Suggests the lack of research concerning contexts of human development has caused environmental influences to be not well known or studied. Discusses primary and secondary developmental contexts. Proposes four properties of the ecological environment that foster human development. Details impact of third parties on a setting, interconnections…

Maintains that, during the intifada (the revolt of Palestinians against Israeli occupation), the social order and power bases in Arab schools in East Jerusalem were transformed by significant social change. Discusses the rapid decline in teachers' authority and students' abuse of teachers and their property. (CFR)

Compares 117 Finnish and 351 southern U.S. college students for the following: (1) paranormal beliefs; (2) personality adjustment constructs (anomie, death concerns, alienation, and death threat); and (3) relationships between the beliefs and constructs. The secularization process, further advanced in Finland than the United States, moderates…

Investigated relationship between peer groups and incidence of psychosocial problems among 241 adolescents. Found that group with lowest level of involvement in school activities was labeled negatively by others. Least involved group had most positive attitudes toward alcohol/drug use; lowest levels of perceived harm from alcohol/drugs; and…

Reports on a study of absenteeism and truancy in 36 secondary schools in 4 large Dutch cities. Found that students in vocationally oriented schools had higher rates of truancy. Also found that non-Dutch (ethnic minority) pupils had higher rates of absenteeism and truancy. (CFR)

Urban secondary school students (n=1,064) were administered the Dean Alienation Scale to determine differences in feelings of alienation among African Americans, Caucasians, and Latinos, as well as sex and age differences. Higher levels of alienation reported by African Americans and Latinos and by males in all ethnic groups are discussed as a…

Reports on a study of 640 Russian secondary students and 140 teachers on their attitudes about schools and schooling. Finds that both students and teachers agree that the primary goal of education should be to transmit the culture and prepare people for decision making. Also finds that forced participation in extracurricular programs caused…

Reports findings from Canadian surveys on adolescent female health-risk behaviors such as smoking, alcohol abuse, drug abuse, and sexual activity. Discusses whether the school system has a responsibility to provide related prevention programs and whether the school actually contributes to the development of these problems. Supportive school…

Violence-prevention policies stress high-tech security measures and zero tolerance over compassion. Student policing is intensifying, despite declining youth violence, rarity of shootings, and failure of police protection. Suburban youth violence is rooted in masculinity misconceptions and sexual harassment. Education, not retribution, should…

A qualitative study of four Chicano high school students involved in a range of disciplinary actions revealed students' feelings of alienation, substantive differences in student and teacher perceptions of misbehavior, student perceptions of injustices in rule applications, poor classroom management and instructional techniques, the basis of…

Although an impressive number of Americans whose ancestors are from Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam ("Southeast Asian Americans") have achieved tremendous success in education, a disproportionate number have found it difficult to succeed academically. Yet their difficulties are largely invisible to policymakers, who tend to look only to the…

The labour market in Sweden today does not offer a rosy picture for young people. Among them are youth with a migrant background that have the lowest chance of becoming employed. The table below shows the unemployment rates of young people with a migrant background. (Contains 1 table, 1 figure and 11 notes.)

People worry about dropouts because they believe that leaving high school before graduation is detrimental, both to the individual and to society. This view does not include students' view of the situation, and in order to clarify students' perceptions of at-risk factors, qualitative data on high school seniors were collected. The central question…

Assessing the current state of civic engagement in the United States, this document argues for increased participation from the citizenry, and discuses a number of programs supporting this effort. Although individuals remain actively involved in many civic activities through church, voluntary, and political associations, recent decades have…

This book discusses the crusade for educational excellence since the early 1980s. It argues that the reform movement has failed to adequately address the extraordinary degree of alienation and apathy among secondary school students and teachers, and the schools' contribution to the problem, i.e., there exists a human element of the education…