Research has focused on four groups of factors and the achievement gap: (1) student characteristics (high school GPA, attendance patterns, courses taken in high school, participation in extra-curricular activities, etc.); (2) family characteristics (family structure, in home, parents' level of education, mobility, etc.); (3) school-based…

Writing on contemporary culture and social life, sociologists and cultural theorists have been describing new or changing forms of movement, variously described as cultural "flows," "liquid life," or a "networked society." The change in such movements or mobilities of people, media, material goods, and other social phenomena, including the reach…

This paper examines, within a framework of the world-system analysis, the process of the nationalization of education in Burma. As a significant part of the nationalist-socialist revolution launched to undermine foreign influences on the Burmese society in 1962, all schools in the country were nationalized and the curriculum…

All talk of sex was taboo in Korean society until the middle of this century. Only during the last decade has sexuality been a topic of discussion, but still the discourse was dominated by traditional male views regarding sex. Today, the number of homosexuals living openly is growing, and active debate about homosexuality in Korea is now emerging.…

A study used both a survey and observation to investigate the phenomenon of politer speech among Japanese women than among Japanese men. The survey of 256 men and 271 women, parents of college students at a college in Tokyo and representing a middle-class population, inquired about the respondents' personal use of polite forms of Japanese. It is…

No greater challenge currently faces the schools than articulating what a literacy curriculum for sociocultural diversity might look like. And yet the literature on young school children's composing has dealt only peripherally with this issue. In this theoretical essay, it is argued that, even for young children, the composing of both oral and…

It is argued that because of rapid demographic change at the end of the current century, characterized by growing population diversity, closed systems that cannot accommodate these changes will be hurt. Europe in general, and Switzerland in particular, must adjust perspectives and integrate cultural diversity into the social system as a new value.…

A study was done of racism on college and university campuses in Iowa through the perspectives of college and university administrators and minority student comments. Information was gathered by questionnaire and interview of seven vice presidents working in student affairs and 25 minority students from three different campuses. The administrative…

A study analyzed the opening and closing sequences of 11 dyads of native Spanish-speakers in natural telephone conversations conducted in Spanish. The objective was to determine how closely Hispanic cultural patterns of conduct for telephone conversations follow the sequences outlined in previous research. It is concluded that Spanish…

Technology is more than applied science. It is the processes and products by which humans have coped with and changed their environment throughout history. People have always lived and worked in a "technological society." Never before, however, has technological change been so rapid or broad in scope. The concept of an "educated…

The guide provides a brief introduction to the culture and language of the United States, and is designed for visitors, students, and business travelers. It offers practical information on various aspects of daily living, including: money and banks; food; restaurants; drinking and smoking laws; hotels; postal and telecommunications services;…

A construction occurring in African American Vernacular English (AAVE) is examined: NPi "call" NPi V"-ing", as in "the woman call herself working." First, a number of reasons that such a form might be overlooked or dismissed as an AAVE dialect form are outlined. Then the sociolinguistic method is applied to the…

A study is reported which examines the following issues: the linguistic and cultural values that the Chinese community attaches to education and to the processes and outcomes of education; and the nature of the community's involvement with school programs and the degree of match and mismatch between the school and the home culture. Data were…

The discrepancy between the theory and practice of equality of the sexes in China is documented. (AG)

The author criticizes continuing education courses as being "replicas of the conventional universities catering to the populist degree mania." He advocates designing and offering courses for those who are academically ready and abolishing requiring a degree for entrance. (AG)