Teacher collective bargaining is expected to have negative consequences for educational reform measures such as merit pay because the union's function is to advance the compensation and benefits of its constituency. The author maintains that the public sector union is a de facto political party formed to influence public policy. (MLF)

A Marxian analysis of the form and content of children's Revolutionary War fiction shows how characteristics of these materials are related to the socioeconomic and historical milieu from which they come. Structural similarities between these novels and Western films reveal historically rooted bourgeois attitudes, social values, and ideologies.…

Four separate but overlapping power centers in French universities are described and discussed: the state authority (minister), faculty, political and trade unions, and students. Confrontations between these powers have characterized French higher education in the last 15 years, and they have been at the root of the concept of autonomy. (MSE)

Presents an historical survey of the creation and development of the Open University established in Great Britain in 1969. Concludes that the vitality and adaptability of the institution ensure it a bright future. (Author/DB)

The Nebraska community colleges have recently re-obtained local funding and control of their institutions. This article reports on the factors that contributed to their success in convincing the state legislature to relinquish its control. (DC)

Compares 17 financial and nonfinancial indicators of "educational quality" for states with laws permitting collective bargaining for teachers and for states without collective bargaining legislation. Of the 17 indicators, collective bargaining was found to have the most impact on the pupil-teacher ratio in elementary schools. (For availability see…

Attacked from the right and the left, and abandoned by political moderates, education is in a decline that threatens the survival of American democracy. (Editor)

The issue is what the schools can and should do to achieve what we proclaim to be our historic political goals: freedom, equality, justice, and community. (Author/IRT)

The clear and unavoidable conclusion is that achieving equality is less important than maintaining inequality. Class inequality by school district is highly valued in American education. Unequal taxes will continue to finance unequal schools. That is how we finance schools in America. (Author)

Twenty socioeconomic, environmental, and political variables are examined regarding their relationships to state and local appropriations for 1960 and 1969. Comparative input-output policy analysis methodology and a new statistical approach combining correlation and regression analyses are utilized. (Editor/LBH)

The aim of this study is to determine the factors and problems associated with the growth of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in developing countries and examine the Turkish distance Education System from the point of the factors such as cultural; political; economic; technological. The study, firstly, introduces some applications…

This paper discusses the effects of social ideology on academic freedom, beginning with the role of academic freedom, on teaching and research, as well as the professional responsibilities that go along with this freedom. The paper goes on to examine the conflicts faced by academic institutions in balancing academic freedom with the influence of…

In 1995, the Philadelphia (Pennsylvania) school district began an initiative aimed at improving student achievement titled the Children Achieving initiative. This reform agenda introduced 10 components that included local decision making, development of standards, and increased professional development for staff. The Children Achieving agenda is…

This roundtable focused on issues related to the role of the Tibetan language in Tibet's future. A statement by Nicolas Tournadre, Associate Professor of Linguistics, the University of Paris, France, addresses "The Dynamics of Tibetan-Chinese Bilingualism: The Current Situation and Future Prospects" (e.g., the first regulation protecting…