Examines the concept of popular culture in social and educational theory in the context of developing nations, particularly Latin America. Using a poststructuralist literary theory, the article elaborates a notion of the popular that offers a new conceptualization by incorporating a sense of competing identities and ideologies that form it. (SM)

Describes cooperation on educational policy within the European Community (EC). Explains possible outcomes of European integration and predictable conflicts. Supports the notion of a restricted educational competency for the EC. Argues that a new European educational community must be the objective of the EC but cannot be created by them alone.…

Analysis of data on a conflict between the Joshua Gap (California) school district and local parents over the district's decision to utilize a multiculturally oriented textbook series suggests that contrasting images of the local and larger U.S. community, and contrasting views about the role of schooling, contributed to the conflict. (IAH)

Shows how political campaigning and legal action won a three-year battle (beginning in 1986) for tenure by an Asian Pacific American professor, D. Nakanishi, at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA). Describes the case's academic context, explains the legal alternatives, and analyzes the legal/political strategy adopted. (JB)

An Asian Pacific American professor, D. T. Nakanishi, describes his decision to fight the University of California Los Angeles' initial denial of tenure, including the legal and tactical considerations involved, his sense of generational duty, the case's importance for other Asian Americans, and the personal pain and suffering involved. (JB)

After visiting 30 inner-city schools in New York City, Chicago, San Antonio, Ohio, and New Jersey, the acclaimed author of "Death at an Early Age" concludes that public schools remain more separate and unequal than they were 27 years ago. Instead of embracing vouchers for school choice, we should support and fund genuine equality for all…

Examines demographic information on all-white school districts in New York. Surveys perceptions of superintendents in nonminority school districts about the meaning of "minority" and "disadvantaged" and about the impact of a modified social studies curriculum that calls for the inclusion of minority contributions to American…

Describes the origins, development, and significant characteristics of the Kentucky Education Reform Act of 1990. Discusses the importance of outcome-based assessment in the program and presents eight "valued outcomes" that will be assessed in social studies. (CFR)

Discussion of South Africa's new policy expanding access to higher education focuses on the efforts of the University of Cape Town to change the gender composition and racial balance of its student and faculty populations. Constraints limiting applications of the new policies and some accompanying tensions and contradictions are analyzed. (MSE)

The paper discusses the role of schools in Great Britain's preservice teacher education, noting the political history of the country's teacher education. Research shows that the result of partnerships between schools and institutions of higher education has been teachers who enter the field with satisfactory qualifications. (SM)

Contends that many problems facing Russian society are the results of serious neglect of secondary education. Reviews education in the former Soviet Union and in Russia since the USSR's breakup. Calls for extensive experimentation in curriculum development, teaching methods, and school management. (CFR)

Social and institutional factors in the Solomon Islands, shaped by colonialism and modernization, affect classroom practice, constraining teachers' use of cultural knowledge. The article challenges notions of cultural congruence as solutions to classroom problems, distinguishing between appropriation of childrens' culture for hegemonic interests…

Reviews the reform of secondary school physics in the United States from the 1930s through the mid-1960s. Describes the impact of progressive education, World War II, and the post-Sputnik reforms. Points out differences between past reform efforts and the current Project 2061 of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). (CFR)

Introduces the journal issue's articles and their theme that focuses on the controversy over university practices and mission in responding to changing demographics in a multicultural society. Reviews positions of Eurocentric traditionalists and multicultural perspective proponents. Urges that higher education broaden the constituency of…

Examines implications for educational policy formation of Hong Kong's 1997 return to China. Discusses the economic interdependence of Hong Kong and China; the potential for educational policy to reconcile or heighten the contradictions among capitalism, socialism, and patriotism; and the crisis of cultural identity among Hong Kong youth. (SV)