Discusses instructional technology in Iran. Highlights include a historical background of Iran; Islamic faith and technology; technology without western culture and influence; access to mass communication; telecommunications conferences; Internet access, usage, and connectivity; social issues; media in schools; Internet inequalities; and…

Claims that early childhood education programs in Australia have been dominated by ideas and practices introduced from elsewhere and only in recent years have alternative paradigms existed. Provides an overview of the development of early childhood programs in Australia, describes the context in which early childhood education curriculum has…

Urie Bronfenbrenner, professor emeritus at Cornell University, discusses how changing American values have shaped an antifamily and individualistic society, and along with increasingly high rates of poverty, single parenthood, and violence, have negatively impacted families, children, and education. Also discusses declining literacy rates, school…

Presents a thorough analysis of a massive survey done in Moscow in 1991. The survey covered a wide range of topics, including attitudes towards education, teachers' job satisfaction, and criminal tendencies among young people. The survey differentiates between occupational and social groups. (MJP)

Provides an instructive overview of the responsibilities of the police and the rights of the citizen concerning criminal investigations. Briefly describes the protections afforded by the fourth, fifth, sixth, eighth, and fourteenth amendments. Includes a learning activity involving a legal analysis of situations. (MJP)

Analyzes economic and social costs of functional illiteracy in industrialized countries, highlighting Canada and the United States. Identifies the functionally illiterate and the illiteracy-poverty cycle. Estimates the cost of Canadian illiteracy is between $4.2 and $10.7 billion. Suggests measures for preventing adult illiteracy, including…

Discusses the effect that fetal exposure to cocaine and other drugs is having on infants and small children. Disputes the most widely cited estimate of the numbers of crack babies. Calls for restructuring foster care, group home placement, adoption, and general social welfare provision. Termination of parental rights is difficult but probably…

Questions the place that the plurality of values and the conflicts between them have in educating children in Eastern and Western Europe. Explores the philosophical aspects of this question, giving a sketch of some ethical conflicts and how they should be handled in education. Urges linking the concepts of "own good" and "others…

Describes the development and implementation of National Science Foundation (NSF) funded workshops for inservice secondary school biology teachers. Suggests a format for inservice teacher education projects generalized from the experience of teacher activities with respect to human genetics and bioethical decision-making. (YP)

Analyzes four recent Supreme Court parochaid decisions, as well as two rulings dealing with equal educational opportunity, and three concerned with racial discrimination. Observes an ominous turn by the Court toward the use of judicial restraint to promote a conservative social agenda. (MLF)

Hmong refugees in Minnesota were studied on three occasions during their first decade in the United States. While there was general evidence of acculturation, psychiatric care seeking, and reduced psychiatric symptom levels, a large subset of Hmong refugees remained culturally isolated and manifested depression, anxiety, hostility, and other…

Provides historical and theoretical context for this theme issue on education in Latin America. Discusses reorganization in state models and state-society relationships since the 1930s, the systematic withdrawal of public resources from education due to neoliberalism and internationally imposed "structural adjustment" policies, effects…

Presents an interview with Cornel West, author of "Race Matters" and "Keeping Faith," about cultural pluralism, racial relations, and democratic values. Concludes that the ongoing struggle for justice is an integral element of what it means to be an American. (CFR)

Reports on a 1993 study of the social attitudes and life plans of Russian high school graduates in 21 urban areas. Finds that students are concerned about unemployment, the future, and the declining state of their families' financial position. Includes eight tables of statistical data. (CFR)

Suggests that children, as the nation's most precious social resource, are the shared responsibility of parents and government. Argues that current efforts to scale back social welfare programs in Canada need to be reversed, so as to provide children, and families with children, a decent minimum standard of living. (MDM)