High school students no longer keep company with the grown-ups they are about to become. Schools and districts have grown exponentially larger, impersonal, and bureaucratic, resembling post offices. Superintendents and boards who know their schools only through media representations or statistics fashion unrealistic policies. Coercion and…

Through anecdotes, a female outdoor educator highlights the importance of role-modeling gender equality, but also suggests a need to explore the cultural assumptions behind sexual roles; what is served by them; and the social mechanisms that reinforce them, such as homophobia. Educational strategies to help women gain and claim competence in the…

Studied the imitation behavior of thirty 14- to 18-month-olds using peer and adult models in an elicited imitation paradigm. Indicated significant memory for 3-step behavior sequences both immediately after modeling and 1 week later compared with baseline performance. Found that children in the peer model group outperformed children in the adult…

Describes Project P.R.O.M.I.S.E., a school/university/community collaborative effort designed to address the needs of African American male elementary school students by providing adult African American male models involved in education at the university level. The history and components of the program are described, and plans for its evaluation…

Examines how gender and self-concept relate to gifted elementary students' participation in a biochemistry enrichment program taught by female and male scientists. Students with low self-concepts asked more questions and received more feedback than students with high self-concepts. Student-initiated questions and gender differences in interaction…

Young people who daily endure hateful words, slurs, and epithets at school often become fearful and/or enraged. No magic solution or program exists. Teachers must firmly, consistently interrupt usage of degrading language and model acceptable behaviors. Such interventions reduce escalating situations and reassure vulnerable students. (MLH)

Examined the effects of representative literature on one black female graduate student as she focused her attention on the possibility of becoming a superintendent. Used the narratives of a black female superintendent to expand the understanding of issues facing black female aspirants to the superintendency. (SLD)

According to the Supreme Court of Canada, when a teacher's conduct out of the classroom impairs the integrity of the education system, the values it instills, and the public's confidence in the education system and its teachers, the employer school board is obliged to take disciplinary action, even if the conduct is not criminal. Five examples are…

Discusses conflicts among girls in a camp setting and how camp counselors can promote positive changes. Examines conflicting female roles in today's society and girls' reactions. Suggests addressing social dysphoria among girls through outdoor-challenge activities led by credible adult female role models. Includes counseling tips. (SV)

Detroit's Benjamin Carson Academy (BCA) is believed to be the nation's first charter school for juvenile offenders. Opened in 1999, BCA is housed in the newly built Wayne County Juvenile Detention Facility, a state of the art, 89,300-square-foot building in downtown Detroit with half a dozen gymnasiums, two computer labs, a media center, mental…

This study examines differential college-choice behavior and outcomes among Asian Pacific American (APA) student subpopulations with the goal of examining the extent to which the Asian American population is, in fact, a homogeneous "model minority" in college destinations and decision-making processes. The results suggest that their postsecondary…

The authors examined whether college students' race was related to the modal race of their identified career role models, the number of identified career role models, and their perceived influence from such models. Consistent with A. Bandura's (1977, 1986) social learning theory, students tended to have role models whose race was the same as…

This study of 368 female undergraduates examined self-efficacy and role model influence as predictors of career choice across J. L. Holland's (1997) 6 RIASEC (Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, Conventional) types. Findings showed that levels of self-efficacy and role model influence differed across Holland types. Multiple…

Improving the public understanding of science is an important challenge for the future professional scientists who are our current undergraduates. In this paper, we present a conceptual model that explores the role of mass media as community gatekeepers of new scientific findings. This model frames the benefits for undergraduate science students…

In this article, we examine how prevailing and alternative conceptions of masculinity framed the ways in which 40 White, male, elementary preservice teachers constructed the meaning of teaching. The imperatives associated with maleness were recognizable through four metaphors frequently used to define teaching and themselves as teachers; to teach…