This article argues that the current school reform movement of high-stakes testing is misguided. It advocates that democratic dispositions and cultural competency be included in the major goals of schooling and proposes that the purpose of schooling should be determined through public deliberation within diverse communities. (Contains references.)…

Discusses curriculum development in the areas of character education and media literacy. Topics include what character education is and what it attempts to promote within a school setting; moral judgments; moral and ethical values; behavior; decision making; the role of mass media, including media violence; and adding media education to the…

Examines peace education at the elementary school level, stressing the need to include interpersonal and international relations when teaching peace. Suggests peace education can lead children to prosocial behavior. Sees peace as a positive of being. Urges the infusion of peace education throughout the elementary social studies curriculum. (CH)

Presents 10 problems that youths confront as result of societal changes and shifting family values that have potential to disrupt or impede the educational, social, and/or emotional development of students. Provides itemized action steps for school counselors to work directly with the students and their parents and the philosophical reasoning…

Analyzes establishment of compulsory moral and civic instruction in France at the turn of the century using the recently developed research techniques of social history. Maintains that the application of social history techniques will provide new insights into historical and educational research. Includes an extensive bibliography of primary and…

Maintains that philosophical aesthetics must be an integral part of art education. Examines existing methods and materials for teaching philosophy to children from the Institute for the Advancement of Philosophy for Children (New Jersey). Describes a sample unit showing philosophical aesthetics in action in a fifth grade class. (KM)

Reviews government-controlled religious education in Japanese public schools. States that, although teaching a specific religion in public schools is prohibited, instruction in various religions and moral education is seen as contributing to a complete education. Cites examples of religion appearing in social studies curriculum. (DB)

Discusses the Pancasila, a statement of five religions principles, that allows for religious diversity and cultural pluralism while forging national unity in Indonesia. States that religious education is composed of state ideology and the people's philosophy of life. Describes how religion and religious tolerance is fostered and enhanced. (DB)

Explores the relationship between positive attitudes towards education and poor academic performance. Samples 1,193 high school seniors, and demonstrates that attitudes towards education are multidimensional. Divides attitudes into two dimensions: concrete and abstract, expounding on both dimensions. Illustrates how race and class influence school…

Suggests how classroom teachers can use world history to expose students to alternate models of political systems, and to explore the roots and the origins of U.S. democracy. Stresses that understanding alternative governments develops an appreciation of the values, merits, and strengths of U.S. democracy. (LS)

The New Right regularly claims that the teaching of secular humanism by public schools is responsible for varied social ills and that it violates the constitutional prohibition against the advocacy of religious beliefs. This article explores these as empirical claims, concluding that no reliable evidence supports these allegations. Although such…

Describes study of seventh graders that was conducted to examine the relationship of a knowledge of computer ethics to attitudes toward computers and sociomoral reasoning. Variables of gender and verbal ability are examined, a measure of computer ethics is described, and results are analyzed. (31 references) (LRW)

There is increased dependence of academic science on external resources with attendant consequences for academic culture. This article suggests a framework for analyzing such changes, viewing culture as a set of axes of variation and drawing upon organizational theory, particularly resource dependence and institutional perspectives, to explain why…

Examines the role of critical language in film criticism. Compares and contrasts Monroe Beardsley's philosophy on film aesthetics with the New Criticism. Outlines some of the contributions Beardsley has made to the study of film criticism. (KM)

Discusses how gender differences in the value of pay, based on relative deprivation theory, explain women's paradoxical contentment with lower wages. Presents a model of pay satisfaction to integrate value-based and comparative-referent explanations of the relationship between gender and pay satisfaction. Discusses economic approaches to the…