Provides an examination of Charles Nisbet's stewardship of Dickinson College in post-revolutionary Pennsylvania. Nisbet's attempts to create a university reflecting the republican ideals of an enlightened aristocracy governing a deferential population met with disastrous resistance from a faculty and student body more aligned with revolutionary…

Examines theories of child rearing and education promoted by the Christian Right, contrasting them with those advanced by educational psychology research. The paper also analyzes the curriculum used in many fundamentalist Christian schools, and opposition of the Christian Right to outcome-based education and whole-language reading instruction. (SM)

Criticizes the National Commission on Social Studies in the Schools' report, "Charting a Course: Social Studies for the 21st Century." Questions the report's chronological exposition of history, exclusion of social problems until twelfth grade, emphasis on content, lack of selectivity, and declarative mood. Contends that, by ignoring…

Criticizes the National Commission on Social Studies in the Schools' report, "Charting a Course: Social Studies for the 21st Century," for its contradictions, traditionalist views, positivistic approach to social science, and failure to identify ways to teach democratic values. Suggests that the report qualifies as an updated version of…

In these two separate studies of self-esteem, Study One showed that Finnish adolescents valued popularity more than academic and athletic success when compared to American students. Study Two revealed that students with low self-esteem embraced traditional sex roles more prominently than students with high self-esteem. (RJM)

Arguments for school vouchers are beginning to have a cumulative effect with gains in a number of states. The political power that holds Washington to the public school orthodoxy is weakening before state movements toward public school choice and charter schools. (SLD)

Maintains that criticism of the history National Standards (from educators and historians, not the conservative media) has been unspecific and poorly focused. Argues that standards, by their definition, are exclusionary. Questions the attempt to develop critical thinking at an early age. (MJP)

Among the Chaggas on Mount Kilimanjaro (Tanzania), "too much schooling" is believed to drive students, particularly girls, to the brink of madness. Fieldwork investigated culturally embedded attitudes toward education and the social development of young men and women, focusing on maintenance of family relations, single-sex isolation in…

This qualitative study describes the differences in the lived experiences of two elementary teachers and the impact these differences have had on their beliefs and practices as teachers of science. Although both teachers experienced traditional, textbook-driven science instruction as students in schools, their experiences with science outside of…

This book contains the partial proceedings of a symposium dedicated to concern for basic education for the masses. The book includes a position paper that focuses on education in relation to its cultural setting, socio-economic context, and partnerships in research. The result of the meeting was the identification of research that seemed…

Data from a 1% sample of households in the 1980 United States Census of Population and Housing were used to identify personal and social characteristics associated with being poor or marginally poor in Colorado. The general hypothesis examined was that the more limited an individual's access is to participation in the nontraditional aspects of the…

Examines the controversy surrounding two established practices in British education: the support of religious denominational schools by government grant and the provision of religious education and collective worship within maintained non-church schools. Explores arguments which appeal to the changing character of British society to conclude that…

This case study examined the revision of a state university's elementary teacher education program, noting dilemmas arising during the university approval process related to faculty involvement, power and authority, incentives, and sacred cows such as academic freedom. Lessons learned about programmatic change within the culture of the university…

Recounts the battle over the first attempt in U.S. history to implement sex education in a citywide system of public schools. Frames this conflict as part of an ongoing collision between progressive, social science-oriented reformers and a traditionalist populace. Discusses the reform movement's shift from moral to scientific authority. (MJP)

Examines relationships between television viewing and sex-role attitudes and behaviors for 530 fourth and fifth graders from the perspective of cultivation theory. Correlation and regression analyses reveal that television viewing is positively related to children's attitudes toward sex-stereotyped chores. Those who watched more television…