The Ripon College (Wisconsin) education department is engaged in a major curriculum reform effort to include study in curriculum, pedagogy, and social foundations. In particular, an effective social foundations curriculum is being implemented to engage students in the historical, political, sociological, and philosophical ideas that impact…

The mere act of living in today's society is dangerous to the health and well-being of children and adolescents. The concept of the socially toxic environment is offered as a parallel to the environmental movement's analysis of physical toxicity. Social life is more risky than it was just 40 years ago, and the level of social and cultural poison…

This paper examines the unique characteristics of rural adolescents raised on farms. As part of a longitudinal study on rural youth development, semistructured interviews were conducted each year for 4 consecutive years with 87 adolescents from 4 rural high schools in upstate New York. This study focused on data from the 19 adolescents who resided…

A study of language attitudes in Sub-Saharan Africa, an area of 45 countries and over 1,700 languages, attempts to: (1) pinpoint attitudinal patterns towards European and indigenous languages; (2) give these attitudes historical perspective; (3) identify attitudes toward language use in education; (4) encourage language research on attitudes in…

This miniprint summarizes a study of the status of the teaching of peace themes in the Denver (Colorado) Public Schools. The intent was to analyze and provide recommendations for the development of peace education. The research methods included observations, interviews, and examination of curricular materials. Social studies departments in the…

This paper examines how treating equity conflicts in sports through an emphasis on compliance with Title IX of the Educational Amendments of 1972 has actually hindered the mass adoption of gender equity in sport and proposes that applying the principles of diffusion would allow desired change to occur as an innovation and therefore be more readily…

This paper suggests that current paradigms and world views guiding research for social action are inadequate for directing rural community change in a high-tech, global community. For several generations, the agrarian and industrial paradigms have been accepted as appropriate for guiding social change and development. However, there are problems…

This curriculum guide is designed to assist the visitor in the Herbert Hoover National Historic Site and the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library-Museum. The guide includes information on President Hoover's life and career, as well as classroom activities for students. The suggested pre- and post-visit activities are to reinforce the ideas…

The chapters of this collection explore the experiences of black families in the United States and Africa, today and in the past. They are: (1) "African American Families: A Historical Note" (John Hope Franklin); (2) "African American Families and Family Values" (Niara Sudarkasa); (3) "Old-Time Religion: Benches Can't Say…

A validation study was conducted on the Child Sex Abuse Attitude Scale (CSAAS) using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to examine the factor structure of three comparative CFA models. Multitrait multimethod analysis was also used to examine the convergent and discriminant validity of the CSAAS. The instrument was developed based on the theory of…

This issue of "Media and Values" helps students acquire and evaluate media information in order to be effective citizens. The individual articles include: (1) "In the Light of the Fires" (Elizabeth Thoman); (2) "From Milton to Media" (Clay Jenkinson); (3) "Brave New World" (Paul Du Bois; Frances Moore Lappe); (4) "Making Politics Work" (Jay…

A national consensus has been developing in recent years on the crisis of values faced by the United States. A measure that has recently reemerged and captured a measure of public attention is character education. This paper examines the degree to which state governments and their educational establishments have attempted to use character…

As violence within American communities has become an increasingly common problem, the developmental and psychological consequences of exposure to community violence have become issues of import. Conditions of pervasive violence have deleterious effects on the development of moral reasoning, as they offer limited environmental opportunities for…

This book argues that democratic education should equip citizens to be "the measure of all things." The volume contends that the voices of society should develop the skills of questioning, criticizing, and reconstructing the language of the day in order to dissect the rhetoric of politics, economy, and culture. But the volume asserts that these…

This paper explores how feelings of self-hatred in African Americans are perpetuated through media and the standard physical and ideological manifestations of Christianity. The notion that skin that is closer to white and hair that is closer to white are both more desirable attributes is a dominant theme underlying the African American experience.…