This study compared attitudes toward general education and personal growth of 3,410 students attending nine historically black colleges or universities (HBCUs) and 42,535 students attending 91 non-HBCUs. Data were retrieved from the most recent national user norm files for the College Outcomes Survey (COS). Analyses included percentages, factor…

Author points out discrepancies in testing methods and goals for developing students' personalities and identities. (HS)

Adjusting our scholastic system to give students time off from institutionalized instruction for 3 or 4 years of government employment between completion of high school and entering college. (IR)

Describes several types of "growth groups", established at Bowling Green University in effort to maximize personal development of interested students and staff. (CJ)

Maintains that fantasy literature, based on archetypal rites-of-passage, provides a context in which students can gain insight into their own struggles for growth and self-awareness and that this "link to life" is one of the genre's most attractive features. (FL)

Advances in theory and practice make it possible to measure moral reasoning empirically and offer college-level educational programs enhancing moral understanding. Bases for these advances are reviewed, a longitudinal study and curriculum development effort is described, and the next research frontier, the relationship of moral reasoning to moral…

Argues that systematically investigating proximal processes as unifying and overriding forces in human development may be an overlooked aspect of contemporary developmental science. A study of 10,000 high school students showed that those whose parents were more involved in school performed better in school, irrespective of the parents' gender or…

Discusses individualized reading instruction in the United States in its historical context. States that effective, child-centered, individualized reading programs are guided by three principles: the desires, needs, and motives of each child; individual abilities, interests, and instructional needs; and opportunities for social interaction. Points…

Finds that grade two students' comprehension scores did not differ significantly between oral reading and silent reading, while grade three and four students' comprehension scores were significantly higher after oral reading. Argues that these findings are consistent with a Vygotskian model of the transition from oral to silent reading. (SR)

What is racism? A thematic analysis of seventeen narrative accounts in this issue of personal experiences with racism is reported. Specific themes are discussed within conceptual categories of systematic oppression, grieving, awakening of critical consciousness, coping mechanisms, and power. Racism is deconstructed through these stories; new paths…

Growth in US education abroad has been consistently strong for the past decade, surpassing 9 percent annually. Within the field of education abroad, this growth is both exciting and alarming. Education abroad helps students change learning structures, learn new paradigms and become more complex individuals. If a student's structures are not ready…

This article presents an interview with Michelle McGuirk who is the University of Wolverhampton's Student Development Coordinator, and is in the process of consolidating its program of learning resources. This interview is intended to explore the British approach to the scholarship of teaching and learning in higher education. First, Michelle…

The efforts of communication scholars to reduce the apprehension or anxiety that the person feels about communication should be undertaken after considering the ethical, legal, and practical issues such efforts involve. The ethical question is whether or not an instructor has the obligation to intrude into a central feature of a person's life,…

Personality theory stresses the importance of communion with self to personal development. Since writing is a form of communion with self, researchers have begun looking for measurable differences in the personality development of writers and nonwriters. Several experiments have tended to confirm that writing has the potential to effect positive…

Noting the need for a vocational agriculture curriculum that would consider "total" student development, the authors present a list (subdivided into tasks) of nine leadership and personal development competencies (determined by surveying 280 Ohio agricultural leaders) for inclusion in the vocational agriculture curriculum. Eight suggestions for…