Increasingly, narrative has been accepted as an essential mode of knowing and thinking. However, contemporary educators are unlikely to acknowledge that narrative is as essential to social and political action as it is to personal catharsis and self-understanding. In many schools, narrative writing has become an end in itself rather than the…

This essay looks at three kinds of changes in American society over the period from the late 1960s to the mid-1990s. First, data from the Cooperative Institutional Research Program (CIRP) are used to measure trends in college freshmen's political identification, materialism, concern for law and order, and concern for helping others. In all these…

The purpose of this oversight hearing on the District of Columbia public school system was to welcome the new superintendent, Franklin L. Smith, and to assess the general condition of the school system. Among the problems and issues assessed were the impact of boarder babies entering the school system, the impact on the system of children who were…

Why so many Latino students drop out of schools is considered from the perspective that much of the literature on this problem is inadequate because it ignores the experiences of Latino youth at home, in school, and in the community, and attempts to explain the failure of the educational system in terms of just one area. Interviews were conducted…

This report surveys the steps taken by the Council of Europe's Council for Cultural Cooperation (CDCC) to combat the increasing problem of intolerance and xenophobia in Western Europe. The outbreak of xenophobic sentiment is attributed to two facts: large immigrant communities from outside Europe have settled permanently in Europe, and there has…

Progress in civil rights for black Americans does not appear to have been matched, at least in recent years, by equal progress in social harmony. It is argued that a considerable part of present racial difficulties are the result of commonly expressed understandings that are deeply flawed and that these flaws can be corrected only if social…

This document, which was developed to assist individuals working in publicly sponsored literacy programs in Georgia, offers instructional plans and practical strategies designed to help teachers help students of adult literacy, adult basic education, General Educational Development, and English as a second language understand complex social…

In spite of increasing amounts of attention given to mentoring in recent years, it appears that the disadvantaged child is not being mentored, and that his or her educational needs are not being addressed. Some possible reasons why so little mentoring of minority students occurs, or reasons why so little is heard about what does occur, are…

Middle school and high school students need to develop many skills in order to investigate environmental issues and know the basics of citizenship action strategies. This student guide is designed to teach students how to investigate and evaluate environmental issues and actions. The guide is presented in six modules. Module 1 introduces the…

Those who try to deal with violence in U.S. communities and schools have tended to concentrate on suppression of violence, rather than real prevention, particularly as violence is associated with youth gangs. This discussion focuses on multiculturalism as a policy for reducing gang violence, rather than strategies that have been used to deal with…

Through Project Learning through Industry and Volunteer Educators (Project LIVE), the Children's Aid Society has been addressing problems of literacy and school dropout in an educational partnership between junior high schools in New York City and a number of major corporations. LIVE brings together junior high school students (grades 7 and 8) who…

This monograph provides an account of the work done in the village placement project of the Department of Child Development of the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, India from 1976-77 to 1984-85. Chapter 1 offers an overview of major problems of children and women in India. It emphasizes the need for rural development programs and the…

Work and adjustment to work are vital components of a smoothly functioning society. Currently, a growing imbalance between the collective level of educational attainment of American workers and the skill/knowledge requirements of existing jobs has created the potential for widespread social and economic problems in this country. Overeducation…

The aims, content, and organization of social and political education, which became a compulsory subject in the Netherlands in 1968, are examined. Part 1 discusses the methods and models used by the National Institute of Curriculum Development since it was established in 1975. One of its projects is to develop a common core curriculum for social…

This paper proposes a teaching model for the implementation of a Science-Technology-Society (STS) curriculum. The topics of technologic literacy, STS goals, and STS instruction are included. The historical and contemporary perspective of technology is addressed. The Graham model of STS instruction is compared with the Oregon instructional model.…