Includes three brief essays responding to the current controversy over the National Standards for United States History. James F. Adomanis defends the standards and decries the media circus. Brian Boland casts a skeptical eye towards trendy educational reforms. Philip Reed Rulon finds the standards arbitrary and restrictive. (MJP)

Integrates facts, figures, and statistics from several international and Canadian sources on the current state of family life. Provides a quick overview of such issues as family and school violence, at-risk children, and substance abuse. Briefly discusses the influence of the entertainment industry. (MJP)

Using music, story, and prayer, this conference presentation describes the African American spiritual experience with curriculum, explaining what African American spirituality is, who African Americans are, why spirituality is critical to African Americans, and where this spirituality is found, then linking it to education. (SM)

Data from interviews with Finnish secondary school teachers and students and student essays that examined teacher authority and moral dilemmas indicated that the most problematic conflicts related to teacher-determined punishment. Teachers used manipulative means to control classroom life. Their education had not prepared them to handle situations…

Contrary to critics' claims, the United States could not boast the world's finest higher-education system while maintaining a deficient public-school system. Unregulated, profit-oriented market models are inappropriate for public schools responsible for serving the social good. Privatization and techno-efficiency pressures are equally…

The research presented in this paper is a study of the values underpinning the curriculum and teaching of current Australian degree-level youth work courses. The paper looks at the implications that values raise for the introduction of competency-based training in the youth and community services sector. The paper raises some of the potential…

Systems of care (SOCs) have been developed throughout the country to meet the needs of children with severe emotional disturbances (SED) and their families. In these SOCs, multiple agencies and disciplines are expected to work together with informal community supports to address families' needs (Stroul & Friedman, 1986a). A review of the…

In October 2001, Congress passed the USA PATRIOT Act to strengthen the ability of the U.S. government to combat terrorism. Unfortunately, some sections of the Act strike at core values and practices of libraries and archives, especially in the areas of record keeping, privacy, confidentiality, security, and access to the collections. This article…

In Sweden, governmental decision-making is based on a social-democratic ideology and a system of representative democracy. In citizens' meetings, the democratic values and norms, that are both a requirement and goal, at are formed. This concept of democracy, and the value system behind it, permeates Swedish culture, and its institutions and…

It is generally supposed that a curriculum should engage students with worthwhile knowledge, which requires an understanding of what it means for something to be worthwhile: a substantive conception of the good. Yet a number of influential curriculum theories deny or undermine one or another aspect of the key assumption upon which a meaningful…

The concept of organizational justice is defined, and, based on a review of the literature, ten principles of organizational justice are elaborated. Similarly, the elements of faculty trust are conceptualized and discussed. Then, a model of organizational justice and trust is proposed and tested using path analysis. The results underscore the…

This article explores whether it is possible to compare civilizations one with another; that is, whether one can construct some neutral and objective framework in terms of which we could establish in what respects one civilization might deserve to be ranked more highly than its competitors. The author states that, in addressing the idea of an…

Inspired by the Alaska Native Knowledge Network's "Standards for Culturally Responsive Schools," members of fourteen social justice, peace, and environmental education (SJPEE) special interest groups (SIGs) from the American Educational Research Association (AERA) and several other prominent organizations have been involved in drafting SJPEE…

An apparently simple self-study that consisted of a longitudinal review of Grade 12 students' self-reflections from the past five years triggered a personally profound struggle about past classroom practices and surfaced a host of assumptions about teaching and learning. This research challenged the author to enact personal and professional values…

This article discusses three strategies designed to support a college of education mission to prepare democratic practitioners. These strategies are: increasing civic knowledge (Butts, 1993), reflecting on civic values (Ross & Yeager, 1999), and organizing field experiences that promote democratic practice (Rainer & Guyton, 1999). Activities for…