At the annual meeting of the Association for General and Liberal Studies, scholars suggested that higher education--liberal arts in particular--should address broad social issues, encourage student activism, and stop pretending that teaching is not a political act. 'Empowerment' of students through collaborative classroom experiences was urged.…

Presents a study of the use of serious subject matter in plays for youth by (1) tracing the trends of increasing advocacy and acceptance of such subject matter and (2) outlining patterns in the ways in which such subject matter is presented, focusing on original, contemporary plays, written by American playwrights. (JC)

Maritally violent families are examined. Two types of violent families are described. Type I families use violence to establish a hierarchy and maintain control over members. In type II families, violence is used to express anger or to react to stress. Both types may cause behavioral problems in the children. (VM)

Reports on interviews conducted with 12 female secondary school home economics students originally from rural East Africa. Interviewers showed each subject photographs of rural women at work and asked for their perceptions and reactions. Presents implications for helping rural women deal with their problems. (CH)

To manage increased demands despite limited resources, schools need to invoke safeguards. They must clarify the scope of school involvements, demand adequate funding, reject accountability for the failure of other social institutions and structures (like the family), and use their considerable expertise to resolve the dropout problem. (MLH)

Discusses how to teach students about the role of values, empathy, imagination, and hypothesis in reporting while encouraging them to use their intelligence and experience in reporting to develop insight, thereby educating themselves and their readers. (SRT)

Changes in characteristics, personal goals, and political and social attitudes that took place between the freshman and senior years for a sample of undergraduate students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill are analyzed. This was a period when freshmen were becoming more materialistic and less politically liberal. (MLW)

Examines secular trends in research on Afro-American children appearing in CHILD DEVELOPMENT between 1936 and 1980. A statistical analysis revealed dramatic changes in the frequency and type of research on this population, and identified some of the changing social issues and perspectives that are reflected in the research. (Author/BB)

Why we must subsidize intellectual curiosity in public schools is discussed and the need for a serious campaign to excite young people about teaching as one of the fundamentally most important professions available to Americans is examined. (RM)

Case study on acid rain illustrates procedures for systematized tracking of issues: using bibliometric methods to list journals to be scanned; using current awareness searches of online databases to supplement journal scanning; using literature monitoring to create significant terms file; and tracking terms through online database index. (10…

Surveys the development of community education and efforts to adapt this approach to the Israeli educational system. Assesses the potential for integration between community schools and group care institutions for children. Reports that Israeli community education favors program over process; educational objectives over social problem objectives;…

The Hawaii Judiciary has been using futures research to help identify the legal aspects of emerging social trends. Emerging issues analysis works because the life cycle of issues can be seen as following certain patterned phases. Describes the process of this research and its results. (Author/CS)

Identifies from the literature some of the diverse roles that second-level biology courses serve within a school curriculum, discussing factors that may explain the current status of these courses. Course types include college preparatory, minicourses, biologic techniques, societal issues, career awareness, and courses for terminal students. (JM)

A national citizenship survey, in which over 600,000 students in grades two through junior high school participated, showed that students have a positive but realistic view of their government, take their responsibility as citizens--and their right of free speech--seriously, and love their country because it is a free country. (RM)

Possible future scenarios for the United States are described. As resources become scarce, the exploding U.S. population will inevitably lead to rapid inflation, greater unemployment, greater likelihood of war, and the virtual impossibility of maintaining social services such as education and old-age security programs at current levels. (RM)