Children of Indian descent have won first place in five of the last seven years of the Scripps National Spelling Bee, and this year they made up 30 of the 273 contestants, a proportion many times larger than their 0.66% of the population. These achievements were possible because some Indian parents can become obsessive when it comes to the…

Research continues to reinforce the desirability of non-punitive environments for children. This article describes a school for severely emotionally impaired children that was transformed from a coercive climate to empowering children to develop their own controls. The author stresses that removing systems based on punishment and control can be…

The goal of this study was to examine how the parenting dimensions of both mothers and fathers independently and together predict adolescent outcomes in three domains: sympathy, self-worth, and social competence. One-hundred eight adolescents completed self-report measures on their perceived relationship with parents, sympathy, social competence,…

This paper explores the academic and psychosocial outcomes of immigrant students from the former Soviet Union (FSU) in an ethnic school in Toronto. Based on interviews with the principal, teachers, students and parents, together with questionnaire responses, the paper describes school programmes and practices that contribute to FSU immigrant…

When young teachers stand in front of their classes for the first time, they are expected to be well prepared for the challenging task before them. Unfortunately, preparations for this moment rarely include lessons on the essential skill of "teacher talk"--the choice and use of words in a class. This skill is often overlooked in teacher…

Cartesian dualism has left a heavy legacy in terms of how we think about ourselves, so that we treat humans as minds within bodies rather than mind/body unities. This has far-reaching effects on our conceptualisation of the sex/gender distinction and on the relationship between bodies and identities. Related to this is a dualism that is embedded…

A paradox is building in American sociology around the practice and teaching of statistical methods. On the one hand, this is a time when the quantification of the discipline is well established, when statistical applications in sociological research continue to reach new heights of sophistication, and when the accumulation of such skills remains…

Although the effectiveness of corporal punishment (CP) has received little empirical support, public support for this disciplinary method continues despite calls for its abandonment by researchers. Even among educators, favorable attitudes toward the use of CP are prevalent. We measured education majors' beliefs about CP before and after they read…

Any effort to understand academic departments would be facilitated by a better understanding of its relationship between its two larger spheres: the institution and the discipline. This study particularly asks: How do the relationships between institutional culture and the culture of the academic department vary by disciplinary field? Using…

This study attempts to unravel the complex relationships between faculty entrepreneurialism and teaching. Specifically, this study (1) compares the extent of entrepreneurial activities (i.e., using funds for research and consulting activity) across disciplinary fields and levels of teaching commitment and (2) examines the relative effects of…

This paper reports the results of a small-scale (n = 9) interview study of the "ways of knowing" of academics in a Design School at a South African polytechnic. The focus of the study was on exploring the perceptions of these academics about discipline-specific knowledge in their fields. The paper presents an analysis of the responses,…

Interviews were conducted with 336 mother--child dyads (children's ages ranged from 6 to 17 years; mothers' ages ranged from 20 to 59 years) in China, India, Italy, Kenya, the Philippines, and Thailand to examine whether normativeness of physical discipline moderates the link between mothers' use of physical discipline and children's adjustment.…

This article presents an analysis of the results of a survey conducted with foreign language program directors and coordinators in American university foreign language departments. The goal of the survey was twofold. First, it aimed to compile a profile of these individuals: their backgrounds, research, and teaching and coordinating…

The broad terminology describing possible learning ways and approaches that use various technologies in the learning process has appeared together with rapid growth of information and communication technologies. This terminology should be ordered and precisely defined. This article presents eight groups of the most widespread terms (such as…

Pupil autonomy, empowerment, and clarity of school rules are factors underpinning school effectiveness in terms of supporting pupil health and education. This paper considers data collected from 27 one-to-one staff interviews conducted in two secondary schools. Analysis indicated that the schools subscribed to different philosophies regarding…