Although the American studies movement has gained widespread popularity within its 50 years of existence, it is still devoid of any controlling assumptions, models, and coherence. The intellectual disarray which has recently characterized the movement has encouraged one group of scholars, the "reflexionists," to examine the causes of that…

To be a competent teacher, the school environment must be organized to preserve a system of student behavior and group functioning which allows the teacher to select the activities in which the group will engage. This is often called "maintaining control" by teachers. Means of organizing the school context to affect student behavior are…

Few issues have polarized the educational community so completely as the 1975 and 1977 decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court to allow corporal punishment in the schools. The symposium reported here was organized and conducted following the 1975 decision but prior to the 1977 one. Three papers in support and three papers against the ruling were read,…

At North Shore Community College (NSCC), students in career programs comprise 70% of the student population. To counter the vocational-school effect of programs heavily emphasizing career training, interdisciplinary, team-taught courses were initiated. However, the time required in planning, scheduling, and grading along with other problems…

A collection of six papers is preceded first by an introduction stating the editor's abhorrence of corporal punishment and his motives for assembling the papers; and then by the American Psychological Association's statement opposing the use of corporal punishment. Irwin A. Hyman and Delores M. Lally consider religious and other historical factors…

In order to assess faculty and student use of, and attitudes toward, instructional computing at Dartmouth College, faculty members and students were surveyed during the spring of 1981 to determine how computing was being used in Dartmouth courses. Each of the 450 faculty members who taught an on-campus course from summer 1980 through spring 1981…

The purpose of this study was to examine Anglo-American and Mexican-American parents' attitudes about infant socialization. Occupational status of fathers was used to identify participants' social class, and mothers and fathers were interviewed in English or Spanish 9 weeks after the birth of their first child. Attitudes were examined regarding…

Brinkmanship behaviors challenge the authority of a social system while trying to avoid, usually through the use of humor, the sanctions that would normally be provoked. This study investigated the validity and use of short scenarios portraying various teachers challenging policy in different ways as a strategy for measuring perceptions of these…

Significant changes in United States culture during the past 25 years and court decisions resulting from legal suits challenging traditional educational procedures have made the future course of education very unpredictable. The social unrest of the 1960s brought about innovations such as open classrooms and nongrading systems in the wake of…

This book addresses the law-related concerns of school teachers. Much of the data on which the book is based was collected during a four year study, conducted by the American Bar Association with the support of the Ford Foundation. Court cases are cited. Chapter one examines "Tenure." Since tenure gives teachers the right to their jobs,…

Providing an extensive list of print resources on middle schools, this bibliography includes such topics as career education, curriculum, discipline, guidance, independent study, organization, student characteristics, and teacher qualifications and preparation. In addition, specific subject areas including language arts, science, and mathematics…

No amount of reflection, observation of students, general information, and personal experience can make up for a teacher's lack of knowledge in subject areas. It is pointless for teachers to acquire delivery skills unless they have something to deliver. Several educators have become concerned about what is called "the flight to the sidelines", a…

Using observation and interviews, researchers studied a small sample of Accelerated Christian Education (ACE) schools in six towns in northwest Texas to identify aspects of the schools' operations that might be applicable to public education. Interviewees at each school included the chief administrator and some teachers, monitors, and students.…