An evaluation of the Pride & Prejudice program, which ran in three Tasmanian schools in 2006, suggests that students who completed the program had more positive attitudes towards gay men and lesbians. This finding parallels an earlier evaluation of the same anti-homophobia program undertaken in Victoria. The evaluation leads to a discussion…

On various campuses, including the author's, "safe space" stickers are used to designate offices supposedly free of homophobia. The author critiques this practice, pointing out that it still privileges the white heterosexual subject while also obscuring connections between sexuality, gender, and race. (Contains 10 notes.)

Interactive theater is a performance based medium which utilizes drama to present and provide a forum for the discussion of socially sensitive issues which impact youth and adults. A scene is presented to an audience up to a crisis point, at which time the audience asks cast members questions while the cast stays in character. Interactive theater…

This paper argues that issues of peace and war and related environmental and social questions ought to form part of the curriculum of a truly democratic education system. The aim of these studies is not to indoctrinate young people into predetermined positions with respect to controversial questions, but, quite the opposite, to help them develop…

The theme of this conference was "Critical Thinking: The Thinking that Masters the Content." This "proceedings" volume is essentially a conference program. It is composed primarily of abstracts of presentations made at the conference. An introduction examines the history of the conference, the organization of the conference, and the conference…

A study which explored the degree to which belief in a politically responsive/unresponsive world might be related to opinions concerning nuclear disarmament, the insanity defense, and women's rights is described. A total of 206 male and female undergraduates completed a 63-item questionnaire consisting of 46 Likert-format I-E items and 17 attitude…

The adult capacity for critical thinking has many implications for adult education, and it is on this capacity that some writers have pinned their belief that adult education (as opposed to schooling) can be a liberating--even emancipating--experience. (Critical thinkers are able to learn through the reflection of self and one's relationship to…

In December of 1978 the New York State Board of Regents ordered the New York State Education Department to conduct a detailed study of the way in which the subject of origins should be treated in a revised version of the Regents Biology Syllabus. The author was invited to supply scientific information to the Bureau of Science Education, which was…

The educational value of presenting a controversial speaker is indisputable. The stated purpose of most educational institutions is to broaden the intellectual, cultural, and personal attitudes of their students and constituents. A controversial lecture serves as a powerful stimulus for developmental growth. (MLW)

An English professor answers the most difficult questions from people who would censor school reading materials. The "secular humanism" controversy has provoked such diverse moral and legal meanings that librarians often avoid book selections. Educators can make informed decisions about good literature, even if the reality depicted appears…

This article examines conflicts occurring between health education with various students' cultural, religious, and ethnic backgrounds through the example of the religous teachings of Judaism. Suggestions for health educators are offered to prevent instruction from leading to conflict between home and school values. (Author/CB)

Discusses reading and writing assignments for a course on the nuclear peril. (MS)

Questions who has the right and responsibility to determine the content of foreign affairs education. Discusses the University of Denver's Center for Teaching International Relations and the controversy aroused by the curriculum materials which it developed. Acknowledges the need for better global education but expresses concern that government…

Discusses: (1) the theology of creation (religion); (2) evolution (science); and (3) scientific creationism (religious doctrine and pseudoscience). Points out that contrary to its claim, the latter is a sectarian religious doctrine in the guise of science demanding to be taught in the classroom "as a science." (JN)

Shows how philosophical paradigms can be ideologically exploited, often unwittingly, by the teacher in a way that sacrifices truth and clarity to utility. Provides three examples and draws a distinction between teaching a skill and teaching an insight. (Author/JDH)