A philosophical and pragmatic critique is offered of the pedagogical dilemmas confronting the educational establishment. It is argued that higher education institutions at present have no clear idea of what a liberal arts education ought to accomplish, what its scope ought to be, and how its goals ought to be reached. The academic community is…

Twelve essays examine the relationship between knowledge and human values and the implications of this relationship for education, particularly at the university level. Authored by professors of philosophy, intellectual history, theoretical physics, Judaic studies, political theory, social ethics and religion, the essays call for a new approach…

Mark is the central character in this story designed to help adolescents formulate a philosophy of values. The story is well suited for use in high school social studies courses and/or in philosophy or guidance units. Mark's thoughts and actions are reported as he interacts with his family, friends, acquaintances, and individuals of authority…

The paper investigates the qualities which distinguish representative democracies from other forms of government, particularly direct democracies, dictatorships, and oligarchies. Representative democracy is based on the precept that political authority should be located in offices which are specified by a popularly ratified or accepted…

Both English Canada and the United States are essentially liberal fragments of European society. But in Canada, liberalism must vie with touches of Toryism and socialism; as a result, the common good receives more formal attention than in the U.S. The extent of variation in local financial resources for education is potentially under the control…

The Council for Cultural Cooperation is intended to promote interaction among European nations and to initiate cooperation in remodeling educational systems. At a 1974 Brussels conference, participants discussed the moral obligation of European governments to promote sociocultural community development directed toward a greater measure of…

This monograph reports on the instrument development phase of the attitudinal section of the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) Civic Education Study. During this development the general emphasis was on the measurement of a variety of dimensions derived either from statements of curricular objectives in…

This 1976 Bicentennial Yearbook shows how the values expressed in the Declaration of Independence have been applied in specific episodes of U.S. history and provides current teaching strategies for values education. In the first and major part of the book, ideas about values associated with the birth of the nation are explored and traced as…

Even though public school districts are structured with the expectation of responsive governance, most school boards are not particularly responsive to their constituents. School boards from politically contentious districts tend to be more responsive, but they have even less success challenging the dominance of the superintendent than do less…

This social studies curriculum guide for grades 5 and 6 is a product of the American Values Exemplary Center directed by Ralph H. Davis. The introduction describes a model program to introduce students to the functioning of local and national government through a student government program set up as an essential part of the social studies…

The purpose of this investigation was to determine the influence of democratic and authoritarian teaching methods on the efficiency of learning in a short, concentrated management technique course and to develop and test hypotheses regarding the relationship between these teaching methods and the factors of instructor personality, student age,…

Distinctions between political socialization as beliefs about ideals, beliefs about the realities of governmental structure, as attempts at cognitive consistency, and as affective orientations toward the system, map out most children's political orientations. The objects of these orientations are: 1) America as a nation and patriotic attachment;…

Educational reform appears to be moving in two incompatible directions, exhibiting considerable interest in increasing freedom on one hand, but on the other emphasizing the control and management of the educational environment. The purpose of this research is to examine the conceptual impact of various psychological theories, particularly…

An attempt is made to understand the structural and transformational inter-relationships between processes of classification, segmentation, ranking, and segregation in a suburban high school from a cultural point of view. The first of three sections of the paper reviews the acceptance among social scientists in the last decades of the belief that…

This newsletter, published monthly during the school year, disseminates ideas and suggestions concerning innovations and problem solutions for secondary social sciences. Political science education is the focus of this issue. The importance of this subject, and its sophistication and challenge to the classroom teacher are discussed. Examples of…