Describes factors influencing growth in demand for English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) instruction in German higher education since 1989, and describes how Dresden University has designed a curriculum to meet the need. The Dresden program includes courses in generic scientific English required in a number of disciplines, elective English courses…

Attempts to analyze, through questionnaires and interviews with students, parents, and teachers, some of the factors contributing to differences between male and female student scoring on the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE). The GCSE is a British comprehensive, national core curriculum examination. Discusses the reasons why…

Examines sources of influence on inner-city students' initial middle school placements in English and mathematics and continuity and change in placements through the end of middle school. Discusses the various academic and socioeconomic influences and how they change throughout the middle school years. Includes data from a longitudinal study. (MJP)

Maintains that, counter to popular opinion, guns played no significant role in U.S. frontier life until the Civil War era. Evidence from probate and militia records reveal a consistent lack of gun ownership while magazine articles painted unflattering portraits of gun ownership and hunting. Discusses reasons for the change. (MJP)

Examined contemporaneous and predictive relations between parenting styles, adolescents' attributions, and educational outcomes. Found that adolescents who perceived their parents as nonauthoritative were more likely than peers to attribute achievement outcomes to external causes or low ability. The higher the proportion of dysfunctional…

Revisits issues related to self concept development in light of a more sophisticated understanding of cultural influences. Examines the construction of a view of self as independent or interdependent and its impact on socialization and development. Suggests ways for early childhood practitioners to increase their sensitivity to the values and…

Narratives of Puerto Rican and Mexican American students, written in 8th grade and then 11th grade, describe who they are and illustrate school-sponsored silencing, with student critiques of their educational experience ignored by schools. The narratives help explain the Hispanic student high dropout rate, reasons behind students' academic…

The impact of the international donor-supported District Primary Education Programme on the thinking and actions of 234 primary school teachers in South India was influenced by four cultural constructs: "openness to regulation,""sense of duty," and views on social hierarchy and knowledge acquisition. Teachers were receptive to…

This article reassesses the contribution of the Plowden Report (1967) to educational thinking in the United Kingdom. It discusses how the report was scapegoated by politicians advocating a performance-led approach and suggests the report, which advocated a holistic, child-centered educational approach, has much to contribute to present educational…

Compares the differences in purposes for literary campaigns when conducted in developed and developing countries. Considers literacy goals of students, teachers, administrators, and government policymakers. States this primary difference: developing nations' literacy campaigns identify literacy as instrumental to national and individual…

Delineates the need to make rural education more relevant to rural students in developing nations, stressing limitations in traditional Western approaches. Advocates rural pedagogy that encourages lifelong learning and develops community resources. Provides a case study of a rural pedagogy program in Sri Lanka. (CH)

Describes oral history interviews conducted with artists and writers involved in New Deal arts projects. Describes the collections, analyzing biases and selection factors. Examines participants' attitudes toward government sponsorship of the arts, finding general approval of government patronage. Suggests that these oral histories help document…

Ethnographic methods were used to assess three learning-disabled and three normal tenth and eleventh grade boys at a school with an unusually low dropout rate. Institutional, classroom, and interpersonal factors behind the schools' student retention ability are described. (TJH)

Reviews trends in Black economic progress and compares data for Black and White families. Describes how structural changes in families and income inequalities are symptoms of a growing Black underclass. Calls for policies to reduce joblessness among underclass men and increase child support by absentee fathers. (MW)

Tests a cultural resources/social interaction model of gatekeeping by school teachers using data for seventh and eighth grade students in a city school district. Results indicate informal academic standards by which teachers reward general skills, habits, and styles, accounting for course grade differentials observed for gender, ethnicity, and…