For many, it is far from clear where the prerogatives of parents to educate as they deem appropriate end and the interests of their children, immediate or future, begin. In this article I consider the educational interests of children and argue that children have an interest in their own well-being. Following this, I will examine the interests of…

This article presents a brief historical overview on the origin and development of institutional autonomy and academic freedom in the United States of America and in Latin America. Such overview allows the reader to contrast two different geographical contexts, as well as different and even opposing opinions concerning the meaning of the concepts…

Purpose. The purpose of the study was to identify and describe learning preferences of current high school students enrolled in online courses. The study further identified the students' perceived benefits and academic attractions to online education. The study also addressed the degree of satisfaction with their online courses. The study's final…

The goal of this study was to examine the relationships among self-determination, mental illness, and GPAs of university students. Participants were 375 undergraduate students at a large state university. Two instruments based on Self-determination theory were used in this study: the Basic Needs Scale (see Baard, Deci, & Ryan, 2004) and the…

This article builds on the foundations and evaluations laid recently by Symes and Gulson in their 2005 article, "Crucifying Education: The rise and rise of new Christian schooling in Australia." It evaluates the warrant of Christian schooling within a liberal democracy and offers a rejoinder for defending the rights of Christian…

What is the scope of First Amendment free expression rights of public school employees and students? Following a long period with no Supreme Court rulings pertaining to public employee or student speech, the Court since 2006 has delivered significant opinions in this regard. These decisions continue the trend of narrowing the circumstances under…

In a report on meeting the language needs of refugees in Ireland, Little (2000) identifies two sets of language rights for refugees--stemming from the right to preserve their own language or languages as a central element of identity, and the right to enjoy free access to Irish society which entails the right to develop language proficiency in…

Recently, there has been much media coverage about cell phone and personal music player usage in schools, including in the Toronto and Whitton regions. However, there is little literature on how students and teachers view rules on the use of such electronic devices. Using data gathered from focus groups with students in Toronto and Whitton and…

Data were analyzed from 641 children and their families in the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development to test the hypotheses that in the early school years, mothers' and fathers' sensitive support for autonomy in observed parent-child interactions would each make unique predictions…

This study investigates whether attachment quality at ages 1, 6 and 16 is related to autonomy and relatedness behavior in adolescence. In a follow-up of the Regensburg Longitudinal Study, forty-three 16-year-old adolescents and their mothers were assessed in a revealed differences task and a planning a vacation task. Attachment was assessed during…

The development of autonomous learners is an important goal for language teaching programmes. However, achievement of this goal depends on teachers creating an environment where learners can experience autonomy in order to become more autonomous, a process referred to by Little (2003) as "autonomization". In distance learning, course…

Over the last decade, larger student numbers, reduced resources and increasing use of new technologies have led to the increased use of multiple-choice questions (MCQs) as a method of assessment in higher education courses. This paper identifies some limitations associated with MCQs from a pedagogical standpoint. It then provides an assessment…

Most vocabulary teaching literature advises learners to keep vocabulary notebooks to help promote vocabulary acquisition as well as learner autonomy. Yet, there have been few studies of the vocabulary notebooks kept by students studying English as a foreign language. This study examined the vocabulary notebooks kept by 124 first year English…

I argue that both the dominant models of the relationship between earnings and housework, economic dependence and gender display, have fundamental defects. They focus on the effect of women's earnings compared to their husbands' on their housework and ignore the possibility of an independent relationship between women's own earnings and their time…

This study examines the institutional and attitudinal changes in elder care homes in Tianjin, China. Based on a survey conducted in 2001 with 61 elder home managers and 265 elder residents, this study examines 1) factors that influence elder home managers' views about elder home development and 2) elders' evaluation of elder home quality and their…