This article analyses the film "Mean girls" (2004) as a window on popular notions of the moral life of American high schools, which straddles Kohlberg's Stage 2 and 3. The film presents loyalty to peer group cliques as a key value, even as it offers an individualist, relativist critique of that loyalty. Gossip is the main transgression in this…

Some reflections are made on the historical context of instructional theory, and comments are presented on some papers from a session of the American Educational Research Association's 1998 annual meeting. A number of current innovations in instructional theory can actually be found among topics that have been discussed at various times in the…

This document contends that efforts designed to determine how schools can educate children for the nation of tomorrow, by focusing primarily on curriculum issues, instruction, and teachers, may have overlooked the interpersonal factors which contribute to excellence and those human and social forces which may interfere with the attainment of…

When discussing what schools should teach, questions of both content and process must be addressed. Although many observers believe that a fixed content should be learned, it is impossible to separate content and process. In the process of education, experiences build on each other. This fact should cause educators to question the continuities…

This Issuegram briefly discusses the role of the school in the prevention and minimization of drug use problems. Two approaches to the problem are considered: the disciplinary approach that concerns the behavior of school personnel confronted with drug activity on school property, and the pedagogical/or educational approach. The roles of the state…

Presentation of Illich and Reiner's theories of de-schooling, emphasizing the theory's paradox in style and thinking and its utopianism found in its ideas of learning webs and conviviality. (ND)

Outlines some methods schools are using to screen for and take action against child abuse. (IRT)

Article sought solutions for helping delinquents overcome their problems by changing their behavior through positive interaction with schools. (RK)

This article focuses on approaches staff members in day care centers and preschools may use in promoting greater understanding and cooperation between parents and school personnel. (PD)

From the launch of Sputnik in 1957 until the approval of Proposition 13 in California in 1978, pressures for academic and social reform prompted numerous changes in the schools. Academic reforms were begun first, focusing on curricular revisions in reading, mathematics, and science. Social reform efforts led to the equalization of access to…

True leaders are characterized by the personal virtues of honor, integrity, and devotion, all based on internally derived standards. Our current educational system, however, succeeds in fostering the virtues of conformity to and acceptance of externally derived standards rather than the characteristics of leadership. If excellence is to be…

This document is a short summary of teenage suicide issues intended for use by teachers. Possible causes for teenage suicide are discussed, including: (1) chemical abuse; (2) unrealistic view of death; (3) the nuclear threat; (4) societal changes; (5) family changes; (6) lifestyle decisions; (7) academic pressures; and (8) the success code.…

This report was written as part of an attempt by the state of Vermont to significantly decrease the number of adolescents involved in self-destructive and suicidal behaviors. It focuses on schools as a starting point to preventing youth suicide in Vermont. The introduction outlines the extent of the problem of adolescent suicide. The remainder of…

This study expands the scope of an earlier review by examining a larger database of self concept studies in bilingual education and by relating the findings in bilingual education to general studies of the self concept in the educational literature. The traditional view of self concept as an intervening variable is found to be reflected in the…

Article examined the merits of accountability and what education can effectively provide the public. (RK)