To improve preparation of school administrators, attention must be given the issues of race, ethnicity, gender, and social class. Two studies are presented. One, entitled "Preparation of Educational Administrators for the 21st Century: Graduate Student Voices on Issues of Diversity" (Joan Poliner Shapiro, Laurence Parker) captures the perspectives…

As humanity moves rapidly toward a "one world" society, a new paradigm for curriculum development more fundamental than particular cultural traditions must be found. Such a model may be derived from the requirements for the survival of the human species. The content of the resulting curriculum would be: (1) socially cohesive, providing common…

Many reasons can be offered for teaching about Australia. The field of Australian studies offers many opportunities for U.S. teachers and students to critically analyze aspects of their own culture, for there are many experiences in the history of Australia that parallel the U.S. experience. Australia and the United States have strong ongoing…

Independent neighborhood schools in inner-city areas serve primarily minority students. They are in a position to assist American educators in understanding the best methods of teaching minorities who usually do not reach their full academic potential in public schools. Teachers in independent schools use culture and sometimes religion as a basis…

A study examined the means of and correlations between perceptions of willingness to communicate, communication competence, communication apprehension, and introversion of college students in the United States and Micronesia. Subjects were 159 undergraduate students enrolled in 19 classes at the Community College of Micronesia on the island of…

Program design in nonformal education must take into account the cultural context in which it exists. In developing countries, it can neither reject all values of Western civilization (an impossible task), nor can it embrace Western values without regard to native cultures. The challenge, especially in literacy education, is to become culturally…

An analysis of the cultural and historical context in which curriculum decisions are made in Australia and a comparison with educational assumptions in the United States is the purpose of this paper. Methodology is based on personal teaching experience and observation in Australia. Seven factors are identified upon which curricular decisions in…

A study investigated advertising executives' perceptions of the importance of culture in international advertising, as well as advertising message approaches used by international corporations. It was hypothesized that more nonculturally oriented managers would agree to the use of the same creative strategies to advertise in both domestic and…

College attendance by Italian and American women over age 30 is compared, and attention is directed to whether mature Italian and U.S. women who continue their education do so for similar reasons and whether they experience similar problems. The analysis is based on two studies of women over 30 in post-compulsory degree programs: (1) a study on…

The conceptions of information needs of seven American and seven Swedish mechanics employed by a Swedish multinational machine industry are compared by using perspective text analysis to analyze their verbal responses to three open-ended questions concerning their need for work-related information. The structures embedded in the texts are…

Roles in the Jewish-American family system tend to be flexible, without a clearly defined division of labor or hierarchy of authority. Husband-father and wife-mother roles tend to be somewhat interchangeable and androgynous. Because role expectations constantly change to fit changing circumstances, ambiguity in each member's perception of…

Units of study to help secondary students learn about the aging process are provided. There are five units. Major concepts taught in the first unit, "Chronological Aging," are that aging is a continual process, that generational cycles ensure survival, and that species depend on each other for survival. In the second unit, students learn…

A study examined the influence that the United States media have on the values, morality, and traditions of other countries, and more specifically the effects on Korean values of American television as it is broadcast on the U.S. Forces Korean Network. College students in Seoul, Korea (46% male and 54% female with a mean age of 24.6) answered a…

In recent years, both American and Japanese people have experienced dramatic changes in the world of work. To compare Japanese and American work ethics and attitudes toward women's employment, Japanese and English versions of the Work/Family Ethic questionnaire were completed by 205 middle-aged Japanese and American adults. An analysis of the…

Schools have been accused of being insensitive to students' cultural backgrounds, and thus of failing to serve some populations because instruction and curricula are designed for middle class children. But teachers should be cautious about applying the findings of ethnographic studies which address this problem. Although ethnographic studies…