a democratic society. Voting is one of the important responsibilities of a citizen but statistics indicate that young people often don't vote and don't believe they have a stake in the outcome of the presidential election. Storypath is a teaching strategy that…

This paper estimates changes in the effects of educational attainment and college quality on three cohorts of students observed during the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. Consistent with most of the prior literature, I find that educational attainment and college quality raise earnings, and the magnitudes of these effects have increased over time. The…

Many U.S. states provide public funding for charter schools--deregulated and privately managed schools operating in direct competition with government-run schools. While the impact of charter schools on student achievement and sorting has been intensely studied, less is known about the demand for these alternatives. Using precinct-level returns…

This paper examines whether there is a continued gender gap in the political interest and engagement of first-year college students enrolled in introductory American politics classes. Using data from a survey completed by over 2,000 students at 20 colleges and universities across the United States, we look for variations in students' plans to…

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

Analyzes the impact of the Voting Rights Act on black voter registration in Mississippi. Concludes that the future of black politics is highly uncertain in Mississippi. If the movement on the part of whites to disenfranchise blacks succeeds, and intimidation at the polls continues, advances made in the early 1970s could be seriously undermined.…

Public libraries were indispensable resources for newcomers during the height of European immigration to the United States. They were havens for the poor and jobless during the Great Depression and bridges between rural and urban communities during times of major demographic change. An increase in the Spanish-speaking population has inspired…

This paper asks, in the context of recent legislative changes, what can be done to support more citizens in England and Wales with learning disabilities to vote in national elections? This issue is addressed through (i) a review of recent disability access campaigns that have reported discrimination against, and the under-representation of, adults…

Teachers live for the "teachable moments"--those opportunities to connect their subject content to events taking place beyond the classroom. They can occur spontaneously, lucky occasions to bring the curriculum to life grabbed on the fly. In other instances, a teachable moment looms large. In hundreds of thousands of classrooms nationwide,…

The persistence of adolescents' political attitudes and behaviors into adulthood is a perennial concern in research on developmental psychology. While some authors claim that adolescents' attitudinal patterns will remain relatively stable throughout the life cycle, others argue that the answers of adolescents in political surveys have but a…